When the West Bengal government backed down on seizing their land for an industrial complex, it was seen as a victory for poor farmers opposing the unstoppable juggernaut that the Asian giant's economy appears to be.

But now, the usually bustling mud roads running through dozens of villages in Nandigram are deserted and the area dotted with red flags, emblems of a government that had wanted this fertile land for a chemicals complex.

Close to 2,000 displaced villagers are living in unhealthy conditions in refugee camps, saying they are too afraid to return home.

They blame a reign of terror by the cadres who have now retaken control.

"It is hell on earth, we are living like prisoners in a free country," said Sabuj Pradhan, struggling to hold back his tears.

"We have seen how cadres raped our women and said it was payback time for daring to defy the government," said Pradhan, 40, sitting in a corner of a high school that has been turned into a refugee camp on the outskirts of Nandigram.

Farmlands, where canals take water from the nearby river to irrigate fields of paddy, mustard and potato, were empty.

Fish-farming pools which dot the countryside and supplement incomes lay unattended. Witnesses said all the men had fled to avoid being beaten or killed.

West Bengal has been roiled by protests over the killing of Nandigram villagers by suspected CPM cadres in a turf battle that began earlier this year.

The Army was called into Kolkata on Wednesday after rioting broke out.

It has become a major crisis for the ruling communists. It threatens, some analysts say, to damage the left's electoral prospects.

COMMUNIST FLAGS

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dispatched CRPF to Nandigram last week. They were seen patrolling amid the ruins of burned houses.

The Leftists have denied all charges, saying that many of their supporters had merely returned home.

"Allegations of torture have been cooked up," said Naba Kumar Samanta, a Nandigram Communist leader.

The CPM lost control of Nandigram in January after trying, unsuccessfully, to get villagers to vacate their land. Opposition parties and Maoist rebels then moved in after villagers dug up roads and burned Communist party offices.

This month, CPM cadres broke that resistance by forcing their way in and shooting at villagers, locals said.

"We were forced to submit in writing that we will take part in Communist rallies," said 83-year-old Mujib Sheikh.

Although officials and the communist government said that only six people had been killed in this month's violence, bringing the toll to 34 since January, some witnesses fear many more deaths have been concealed.

"I saw them drag away my injured father along with four others last week. I have not been able to trace him until now," said farmer Tapan Gol, 28, as his mother stood crying nearby.

A group of 50 villagers who tried returning home came back to the camp on Thursday, saying that cadres had insisted they pay a fine of 5,000 rupees ($130) or risk being thrown out or raped.

"We cannot deny that there has been rape and torture before we arrived. A few stray cases are reported even now," said Alok Raj, a senior police official.