‘Flawed programme and practice’ : Prakash Karat

T.K. RAJALAKSHMI

Interview with Prakash Karat, general secretary, CPI(M)

PRAKASH KARAT SAYS the Maoists will end up helping the state.

AS a party based on the Marxist-Leninist ideology, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has serious differences in theory and practice with the Maoist groups in the country. In an interview to Frontline, party general secretary Prakash Karat explained why the tactics of the Maoist groups will never help solve the problem of poverty. Excerpts:

Q: How does the CPI(M) assess the spurt of Maoist activity? Politically, how do you view the approach of the Maoist groups?

KARAT: The Maoists claim to be a revolutionary force. But they are far from being an organisation based on a Marxist outlook. Though they call themselves a communist party, their ideology and practice go against the basic principles of Marxism and what a communist party should be. Their programme and practice are flawed; they do not even recognise the realities. They harp on India being still a semi-colonial country; their politics is based on the gun and the use of violence, which essentially disrupts the working class movement and mass mobilisation. By indulging in senseless violence mainly directed at its political opponents, the Maoists end up helping the state to come down heavily on the people they claim to champion.

Q: The Left Front government in West Bengal has been at the receiving end of such violence for some time now. How has the character of such activities changed over the years?

KARAT: The Maoists have been trying to organise and be active in West Bengal for quite some time now. They have failed to acquire a mass base. Where they are active is mainly in the border districts of Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Bankura, all bordering Jharkhand. Here we have seen how, in the past few months, they have systematically targeted the cadre and supporters of the CPI(M). Though they claim to have popular support, the Maoists are not willing to put it to the test. The CPI(M), which has a large mass base among the tribal people, is opposed to the disruptive politics and violence of the Maoists. That is why they are indulging in targeted assassinations and killings. Some of the people they have killed have been executed in a brutal fashion, in front of their family members. How can the killing of CPI(M) workers, most of them poor tribal people, be considered a revolutionary activity by any standard? It is now well known that the Maoists collaborated with the Trinamool Congress to fight the CPI(M) and the Left Front. This is a feature of the Maoists elsewhere too. Their squads have no hesitation in backing one bourgeois party or the other. It can be seen in Bihar and in other States too. Most of the people killed by the Maoists, apart from policemen, are poor peasants, agricultural workers or the rural poor.

Q: There has been a palpable change in the Central government’s approach to these Maoist groups. It now views them as a serious threat. At the Chief Ministers’ conference on internal security in Kolkata recently, Home Minister P. Chidambaram described naxalites as the biggest threat to internal security. Do you think that just stepping up police and other paramilitary support is enough to quell the activities of these groups?

KARAT: As far as the CPI(M) is concerned, we think that the Maoists have to be fought and countered politically and ideologically. Wherever they are active and try to mobilise the tribal people and poorer sections, they must be combated politically. When they indulge in violence and terrorising of political opponents, administrative steps have to be taken to curb them. It is not possible to deal with them only politically when they are resorting to large-scale killing. In Lalgarh alone, in the past few months, more than 60 CPI(M) supporters were killed by the Maoists.

The Central government has announced it will deploy more paramilitary forces in some of the Maoist-affected States. This alone is not sufficient. In those areas, the government must embark upon socio-economic development; there have to be immediate measures to execute land reforms and provide basic services to the people. Without a comprehensive approach that deals with people’s problems in backward and tribal areas, the Maoist threat cannot be contained. The government should identify such areas and plan concrete measures, which is not being done sufficiently at present.

The Maoists have to understand that they won’t be able to accomplish anything by their sectarian and adventurous approach of resorting to arms and violence. They should learn from the experience of the Maoist party in Nepal. Building a mass movement on a political platform and relying on the people for political change can be the only correct perspective.

Q: There have been expressions of support for the Maoist cause, sporadically of course, from a section of the intelligentsia. It confers a certain degree of legitimacy to the Maoist approach and acceptance of their tactics.

KARAT: Some intellectuals and civil liberties organisations refuse to see the enormous damage being done by the Maoists by their senseless and indiscriminate violence. For some of these intellectuals, it seems as if they do not want to get into the hard work and grind of building a genuine mass movement but take vicarious satisfaction in supporting such pseudo-revolutionary activities.

Poverty can never be eliminated by such violent tactics as it only disrupts the possibility of developing a powerful and united mass struggle against exploitation and the iniquitous order. By just targeting a few so-called enemies of the people, one cannot bring about any change in the system of injustice existing today.

FRONTLINE, Volume 26 - Issue 22 :: Oct. 24-Nov. 06, 2009

TMC-MAOIST VIOLENCE IN LALGARH

Trinamul-Maoist Violence Against the Left in West Bengal

Since the results of the Lok Sabha elections have been announced, a spate of attacks have been organisedagainst activists and supporters of the CPI(M) in West Bengal. In Khejuri in East Midnapore and Lalgarhin West Midnapore, CPI(M) activists have been physically attacked and murdered, Party offices burntdown and hundreds of CPI(M) supporters forcibly driven out of the villages, by organized and armedgangs led by the Trinamul Congress and Maoists. Targeted assassinations of CPI(M) leaders have alsotaken place in the districts of Bardhaman, Birbhum, Purulia and Howrah. This planned and organisedviolence has been continuing right from the time the Lok Sabha polls were announced. Since then over 70 CPI(M) leaders and activists have been martyred across West Bengal.

A notable feature of this spate of attacks against the CPI(M) in Bengal is the open nexus between theMaoists and mainstream opposition parties, particularly the Trinamul Congress. Their present objective isclearly to physically eliminate the CPI(M) and create anarchy in the state in order to destabilize thedemocratically elected State Government. This nexus, however, is not unique to West Bengal. The socalledMaoists in India, who have refused to abandon the path of individual assassination and mindlessacts of terror, have since long degenerated into armed gangs, indulging in nefarious activities likeextortion, robbery and money laundering. Like criminal gangs, who forge links with political parties forpatronage and protection, the Maoists too have developed links with mainstream politicians in states likeAndhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. In these states, the involvement of the Maoists inelection related violence has not been limited to their enforcement of poll boycott calls. They have beenoften found involved in threatening or even killing candidates of one political party on behalf of another,and also indulging in booth capturing. In West Bengal, they have discovered a willing ally in the TrinamulCongress.

NANDIGRAM: MAOIST PRESENCE CONFIRMED

The links between the Trinamul Congress and the Maoists in West Bengal have surfaced during variousincidents of violence since the early years of this decade. However, it was the Nandigram episode in 2007that had brought this nexus out in the open. While reports in the media had pointed towards the activeinvolvement of Maoists in Nandigram, this was vehemently denied by all the opposition political partieslike the Trinamul Congress, Congress and the BJP, who were a part of the BUPC (Bhumi UcchedPratirodh Committee) in Nandigram. The recent interview by Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao (Kishanji) tothe Times of India (27th April 2009) has put all speculations to rest. He has not only confirmed the activeparticipation of the Maoists in the Nandigram violence but he also stated that the Trinamul Congress hadsupplied them with ammunitions. This corroborates the admissions of Himadri Sen Roy (Somen), theWest Bengal State Secretary of the CPI (Maoists), who was arrested by the police in February 2008. Onthe basis of his interrogation report prepared by the CID, the Indian Express (22nd June 2009) reports:

 “CPI (Maoist) leaders, including Somen, visited Nandigram in December 2006 to ‘assess thetemperament of locals’ when protests against land acquisition for a chemical hub just began.

 Based on the visit, a meeting of his party was held in Chakulia forest in Jharkhand in February2007 to devise a strategy for Nandigram. A decision was taken to keep the Maoists away from theforefront of agitation due to lack of organisational network in Nandigram. It was also decided toprocure arms. Accordingly, the party central committee sanctioned Rs 8 lakh, by which six .315rifles and 500 bullets worth Rs 4 lakh were purchased from one Sahoo based in Jharkhand.

 The consignment was received at Haldia, shipped to Nandigram and kept at the house of CPI(Maoist) East Midnapore zonal committee secretary Narayan's residence in Sonachura, theepicentre of Nandigram movement. Besides, 30 crude guns were procured locally. Narayan alsoacted as a link with the BUPC, whose members Karabi, Ranjit Pal and Dipak formed the Maoistsquad along with Narayan. [Maoist cadre Ranjit Pal was involved in the assassination of JMM MPSunil Mahato in Jharkhand in March 2007]

 Somen also visited Nandigram in July 2007 for two days and stayed at Narayan's residence.TrinamulMaoistViolence Against the Left in West Bengal

 Narayan was in contact with Trinamool MP from Tamluk Subendhu Adhikari, the then MLA fromContai South Assembly constituency, and BUPC leaders. Maoists also forged links with SidiqullahChowdhury's People's Democratic Council of India (PDCI), SUCI and Bandi Mukti Committee(BMC).

 Several Bengal intellectuals, including BMC president Mahasweta Devi, went to Nandigram at theMaoists’ behest to exhort people to join the antiacquisitionmovement.

 However, relations between the BUPC and Maoists soured when the former rejected a proposal toform volunteer groups to take on the CPI (M) cadres.

 Kishanji, also operating under the names of Pradip, Bimal, Prahalad and Sridhar, collected “levy”from contractors in Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore averaging Rs 8 lakh per month. He also received Rs 1.31.5lakh from the central party headquarters every month, which he distributeddirectly to the state unit. He wrote press statements of the party in English while Somen framed the Bengali ones.”

It is clear that the blockade of Nandigram, which continued till November 2007, had little to do with theprotest against land acquisition for the chemical hub. The State Government had explicitly abandoned the land acquisition proposal in February 2007 itself. The protest against land acquisition became aconvenient cover for legitimizing the gang up with the Maoists and unleashing open terror against the CPI (M).

LALGARH: ANARCHY REDUX

Having tasted blood in Nandigram, several attempts were made by the Trinamul Congress and theMaoists to create similar situations elsewhere in West Bengal. On 2nd November 2008, an attempt wasmade by the Maoists to assassinate the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, when hewas returning from Salboni in West Midnapore along with the Union Steel Minister after laying thefoundation stone of a steel plant. The landmine exploded by the Maoists missed the Chief Minister’sconvoy narrowly. The police launched operations to arrest the culprits and some suspects were arrested.In the process, however, the police indulged in some unjustifiable repressive measures in the Chotopeliavillage in Lalgarh, especially against some tribal women, one of whose eye was severely damaged. 11women lodged formal complaints about police torture.

This angered the local tribals who launched protests against the police led by the Bharat Jakat Majhi Marwa (BJMM), a body of adivasi community leaders. They demanded treatment and compensation forthe injured tribal women, action against the guilty police officials and release of the arrested suspects. On14th November the BJMM leadership reached an agreement with the local authorities. The administrationaccepted most the demands and provided treatment and compensation for the injured women, releasedeight of the accused including three school going boys who were arrested and the SP and the Inspector inCharge of Lalgarh police station were transferred.

However, a Committee against Police Atrocities (PSBJC or Police Sontrash Birodhi JanasadharanerCommittee), which was backed by the Maoists was formed which accused the BJMM leadership of sellingout. The PSJBC blockaded the entire Lalgarh area by digging up roads and felling trees, similar toNandigram, and made the area out of bounds for the police and the administration. They demanded apublic apology by the District Superintendent of Police of West Midnapore and other policemen byholding their ears and crawling with their nose to the ground. The administration tried to open dialoguewith them but the PSBJC continued with the blockade insisting upon the public apology by the policeofficials. That the PSBJC was not interested in resolving the issue in a peaceful and democratic mannerbecame clear with the continuing blockade.

The local tribal people were not in favour of the undemocratic tactics adopted by the Maoist backedPSBJC. The Bharat Jakat Majhi Marwa organised a rally to protest Maoist violence on 9th December in theBhulabheda area of Belpahari, where more than 10,000 adivasis had gathered. Sudhir Mandal, theadivasi leader who organised the rally, was shot dead by the Maoists less than 48 hours later. The PSBJCformed a parallel administration and its Maoist allies prevented the entry of the police and administrationin the villages of Belpahari, Binpur, Lalgarh, Jamboni, Salboni and Goaltore.

From here, the Maoist deathsquads launched a series of brutal attacks.

2nd February, 2009: CPI (M) leader Nandalal Pal was killed by the Maoists in Lalgarh. The next day,Maoists also attacked the funeral procession of the slain leader and killed three more tribal villagersRajaram Mandi, Lakhiram Mandi and Gopinath Soren in the Khasjangal area.

18th March, 2009: Two CPI (M) members and Kisan Sabha activists Durga Deshowali and SantoshMahato were killed by Maoists in front of Bhulabheda panchayat office in Belpahari.

10th April, 2009: CPI (M) activist Asim Mondal was shot dead by Maoists in front of the shop he owned atBhulabheda, Belpahari.

21st April, 2009: A small farmer, Hambir Mandi, who was also a CPI (M) supporter, was killed by Maoistsin Nadaria, Salboni. CPI (M) activist Sakti Sen was also killed in the attack.

23rd April, 2009: An armed gang of Maoists attacked a group of CPI (M) activists in Saluka village,Salboni. 10 CPI (M) activists were seriously injured but were prevented from being shifted to the hospital.Among the injured, Gopinath Murmu succumbed to his injuries. The Maoists burnt his dead body.

30th April, 2009: Three Election Commission (EC) personnel, Prasad Banerjee, Sougata Karmakar andSanjay Das (driver), were killed when Maoists triggered a landmine blast targeting their convoy afterpolling in Jamboni.

6th June, 2009: CPI (M) leader Jayanta Mahato was killed by Maoists at Dirghosa forest in Salboni. TheMaoists had announced at a meeting on 2nd June that Mahato would be killed.

11th June, 2009: CPI (M) activist Salku Soren was abducted by Maoists from his house at Kakracharavillage in Lalgarh. He was later shot dead inside a nearby forest.

14th June, 2009: Three CPI (M) activists, Asit Samanta, Naru Samanta and Prabir Mahato were killed inan attack by the Maoists in Dharampur, Lalgarh.

17th June, 2009: CPI (M) activist Anil Mahato, DYFI activist Niladri Mahato and SFI activist AbhijitMahato were killed by motorcycleborne Maoists in Lodhashuli.

It is clear that the blockaded area of Lalgarh was being used by the Maoists to launch murderous attacks,especially targeting CPI (M) activists and supporters. The objective of the blockade was also to shield theMaoists, who were behind the assassination attempt on the Chief Minister. This became clear whenMaoist cadre Shashadhar Mahato (Bikash), the prime suspect behind the assassination attempt, appearedbefore the media within the “liberated zone” of Lalgarh on 16th June with an AK 47 slung on hisshoulders. Bikash said on NDTV: “On 2nd November, our plan was to execute Buddhadeb. If people wantBuddhadeb hanged, who will hang him? It will be us of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army.” He wasmaking these statements with the CPI (M) local committee office in Dharampur burning in the backdropand the corpse of CPI (M) activist Salku Soren, who was killed few days back by the Maoists, lying besideit. It was in the backdrop of this murderous spree by the Maoists, that the State Government was forcedto launch a combined operation of the state police and the central security forces on 18th June 2009. Theobjective was to combat the Maoists and restore normalcy in the area.

TRINAMUL-MAOIST NEXUS

The Lalgarh episode has once again brought to the fore the nexus between the Trinamul Congress and the Maoists. The PSBJC Convenor Chatradhar Mahato, a contractor by profession, is the brother of thisMaoist Bikash. In an interview to NDTV on 22nd June, Chatradhar Mahato stated that he has been anactivist of the Trinamul Congress and actively campaigned for it during the Panchayat elections in 2008.He also admitted in a roundabout manner that his brother is a Maoist. Mamata Banerjee herself hasprovided active support to the Lalgarh blockade throughout and even addressed a rally of the PSBJC in Lalgarh on 4th February 2009, sharing the dais with Chatradhar Mahato. As the security forces’ operation in Lalgarh began, the double standards of Trinamul Congress and Mamata Banerjee got badly exposed:

17th June 2009

Partha Chatterjee, Trinamul MLA and leader of Opposition in WB Assembly: “If the Maoists areunleashing terror, then why is the CPI(M) not asking the government to ban the organisation. The ‘Maoistdrama’ has the support of the chief minister.” (Asian Age)

18th June 2009

Maoist leader Kishanji: “People will block the roads, the armed forces that come will be taught a lesson,the central govt., the Buddhadeb govt. will be taught a lesson…We are asking Mamata too, she was withus in Nandigram…now we want to know what stand she will take. She is now in the cabinet, the solemember from her party… The tribals here are sitting in protest against the Paramilitary forces, ready tofight them. Which side will Mamata support is what we want to know.” (NDTV)

20th June 2009

Mamata Banerjee: “If statements by Biman Bose and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee linking our party withMaoists are not withdrawn within 48 hours, we will agitate to demand sacking of the government by theCentre. We don't believe in individual killings and don't have link with Maoists. We have been demandinga ban on Maoists in the state…He himself (Buddhadeb Bhattacharya) had said once that he is fond ofMaoist books and literature and has them at his residence.” (Outlook)

Kishanji: “She is playing a political game. Even though she is a member of the Central Cabinet, she hasnot said a single word against sending Central forces to Lalgarh. Now, to gain sympathy in West Bengal,she is saying that the police and the CPI(M) unleashed a reign of terror in Junglemahal. This is clearly acase of double standards on her part. The mask has fallen from her face…After the Lalgarh movementstarted, Mamata Banerjee visited Lalgarh. The locals allowed her to visit this place. But now she will notbe able to come to Lalgarh or any parts of Junglemahal. We have also decided that we will prevent herfrom entering Nandigram and Singur, where we were part of the movement.” (Asian Age)

22nd June 2009

Kishanji: “Mamata’s real interest is to grab power in West Bengal. Had she been sincere, she would havestepped down from the Union cabinet because the Centre has joined hands with the state government tounleash a reign of terror in Lalgarh” (India Today)

29th June 2009

Mamata Banerjee: “I am once again urging the central government not to provide support to the CPIMat Lalgarh and use central forces to unearth illegal arms stocked by the party…I urge the Centre toimmediately convene an emergency meeting to be attended by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee andHome Minister P Chidambaram to review what actually is happening at Lalgarh in the name of flushingout Maoists.” (Hindustan Times)

1st July , 2009

Mamata Banerjee: “What is going on at Lalgarh is a total drama. There are no Maoist activists in theregion. If there had been any ultraLeftactivists, they have by now already fled the area and the LeftFront government has allowed them to flee. Now in the name of running joint operations against theMaoists, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is just trying to regain its political base…” (EconomicTimes)

CONCLUSION

Despite the fact that not even one person has been injured or killed by the security forces since thebeginning of the joint operations in June 2009, Maoist sympathizers have launched a high pitchedcampaign against “state repression” and “atrocities” in order to mislead people on the ground situation inLalgarh. The fact is that 15 more CPI (M) activists and supporters have been assassinated by the Maoistssince the launch of the operations. Efforts by the Maoist sympathizers and the Trinamul Congress to stallthe operations of the security forces is nothing but an attempt to perpetuate the reign of terror by theMaoists. The unholy nexus between the Trinamul Congress and the Maoists and their antidemocraticandviolent politics need to be exposed thoroughly.

(A SFI-JNU Pamphlet on TMC-Maoist Violence in Lalgarh)

Defeat This Politics of Violence: A CPI(M) publication

Foreword

This pamphlet aims to bring out the true facts about the recent developments in West Bengal. It is difficult for people outside the State to comprehend the extent of the politics of violence being practiced against Left cadre and supporters by the combine led by the Trinamul Congress. In the last over three decades of Left front Government in West Bengal, the state has been more or less free of the kind of vandalism and violence we are witnessing today.

The facts in this pamphlet provide details of and context of the present violence. There is a virtual blackout in the media, with a few honourable exceptions, of reports of the brutality of the violence and the extent of it. It would seem that sections of the media have taken on the role of an opposition partyin West Bengal with not even a fig leaf of impartiality.This is not a new development. However, the vitriol and the range of personalised attacks certainly provide a new low in the record of media reporting.The most recent examples are the misleading reports on Lalgarh and its developments. It is being reported as if the entire adivasi community has been alienated from the CPI (M).

However, the fact remains that in spite of the concerted efforts of the TMC alliance with its overt and covert contact and work with the Maoists in the area, in the Lok Sabha elections, the CPI (M) candidate Comrade Pulin Baskey won the ST reserved seat by around 3 lakh votes. The Binpur Assembly constituency, under which Lalgarh falls, was won by the Jharkhand Party in the last asembly election. In the Lok Sabha elections however, the Left Front candidate won a majority in the Binpur Assembly segment. Lalgarh is a Gram Panchayat within the Binpur block in West Midnapur district. There are nine GPs in the same block. Binpur Assembly constituency is composed of the GPs of Binpur I and II.

Details of how the situation in Lalgarh developed following the failed attempt by the Maoists to kill Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on November 2,2008 are given in this pamphlet. The links of the TMC chieftain with the Maoists have been exposed in the statements given by Maoist leaders themselves. These too are detailed in this pamphlet. Just before the 15th Lok Sabha elections were announced, the TMC supremo herself went to express her solidarity with thepro-Maoist committee (Peoples Committee against Police Atrocities) formed in the area under the leadership of a former Trinamul Congress leader Chhatradhar Mahato. She shared the same platform to address the people in the presence of the leadership of the PCAPA. No other political party was allowed to visit the area, which had been blockaded by the committee. However, while Left party leaders were being targeted and sought to be killed, she along with other TMC leaders could go there without any security!

Today when she disclaims any contact with these groups does it have any credibility? It is also now clear as daylight that the TMC is playing the main role in creating chaos and disorder along with the other right-wing political parties as well as the left extremist political outfits. This fact has been corroborated by one of the topmost leader of the CPI(Maoist), Koteswara Rao (Kishanji), through a TV interview. He confirmed that they helped the TMC to drive out the CPI(M) from Nandigram and adjacent areas. In return, he wanted the TMC leader who was now a Union Minister to come forward and help them to do same in Lalgarh. These details are also brought out in this pamphlet.

It must be underlined that contrary to the claims made by asection of pro-Maoist intellectuals that they are revolutionaries, these self-styled Maoists have nothing incommon with the work and practice of the great revolutionary Mao-Tse Tung. During the lifetime and after the demise of comrade Mao, the Chinese Communist Party(CPC) never used the term ‘Maoism,’ to denote a theory. Rather, in the literature of the CPC and in the documents of their Party Congress's, the CPC has said that it follows Marxism-Leninism and Mao-ze Dong Thought.

It is evident through the interpretation of the CPC how comrade Mao applied Marxism-Leninism to the specific conditions obtaining in China basing on its special characteristics. This is known as Mao-ze Dong thought.Those who are using the term ‘Maoism,’ are completely disregarding and dishonouring the vast revolutionary activities of Comrade Mao. These self-styled Maoists have degenerated into armed groups and have no qualms in killing poor people who dare oppose their extortionist terror.

This pamphlet contains two articles published in The Hinduwritten by senior journalist Shri Praveen Swami, which give details about the situation in Lalgarh.Women have been particularly affected in the ongoing violence.

A report of the West Bengal Women’s Commisson of their recent investigation into incidents of violence and the impact on women is also included in the this pamphlet.

All Party units throughout the country are campaigning insolidarity with the Left movement in West Bengal and to protest the attacks on the CPIM) and Left cadre and supporters. We have to expose the true nature of the activities of the CPI (Maoist) and their wrong politics and actions in Lalgarh and elsewhere. We have to also expose the politics of violence of the TMC led combine and its links with the Maoists. I believe this pamphlet will contribute to strengthening this effort.

Biman Basu

Member, Polit Bureau

Secretary, West Bengal State Committee

For more details of the pamhlet visit this link:

www.cpim.org/documents/2009-august-bengal%20violence.pdf

Violence against the organised Left in West Bengal

By Jayati Ghosh

The appalling violence that has been unleashed against Left cadres and other innocent citizens in West Bengal is not just deeply disturbing in its own right. It is also a sickening reminder of the dreadful period of the 1970s. At that time, when the Left Front was still essentially an incipient political force and there was fierce contestation for state power, West Bengal was the site of the most noxious and vicious targeted violence against Left individuals, aided and abetted by the then government at the Centre. When the Left targets started retaliating, West Bengal became the terrain of dreadful and continuous violence between groups.

All this happened more than thirty years ago, and therefore most people involved in the current violence – whether as perpetrators or victims – did not experience it, do not remember it and at best are only dimly aware of those terrible years. This forgetfulness is itself is a triumph of the Left movement and indeed of the Left Front government in the state – that it succeeded in bringing peace to a very troubled and violent state, and that too for an extended period of more than three decades. This success has been ignored in much of the current political discourse and media analysis, and indeed has not even been adequately recognised by those within the Left Front themselves.

Of course this does not mean that there was no violence at all in this period, or even that the state government succeeded in completely eliminating all forms of politically motivated aggression. But certainly the appalling tension and corrosive political violence of the early 1970s appeared to have become a thing of the past. West Bengal was also remarkable among most other states in the country in keeping at bay the communal and caste-based conflict that has become endemic to many other states in the country.

This remarkable achievement has clearly been undermined in the recent past, partly because of some mistakes made by the state government, but even more so because of the cynical manipulation of people’s sentiments by the political opposition.

The “Maoist” takeover of Lalgarh and the need to bring in large numbers of state and central paramilitary forces to bring back normal administration in the area is only one example of this, even though it has received the greatest prominence in the national media. But the violence and targeted damage to life and public and personal property have not been limited to this kind of declaration of “liberated zones”.

After the election results, across the state, Left supporters, and particularly members and sympathisers of the CPI(M) have been brutally attacked, assassinated, severely wounded, and their personal property destroyed. The presumption of the attackers apparently is that their victims will not retaliate in kind. Of course that is absolutely correct, since it is clear at least to the Left parties as well as to all right-thinking people that to do so would only cause descent into the worst kind of destructive chaos.

But this restraint should not be interpreted to mean that the state government will remain helpless and inactive in the face of post-election disorder. The operations in Lalgarh have already shown that the state government has been forced to take on the local violence there through its own quasi-military operations. But elsewhere in the state as well, the horrific proliferation of violent attacks also has to be dealt with sternly and quickly.

This is where the role of the opposition parties in the state, the central government, and indeed the national media, all assume so much significance. It is no secret that much of the recent violence has come directly from members or supporters of the Trinamool Congress. It is also no secret that the so-called Maoists in some districts have been first openly and then tacitly supported by the Trinamool Congress, which is reported to have also provided financial and other support to such groups in the past, with the single-point agenda of destroying stability in the state and somehow forcing the collapse of the elected Left Front government.

And the mainstream media has displayed remarkable double standards about the violence in West Bengal and the state response to it. In any other state, such violence would have been immediately condemned. But for West Bengal, the rules are apparently different. On the one hand, there have been calls for the resignation of the state government on grounds of lack of legitimacy because of the recent election results, and a presumption that open violence targeting Left cadre is only to be expected; and on the other hand the government has been pilloried for inaction, when it is well-known that an immediate firm response would have been immediately condemned as being too heavy-handed and aggressive.

But the media response is deeply disingenuous. It is certainly true that the recent election has been a major setback for the Left and especially the CPI(M) and especially in West Bengal. There is correctly introspection and acceptance of the need for course correction.

Yet the extent of the setback also should not be overplayed. With all its flaws and errors of omission and commission, which the party and the ruling state government have themselves accepted, the Left still commands a lot of electoral support in West Bengal. The latest results from the Election Commission show that the CPI(M) got 33.1 per cent of all the votes cast, and together with its other Left Front allies, got 43.3 per cent of the votes. This is only 1.3 percentage points less than the Trinamool Congress (31.18 per cent) and Congress Party (13.45 per cent) taken together. This hardly qualifies as cause for rejection of the state government, and certainly cannot possibly justify any targeted violence against state cadre.

The central government has also played an unsavoury role in the recent violence, with its slow response to the desperate pleas for outside support to control the violence and its implicit encouragement of forces that are out to destroy the Left Front. The cynical attempt to use those who see themselves as “ultra-left” to destroy the Left clearly has wider backing, including from imperialist forces that have not forgiven the Left for its principled opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal and similar alliances.

But this is not just short-sighted, it is also deeply dangerous. The central government too must recognise that allowing this to continue would backfire on itself, much in the same way that Indira Gandhi’s encouragement of the Sikh extremist Bhindranwale in the early 1980s, in order to annoy the opposition party in Punjab, ultimately backfired quite viciously on the Congress Party and the central government.

LALGARH:THE DEVELOPMENTS

By Biman Basu

LALGARH Gram Panchayat (GP) area under Binpur I Panchayat Samity (PS) is presently known to the different cross sections of society for numerous reasons. Therefore, we are to explain the reasons behind the sudden shot up of the name of Lalgarh in the media. Lalgarh GP is surrounded by Poita GP, Dharampur GP, Sijua GP, Ramgarh GP, Binpur GP, Belatikari GP, Andharia GP, Dahijuri GP, and Nepura GP.

The total number of GP seats in the above GPs is around 100 out of which Lalgarh has 10 only. Yet, geographically Lalgarh is not a central place of all these GPs, but available connectivity puts Lalgarh at the central stage. However, Lalgarh is not a ‘red fort.’ It has such a name alone. Binpur I and II blocks constitute the Binpur (ST) assembly constituency. Lalgarh is within this constituency.

Since 1977, assembly elections have taken place in the state seven times and the Left Front-nominated CPI(M) candidates won in 1977, 1987, 1991—thus only three times from this constituency, and the rest of the occasions the seat went to the Jharkhand Party (Naren Hansda faction). At present, Chunibala Hansda of the Jharkhand Party is the MLA from this constituency.

It is a fact that the state Left Front government has already declared in the Human Development Report in 2004 that many of the villages under Binpur assembly constituency are backward. The state government through the three-tier Panchayati raj system, wanted to implement many developmental projects but due to the ‘Maoist’ opposition and reluctance of the Jharkhand Party, the efforts of development could not be implemented properly so far.

They even opposed the digging of ponds, construction of roads, and went in for destruction of the small bridges; they blew up road rollers, and cement mixture machines used for road construction, and even did not spare the tourism buildings and nearby Panchayat offices, which were blasted. They even stopped the mobile health service to the rural, tribal, and other oppressed sections of the society, and killed Dr Dhaniram Mandi, nurse Bharati Kisku, and a mobile medicare van driver.

The same brand of anti-Left forces including ‘Maoists,’ attempted to kill the Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee by planting a ‘directional mine.’ Since then, they formed a frontal organisation called the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities or PCAPA, and started to spread their activities in and around Lalgarh virtually disallowing the normal rule of law. They wanted to spread their day-to-day activities in all this GP area to stop the functioning of the state administration, and to make a small hamlet to be a government within a government. They started collecting levy from teachers, government employees, shopkeepers, and they even went on to collect funds from the BDO in his office.

AIM OF THESE ATTACKS

It is a known fact that since 2001, ‘Maoists’ started to build their contacts in West Midnapore, Bankura, and Purulia districts and in certain areas, waged concerted attacks against the Left forces targeting the CPI(M) as the main enemy. They also tried to spread their activities in certain other districts. In the above-mentioned districts alone until date, they have killed 74 CPI(M) leaders, workers, close sympathisers, and one Forward Bloc worker. Also, hundreds of other people were driven out from their own living places and residences. In total, they have killed 111 people.

Out of this figure, 88 general people were killed among whom 74 are landless or poor peasants and 25 are tribals. It is true that these ‘Maoists’ would create a sense of terror in large sections of forest areas which is commonly called jangal mahal. It is also true that in these districts, the base of CPI(M), the Left forces, and their political activities are noticeable. ‘Maoists’ wanted to break this political base through armed attacks, and all sorts of anti-CPI(M) forces including internal and external reactionary forces wanted to utilise ‘Maoists’ to weaken the Left Front and the CPI(M) political base.

It is revealed in The Economist, June 27-July 3 issue under the caption of ‘India’s Naxalite: a rag-tag rebellion’ the name of Chatradhar Mahato and his activities covering some 2000 villages with a joint force of PCAPA and ‘Maoist’ guerrillas. The magazine in the post- 2004 parliamentary elections, wrote the first article with a photo of Dr Manmohan Singh, captioned ‘bad days for India.’ In the post-2009 parliamentary elections, an article was captioned ‘good days for India – don’t waste.’ This signifies how the western lobby keeps a close watch on the development of the Left and democratic movement in Indian politics.

The self-styled leader of the so-called people’s committee, Chatradhar Mahato who is a known Trinamul Congress activist, is moving with maintaining close liaison with the “Maoists.’ His younger brother is a zonal commander of the ‘Maoists.’ The Trinamul Congress supremo on February 4, 2009 just before the elections were declared went to Lalgarh and shared the platform publicly with Chatradhar Mahato. It is funny to hear that the Trinamuli supremo declared the Lalgarh agitation as another ‘Santhal rebellion’ though Chatradhar Mahato himself is not a Santhal or even an adivasi. In the mid-19th century, the first Santhal rebellion took place under the leadership of Sidhu-Kanho against the British Raj followed by the revolts led by first Tilka Murmu, and then Birsa Munda.

GAMEPLAN EXPOSED

One of the top former Naxalite leader of the 1960s and even later, Kanu Sanyal, has correctly said ‘who has made Chatradhar the leader of the people’s committee?’ ‘Is the people’s committee represented by all communities?’ ‘Thus, how that can be dubbed as the Santhal Rebellion?’ But this is an irony of fate that the Trinamul chieftain is very much trying to disassociate herself from Chatradhar and ‘Maoists.’ Initially, she used to say that Left Front and CPI(M) are always saying that the activities of Chatradhar as ‘Mao-Mao’ (cat’s meow). These sorts of utterances have given extra strength to the ‘Maoists’ in and around Lalgarh to establish lawlessness and their authority in certain areas of jangal mahal. But ‘Maoist’ supremo Koteswara Rao alias ‘Kishanji’ has exposed the game plan of TMC by saying that ‘we went to Nandigram and adjoining areas to help TMC and made the operation successful, and now TMC is to come forward and help us.’

For the last eight months, Lalgarh and its adjacent areas remained seized by the PCAPA and the normal life of the people of the entire area was completely jeopardised. During this period, the parliamentary elections were completed and the Jhargram parliamentary constituency won by the LF-nominated CPI(M) candidate Dr Pulin Behari Baskey by a margin of 2,92,345 votes. This has infuriated the CPI (Maoist). They started a wrong political game plan with a renewed vigour. In this situation, LF gave a call for political campaign against the dangerous politics of ‘Maoists.’ Just before the LF statement, the state government with the help of the central government started a joint operation to restore normalcy in the affected areas.

The operation has been going on for two weeks now. The People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities did not leave any stone unturned in declaring themselves as the real representatives of the people there, but it is found that when the police forces reached Ramgarh proper under Ramgarh GP, the mass of the people waved at them in joy, and provided them with drinking water with a sigh of relief. Since the civil administration could not continue their normal activities, the people of Lalgarh and adjacent areas were suffering seriously and it is found that when the government started distributing rice, pulses among the deserted families they formed a long queue to receive the relief materials. This has certainly proved how the claim of the PCAPA is completely hollow.

People's Democracy, July 05, 2009

Who Are The Maoists Working For?

by Debasish Chakraborty

The rifle slinging carelessly from his shoulder, the Maoist zonal commander Bikash faced the electronic boom and openly admitted in public that the mine blast in Salboni in November 2008 was meant to kill the West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. He then added that Buddhadeb had been sentenced to death by the Maoists. In the middle of the interview, Bikash ran his fingers through his hair to smoothen it. The total episode may have resembled the shooting of a Bollywood thriller “Main Maoist Hoon.”

THE FLAW LIES HERE

The above sequence must have made some people very excited. Sitting kilometres away from Lalgarh, somebody may have had the desire to participate in a ‘war-war game’. Some had even travelled there in search of the ‘cute’ Maoists but ended up only in meeting Chatradhar Mahato. The loveliest of beauties among the retinue openly lamented, “What Maoist? We didn’t see a Maoist anywhere!” Really, what a pity!

The experience of the people who do have to meet and live with the Maoists, though, seems to be a wee bit different in general. Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have been going through the experience for the last decade or so. From afar, it was easier to paint a romantic picture of the “perpetual class war” going on in these areas. Now people in Belpahari-Lalgarh-Bandwan area have had a first hand experience of the state of things in a ‘liberated’ (!!!) zone.

The Maoists have been able to expand their influence in some districts of six or seven states. Although there has been a debate about the area of the so called Red Corridor, it cannot be denied that the Maoists have been successful in expanding their ‘Raj’ in these six or seven states. Has this ‘Raj’ been the outcome of a vibrant mass movement? Has the movement of the peasantry, or of the working class, been the driving force behind the Maoist domination? Has anybody been the witness of such happenings? Has anybody heard the Maoists spearheading any mass movement for the rightful demands of the poor landless peasants, the rural poor and the adivasis? By name, they are indeed a communist party. But nobody can condemn them for having waged any movement in favour of the class they claim to be the representatives of, that is, the working class. They do not bear any responsibility of building any mass movements. The theory of acquiring dominance at gun point has been termed as a “continuous people’s war” while at times the ‘self- proclaimed revolutionaries’ termed it as guerrilla warfare. Maybe at times, perhaps to win over support from the middle class, they may enter into a public debate. Then they would say that if the state itself is an armed apparatus, an instrument of coercion, the working people should also take up arms against the state for survival. But the flaw lies here.

The Chinese revolutionaries, who understood the true character of the state far better than the Indian Maoists have ever understood, had always stressed on the necessity of mass action and mass movements. And the man in whose name the Maoists are running their party had always emphasised on the supreme importance of mass participation. Comrade Mao had had, several times before as well as after the Chinese revolution, stressed on the active initiative of crores of people.

POLITICS OF TERROR

But the Indian Maoists believe in the politics of terror, perpetrated by their armed squads, instead of an organised and spontaneous mass movement. This particular trend is quite harmful for the real mass movements in our country. The territory where the Maoists are very powerful at this present moment of time happens to be the abode of a vast section of the poorest of the poor Indian masses. Even if, suppose, somebody claims that the adivasi population is the main ‘proletariat’ in the country, he or she must be aware of the fact that a vast majority of the adivasi population too lives in this belt. They are living under the shadow of the Maoist guns and have not been mobilised in any genuine mass movement. They are even being kept several light years away from the primary movements on economic demands. All these must surely be making the ruling classes of this country very happy. Apart from the law and order situation, our ruling classes have nothing to worry about.

Some people may feel thrilled with the thought that the Maoists have built their bases in the adivasi preponderant areas. But it is to be remembered that building such bases has nothing to do with sympathy for the adivasi population. In numerous documents, the Maoists themselves have categorically stated that the reasons behind choosing such areas are related to military tactics. The remote areas, the jungles are tough for the state to reach quickly. Due to this inaccessibility, obviously, these areas become favourable for their “guerrilla warfare.”

Thus the entire interest of the Maoists is in geography, with love or compassion for the adivasis and the poor having never been an issue for them. But, obviously, they can --- and they do --- make use of the intense poverty of the adivasi population, though not for enhancing their consciousness. Instead, this poverty has been used for making the people surrender to their diktat. As long as the news of Maoist mine blasts poured in from Andhra Pradesh or Chhattisgarh, an element of adventurism was there in the air. Now living amidst the muzzles of A K 47, however, people are bitterly realising the harsh reality prevailing in Lalgarh, Belpahari and other areas. As many as 73 CPI(M) activists have been killed in the Junglemahal area of Bengal. A large number has been driven out of their villages. This has been done precisely to create a reign of terror there. The world does not hold any other example where the poor people are afraid of ‘revolutionaries.’

PROTECTING WHOSE INTERESTS?

What are the Maoists doing in their so called open corridor? Are they distributing lands? Is feudalism being ousted? Are collective farms being run? Are development programmes for the adivasis and the poor being implemented? Nothing of the sort is being done. The areas in Bihar where the Maoists are most powerful, are quite comfortable areas for feudal lords. Very interestingly, due to the role of some other naxalite groups in these areas, there was some advancement of land movements in these areas earlier. Those advancements have now faded away. The Maoists and the feudal lords, in fact, share a common understanding among themselves. Land movement does not even have the remotest place in the Maoist agenda. Payment of levy to the Maoists clears the contractors from all sorts of hazards. The added advantage in this regard is that the contractors do not have to even construct the roads. The levy alone suffices the purpose. The Maoists share the same relation with the illegal wood and mine mafias. All parties are getting benefited from this symbiotic relationship. The Maoists act as paid agents of different political parties during the elections in Jharkhand. Children belonging to the poor adivasi families are taken away in the name of Balasangham in Chhattisgarh and Orissa. The Maoists have reached the final stages of degeneration. They are basically a mafia group now.

Of late, it has become a fashion to attribute underdevelopment as the reason for Maoist fervour in the Junglemahal of West Bengal. Lack of development is definitely there, particularly in the backward areas. In spite of some remarkable advancement in some sectors, poverty still persists. The neo-liberal policies pursued in our country over the last two decades have further widened the divide between the rich and the poor. It is an irony that on television channels some people argue for speedy realisation of the policies of neo-liberalism while, side by side, pointing out that lack of development is making the Maoists powerful. The Maoists themselves are against any kind of developmental model. In a capitalist society, any development cannot be there outside the sphere of class components and contents. But before a complete or thorough transformation of society take place, is it a crime to demand development for the working people? If the conditions and chances exist for development somewhere, is the utilisation of such opportunities a crime? Even the weird leftists whom Mao derided as the “Marxists sleeping on Marx,” never stooped so low!

The Indian Maoists oppose the projects of development everywhere. They oppose the laying of rail tracks, construction of bridges and establishment of power projects. Blowing up schools by the Maoists has become a very common phenomenon in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. In West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts of West Bengal, the Maoists have established themselves to be the strongest hindrance to any sort of developmental works. Whose interest are they protecting?

And let us have a look at their “class enemies.” They have killed 73 CPI(M) activists in the Junglemahal area of Bengal. Out of them, 50 were either agricultural labourers or poor peasants. These poor unarmed people were dragged into the jungle and stabbed or shot to death. Their bodies were left lying on the spot, only to decompose. Their family members were not given the right to cremate them. We don’t know what sort of infernal pleasure these atrocities provide to the Maoists. Making the life of the poor adivasis horrible does not possibly serve any class interests of the downtrodden.

POLITICAL MOTIVE

The political motive and interest of the Indian Maoists is definite and clear. Thanks to the long and sustained struggles, the three districts of Junglemahal have become strong bastions of the CPI(M). And the Maoists look upon their arms as the last resort in their sordid game to order to break this bastion. But this belief is not shared by the Maoists alone. Keeping the Maoists in the forefront, others including Trinamool Congress are playing their role as well. Nowhere in India have the Maoists earlier faced any political challenge. They have had confrontations with the police and the administration. West Bengal has provided the first instance where the Maoists have to taste the people’s resistance and the barrier of a mass movement. Naturally, the attack on the Left has become focussed.

There is no doubt that Bikash or Kishenji will become a star. With the CPI(M)’s tally having come down in the parliamentary elections, the share market has now nothing to worry about. Washington had played the tunes of delight and ecstasy. Big media houses can’t help expressing their excitement. At this point of time, it is quite obvious that the people engaged in killing the cadres of the CPI(M) are slated to definitely become stars. Naturally, the demands of the Kishenji, Bikash & Company are on the high side!

People's Democracy,July 05, 2009