My name is Radharani Ari and I live in a village called Sonachura in Nandigram, which is a cluster of 30 villages in West Bengal.

Trouble started in 2006 when the Marxist government of West Bengal, who have ruled the state for 30 years, decided to acquire almost 20,000 acres of land in Nandigram to build a petro-chemical hub.

This - the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was to be built by the Salim group of Indonesia. They promised us work and a better lifestyle, but we refused to give up their land - why should we, it's our land, our livelihood?

When talks did not work, the ruling party began to apply pressure tactics.

I still remember vividly the date - 14th March, 2007 - when the politicians unleashed a reign of terror in the villages. I was raped that day - the first time - and saw friends and children shot at and attacked.

Nandigram has traditionally supported the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Our men have campaigned for the party and worked for them during the elections. We were loyal to the party but not at the cost of our livelihood. How could we have given up our agricultural land without a protest?

So protest we did. We dug out the main roads that lead to the villages to prevent the party goons from entering our villages and terrorizing us, and armed ourselves.

For every shot that came from the party’s side, we retaliated. The government then attacked the villages, saying it was to restore law and order.

On 14th March, I was in the front line of the army of protestors. We had decided to keep the women and children in the front thinking that no one would shoot on children. But they did.

They also snatched me out from the crowd of protestors and led me to a ditch and raped me. There were six of them.

I was not the only one, many other women also suffered the same fate. But the government just brushed it all under the carpet.

Many women were afraid and would not come out in the open and say what had happened to them. But I knew that I will not keep quiet – I will fight.

I took my case to everyone – from the ministers, to the governor of Bengal. I started a woman’s organisation in Nandigram, trying to get the women to stand together to fight the injustices done to them. Women are always the victims in a conflict zone, and the women of Nandigram are no exception.

However, our enemies had not finished with me. On April 18, this year, as I was sitting and eating dinner with my husband, some of the party goons again attacked my house.

While they were trying to break open the main door, my husband hid me up in the loft. It was clear they had come for me as they were shouting abuses at me. They broke open the door, savagely beat my husband and dragged me from my hiding place. They raped me again in the field adjoining my house. This time there were 11 of them - they told me I hadn't learnt my lesson last time when there were six of them so maybe this time I will learn a lesson and stop meddling and trying to organize people against them.

After the attack, I was admitted to a Kolkata hospital for a whole week. The media also reported my plight but nothing came about because of it - my rape report was also doctored to show negative.

Only I know what I went through and my husband, who has been by my side throughout my ordeal.

We have been living in a relief camp since the incident. We went back to cast our vote but had to come back immediately as we were again threatened. So we have been living like refugees in the relief camp for more than a year now.

We were landed people – the little land we had sufficed us and we lived with self respect. Today I live like a beggar in the camp. I live in fear for my two sons, whom I have left behind in my village. My husband and I are too scared to return there.

My only satisfaction is that we have managed to oust the ruling party through constitutional means. Although they tried their best, they could not prevent us from voting. In the May 2008 local elections, we all voted overwhelmingly against the Communist party. For the first time in the last 30 years, the ruling party suffered huge losses in the districts that had been their stronghold.

Today I am happy that we have been able to save our land from the developers and, although I still have nightmares and haven’t slept properly for over a year, I feel happy that we have been able to make the government understand that our interests come first.

Radharani Ari told her story Sweeblenews correspondent Nilanjana Bhattacharya.

________________________________________________________________________________

Nandigram has traditionally been a stronghold of the Communist party and most of the people were their supporters. However, that support turned into antagonism when the government tried to take their land for industrial development.

The villagers came together to form a group to protest against land acquisition. The long, drawn-out battle between the people and the party has continued for the last year and a half.

Many people have been killed and thousands have been made homeless. There were regular bombings and arson attacks in the villages. Women were raped and killed.

In a bloody battle on 14th March, 2007, the ruling party took control of the areas, driving out thousands of protestors and their supporters.

But the violence of 14th March attracted the attention of the central government and human rights organisations. To prevent the conflict spiraling out of control, the central government sent national forces to bring back peace in the area.

The state government, too, realized the gravity of the situation, declared that the chemical hub would be built elsewhere. The truce lasted for several months before disintegrating again the week after the Panchayath election results for the district were announced, in May 2008, when the ruling party lost overwhelmingly. Violence flared up again and people claimed they were singled out and beaten up for voting against the Communist party and hundreds were made homeless again.