“Come and See Blood on the Streets”

By Nilotpal Basu

Peoples Democracy, 5^th June, 2016

THE playing out of gruesome violence in post-poll West Bengal will put many a horrific nightmare to shame. What makes this violence almost inexplicable to the uninitiated in the `hell-hole’ of the present political landscape of the state is the `massive mandate’, which columnists and contributors are so eloquent in articulating. No wonder! We have been tutored since our childhood to believe that `victors’ have to be forgiving; there is no room for vengeance in triumph.

But, obviously, not so in present West Bengal. In fact, what is playing out is quite the contrary. The TMC chief and the re-elected chief minister had held out the threat in the run-up to the election in repeated public meetings that once re-elected, the new administration would see to it `inch by inch’ that the efforts of the people and the opposition to defeat the TMC is ‘taken care of’. The campaign had highlighted quite blatant threats to the Election Commission and sections of the administration who were active under the `model code of conduct’ for ensuring a free and fair polls to the assembly. It may otherwise escape the attention of the ‘columnists’ but only 32 lakhs separate the popular support of the TMC front from that of the opposition; but the TMC is most acutely aware of this reality. So, even though it may appear to be otherwise inexplicable, the violence can only be decoded by the special, if not obnoxious, nature of the regime that lords over West Bengal. It is an out and out authoritarian regime that runs the state. It was the same before the elections; now even more so.

THE EMERGING PATTERN OF VIOLENCE

That the rule of law is at best a notional idea in the state is clear. Despite the efforts of holding free and fair poll, the fact remains that four CPI(M) activists were killed in the run-up to the elections. And, each of these killings were directly linked to undermine the opposition and, in particular, the CPI(M) and the Left. The violence was linked to targeting of polling agents and potential polling agents and specifically aimed at scaring away voters. In most of these cases, the killers who have been named in the police complaints have not been arrested.

Despite the atmosphere of terror and intimidation, popular urge for exercising the franchise was visible. That the `MCC’ regime of the couple of months since the announcement of the election dates could not completely neutralise the affects of terror is also equally true. Therefore, the present spate of violence is particularly targeting the `resistance’ and its nucleus – CPI(M) and the Left. The clear design is to dismantle and decimate the Party and the Left, as well as, all other opposition forces.

In these pages, details of the violence have been chronicled in the last few issues. For sure, given the current trend, it will continue to be reported for quite some time in the future. But what has to be noted is not just the physical description of the violence; but the pattern which reveals this sinister design.

Notwithstanding the spread of the violence across the length and breadth of the 20 districts of the state, what is particularly noteworthy is the fact that violence and terror has been more intense and focused in areas where the opposition has managed to register an electoral victory over the TMC, be it an assembly segment, or a municipal ward or panchayat or even a single polling booth. The basic idea is to stifle the spirit of resistance and rupture the links with the people which have resulted in the electoral reverse of the ruling party in these places.

SOME ISSUES WHICH NEEDS TO BE UNDERLINED

That areas which need to be specially noted to understand this cynical plot takes us to the Jadavpur assembly constituency. In 2011 assembly elections, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was defeated by over 30,000 votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the CPI(M) candidate trailed substantially. In most of the municipal wards, massive rigging led to the defeat of the Left candidates in the Kolkata municipal elections. However, this time around, Sujan Chakraborty, CPI(M) state secretariat member, won by nearly 15,000 votes. Not only that, he scored a lead in each of the ten municipal wards. This was made possible by both popular resistance as well as the measures initiated by the EC. Chakraborty defeated the incumbent power minister and former home secretary who was the TMC nominee. The chief minister herself had cast doubts about the results and expressed the need for `going into the matter’. Naturally, that is now playing out in the most medieval violence that has been let loose on not only the Party and the Left but even common voters. Attacks on houses and capture of Party offices is now the every day reality.

Another such area is Haldia, the industrial hub which adjoins Nandigram. In this area, the Party and the Left not only faced the violence by the TMC but also attempted disruption by the newly-formed party of Lakshman Seth, former MP and former Party state committee member who had been expelled for his anti-people and anti-Party activities. But braving all these, a woman, Tapasi Mondal of the CPI(M) was elected by over 10,000 votes. Therefore, this area has also come as a special target where indiscriminate violence including that on the house of the newly elected MLA is for all there to see. One could go on with countless similar instances.

Countless offices of the CPI(M), different mass and class organisations across the state have been forcibly occupied, gutted, demolished. Party leaders, mass organisation leaders, elected members at the local level, candidates and, of course, voters, none are being spared. Areas in which the TMC had to suffer reverse, voters are asked to pay an exorbitant amount as fines for carrying on their life and livelihood in their home and hearth.

The most cynical aspect of this violence is the complete inaction of the police administration in dealing with offences which stem from political vendetta. The reasons are not hard to find. Officers of the civil and the police administration who had been transferred out by the Election Commission during the pendency of MCC have been reverted back to their earlier positions immediately on the assumption of office, notwithstanding the public approval of officers who had covered themselves with positive impact on the fairness of the election process. Similarly, number of ministers who had lost the elections had been appointed in high level positions in their respective erstwhile departments. This is to send out a clear message that these defeats are of no consequence, so far as the ruling party is concerned!

THE THREAT OF COMMUNAL POLARISATION

The intense orchestrated violence is accompanied with another major threat of communal polarisation. The repeated visits of prime minister Modi in West Bengal in the run up to the assembly elections and his `intended’ attacks on the TMC was to create an atmosphere of polarisation and to cut down the possible electoral loss for the TMC. The North Bengal districts which were considered a strong ground for the Left and secular opposition saw a more pronounced presence of the BJP. Two of its three seats where they have won falls in this region. The votes polled by BJP in North Bengal is 16 percent as compared to 8 percent in the south Bengal districts. Overall, the BJP’s vote share has come down from 17 percent in 2014 Lok Sabha elections to 10 percent in the 2016 assembly elections. It is also clear that the victories were registered due to unusual decrease of the TMC votes in these seats.

Naturally, this selective presence of the BJP and the accompanying communal campaign is complemented by the TMC’s pandering to minority communal forces. The latest evidence of this is in the form of inclusion of Siddiqullah Chaudhury who was till the other day associated with Jamaat-e-Ulema and had openly supported the activities of fundamentalist groups in Bangladesh.

Therefore, it is the continuous quid-pro-quo between the ruling party in the centre and that in the state will loom large.

The authoritarian build-up during the last five years will be further accentuated is a fact which is becoming increasingly clear.

RESISTANCE AND UNITY

While it is clear that the violence that we are witnessing is far more intense and widespread than in the `hoodlum days’ of the seventies and the semi-fascist regime of Siddharth Shankar Ray, the growing unity of the people is also something which one cannot miss. Braving the violence in the very initial days of these post-poll violence are signs of resistance in certain areas. Villagers, poor people who have got together, chased away miscreants and attackers. There has been widespread revulsion against an incident where a pregnant woman had to suffer a miscarriage of her unborn foetus when she was pushed and kicked while attempting to save her husband and his companions from the attacks launched by the TMC goons. There is major protest particularly in the social media over the lynching of a girl student in Ashutosh College in South Kolkata when she went to collect her admit card for the examination simply because she happens to be an SFI activist.

Therefore, unity and resistance, is the way forward. Authoritarianism cannot be permanent. Issues of policy of both the central and state governments will definitely adversely affect the life and livelihood of the people. Struggle for restoration of democracy and against these anti-people policies will go hand-in-hand to restore civil rights. It is with this in mind that the CPI(M) Polit Bureau, in its recently-held meeting, has given a clarion call: “Under these circumstances, the CPI(M) calls upon the people of West Bengal to unitedly resist this murder of democracy and civil liberties in the state. The strength of the people’s unity is the answer to meet this unprecedented unleashing of violence.”

Nandigram Myths Decoded: CBI Calls the Bluff

By Nilotpal Basu

HISTORY is cruel; in its own way, it squares up the truth. Seven years back, a rural tract in West Bengal – Nandigram – shot to prominence.  It resonated across the country. The cyber world took it beyond the national boundary and drew international attention. Political observers attributed electoral nemesis of the three decade electoral sway of the Left to the developments in Nandigram.  Nandigram was seen as the ‘diabolical’ anti-peasant face of the Left in Bengal. And overall, it contributed to undermine the credibility of the Indian Left.

What was the background of the unfortunate developments that unfolded in Nandigram in the early days of 2007?  The government of West Bengal in its attempt to industrialize the state had zeroed in on the Petroleum Investment Region scheme mooted by the central government; taking advantage of incentives of the scheme to facilitate the petroleum investment hub where Nandigram would be the core. The requirement for the scheme was a large amount of land.  The locational advantage of Nandigram was its proximity to port city Haldia and existing oil refinery and petro-chemical complex. These existing facilities provided important infrastructure to locate the petroleum investment zone. That agricultural land in Nandigram suffered from salinity, forcing people to migrate for work was another factor which weighed in favour of developing industrial activities in the region.

However, the decision of Left Front government did not find major support from the people. A major factor which affected the mood of the people was the lack of communication. The comprehensive consultative exercise which ought to have helped galvanise popular opinion for industrial activity failed to fructify. And this communication deficit was compounded by a tendentious propaganda blitz by the opposition. A rainbow coalition emerged to oppose acquisition of land for the project.

Taking advantage of the uncertainty that emerged, the broad platform virtually took physical control over the proposed project land. The platform took to violence; digging up roads and blowing up bridges, the entire area went out of the writ of the state government. The law and order situation became captive to these forces. Several killings ensured that discourse on the industrialization agenda could not reach the people. Discussion and debate towards any informed conclusion was the casualty.  

CATCH-22 SITUATION

It was a catch-22 situation for the state government. Given the broad opposition to the project and the related issue of land acquisition, it became clear that without concurrence of people, it was impossible to go ahead with the project; notwithstanding its importance in the overall context of the industrialization agenda. Thus, between January and March 2007, atmosphere of uncertainty and anarchy prevailed in the area.  In February itself, the state government and the chief minister announced that there will be no land acquisition against wishes of the people.  But despite that, the opposition was unrelenting and carried on their violent and lawless ways making the area incommunicado to the state government. The state government was found helpless in ensuring the right of the entrapped citizens. 

And, this was the backdrop of 14th March 2007. A police party which entered the area to restore communication to re-establish rule of law was confronted with. The consequent unfortunate police firing and related incidents resulted in the loss of 14 persons; widespread condemnation against ‘forcible acquisition’ followed.

Nandigram became the symbol around which opposition to the Left government galvanized.  From Maoists on the Left to communal forces of all hues on the Right combined. With TMC spearheading the opposition, its supremo and present chief minister Mamata Banerjee shot into national fame. She became the icon of the anti-Left forces not only nationally but also internationally. Those who were pathologically opposed to the Left catapulted her to lead against hitherto electorally invincible Left; so much so, that she featured on the cover of Time magazine.

Ironically, the Left in India, which had been in the forefront of the struggle for agrarian reforms and land redistribution, was shown as having betrayed that legacy. The overall neo-liberal policy environment featuring large-scale takeover of agricultural land by corporate sharks came to be equated with what happened in Nandigram on the 14th of March.

Of course, there have been several reasons which led to the setback of the Left in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and assembly elections in 2011; but Nandigram was widely seen as the trigger which set out the course for undermining the credibility of the Left. 

Much as they attempted to explain their approach, the Left failed in getting its message across. Even before the Left Front government could order any independent probe into the firing on 14th March, the Kolkata High Court, at the insistence of the opposition, ordered a CBI probe.

LF GOVT VINDICATED

Finally, the propaganda blitz that led to institution of CBI probe has come full circle. On 18th December 2013, the CBI, after almost seven years of investigation, filed a chargesheet before the court.  The findings could not be any greater indictment of the then opposition led by TMC and its mercurial leader Mamata Banerjee. The CBI findings completely vindicate what the Left government had contended at that point of time.

The CBI chargesheet reveals – “Investigation has disclosed that efforts were made by the district administration and the police officers to normalize the situation in Nandigram. Many meetings were organized between the administration, leaders of the opposition parties and BUPC”; Bhumi Uchhhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) being the umbrella organisation spearheaded by the TMC which led the agitation in Nandigram. But, the CBI has now opined that –“However, there was no visible improvement in the law and order situation which remained out of control for the District Civil and Police administration”.

Detailing about how bad the situation was between January and March, 2007, the chargesheet states -“During this period at least 56 FIRs were registered at Nandigram and Khejuri police stations relating to violence, arson, loot and murder etc. The period also witnessed death of 11 persons and injuries to at least 25 persons due to these clashes. A police Sub Inspector namely Sadhu Charan Chatterjee was kidnapped and killed by the mob, police jeeps were burnt and police weapons were looted. The cases registered could not be investigated by the local police as the local police were unable to enter into the villages during this period”.

The chargesheet comprehensively calls the bluff that the police entry was ‘clandestine’. The chargesheet categorically states that - “On 12.03.2007, the state home secretary briefed the press, in which he informed them about the proposed police action in Nandigram”. Subsequently, “it was decided that the police operation would be conducted on 14.03.2007 at three places in Nandigram”.

The firing was ‘after all attempts to disperse the crowd’ who blocked the police entry through requests over PA system, lathicharge, firing of tear gas and firing in the air ‘failed’.

The chargesheet also nails down the claim that there were hundreds of people killed, with gory charges of children and women being torn apart and their bodies smuggled out. The chargesheet categorically points out that ‘opposition consciously spread rumours’ and ‘organised armed men’ to take on police which led to the unfortunate firing.  As if to add salt to injury, the CBI rejected the plea of the TMC that the political leadership of the Left was responsible.  In fact, despite these findings, the current state government and the chief minister has refused to allow CBI to proceed against police and civil officials whom they found to violate some procedures, insisting that Left leadership must be investigated.

The CBI is no ‘holy cow’. Neither has it done anything spectacular to erase the impression that it is not insulated from political interference having earned the description of ‘caged parrot’.  But, TMC and Ms Banerjee have forgotten that for almost six and a half years during which the CBI was carrying out its investigation, it was they who were in company with the ruling Congress – both in the state and the centre.  The state government had every opportunity to inform CBI towards an ‘informed conclusion’ in course of last almost three years; not to forget that this CBI investigation on firing in Nandigram was essentially at their own behest. 

Therefore, it is an irony that truth has finally come through the CBI chargesheet. Those who had chronicled contemporary events during that period will hopefully revisit conclusions that they had drawn on Nandigram – and, more importantly, on the Left and its intentions.

Insensitive government in West Bengal

By Nilotpal Basu

January 07, 2014, 07.26 AM  IST | THE HANS INDIA

  

To what lowest depths human savagery can degenerate became apparent with what a 16-year-old girl had to bear – alive and dead – could be one of the darkest deeds that society would ever witness! The teenager–the only daughter of a Bihari migrant from Samastipur–had brought her to Kolkata barely six months back despite his modest income as a taxi driver to realise her yearnings for pursuing better education than what was available in native Samastipur. 

Alas! It was not to be.  Her world of innocence was rudely shattered on 25th of October. A group of half a dozen goons forcibly took hold of her young body and mercilessly gangraped her for two hours. The police charge sheet now reveals that they had penetrated her 16 times. 

The girl, brave enough and despite the family’s modest and rather helpless migrant status, pulled up courage to go to the local police station and filed a complaint clearly mentioning  the name of the perpetrators.  But little were they aware what were in store for them!  In the killing fields of Mamata raj in Bengal today, such normal acts were construed as a terrible crime; more so, if the perpetrators happened to be associated with the ruling party. On their way back to home from the police station, the hapless girl was snatched from her parents and subjected to another round of gangrape.  The girl lay unconscious near her home.

Shocked and anguished - response of women and human rights organisations to visit their home was met with resistance by the same hoodlums. The clear attempt was to deny contact with those who wanted to express solidarity.  The media was also denied access to the victim while the police remained mute spectators to this thuggery.

The ordeal of the family did not stop there.  Given the atmosphere of terror and intimidation in the locality, the family had to move out of that neighbourhood.  But, the long hand of the criminals too powerful.  They could trace the parents and the girl.  These associates unleashed a vicious vilification campaign against the gangrape survivor. 

December 23, 2012 was the fateful day when in the wake of mass upsurge against the horrific incident in a Delhi bus where the young girl who has come to be widely recognized as `Nirbhaya’ had to suffer and who subsequently succumbed to  her injuries while she was brutalised, when the Government of India had instituted a committee headed by Justice J S Verma to come up with a comprehensive report on not only the circumstances which is resulting in an atmosphere of growing atrocities against women; but also a set of measures to rectify the situation. On the anniversary of Nirbhaya incident, this young girl on the outskirts of Kolkata was rescued from her home with 65 per cent burns. The initial information provided by the police suggested that the girl attempted suicide. But subsequently, two days later, in her statement to the police and doctors and which is now being treated as her dying declaration, the victim claimed that it was the goons, associates of her initial tormentors, who had set her to fire.

The last eight days of her life were also of struggle. The government hospital in which she was being treated did not have any special burns unit to treat the condition that she was in. The repeated pleadings of the family to the hospital authorities to shift her to an institution where facilities for such specialised treatment were available fell on deaf ears. She succumbed on the last day of 2013.

But, more tyranny was in store. The police, which in Bengal today, move only at the behest of the topmost political leadership, apprehended widespread protest. Consequently, they acted with rare insensitivity.  Contrary to the family’s wish of cremating the girl the following day, they hijacked the body and took it to the crematorium for disposing it the very same evening. They were not even aware that they did not have the death certificate! The whole night the body remained under police custody in the open. But, forced that they could not do anything, police brought the body back to her poor father and put him under pressure to part with the death certificate. The whole night the poor man was tormented. They attempted the same thing early next morning and which was met with resistance.

But by now the simple migrant taxi driver from Samastipur was a man of steel. His fear evaporated with the loss of the perhaps the dearest thing of his life – his only daughter. He refused to go ahead with cremating the body before he met the Governor to register his protest and seek justice. He withstood all pressure from the administration to go back to Samastipur till he gets justice for this rarest of rare crime that her daughter has suffered.

It is really a grotesque  commentary that even though the Government of Bihar to which  the family belongs have come all the way to find out facts and console the inconsolable, the West Bengal Government – neither the political leadership nor the police and officials – have for once visited them with a word of sympathy. And, on top of that, the Chief Secretary of the state has come up with a stunning claim that police and the hospital authorities and, of course, the entire state administration had done everything possible to cooperate with the family! Protest over this horrific development is ‘politics over dead body’ which he strongly deplored.

While crimes against women show no signs of relenting; the state of West Bengal has shot ahead of all others in this field. Justice Verma is no more. His seminal report –submitted within a record one month – also seems to have been given a silent burial.

While it is true as somebody in course of discussion in Parliament described this a result of a lethal combination of ‘feudal patriarchy and neo-liberal consumerism’ in society, and which, indeed, needs a sustained struggle to be weeded out, more immediate and implementable recommendations on police reforms of the Verma report cry out in wilderness.

The report stated, “Government agencies must be duly compelled to perform their legal obligations and to proceed in accordance with the law against each and every person involved, irrespective of the height at which he is  placed in the power set up. This is vital to prevent erosion of the Rule of Law and to preserve democracy in our country….” and ensure that this spirit is followed with “relation to the filing of each and every complaint by an individual and investigation of the complaint irrespective of the social and economic status of the complainant”.  Kolkata’s Nirbhaya, as a national daily in its Editorial named her, lies dead and cold. Delhi ‘Nirbhaya’ did not give us a chance to save her. But this girl suffered for more than two months. Can we, as a society, people and nation allow this gruesome process to go on? 

nilotpalbasu@gmail.com

http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/2014-01-07/Insensitive-government-in-West-Bengal--81616

GRAPHIX COURTSEY: THE TELEGRAPH, 02.01.14

West Bengal on dangerous slide

By Nilotpal Basu

Agency: DNA | Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The sigh of relief on the Raisina Hills must have been loud enough. In Jangipur by-election, the President’s son and Congress nominee won the contest by the proverbial ‘whisker’. And, to the great relief of his more illustrious father and his well-wishers, he scraped through.

At least he did not have to bite the dust like the other son – of chief minister of Uttarakhand — who got the drubbing in Tehri. Abhijit – the President’s son – made it. In fact, these by-election results have been a clear pointer to the public mood on ground zero. That the spate of reforms and the endless revelation of corruption and scams engineered at the highest echelons of the ruling establishment continue to influence public perception was underlined in these results. Despite the bravado of the mandarins of neo-liberalism, the reforms, far from refurbishing the image of the government, have actually accentuated its further alienation from the people.

So, though Abhijit survived, the impressive lead of 1,28,000 votes his father had clocked tumbled to just 2,500; and this despite the Trinamool Congress and its supremo Mamata Banerjee’s public support for his candidature.

That the electoral commitments made by these two parties to the Bengal electorate in the 2009 and 2011 elections have gone awry is patently clear. The Trinamool disowns the government in Delhi; and the Congress reciprocates in Kolkata with the choicest invectives. And, obviously, the fundamental promise of their joint electoral campaign of paribartan has flopped. It is through these allegations and counter allegations that the electorate’s adverse experience about them gets reinforced.

But this is not merely about Jangipur people’s disenchantment with these parties in alliance. It is not also about performance of the Left, which all but wrested the seat and managed to retain its votes in trying circumstances. The CPI (M) candidate established lead in four of the seven assembly segments that constitute the Jangipur Lok Sabha seat as against only one in the assembly elections. But, let that pass.

Perhaps, the most significant feature of this by-election was the advance the communal forces registered. The BJP’s vote share went up to 10 per cent from a meagre two per cent. Between them, two Islamist parties — the SDPI, part of the Kerala-based Popular Front, and the Jamaat-e-Islami sponsored Welfare Party of India — got almost eight per cent votes. Such level of support for communally-oriented political outfits is definitely a new development in West Bengal. Obviously, it is fraught with major adverse ramifications in a border state which is intensely diverse and has 27 per cent Muslim population.

But frankly speaking, this was waiting to happen. Since the inception of the Mamata Banerjee-led government in the state, a major damage has been done by overt religious appeals to the minorities for electoral support. West Bengal has been a state, perhaps unique, in staying clear from the dangerous concoction of religion and politics. Therefore, election results during the last six decades have underlined gradual decline of communal forces in the state’s politics. It will be pertinent to mention that a prominent member of the Nehru government – Shyama Prasad Mukherjee — resigned and formed the Hindu Mahasabha nursing the fond hope that it would advance in the state which suffered the trauma of Partition. But Mukherjee failed abysmally. And subsequently, with the growth of the Left in the state, the tradition of harmony got consolidated. When the country was burning in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination or demolition of the Babri Masjid, the state remained an oasis of peace and amity.

But today, that legacy appears to be in jeopardy. The crude religious appeal that the chief minister makes to the minorities by putting on hijab while addressing her audience in Muslim neighbourhoods or frequently using phrases like Khuda Hafiz or Salam Aleqqum; and linking all activities of her party with one or the other religious practice of Muslims is an ominous development. Even the withdrawal of the Trinamool support from the UPA government was linked to Jumma Namaz. The controversial decision to give governmental grant to imams of local mosques is not only being challenged in the courts but by sections of the Islamic scholarship.

But more than that, this is courting the BJP to exploit these overtures. West Bengal, a border state with significant minority population, has always interested the Saffron brigade; but thanks to the consistent secular practice by all other political parties in the state, their efforts tanked.

But now that is threatened. The additional problem is the developments in West Asia which disturbs Muslims across the world with a sense of frustration, insecurity and revulsion. The community has extremely legitimate concerns – more socio-economic and related to human rights and social justice than religious. Unless this cesspool of sentiments is channellised by secular democratic forces, they will become cannon fodder to sectarian Islamist forces; even more so, in the face of aggressive assertion by the Hindutva forces.

Jangipur brings home this danger with all its grotesque ramifications. One hopes that this will drive sense in the TMC and its supremo. Let us hope that at least Jangipur teaches her to mend her bizarre and deeply divisive political pursuit.

The writer is a member of the central committee, CPI(M)

WEST BENGAL: Left Will Overcome this New Challenge

By Nilotpal Basu

THE continuation of the Left Front government in office without interruption for the last 34 years has been somewhat of an enigma to its friends and foes alike. This was clear on February 13 at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. The Bengal corporate media is infamous for its pathological hatred towards the communists and the Left. Obviously, in recent times, they have been euphoric. At long last, they feel that their dream is on the threshold of coming true. After the electoral setbacks suffered by the Left in the 2008 panchayat elections and more significantly in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and 2010 municipal elections, to them ‘the moment of reckoning’ had arrived. But alas! The huge gathering of human beings who recently converged on the ground constituted the largest ever popular mobilisation for a long time. A million and a half men and women, poor and resolute, waving the Red Flag high in the sky, authored the signature tune of the coming battle. This had left the correspondents representing the same corporate media in two minds. In my interaction with some of them, I asked them to explain what they saw. They were clearly left guessing. The gathering defied the very premise of the premature obituary of the Left Front that they had written.

THE VITRIOL AND ITS BACKGROUND

Why does the continued existence of the Left Front provoke such a sharp response? The answer is not hard to find. The process of neo-liberal economic reforms in the last two decades has travelled far and wide in India. The philosophy and ideology of this process has gripped not only the major ruling class parties; even regional outfits have been overwhelmed and co-opted by this phenomenon. Therefore, in the current neo-liberal environment in the country, consensus is not being sought to be evolved but ‘manufactured’.

But the Left is the spoilsport. But for the Left, there would be a smooth sailing for manufacturing that consensus, notwithstanding the several dissenting voices. Obviously, in a country like India, the market-led straightjacket cannot address the unevenness and diversity that is the heart of Indian nationhood. And, obviously, the Left – with its critique of the neo-liberal market-led and finance-driven capitalism – can and does act as a fulcrum for rallying round all these processes and forces who suffer from such a paradigm. The poor, i.e. the working class, much of the downtrodden sections of the peasantry, the agricultural labour, the burgeoning number of working people in the unorganised sector and the socially disempowered, i.e. the tribals, the dalits, the minorities and the women can all come together against the neo-liberal paradigm.

But, on the other hand, if the Left is not around, these processes of potential resistance can come to nought. It is precisely for this reason that domestic and international drivers of the neo-liberal process are so hard pressed to undermine or weaken, if not eliminate, the Left. In the recently leaked out cables from the US embassy in New Delhi, brought out into the open by the WikiLeaks website, we find a candid admission. The cable states: “The worst scenario for the US-India relationship would be one in which a "Third Front" forms a government that excludes both the Congress party and the BJP. Under those circumstances, the communist parties will likely wield great influence in a coalition. Nevertheless, the nuclear deal and a closer strategic relationship with the United States have generated an extraordinary public debate in India during the last year. We have won this debate hands down and, as a result, the US-India relationship has a strong foundation on which to grow over the coming decades.”

It is apparent that the urgency for securing India-US strategic partnership was actually a euphemism for interlocking India into a subordinate relationship in furthering the US imperialist interest in the Asian region. Absolutely crucial to this gameplan was the undermining of the Left in the 2009 parliament elections. It follows that the strike had to be where it hurts the Left the most. West Bengal, with an uninterrupted 32 years of Left Front rule, was the bastion of the Left movement.

Therefore, undermining the Left Front government and the Left movement was an imperative. Therefore, the traditional anti-communist and anti-Left vitriol, which has been a continuing phenomenon, assumed a new urgency and compulsion. The process of bringing together of all the anti-Left forces, which had started in the aftermath of the developments in Nandigram, combined with this new regional and global dimension.

Such an unprecedented rally of the anti-Left forces of all conceivable varieties would have by itself been difficult in achieving its political objective. It was necessary to attack and defame the Left Front government and the Left movement not from a neo-liberal rightwing platform but with pseudo-Left posturing. A major thrust of this attack was to question the very Left credentials of the seventh Left Front government. The fact that the degenerate and ideologically bankrupt Left adventurist band of 'Maoists', for their own political foothold, was embarking on physical attacks and unleashing campaigns of violence against and physical elimination of the CPI(M) and the Left cadre, brought the otherwise unlikely forces together in this process of grand alliance building. That the 'Maoist' vitriol routinely parroted ‘revolutionary jargons’ helped put in place this line of attack.

The last one and a half years have been the period of a life and death battle for the Left movement in West Bengal to overcome these forces and their machinations in order to secure and defend its bastion. Obviously, the battle is not being fought within the geographic confines of West Bengal alone.

It is very important, therefore, for us to comprehend and assimilate the implications of this political backdrop and fight back this vitriolic offensive to undermine the Left movement in the country. Therefore, it is also important to comprehend the basic thrust of the direction and record of the seventh Left Front government which has carved out a course that stands in sharp contrast to the policies pursued by the central government and other state governments steeped in neo-liberal thinking.

WHAT IS THE LEFT PREMISE?

What is the Left premise in the present times? This question has to be revisited in the light of the so-called Left critique to deny the Left credentials of the seventh Left Front government of West Bengal. This critique obviously fails to recognise the fundamental distinction between State power and office. In the context of the Constitution in a bourgeois-landlord State, and given its specific characteristics, the state governments are not invested with State power in a Marxist-Leninist sense. On the contrary, the elected office which the Left has come to occupy with the support of the people is under constant policy challenge and attack. The fact that such a battle has continued for as long as three and a half decades cannot change this basic reality. The very existence and continuation of the government was essentially a testimony for the constant class and democratic struggles but for which this unlikely phenomenon could not have become a reality. Therefore, to effect basic changes in such a framework would be an impossible task. Not only that; even to carry out tasks in the interest of the people, in contradistinction from the neo-liberal policy direction itself, has become an increasingly difficult goal to accomplish.

In this context, it is important to understand what constitutes the basic task of the Left in office in the present times. To start with, a Left government would have to do everything possible to sensitise the people for putting up a resistance to imperialism --- particularly in its present avatar as a driving force for neo-liberal globalisation. Obviously, constrained as it is by the limitations of constitutional powers, this would imply the taking up of an initiative to ensure government intervention in economy, particularly to insulate the people from the disastrous consequence of profit-driven market-oriented aggressive. This would also imply major initiatives in addressing the growing inequality and unemployment inherent in the lopsided growth-centric paradigm which benefits the corporates and other economic elite disproportionately. In the Indian context, this would also mean addressing economic and social injustice which adversely affects the socially vulnerable sections like the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward communities, women and religious minorities, particularly Muslims.

In the present times, the Left premise would also necessitate an underlined urgency in addressing the challenge of communal and divisive forces. And this agenda would have to address simultaneously along two directions. The first would be to strengthen the process of unity of diverse identities and create conditions for mutual respect and harmony, so that people belonging to different identities can and do mobilise unitedly against common policy threats which endanger their life and livelihood. Along with this, and no less importantly, sections who do suffer economic and social injustice on the basis of their identity would have to be provided an equal opportunity by unleashing specific targeted measures for positive discrimination.

To sum it up, in the present context, the Left premise would comprise a fight against imperialism and neo-liberal globalisation, against communalism and the politics of division, and strengthening a strong sense of social justice.

QUESTION OF IMPERIALISM

It was Comrade Jyoti Basu who set out the approach of the Left Front government on this crucial question. His constant refrain was that ‘socialism cannot be built in isolation in West Bengal.' However, what we could do is to constantly sensitise the people on the dangers of imperialism. And there is no question of giving up this conviction. It was during the seventh Left Front government that the question came up so sharply. It was brought up by an agitated US ambassador in India, viz David Mulford. He was objecting to the castigation of US policies and military occupation in Iraq by chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, in one of those mammoth gatherings at the Brigade Parade Ground. While the government of India was in the process of coming ever closer to the US administration of George Bush, Buddhadeb boldly put forth that the anti-imperialist and humanist traditions of our legacy should inspire us to oppose and protest the barbarity which the US imperialism has embarked on in Iraq, causing death and destruction to millions of Iraqi people. Peeved by this, Mulford objected saying that if the West Bengal government is looking for foreign investment, particularly US investment, how can the chief minister dare to criticise the US actions.

Mulford, a rightwinger as he was, had no clue about the approach of the Left Front government. The latter has not been opposed to private investment, or for that matter, foreign investment. But that is for bridging investment gaps, accessing technology not available within the country and, most importantly, to spark employment. It is never ever to compromise on the distinct anti-imperialist legacy of the Left. That glorious tradition remained intact during the last five years. It is essentially for this role of the Left movement and its recognition by the Left Front government that Kolkata still remains home to the largest anti-imperialist congregations of people in the country.

The challenge of neo-liberal globalisation and international finance-driven policies of the union government is, indeed, a humongous one for a Left government, more so if the latter is not merely attempting to provide some relief to the people but also to set out an alternative policy course with the limited powers available to a state government.

The whole question of expanding powers of the state governments and a restructuring of the centre-state relations has been a major contribution of the Left movement, particularly of the Left Front government of West Bengal, in the struggle for strengthening our democracy through progressive devolution and decentralisation. While pursuing the objective of reinforcing democracy and national unity, such a direction of restructuring would obviously help expand the space for the Left Front government to pursue alternative policies. With the onset of neo-liberal economic reforms in this country in the early nineties, the overreaching role of the central government, which played an impediment to the strengthening of the powers of the states, was replaced by the growing role of markets in determining policy in crucial sectors of the economy and the society. Thus the new environment of the reforms directly undermined the intervention by the government in the interests of larger sections of the people.

FIGHT AGAINST INJUSTICE

Therefore, during its tenure, the seventh Left Front government went on to carry forward the unique programme that had changed the correlation of political forces in the state --- land reforms. Initiated much earlier, the West Bengal land reforms experience has now attracted attention not only of the economists and development experts inside the country but also internationally. In our country, in spite of its dwindling share in the GDP, agriculture continues to provide livelihood to 65 per cent of the population. In such a context, the continued land reforms in West Bengal are a major bulwark against the neo-liberal course of corporate takeover of land and the entry of multinationals in food and agri-business. Since 1977, the small and marginal farmers of West Bengal have acquired 11,27,000 acres of free pattas. Today, 84 per cent of cultivated land in Bengal is owned by small and marginal farmers --- in contrast to the national average of a mere 34 per cent.

That this process also acts as a principal instrument to address social justice is borne out by the fact that recipients of such land redistribution are comprised of 37 per cent from scheduled castes, 18 per cent of scheduled tribes and 18 per cent from the Muslim community. A significant number of these pattas are joint pattas in the name of a man and his wife, establishing the principle of gender equality. That is why today, notwithstanding the fact that West Bengal accounts for only 3 per cent of total agricultural land in the country, it accounts for 22 per cent of land redistribution.

With a smokescreen sought to be created around the developments in Singur and Nandigram, there was a concerted attempt to portray the seventh Left Front government as one which embarked on forcible occupation of agricultural land for the corporates, giving a go-by to its earlier legacy. But the facts speak something else. During the tenure of this government, 16,700 acres of land has been distributed by 2009-10 and another 6000 acres in 2010-11. The land redistributed by the seventh Left Front government alone may be equal to that in the rest of the country during the last 20 years.

Obviously, this emphasis on ensuring land for the small and marginal farmers has been accompanied by expansion of the irrigation facilities. Ignored by the central government and denied of any major central investment for big irrigation projects, the development here has been based on utilisation of ground water through the decentralised initiative of panchayat institutions. As a result of this, just from a 28 per cent of irrigated land in the state in 1977, the proportion has increased to 72 per cent, almost doubling the crop intensity. This has led to increased production and productivity in agriculture. From 74 lakh tonnes in 1976-77, agricultural production is now 170 lakh tonnes. During every year, in the last five years, the GDP growth in agriculture in West Bengal has been far ahead of the national GDP figures in this sphere.

Thus the land and agriculture policies of seventh Left Front government of West Bengal stands in contrast to the neo-liberal direction of opening up agriculture to foreign multinationals in agri-business and retail trade. The new challenge, of course, is how to develop more storage capacity, agri-processing, and a modern supply chain infrastructure where the value of production can be ensured mostly for the producers. If this is not again a Left policy, what is?

On the question of management of the food economy, during the last three years the Left Front government has provided rice at Rs 2 per kg to around 2.63 crore people. The government had to spend Rs 500 crore to enforce this programme. This, again, is in contrast to the direction of reduction in food subsidies and exclusion of huge sections of the population from the ambit of food security through an unrealistic definition of poverty levels and by restricting the public distribution system to a small section of the population.

Similarly, the seventh Left Front government has ensured major advances of those sectors of the economy like small and medium scale enterprises which do not require big investments. In fact, both in terms of number of enterprises and generation of employment, West Bengal has been occupying the first position in the country for quite some time. At this point in time, West Bengal has 28 lakh small industrial enterprises which employ 55 lakh people. This is achieved through increased budgetary support for facilitating the survival and consolidation of such units.

RECORD IN SOCIAL SECTOR

The seventh Left Front government has particularly taken head on the policy course sought to be pushed by the central government. In education, its major thrust has been to ensure 100 per cent enrolment and sharp reduction in the dropout rate during the earlier period. Professor Amartya Sen is on record appreciating the unique initiative in Bengal through Sishu Siksha Kendras (SSK) and Madhyamik Siksha Kendras (MSK), supervised and run by panchayats which have played a pivotal role in reducing the dropout rates. Effective implementation of the midday meal has been the other major factor. These kendras have appointed teachers from the neighbourhood and belonging overwhelmingly to the disadvantaged social groups like SCs, STs, OBCs and Muslims. The state government provided security of tenure and enhanced the remuneration to these teachers.

In higher education, the state’s approach is in complete contrast to the direction of privatisation and commercialisation. In the last five years alone, 74 colleges have been started and five new universities established. These are mainly in backward areas or in those with dense SC, ST, OBC and Muslim populations. Two universities have been created specifically for the Muslim communities --- one under the state government and the other, a centre of the Aligarh Muslim University. It is because of these efforts that sections hitherto excluded from access to higher education have been able to overcome the earlier hurdles. On the other hand, efforts are on to enhance the quality and performance of the universities to bring them national and international recognition and appreciation.

The West Bengal public health system is unique and treats 73 per cent of the total patients undergoing treatment in the state in government facilities. The number of patients accessing services in the primary health centres and rural hospitals is improving rapidly. On the basic health parameters like birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate, West Bengal is way ahead of the national average; on some of these parameters it occupies the first or the second position. Here also, the thrust is on improvement of the health sector through public funding --- in contrast to emphasis on private investment in five star speciality and super speciality hospitals.

Finally, the seventh Left Front government is reinforcing its earlier initiative for ensuring social security for the workers, particularly in the unorganised sector. It has embarked on a massive programmes that bring together provident fund, health insurance and special packages for the exigencies of accident which they might have to suffer. This is bringing an upheaval in the unorganised sector workers’ sense of belonging.

A major initiative following the Ranganath Mishra commission recommendations has been to expand the number of OBCs to 53 and extending 15 per cent additional reservation for these communities. Of these, 10 per cent are reserved for Muslim OBCs. Out of the two crore six lakh crore Muslims in the state, one crore 82 lakh Muslims will now benefit from this step. Coupled with this positive discrimination, the hugely expanded investment in education for the Muslims in madrasahs as well as other institutions of education for all stages, including universities, has set out a dramatic course of improvement for Muslims in the development process. Now the empowerment of minority Muslims is not merely through a remarkable level of land ownership but also through educational empowerment.

THE BATTLE AHEAD

In today’s context, if this is not an active Left policy, what is? It is precisely because of this record of the seventh Left Front government that it has come under attack from the extreme rightwing and, of course, imperialist interests. The added dimension today is of attacks from the pseudo-Left platform, spearheaded by the 'Maoists' and their intellectual apologists. However, that such an attack can be successfully met is more than evident from experiences in the past. With the support of the democratic, progressive and the Left movement in the country, the Left movement in West Bengal will definitely overcome this new challenge. The people of West Bengal are preparing for that very big battle.

People's Democracy, April 03, 2011

Unholy ‘Mahajot’ in West Bengal

Nilotpal Basu

THE process of political cohabitation between disparate forces to forge the `grand alliance' in West Bengal is coming out in the open. And it is a truly sordid story of systematic targeted killing and bloodbath. Many in the corporate media can hardly conceal their glee over the electoral reverses that the Left has come to suffer in its bastion. While many of these sections who highlight the commissions and omissions of the Left Front government and the weaknesses of the CPI (M), maintain a studied silence on the nature of the comprehensive anti-Left project that is clearly being played out in West Bengal. It is in this context that there is a genuine need to understand and comprehend the various strands of this overarching convergence of various forces and processes which is at work to successfully meet the central direction of this project – that of seriously undermining and dislodging the Left in West Bengal.

Since the late sixties the growth of the Left movement and the CPI (M) has faced severe attacks from the ruling classes. The premature removal of the United Front from office twice in the late sixties by the imposition of the president's rule with blatant abuse of Article 356 is part of the political history which was primarily aimed to thwart the rising tide of the movement of the workers and peasants. The most significant development during that phase of politics of the state was the unprecedented mobilisation of the landless, marginal and small peasants for land rights. The big land owning elements opposed the United Front government's thrust to identify ceiling surplus land, its vesting and redistribution among the rural poor. The popular struggle to ensure such a direction of the government was spearheaded by the CPI (M) during those troubled times. What is important to note is the decidedly rightist character of the platform which was forged to oppose the Left and dubbed efforts to ensure agrarian reform as one which caused ‘law and order’ problem and provoked anarchy.

But it was also clear that such a blatant rightwing thrust of the opposition to check the rising tide of the militant peasant movement was proving to be futile. It is in that context that the ultra-Left movement surfaced in the tiny hamlet of Naxalbari in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. Later on, as a sequel to the essentially agrarian nature of the protest, it degenerated into largely armed activities of urban groups of youth and students. That these activities were almost exclusively directed against the CPI (M) and the Left was a foregone conclusion given the experience of the ultra Left anywhere in the world. It was also in the background of such a course of development that the 9th Congress of the CPI (M) noted “…petty-bourgeois adventurism must degenerate into an anti-working class, anti-revolutionary line and its inevitable destiny was to serve the interests of the ruling classes”. Finally, the movement that started with pronouncement of ushering in a `revolutionary transformation' got completely hijacked by the Congress and paved the way for the period of semi-fascist terror of the seventies.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

For the last thirty years since the Left Front government has been in office in West Bengal, the Naxalite movement has generally faded into oblivion. The reasons were obvious. What proved decisive in the isolation of the naxalites was the successful and widespread land reform that was led by the organised Left. This process got statutory backing when the Left Front government came to power. So the combination of socio-economic development, political and ideological interventions by the CPI (M) and the organised Left led to the situation that prevailed in West Bengal during the last three decades.

The reappearance of the sporadic actions of the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the CPI (ML)-(People's War Group) in the beginning of this decade were however not based on any sustained work of the ultra Left in the largely tribal dominated areas of West Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia -loosely referred to as the Jangalmahal. These activities which again were mostly limited to carrying out ‘hit and run’ armed attacks against the CPI (M) killing its cadre. These activities were carried out with their bases in Jharkhand which had a long border with these districts. Subsequent to the formation of the CPI (Maoist) these forays increased. But what has really ensured the scaling up of the Maoist activities and violence with CPI (M) as its principal target has been the open support that they have come to enjoy from the Trinamul Congress.

The Trinamul Congress suffered a major electoral drubbing in the 2006 assembly elections. Apart from the positive support of the people to the policies of the Left Front government a major instrumental factor in the electoral outcome was the TMC's association with the BJP which by the time had come to face increasing political isolation following the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. In fact the Left movement in the country based on the strength of the support it enjoyed of the people of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura against the communal-fascist politics of the saffron brigade and its aggressive neo-liberal promotion of the ‘Shining India’ paradigm contributed largely to the BJP's electoral predicament. The 2006 assembly elections were also an endorsement of the people to the Left Front's call for setting up new industries.

It had become apparent to the Indian ruling classes and particularly to the most die-hard political opponents of the Left -epitomised by the Trinamul Congress -that the Left in West Bengal cannot be undermined by the traditional rightwing platform which had been repeatedly attempted and failed in the past. Therefore, the need for an image makeover and refashioning the formal thrust of the opposition platform was initiated. The Trinamul Congress rallied some of the fringe naxalite groups and the SUCI around it on the question of opposition to use of agricultural land per se for setting up industry and infrastructure.

It is this background which saw many disparate forces coming together for their own reasons to undermine the Left Front government. The CPI (M)'s opposition to the pro-US imperialist shift in our foreign policy provided great impetus to both the forces of imperialism and the domestic ruling elite who preferred such a shift to engage more actively to lend support to this political project of launching a fresh political offensive. These sections were oblivious of the Left wing pretensions and avowed defence of the rights of small and marginal farmers who had come to overwhelmingly own agricultural land in the state. Incidentally, during the Left Front tenure an unprecedented 84 per cent of the cultivable land in the state was under the ownership of the small and marginal farmers. These advocates of neo-liberal globalisation had no confusion about the real nature of the Left sounding verbiage that the Trinamul Congress and its voluble supremo Mamata Banerjee were spitting. They knew right away that the pathological hatred that the Trinamul Congress harboured towards the CPI(M) and the Left can hardly result in anything but ultimately secure the most favourable atmosphere for the Right once the Left could be undermined.

Since the developments in Nandigram, this sinister nexus was becoming increasingly apparent. The methods which were employed in Nandigram pointed towards the involvement of political forces which were unlike the traditional anti-Left forces. The digging up of roads, the blowing up of bridges and the targeted killing of the CPI (M) activists in Nandigram created that situation where the entire area was out of bounds for the administration much before the unfortunate police firing of March 14, 2007. Later on, the Maoists themselves have revealed details about their involvement in Nandigram. In fact, a document of the West Bengal-Jharkhand Committee of the Maoists had pointed out that there is a growing opportunity for them to unite with different anti-Left political forces and forge an ‘all-in unity’ against the CPI (M) which according to them was a `social fascist' force. It is important to note that as is wont with the ultra Left, they did not find it necessary to elaborate economic, social or political factors leading to such a characterisation. The type of ammunitions that were unearthed, the eyewitness accounts of training given to the Trinamul led Bhoomi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee, the umbrella organisation which spearheaded the Nandigram agitation were tell tale signs of Maoist presence. Of course, subsequently, it did not require any formal investigation to establish such a connection. The Maoist leaders themselves, notably Koteswar Rao, alias Kishanji has made that explicit. Claiming the support that the Maoists had provided to the Trinamul in Nandigram they urged a quid pro quo from Mamata Banerjee vis a vis Lalgarh and Jangalmahal. That the Maoists were there and continue to have operational contacts is clear from the manner in which Nishikanta Mondal -the pradhan of Sonachura gram panchayat – the epicentre of the Nandigram agitation was eliminated by the Maoists. Mamata Banejree and the Trinamul Congress leadership had tried to shift the onus of the assassination of Mondal on the CPI (M). The Maoists came out with a strong rebuttal claiming responsibility for the murder. The Maoists further claimed that elimination of Mondal was the result of his attempt to shrug off the Maoists.

The Maoists have actually rubbished Mamata's claim. In a report published by the Telegraph on November 27, 2009, (which by no means can be faulted for its Left sympathies!)

A statement purportedly by Selim, head of the Maoists’ Nandigram zonal committee, said: “You (Mamata) had said at a rally at Sonachura recently that it was the CPM who brought us to Nandigram in 2007 and provided us with safe passage to flee. You know it was a lie.”

Selim invited the railway minister to an open debate at Sonachura. “If you believe what you said in your speech was a fact, please come to Sonachura and we will prove who is right, you or us.”

The statement also criticised Mamata’s proposal for engaging the army in Lalgarh.

It said: “We appointed Narayan to lead the Nandigram movement against CPM cadres. Trinamul MP Subhendu Adhikary knows how many times Narayan visited Nandigram and how he worked among the people of the area.

“You had delivered a speech from a place in Sonachura after the death of Nishikanta Mandal, the local (Trinamul) gram panchayat pradhan. It was the same place where Adhikary had shared a stage with Narayan and our state committee member Sukumar to address the people of Nandigram.”

The Maoist leader explained why Mandal was killed by his men: “After Trinamul achieved political success in Nandigram, it wanted to drive us out of the area. Mandal was planning to hand over Narayan to police. He had to pay for his betrayal. We are still active in Nandigram and we will be there in future.”

The Lalgarh episode was sparked off following police actions in the area in the wake of a mine blast which was intended to kill the West Bengal chief minister on 2 November 2008, when he was returning from a programme in Salboni to inaugurate a steel plant. Incidentally there was no agitation on land acquisition in the proposed site of the plant neither was any SEZ proposal involved. The so-called People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) which had been created in the wake of the attempted assassination was not interested in anything else but disallowing the entry of the state administration and the police personnel into the area. Subsequently, it became clear that they were acting as the front of the Maoists demanding withdrawal of cases against the Maoist squad leader Sasadhar Mahato who had carried out the assassination attempt on the West Bengal chief minister.

Trinamul Congress And Maoists

The link between the PCAPA and the Trinamul Congress was also clear from the very beginning. The PCAPA spokesperson Chhatradhar Mahato, Sashadhar's brother, had been a former Trinamul Congress local leader. Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and other Trinamul leaders had also attended events organised by the PCAPA in Lalgarh during this phase though these areas were otherwise out of bounds of the administration. Now even the home minister has admitted in the Rajya Sabha (on 2 December) that the PCAPA is “only a front organisation to the CPI (Maoist)”.

In February 2009, Mamata Banerjee and other leaders of the Trinamul Congress attended political events of the PCAPA in Kantapahari the Maoist stronghold. The Trinamul Congress refused to accept that the committee was a Maoist front and did their level best to legitimise them as a genuine mouthpiece for `spontaneous unrest' of tribals who were `suffering under the 32 years of Left Front misrule'. The Trinamul Congress has spared no efforts to oppose the joint operation of central and state police in Lalgarh and adjoining areas and call for the withdrawal of those forces. Mamata Banerjee in her inimical style had claimed time and again that the assassination attempt of the chief minister was `stage managed' by the CPI (M) and Maoist presence in Lalgarh and Jangalmahal is a figment of the CPI (M)'s imagination.

But as and how the Maoist involvement in Lalgarh became impossible to deny, the task became all the more onerous given the overall stand of the central government on the Maoist question highlighted by the prime minister's observation `Maoist violence is the single largest threat to the country's internal security'. Meanwhile, the Maoist leadership was also making it impossible for Trinamul and Mamata to deny the complicity. Kishanji on 4 October 2009 clearly stated that Mamata was their preferred choice for becoming the next chief minister of the state. Of course, the Maoist leader Kishanji justified that with weird argument that Mamata being an all important individual with the sole proprietorship of her party – could be manipulated in favour of the people and insulated from the overall ruling class policy framework. The Maoists are real dreamers! They can bring themselves to ignore the fact that Trinamul Congress is a part of the central government which pursues a pro-imperialist neo-liberal policy. But on the other hand Kisanji's claims to Ananda Bazar Patrika- the spearhead of the media offensive against the Left-underlines the danger that democracy and the people face from such an obnoxious combination.

Undeterred by the failure of Trinamul and Mamata to call off the joint operation, Maoists have time and again repeated their pleas – at times even assuming a cajoling tone to pursue their goal. The Trinamul Congress of course has repeated its opposition to the joint operation and Trinamul leaders not only at the grass root level but also central ministers and other leading functionaries have visited Lalgarh to provide with specific assurances for operational support. The infiltration of Trinamul ranks by Maoist elements is a fact which has been confirmed by security experts and also substantiated by official intelligence received by both the central and the state governments.

Instances of Trinamul-Maoist nexus are almost unlimited. But the most explicit of these was played out around the siege of Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express near Jhargram. That the siege was the handiwork of the Maoists was apparent from the very outset given the demands of those who perpetrated this crime. Neatly scribbled demand for the release of Chatradhar Mahato who had admitted that he was appointed the spokesman for the PCAPA by the Maoist operatives was a clear proof of the Maoist involvement. In fact the Maoists have given call for bandhs in the area demanding his release. But the railway minister refused to accept the truth and tried initially to blame it on the CPI(M). Later, the railway FIR did not even mention the Maoists.

The unsatiable thirst for power has landed the Trinamul Congress and its supremo in the company of all kinds of forces who are inimical to the interests of the people, democracy and development. This has happened in the past as well. Otherwise, how can one forget the ganging up with the BJP-- from the very day the Trinamul was born. Today, it seems that notwithstanding the broad political consensus in the country over the disastrous course that the Maoists have embarked upon – the Trinamul Congress and its leader is acting as if they are in siege. This sinister political course has to be defeated. Peace, democracy and people's welfare face an unprecedented challenge in West Bengal. It is a challenge which does not only affect the Left. For all patriots and well meaning people it calls for action. The central government also has a responsibility. The lessons of the Bhindranwale phenomenon cannot be lost on us.

Tribals used as pawns in Maoists' game

By Nilotpal Basu

29 Jun 2009, 0536 hrs IST, TNN

Lalgarh has attracted an unbelievable amount of frontpage news space and primetime slots, not only in Bengal but also nationally. Why has the media otherwise obsessed with cricket or Bollywood shown signs of such an overwhelming interest in a subject so intensely political (or drab,' as one may put it)?

One cannot dismiss the new-found interest in Lalgarh as trivial. Unfortunately, the Lalgarh question has seldom been addressed in a holistic manner.

What does Lalgarh signify? Is it about a "revolutionary" Maoist insurrection? Is it purely a collective expression of innocent tribal outrage against "failed governance"? Or is it about the collapse of CPI(M) in the western districts of Bengal? Was the violence, so clearly directed against CPI(M) and the administration, spontaneous?

An attempt to answer these questions might help us unravel reality from consciously built myth; or, in the words of Deng Xiao Ping, one of Mao's closest comrades and a fellow long marcher, "To seek the truth from the facts".

West Bengal, Naxalbari to be precise, has been the cradle of ultra-Left movement in the country. It could have spread to other parts of the state, but the rural poor refused to be swayed by extremism, cherishing the fruits of the most comprehensive agrarian reforms. The Rightwing security doctrinaires in the wake of Lalgarh, however, refused to concede this achievement to the economic, political and importantly, ideological battle of the organized Left.

The Maoist activities were particularly intense after the formation of CPI(Maoist) with the merger of CPI-ML(PW) group and MCC. The new entity, however, differs fundamentally from the Naxalilte movement of the Sixties. While the latter sprung out of incorrect assessment of the method and course of the agrarian reforms, the Maoists do not believe in partial struggle to mobilize the rural poor to achieve mass demands. Ganapati, the general secretary of CPI(Maoist), has been quite candid: "Our choice of remote forest areas for our guerrilla activities are prompted to suit our military strategic needs." It has to do very little with the concern for uplifting the lot of the poor tribals.

In Lalgarh, what has been evident is not the urgency to lead the tribals to articulate their sufferings, but a calculated move to use these hapless people as human shields and use them as pawns to quench the drive for establishing military control. Not that there is no issue of development in Lalgarh. But the questions of jal, jangal and jameen (water, forest and land), which inspire tribal disquiet in the rest of the country, has in fact played little role in Lalgarh.

The simple reason is that the most important issue land has been largely addressed in these tribal-dominated areas. Till 2008, a total of 1,76,668 tribals have received land pattas for 1,97,350.49 acres. This is in West Midnapore district alone. On the forest produce, 88 LAMPS have been created to facilitate the earnings of tribals from forest wealth, aimed at undermining the role of the contractors who exploited them. In fact, it is revealing that PCPA leader Chhatradhar Mahato happened to be a forest contractor.

But this is not to say that there is no need to redouble efforts to address development concerns. The early activities of the Maoists in the region were specifically aimed at undermining the creation of physical and social infrastructure.

Lalgarh, and the three other gram panchayat areas that stand pivotal to Maoist activities, were never CPI(M) bastions. All four are presently controlled by the Trinamool-Jharkhand Party-Congress combine. The Assembly seat of Binpur, under which Lalgarh falls, is held by Jharkhand party (Naren). So, the majority of the mainstay of the movement are not CPI(M) deserters.

This is not to say that political opponents need not be won over. The battle against Maoists will have to be grounded in efforts to overcome the development deficit and isolate them from people. Firm administrative actions to silence the guns is not the be-all and end-all of our battle to deliver justice to tribals and the rural poor. It can usher in a new phase of initiatives on the social, economic, political and ideological fronts. We owe this to the victims of mindless violence. A consensus across political parties to pursue this objective is the need of the hour.

The writer is CPI(M)'s central committee member