Who is Milan Pradhan? Congress candidate's 2007 Nandigram cases, arrest and October 6 bypoll battle explained

Milan Pradhan's arrest in connection with nearly two-decade-old Nandigram violence cases has brought the 2007 land agitation back into focus just days before the October 6 bypoll. The Congress candidate was arrested on September 18, hours after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) withdrew its candidate and announced its support for Pradhan. He spent 12 days in custody before the Calcutta High Court granted him interim bail, allowing him to return to the campaign trail. The cases against Pradhan date back to the violence surrounding Nandigram's anti-land acquisition movement in 2007. Who is Milan Pradhan? Pradhan is a Congress leader from Nandigram and has been associated with the anti-land acquisition movement in the area. He was associated with the Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), or Committee to Resist Eviction from Land, which was formed in 2007 to oppose the then Left Front government's proposed acquisition of land for a chemical hub. The movement brought together people from different political backgrounds and eventually became a major challenge to the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government in Bengal. Pradhan is now the Congress candidate in the Nandigram bypoll. His candidature took an unexpected turn after the TMC withdrew its candidate and extended support to him. What are the cases against Pradhan? The criminal cases against Pradhan arise from violence during the 2007 Nandigram agitation. According to The Indian Express, Pradhan faces proceedings in six cases -- five registered in Nandigram and one in neighbouring Khejuri. Four of the Nandigram cases involve murder charges. One case, registered in January 2007, followed an attack on the house of Naba Kumar Samanta in which his brother Shankar was killed. Another concerns the April 2007 killing of 19-year-old CPI(M) worker Dilip Mondal. A third case relates to the deaths of three CPI(M) youth workers -- Tushar Kanti Shaw, Nirapada Grihanta and Shankar Maity -- during an attack on a procession at Bhangabera bridge in November 2007. Another murder case concerns Chanchal Midya, a CPI(M) worker who went missing after attending a political rally in November 2007. His body was never found. The cases include charges such as murder, attempt to murder, rioting, unlawful assembly, house trespass and kidnapping or abduction, as well as offences under the Arms Act, according to the report. Pradhan has denied the allegations. Why did the 2007 cases resurface? Several cases registered during the Nandigram agitation were withdrawn by the West Bengal government in 2021. The withdrawal was subsequently challenged before the Calcutta High Court, which ordered the cases to be reopened. The state later told the High Court that 11 cases had been registered against Pradhan. Five of the cases in which he had sought protection had previously been withdrawn, while proceedings in other cases continued. Pradhan's lawyers have questioned the circumstances and timing of his arrest, pointing to the age of the cases. The police, however, maintained that his arrest was based on pending non-bailable warrants in the cases. Why was Pradhan arrested during the bypoll? The timing of the arrest turned the case into an election issue. On September 18, the TMC's Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew from the Nandigram contest. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee subsequently announced that the party would support Congress's Pradhan. Pradhan was arrested later that day in connection with the old cases and sent to judicial custody. His arrest meant that the Congress candidate was unable to campaign for nearly two weeks during the run-up to the October 6 bypoll. The Congress questioned the timing of the arrest and alleged political interference. The state government has maintained that the police action was connected to pending criminal cases and warrants. These remain competing political claims. What did Calcutta High Court say? The Calcutta High Court granted Pradhan interim bail on September 29 for three weeks. The order allowed him to remain out of custody during the election period, subject to the conditions imposed by the court. He was directed to surrender before the Haldia court on October 21. The proceedings also brought attention to the fact that the cases originated in 2007. Pradhan had been taken into custody after filing his nomination for the bypoll. After spending 12 days in jail, he was released and returned to Nandigram, where he resumed campaigning. How land agitation returned to campaign The Nandigram bypoll has effectively brought the politics of 2007 back into the electoral contest. The original conflict centred on opposition to the Left government's proposed land acquisition for a chemical hub. The agitation escalated into violence and became a major political issue in Bengal. Nandigram subsequently acquired an importance far beyond the land-acquisition dispute. The movement played a key role in the political rise of the TMC and the eventual end of the Left Front's 34-year rule in West Bengal. The political journeys of several people associated with the 2007 events have also taken different directions. IE reported that some of Pradhan's co-accused in the old cases are now associated with the TMC and the BJP. Pradhan's case thus brings together two very different moments in Nandigram's political history: the land agitation of 2007 and the bypoll of 2026. Nearly two decades after the violence, the same cases have resurfaced around a candidate whose arrest briefly removed him from the campaign before a court order put him back on the electoral trail.