EMINENT SPEAKERS OPINE IN KOLKATA
KOLKATA, 20th
JUNE: THE achievements of the Left Front government
of West Bengal, made during its 34 years long journey, are indelible and
no amount of slander can wipe them off. This was the opinion several eminent
speakers voiced in a seminar that was organised in Kolkata to commemorate the
day of establishment of first Left Front government in West Bengal in
June 1977. The seminar, organised by the Left Front, turned into a huge
gathering at Nazrul Mancha.
C P Chandrasekhar, an
eminent economist, tracked the policy perspective of successive governments
in India after independence and identified the alternatives thrown up
by the Left led governments. According to him, the Left Front government
of West Bengalwas a manifestation of these alternative policies in action,
though within structural limitations. Chandrasekhar said the most glaring
success of that government was the land reforms through which the agrarian
crisis was addressed. Despite initial backwardness and stagnation in the
seventies, West Bengal recorded evident successes on social indices
including infant mortality, maternal mortality and education.
N Ram, distinguished
journalist, recalled the days of semi-fascist terror in West
Bengal in the seventies, and commented, “Many friends in media chose not
to know or not to inform.” He said the Left Front assumed office in a terrible
situation when the youths were frustrated, education was in a doldrums, and
democracy was in peril. The Left Front government then brought about a social
security.
Ram emphasised that land
reforms not only ensured distributive justice, they actually empowered the
peasantry and contributed in the growth of production. Those successes are now
in danger under the new regime. Already 61 farmers have committed suicide
in West Bengal. Any attempt to reverse the land reforms in the state would
invite disasters.
Ram lauded the role of
the West Bengal’s Left Front government in poverty reduction,
decentralisation of power through panchayats and, on top of everything, the
defence of democracy. The civil liberties and democratic rights of the people
were safeguarded under the Left Front government. “The initial trends of the
new government have sent ominous signals of intolerance,” he said. Ram then
added, “Left Front leaders have soberly accepted the defeat in the elections
and have reacted with patience but there should be serious watch that the
rights of people are not lost.”
Ashok Mitra, the finance
minister of first Left Front government, sharply criticised those who talk of so
called ‘misrule’ of the said 34 years. Maitra said the ‘misrule’ was that more
than 60 per cent of land distribution in the entire country took place
in West Bengalalone. The Left Front government ensured the minimum wages
for the agricultural workers, established three tier panchayats, and ensured
democratic rights of the working people including government employees.
Mitra said it was known
to the Left parties and their activists that no fundamental transformation of
the society would come through a state government. The aim was to rush whatever
relief was possible to the people within the constitutional limitations.
Tremendous successes was achieved though there were mistakes. The task of the
Left is to overcome those mistakes and go forward with Leftism.
Biman Basu, chairman of
Left Front, said that one of the major tasks of the first Left Front government
was to restore democracy. In 1977, just after the Left Front government was
formed, Comrades Jyoti Basu and Promode Dasgupta gave a call that no political
retaliation should be carried out. The government freed all political
prisoners.
The first Left Front
government fulfilled 28 tasks of the 36 it had promised declared in election
manifesto. The new government in the state which assumed office in 2011 has
declared that they had already done everything that could have been done in 10
years. Let the people of West Bengal judge such unfounded
proclamations.
The seminar was
moderated by Professor Shobhanlal Datta Gupta.
On this occasion, the
Left Font also brought about a book on the real situation of the state at
present. The book, titled West Bengal: Which Way was formally
inaugurated by former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Left Front leaders paid
floral tributes at the Martyrs’ Column before the programme.
People's
Democracy, June 24, 2012
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