Role of The Communists In The Restoration Of Democracy

By ANIL BISWAS

 

 (This article was published in Peoples' Democracy on '30TH ANNIVERSARY OF 'INTERNAL EMERGENCY’ )

26th June, 2005 

 

THE clamping down of internal emergency on June 26, 1975 and its operation over the next 19 months represents one of the darkest periods in the political history of India. For all practical purposes, the Indian Constitution was kept in suspense, parliamentary democracy was trodden brutally underfoot, and an authoritarian rule proclaimed. Three decades onward to that malevolent episode, the importance of carrying forward the struggle to safeguard democracy has to be realised in the proper perspective of what had happened thirty years ago.

NATIONAL ECONOMY IN DEEP CRISIS

The slogan mongering about removal of poverty (garibi hatao!) notwithstanding, the entire decade before the declaration of ‘emergency’ was riven with abject poverty. The number of people – 70 per cent of the population according to reliable estimates – under the poverty line went on increasing at an alarming rate. The Ford foundation-inspired ‘green revolution’ effectively robbed the rural poor of whatever little purchasing power they yet possessed. The falling prices of cash crops like jute, oil seeds, and cotton ruined the farmers even as black-marketeering and hoarding started to flourish. A 22 per cent increase in the general price level was noted during the early 1970s with the incidence of direct taxes adding to the extreme misery of the mass of the people.

The Indian industry was in deep crisis. Indira Gandhi had closed down 3,000 engineering and textile mills on returning to office in 1971. The industrial recession had a deep and pervading effect on the manufacturing sector. Meeting in Kolkata over June 10-12, 1975, the Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) noted that the economy was in a state of dysfunction with spiralling unemployment, wide lay-offs, and a severely shrinking job market. The loot of the monopoly capitalists and of landlords was being ensured at the cost of extreme misery of workers, peasants, employees, professional groups, and small manufacturers.

In this dysfunctional economic background was the swing of political events that gave birth to the evil of ‘emergency.’

 

 

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

The fourth general elections depicted the unravelling of monopoly control of the Congress across the country. The fall-out was a severe internecine strife within the Congress itself. Two trends must be noted here. On one hand, the ‘syndicate’ Congress chose to veer towards the Jan Sangh-Swatantra Party political grouping. On the other, there was a rift within the Left and democratic forces. The 1972 Madurai party congress of the CPI(M) in 1972 had already noted that the leadership of several Left and democratic parties swung towards the Indira Congress and thus exposed their vacillating character. They also, noted the party congress, joined in the campaign of slander against the CPI(M).

It was the massive win that the Congress managed to post in this background of weakness of the Left and democratic forces that started the train of events. The Congress as the ruling party also claimed success over the events in Bangladesh where the struggle of the masses had triumphed. Posing as a ‘socialist,’ Indira Gandhi indulged in reckless counter-democratic ploys to win elections in states like Bengal while also triumphing elsewhere.

THE BENGAL SCENE

In Bengal, the Congress organised and put in place its assault on the CPI(M) as also on democratic forces and organisations led by it. Yet, the CPI(M) emerged as the biggest single political party in the 1971 Bengal state elections, winning 113 seats. Ignoring CPI(M)’s claim to form the government, a makeshift outfit of political coteries was asked to put up a coalition government. Two months later, under President’s rule, a swath of terror cut across Bengal, organised by the central paramilitary forces, and the thugs of the Congress.

The CPI(M) was the chief target. More than 1100 of CPI(M) workers were put to death. Party offices, TU offices, and the offices of mass organisations were ransacked and occupied. Thousands of people were implicated in false cases, thousands more incarcerated without the benefit of trial. In the circumstances, riding a wave of terror and openly rigging the polls, the Congress managed to ‘win’ the election of 1972.

Jyoti Basu wrote in his booklet entitled ‘The Decimation of Parliamentary Democracy in West Bengal’ that the people of West Bengal had remained in the front ranks of the resistance against the policies of the Congress. The Left and democratic forces in West Bengal posed a challenge to the Congress. The triumph of the masses in West Bengal would encourage people elsewhere to defy the authoritarian ploys of the Congress.

The Congress took recourse to semi-fascist terror to clamp down its sway on Bengal. The ninth congress of the CPI(M) noted how the Congress, desperate to cling to office, had trodden underfoot, parliamentary democracy, voting rights, and the dignity due to the opposition.

CPI(M)’S WARNING

As far back as 1972 had the CPI(M) commented at the ninth congress of the Party that factors like the failure to provide relief to the mass of the people, the tendency towards using implements of oppression, the weaknesses of the Left opposition and of the bourgeois parties, and the intolerance shown towards the opposition per se were indicative of the danger of a one-party authoritarianism. The warning went largely unheeded.

In the period preceding the ‘emergency,’ several big movements took place. These included strike actions, particularly the 22-day railway strike that was brutally suppressed. Elsewhere, Jayaprakash Narayan led a movement that brought to the fore issues like the emergent needs of the people, the issue of safeguarding democracy, and fulminating against corruption.

A rift among the bourgeois political parties was apparent when, in March of 1975, Jan Sangh, Congress (O), Bharatiya Lok Dal, and other bourgeois parties placed a charter of demands in the parliament. The CPI(M) was self-critical about its inability to take part in the anti-Congress movements across the country.

EMERGENCY CLAMPED DOWN

On June 12, 1975, the Congress was routed in the Gujarat state assembly elections. On the same day, the Allahabad high court adjudged that Indira Gandhi had won from the Rai Bareili parliamentary constituency by adopting illegal means. The court countermanded the election and ruled that Indira Gandhi would not be able to contest elections for the next six years.

The developments caused ripples to rise against Indira Gandhi within the Congress itself. Rather than tender her resignation, Indira Gandhi chose to declare ‘internal emergency’ on June 26, 1975. She wanted to convince the world that the emergency had to be imposed in order to secure the nation from the right reactionary forces and from the ultra Left. Her arguments do not hold water. Congress had always been friendly with outfits like the RSS whom Indira Gandhi had often praised. The ultra Left Naxalites were in 1975 a disorganised and spent force. Her arguments in favour of the ‘emergency’ were attempts to justify authoritarianism.

The Left remained riven with disunity. CPI jumped on the bandwagon of Indira Gandhi. The CPSU and other communist parties of some socialist countries openly supported Indira Gandhi. The CPI(M) Polit Bureau while calling for a broad front declared that the drive to build up greater and stronger Left and democratic unity must go on relentlessly.

 

 

DEMOCRACY UNDER ASSAULT

A K Gopalan who was the leader of the parliamentary party was stringent in his attack on the ‘emergency.’ He raised the following points in his speech in the Lok Sabha where the bill for approval of the ‘emergency’ was brought up on July 21, 1975.

A large number of opposition leaders were in jail, including 39 MPs, many of whom were Congressmen

The ‘emergency’ was an assault against the people and the people had been robbed of their constitutional rights to democracy

The union government did not tolerate opposition; nor did it put with criticism and movements and struggles were struck down

Three thousand CPI(M) workers were arrested in the name of an anti-rightist drive

The general fall-out of the ‘emergency’ were:

The parliament was deprived of all rights and privileges

Freedom of speech was suspended

Censorship of the media touched horrifying proportions

Thousands of political workers were jailed without trial, including MPs and MLAs

Opposition-run autonomous institutions were set aside

Oppression on the people was unleashed in the name of population control measures

Attempt was made to delete the fundamental rights from the Constitution through the 42nd amendment

The storm troopers of the Congress and the Youth congress created an atmosphere of terror in the country

RESISTANCE

The opposition to authoritarianism ran along two streams of resistance. The CPI(M) and some Left parties were engaged in continuous opposition. They were in the front ranks in the fight against semi-fascist terror in Bengal, Kerala, and Tripura. On the other hand, there were the rightist parties like the Congress(O), the Jan Sangh, and the Swatantra party who became vocal on the issue of democracy. The latter movement grew in stature under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan in parts of north and western India. After meeting with Jayaprakash Narayan in Delhi and Kolkata, the CPI(M) and the Left proposed joint, parallel, or coordinated movements on the issue of civic rights.

The central committee of the CPI(M) had in the meanwhile called for the formation of a broad front with eminent persons of all political parties for the restoration of democracy. It also called for the massing of broad forces, on the tactics of ‘united front from below’, of the supporters of the opposition political parties. It was said that the Left and democratic forces would act as the principal instruments of the broad assemblage of forces; and that the broad assemblage did not connote the formation of either a political party or an electoral front.

Based on this understanding, the struggle against authoritarianism grew across the country and it took covert as well as overt forms. The working class played a big role in this movement for the restoration of democracy. The movements took place despite the ban on such actions. Elsewhere, the Congress(O), the Jan Sangh, the Swatantra party, and the socialist parties combined to set up the Janata Party. The CPI(M) had no illusions about the programmatic understanding of the Janata Party. Its efforts were to ensure that the largest votes were cast against ‘emergency’ and that the opposition unity did not get to suffer. The election slogan of the CPI(M) was: Vote Against ‘Emergency’. In the 1977 elections, Congress(I) was defeated and the new Janata Party-Congress-for-Democracy government withdrew the ‘emergency.’ The struggle, however, had not ended.

STRUGGLE GOES ON

The sustained pressure of movements led and organised by the CPI(M) and the Left that finally saw the restoration over time of the democratic rights that the ‘emergency’ had abrogated. Withdrawal of MISA and of the 42nd amendment to the Constitution, too, saw the new regime drag its feet before the CPI(M) and the Left brought pressure to bear on the union government.

The tenth congress of the CPI(M) was very correct in pointing out that the struggle against overt attempts to clamp down authoritarianism was to be a long and sustained struggle. The defeat of the Congress in the elections never meant the defeat of the classes that created the ambience of authoritarianism. The correlation of class forces had not changed .The danger of parliamentary compromise on the question of removing the structure of authoritarianism continued to remain. The need of the hour was, noted the CPI(M), to unite the masses against authoritarianism.

Realising the importance of broad forum and democratic resistance, the CPI(M) spoke of the need to utilise the opportunity created by the rift in the bourgeois parties to set up the broad forum and to utilise it towards breaking down the authoritarian structure. It was found necessary to bring out from within the fold of the ruling classes and the parties of the ruling classes, those sections that opposed authoritarianism. It was Marxist strategy to mobilise any class and party for the safeguarding of democratic rights.

The tenth congress of the CPI(M) also noted that the danger of authoritarianism lay hidden, in the increasing domination of monopoly and big capitalists, and landlords, and in the increasing influence of foreign monopoly capital. The CPI(M) stated that while utilising the potential of wider resistance to authoritarianism, the CPI(M), and the working class must ensure that the domination and influence of these classes went on the wane.

To change the correlation of class forces and to free the masses from the twin bourgeois-landlord formations, it was necessary to build up a Left and democratic front. A priority of the Left and democratic front would be to continue unabated the struggle against authoritarianism. It was noticed soon enough after the formation of the Janata Party-CFD government that it had great and fundamental difference with the Left on the question of democracy.

Apart from hesitating in carrying forth the task of dismantling the ‘emergency’ structure, the union government, and Janata Party-led state governments, would chose to bring down oppression on the democratic rights and on democratic movements of the people across the country. Indira Gandhi was to take advantage of the disquiet the people felt at the economic policy of the new regime in Delhi and elsewhere.

The Left Front governments of Bengal and Tripura, on the other hand, engaged themselves in the task of expanding democratic rights. Among the issues of priority marked out by the LF governments were: abrogation of incarceration without trial, restoration of democratic rights, freeing of political prisoners, democratising the education system, and holding elections to the three-tier panchayat system. The policy of the LF governments gave relief to the working people, and as the forces of democracy became stronger, the forces of authoritarianism became weaker.

NEXT PHASE OF THE STRUGGLE

The analysis of the CPI(M) about the danger of authoritarianism was proved correct when Indira Gandhi came back to office in 1980. The National Security Act and the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) were put in place ––counter-democratic legislations each. The aim was to increase oppression as the protests against economic deterioration became widespread. ESMA was targeted to ban strike actions. Mail started to be censored. Parliament was to be made inconsequential. States rights started to be interfered with. A presidential form of government was talked about. The Constitution was being amended to suit authoritarian whims.

The rift in the opposition ranks, especially after the formation of the BJP, helped the Congress since the BJP was concerned only in becoming Congress’s alternative and was no longer interested in coalitions or fronts against authoritarianism. The eleventh congress of the CPI(M) (held in 1982) marked the challenge of authoritarianism as the principal danger.

Indeed, the Congress continued to be on the path authoritarianism even after the assassination of Indira Gandhi and of the triumph in the subsequent Lok Sabha polls. As the twelfth congress of the CPI(M) pointed out: the ruling classes and the ruling class parties could never implement their anti-people economic policies without organising an assault on the democratic norms. Democracy, indeed, continued to be attacked at the grass-roots level. NSA continued, MISA was re-imposed, strike actions were viciously attacked, the Andhra Pradesh state government was toppled, the government media was utilised to serve the interests of the Congress.

At the same time, the danger of separatism and secessionism started to raise their ugly heads in Punjab, Assam, north-eastern India and elsewhere — causing a threat to be poised against national unity and integrity. The opportunistic policy of the Congress increased the dimensions of the danger. As the twelfth congress of the CPI(M) noted: in office, the Congress endangers not only democracy but also national unity.

LEFT AND DEMOCRATIC FORCES

It was chiefly under the aegis and leadership of the CPI(M) that the process of building up unity among the Left and democratic forces started to gain momentum once more. The Bengal Left Front played a stellar role in this regard. Following discussions, and after the Bhatinda Congress, the CPI changed the line of cooperation with Congress and joined the Left forces. A coordination committee of the Left was set up at the parliamentary level. The unity of the Left was reflected in the expanding mass struggles. The Left unity also played a role in working out relationships with the opposition bourgeois parties.

In the case of the opposition bourgeois parties, two elements assumed importance. First, taking a secular stand became an effective indicator in the background of the enhanced danger of the forces of communalism. Second, the role of the regional parties became important in the task of safeguarding democracy as these parties gained in strength. Four conclaves of 17-18 opposition parties were held in Vijaywada, Delhi, Srinagar, and Kolkata in 1983-84. These developments saw an increase in the size and frequency of mass rallies on the question of safeguarding democracy.

COMMUNAL DANGER

It is not possible to discuss the struggle to uphold and strengthen democracy without referring to the menace of the communal forces. This is necessary for a correct analysis of the past, for a proper assessment of the present situation, and for the sake of struggle to be waged in the days to come to defend and strengthen democracy.

Before the elections of 1977, the Janata Party was formed. One of the constituents of that party was the Jan Sangh, which was guided by the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh or the RSS. The latter started to control the new regime right from the beginning and encouraged the growth of Hindu communalism in a big way. The Jan Sangh soon claimed that its members must have the right to be the members of both Jan Sangh and the RSS. The crisis within the Janata Party deepened. The CPI(M) had long back issued warnings against the Jan Sangh and the RSS.

Calling the authoritarian Congress and the communal Jan Sangh-RSS the ‘twin dangers,’ the CPI(M) Polit Bureau had in 1974 called for a struggle against both. On the July crisis of the Janata Party, the assessment of the CPI(M) was that following the unravelling of that party, the remaining entity was under the control of the Jan Sangh-RSS with a few socialist and progressive personalities yet remaining within the fold of the party. The CPI(M) refused to support the regime. The central committee of the CPI(M) stated that the struggle against authoritarianism and communalism must be accompanied by the struggle against vested stakes to defend the interests of the people, and to provide at least temporary relief to the masses of the people.

Political parties did not always seriously view the gaining of strength of communal forces during 1987-88. The CPI(M) in contrast talked of fighting the authoritarian Congress by mobilising a comprehensive opposition unity, while working to isolate the forces of communalism. At the height of the struggle against the plethora of corruption at the highest places during Rajiv Gandhi’s premiership, the central committee of the CPI(M) pointed out that the anti-communal stand of the CPI(M) and the Left urged upon those parties, which would enlist the help of the forces of communalism to form electoral alliances against the Congress, to rethink their line.

The CPI(M) in fact continued with energy to bring to the secular platform even those parties that were keen to strike a compromise with the BJP. The CPI(M) spoke clearly of the ‘twin danger of authoritarianism and communalism’ in the election manifesto for the 1989 polls. The CPI(M) also refused to have any seat adjustments with the BJP and, indeed, the CPI(M) candidates won from constituencies like Kanpur and Nawada defeating BJP candidates. On the issue of building of a temple at Ayyodhya during the time the V P Singh-led government was in office at the centre, the CPI(M) made clear that a firm stand must be taken on the question of secularism and against communalism. The Congress and the BJP together proceeded to vote out the Singh government, enhancing manifold the communal danger to the nation.

DANGER TO DEMOCRACY

Subsequently, the BJP government assumed office as a danger to democracy. The attacks on democracy included attacks on minorities, genocide in Gujarat, attempt to introduce presidential form of government through amendment of the Constitution, introduction of POTA, infiltration by the RSS not only in education institutions but also in the armed forces. Ideologically speaking, the communal drive is an attack on democratic values.

It is not correct to think that the danger to democracy would be forthcoming from a particular political party. The danger to democracy is inherent in the various forms of conflict between the people, the ruling classes, and the economic policy that the ruling classes would like to clamp down on the people. To take an example: those who argue forcibly in favour of liberal policies are also vocal in favour of curtailing the rights of the working people. Of late, the interference from the administration, and even from the judiciary, is increasingly witnessed on TU activities, against the right to strike, and against the right to hold rallies and meetings.

The policy of liberalisation, and the economic outlook that caters to the interests of the international finance capital, cannot be established in a full-fledged manner unless they are able to curtail the democratic rights of the people. Thus, the struggle for democracy is essentially important as a part of the struggle against the policy of liberalisation. (INN)

 

SLANDEROUS LIES OF CONGRESS AGAINST LEFT FRONT GOVERNMENT AND REAL FACTS

By Dr. Asim Kumar Dasgupta

On the eve of the forthcoming parliamentary elections on 5th April, 2009 the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on behalf of the Congress Party packaged baseless lies as a “report card” against the Left Front Government in West Bengal. On the 6th of April 2009, the State Left Front Chairman and Secretary of CPI(M) State Committee Biman Basu refuted the so called facts and canards in detail. However, I am once again putting together a comprehensive rejoinder to the numerous false charges in their write-up.

Slander 1: There has been no development in education during the tenure of the Left Front Government. The percentage of drop-outs in West Bengal is 82.7% which is way above the national average, and the quality of school education in the state is very bad, etc.

Real Fact: During the tenure of the Left Front Government special priority has been given to spread access, quality and continuity in education starting from the primary level upwards. This effort is not only limited in admitting children to schools, but emphasis is also given to involving women self-help groups in mid-day meal scheme in all schools and reduce the tendency to drop out. Simultaneously attention is given to activities of school-wise mother-teacher committees, village-based education committees and school inspectors to improve the quality of education. As a result according to the latest information from NUEPA (2007), the drop-out rate in primary schools of West Bengal has gone down to 8.56% which is in fact less than the national average of 9.36%. From the same source, we learn that at the junior high school level also this rate has gone further down to 7.34%. According to the last available state-wise information published by NCERT (2005), the students of West Bengal are at the top in the nation in overall qualitative evaluation of all the subjects after the completion of fifth standard in school.

The Congress “Report” is falsely critical of the education system under Left rule; and also in effect insults the honourable teachers and the students of West Bengal while real facts are showing diametrically opposite scenario.

Slander 2: The Left Front Government has failed to provide safe drinking water to the inhabitants of the state. Using information from the National Family-wise Health Survey (2005-06) it states that while safe drinking water is provided to 84.2% and 78.4% families in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra respectively, while in West Bengal only 27.9% families have access to safe drinking water.

Real Fact: The sample survey which has been referred to in this “Report” uses a very small sample for West Bengal. While the number of total families in West Bengal is around 2.29 Crore (1.34 Crore in rural area and 0.45 Crore in urban areas), this survey takes a sample size of 5992 families, which is a meager 0.03% of the total. In sharp contrast, according to the survey conducted by the State Government in which complete information from 1.34 Crore families in 40000 villages and around 0.40 Crore families in urban areas was collected, 90.5% rural families and 96.8% urban families have access to safe drinking water. Therefore here too the actual position is are just the opposite of what has been projected in the “Report.”

However, the Left Front Government feels that there is still some more scope for improvement and targets have already been fixed to make safe drinking water available to 100% families in urban and rural areas of the state. Simultaneously steps have been taken to supervise and maintain all water projects through panchayats and municipal corporations.

Slander 3: In the area of public health nothing much has been done during the Left Front rule because the average Body Mass Index of women in West Bengal is less than the national average in comparison and so on.

Real Fact: Information on women’s health is taken from the National Family-wise Sample Survey which has a serious statistical problem of very small sample size, as mentioned earlier. According to the latest round of this survey (2005-06), as far as BMI is concerned 51.8% women in this country have normal BMI while in West Bengal this ratio stands at 49.6%. What this so called “Report” forgets to mention is that the same source of information reveals data lower than West Bengal in some other major and more affluent and developed states like Maharashtra (49.3%), Karnataka (49.2%) and Gujarat (47.0%). Moreover, according to the latest report of FAO (2008) special mention has been made of India in the area of food insecurity and problems of women’s health; and more specific and serious concerns are expressed regarding some other states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Orissa and Maharashtra. We feel instead of singling out a particular state by using this problem to make vulgar political points it is much more desirable to find a humane acceptable way towards solution to this problem through discussions with all the states in the country.

The progress of public healthcare in a state is ideally measured by looking at how rapidly a reduction in overall mortality rate and child mortality rate has been achieved and what has been the role of the state government in that reduction. The point to be noted here is that while only 40% patients get the opportunity to be treated in a government hospital nationally, in West Bengal 73% of the total patients get treatment in government hospitals. In the Left Front era this welfare role of the state government has been institutionalized and re-enforced; and the endeavour to provide decentralized preventive healthcare and treatment through panchayats and municipal corporations adds more strength to this emphasis, particularly on the basis of expansion of healthcare by employing more health workers. As a result of all these the latest published data of the central government (Source: SRS survey, 2007) show that mortality rate per thousand has gone down from 10.9 in 1980 to 6.3 now, which is much lower than national average of 7.4. Incidentally among the major states West Bengal has the lowest mortality rate and Kerala stands just after West Bengal at 6.4. Child mortality rate per thousand has also gone down from 91 in 1980 to 37 currently, which is lower than the national average (57) and fourth among the major states after Kerala (14), Tamil Nadu (36) and Maharashtra (37). Here one outstanding fact is that the child mortality rate decreased to even below 10 in Kolkata and the 41 adjacent municipal areas due to the involvement of the municipal corporations in the decentralized healthcare system. Moreover, this rate is even lower than the child mortality rate in municipal areas of Kerala.

If one takes all this information together the real picture becomes clear that West Bengal has come up at the top level in the country in public healthcare, but this kind of an intellectually and politically honest and principled approach would have highlighted the successes of the Left Front Government. As a result, the authors of this report and their allies would have been in a politically uncomfortable situation; and that is precisely why they created a huge gap between the reality and their slander to utilize this pack of lies politically.

Slander 4: During the Left Front Government’s tenure poverty and hunger have become significant in West Bengal. Murshidabad is the poorest district in the country and so on.

Real Fact: Information provided by the Planning Commission is the most acceptable source for comparing state-wise figures for population below the poverty line in our country. According to those statistics, during Congress rule in West Bengal in 1973-74 the percentage of population below poverty line was 63.43%, which was much higher than the national average of 54.88%. This was the intensity of poverty in the state during Congress rule. In contrast, during Left Front tenure using land reform as the basis and implementing alternative policies the percentage of population below poverty line rapidly decreased. The same Planning Commission’s latest information reveals that in the year 2004-05 this figure has come down to 20.6% which is less than national average of 21.6% unlike the Congress-ruled era in the State. Therefore, the scenario has transformed in favour of common people compared to the dismal situation during Congress government.

After knowing this what do the authors of this slander do and where can they find some faults? They incoherently quote from an article written by Dreze and Deaton (EPW, 14th February, 2009) and say that the percentage of population without adequate food intake is 11.7% which is higher than national average of 2.5%. The architects of this slanderous report either tried to exploit this article or they could not find the time to read it fully, or else they have deliberately hidden the facts. Page 45 of this article clearly mentions that these ratios were derived from a survey whose questionnaire was changed in between to a more controversial and questionable one. In the changed methodology the surveyors were instructed to write down the answers by asking questions based on completely psychological perceptions instead of asking objective and scientific questions. This methodology resulted in varied and unexplainable sets of answers from different states, and hence the authors cautioned that using this set of information may give rise to suspicious results for a state-wise comparison. Without reading this, or may be by hiding this, the authors of the Congress Report utilized this unreliable information.

That is not all. The authors forgot that the last National Sample Survey on state-wise information of food intake was published in that very year of 2004-05 based on solid objective and material information(61st round). That survey clearly spells out that in rural West Bengal per capita calorie intake is 2070 which is not only more than the national average of 2047 but also it is higher than Maharashtra (1933), Gujarat (1929), Karnataka (1845) and Tamil Nadu (1842).

West Bengal government undertook a survey in each village of each district which shows that at present the percentage of population not getting adequate food is only 3.59%. If the urban data is added to this then this ratio will go below 2.5% for the entire West Bengal. Therefore once again real facts and slander propagated as facts are absolutely different even in the matter of food intake.

The Congress report states that Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) has conducted a survey which shows that 56% of Murshidabad district’s population lives in abject poverty and this district is the poorest district in the country. We don’t know about any such survey conducted by ISI, but according to the family and district-wise survey conducted by the state government the population living in abject poverty in Murshidabad is 4.3% (not 56% as mentioned in Congress Report), and as far as this ratio is concerned Murshidabad is better than some of the districts in West Bengal itself.

However, the main reason for economic hardship of the common people of Murshidabad is the erosion of soil in the banks of the Ganga-Padma river. Since this erosion takes place along the international border the state government repeatedly petitioned the central government to treat the problem of erosion in the banks of Ganga-Padma as a crucial national level issue and the central government take adequate responsibility to solve this problem. In spite of this, the central government under both the Congress rule and the NDA rule (of which Trinamool Congress was a constituent) did not pay any attention to this legitimate demand of the people of Murshidabad. So, the majority (around Rs. 400 Crore) of the total money spent (Rs. 717.89 Crore) on preventing this erosion from 1977-78 to 2008-09 was done by the Left Front Government of West Bengal on its own.

Dr. Asim Kumar Dasgupta is finance minister of West Bengal government

Muslim Question in Bengal: Countering Neoliberal Propaganda

Before coming to the question of contemporary Muslim situation in Bengal and a calculated neoliberal propaganda orchestrated by bourgeois media and political parties like Congress and Trinamul, one needs to first analyse the contemporary situation of Indian Muslims as a minority group to which Bengal Muslims are only a part of that larger social group. In education, poverty, income and employment statistics—Indian Muslims are comparably more deprived than other religious communities along with Dalits and tribals as observed by Sachar Report. Arjun Sengupta Report has recently shown that Muslims along with dalits and tribals are the poorest communities in India and the poverty has increased among the Muslims during the phase of neoliberal economic reforms. 84.5% of Indian Muslim households spend not more than Rs. 20 per day and Rs. 609 per month. 13.3% of Indian Muslim households belonging to the Muslim middle income group as per the parameters set up by the above report spend only Rs. 1098 per month or Rs. 37 as daily per capita consumption expenditure (DPCE) which is not very high given the high persistence of inflation in the economy. Only 2.2% of Indian Muslims who are regarded as high income category by the report spends Rs. 2,776 or Rs. 93 per day.

Given this above mentioned statistics, which claims only a meagre 2.2% of Indian Muslims belonging to high income category; it is difficult to argue that Indian Muslims are class divided. The partition led to the migration of Muslim elites and a sizeable section of upwardly mobile Muslim middle-class to the then West and East Pakistan. Most Muslims who remained in India particularly in the bordering states like Bengal were poor and uneducated Muslims comprising a significant section of peasantry. Thus, even a cursory glance at the living conditions of Indian Muslims unravel the fact that the Muslims are the non-dominant community and a socio-economically, and educationally ‘backward community’. In terms of political marginalisation and under-representation, the Muslim political elite are almost negligible, as Muslims do not provide the economic and political leadership in the national mainstream. The gross under-representation of Muslims in various legislatures of the states and at the centre also affects the socio-economic development of the community, as the grievances of Muslim constituency are not addressed properly. Recently, the West Bengal Chief Minister said that the Minority question has to be addressed from a class perspective (Ganashakti, 6th Jan., 2008).

A survey of the data and available literature on the Indian Muslims amply state that Muslims are not only poor but also doubly marginalised. In this context of a class profile of Indian Muslims, Bengal Muslims belong more to the peasantry and the informal sector and thus constitutes a significant section of the working people. There is beyond doubt that the Muslims in Bengal like its all-India compatriots are victims of neoliberal policy regime. Today, the Muslim identity is overlapped with the identity of a poor and marginalised citizen under neoliberal dispensation. This overlap with the Muslim identity with the identity of poor and country’s labour force is an important caveat to keep in mind when we want to understand the current neoliberal propaganda of bourgeois media in connivance with bourgeois political parties like Congress and Trinamul against the Left and to accuse that nothing has happened to Muslims under Left Front regime in last 32 years and even saying that Muslim situation has worsened off in Bengal under the Left. This allegation against the Left vis-a-vis Muslims in Bengal is nothing short of a calculated strategy of the neoliberal nexus of bourgeois media and parties like Congress and the Trinamul to divide the unity of the working people—comprised of a significant section of Muslims and to malign the image of the Lefts to serve the vested interests of the ruling classes.

The concrete realities of Muslims in Bengal reflect to the fact that the identity and security of the community is guaranteed in the state under the Left Front regime. It is a well accepted fact that Muslims are more secure in Bengal than any other place in India without any communal riots and the Leftwing success of marginalising communal politics of BJP in the state. Furthermore, the identity of Muslim community as a distinct religio-cultural group with freedom of practising faith, establishing and running institutions of learning like the madrasas are also well acknowledged by both inside and outside the Muslim community in Bengal. Now, in terms of the question of equity, the Bengal government has addressed the issue in the past and initiated some important measures in the present for the overall socio-economic development of Muslims in the state. A summary of the relevant data, statistics and information regarding Bengal Muslims and the approach of the Left are of the following:

1.The success of land reforms under the Left has significantly benefited the Muslims. 30.9% of the rural households in West Bengal are Muslim households having access to 25.6% of the total cultivated land in the state (second only to Jammu and Kashmir with 30.3%). During 1992-94, landless Muslim peasants were 40% and currently reduced to 20%.

2.Bengal government has already put in place a 15% state level budgetary sub-plan for the advancement of minorities in the state since 2007. This step will ensure a targeted spending for Muslim minorities in all aspects of governmental expenditure. In all welfare schemes, specific attention for minority communities has paid dividends, eg. Among all self-help groups with access to institutional credit, 21.8% are groups with Muslim members (formed on the basis of same residential area). Among 17,512 ICDS projects in the State, 6,431 are working in Muslim areas employing anganwadi workers and assistants from the minority community.

3.The role of the state government in taking development initiative for the minority community has also been praised by the National Minorities Commission. Out of the 36 new colleges that have started in the state, 26 are situated in minority dominated areas. Out of 1600 new upper-primary schools, 800 would be set up in minority concentrated areas with 282 already given approval. For minority girls, 18 residential schools are being built. Within Kasturba Gandhi girl’s project, already 15 schools are built. In 2008-09 financial year, 23 more schools would be built for minority girls. To balance the teacher-student ratio, 4800 new teaching posts have been created with 2400 posts allotted for minority concentrated areas.

4.Till last year, when the Budget of the entire Central government for the development of minorities was at Rs. 1000 crores, West State Budget provided about Rs. 400 crores towards this department. All the 7-8 departments concerned with the development of the minorities have a special cell aimed towards efforts for the upliftment of the minorities. If we segregate the planned and unplanned expenditure that has been incurred by the Bengal government in the current financial year, then out of Rs. 100 crores are allocated in this regard and has already been overspent by the government amounting to Rs. 111.35 crores. Out of the Central grant to Bengal of Rs 68 crores, Rs. 3.27 crores are yet to be disbursed by the Centre. The unplanned expenditure of the state government in this regard has been a whooping Rs. 476 crores, whereas no other state government has allocated so much on the minorities’ development. Bengal CM has already approved Rs. 52 crores for educational development of Muslims.

5.In 12 districts, where Muslim population is relatively high, special offices have been opened to facilitate the development of the minorities in these regions. West Bengal is also the first state to plan in such a manner.

6.West Bengal has also started a new university named as Alia University aimed at providing quality education to the minorities with already 28 faculties being fully operational. In 2006, Alia Madrasa with a prolonged colonial history and its unique heritage has been transformed into a College status and an additional Rs. 30 crores have been spent for developing infrastructural facilities. In Bhangor (South 24 Parganas), a full fledged modern campus for this university would be built on 50 acres of land. Notably, this initiative in the recent past was also opposed by the Trinamul and created road block for this land acquisition process.

7.To increase vocational skills among minority students, the government has also given more than Rs. 5 crores. Over 1 lakh students hailing from the minorities’ community has also got scholarship from the state government as incentive to continue their education.

8.A scheme has been taken by the state government where Rs. 20-40 thousand will be given to women hailing from minority community to start commercial ventures. No guarantors will be required to avail these loans. About Rs. 20 crores have been provided by the state as capital to continue this scheme. Another Rs. 10 crores will be extended in the next financial year.

10. 10 Muslim girl’s hostels have been already built and 4 more are going to be finished soon in the state. For maintenance of these Muslim girls’s hostels, Rs. 4 crores have been allotted. In Kolkata, Rs. 2 crores have been sanctioned for building a working hostel for Muslim women. Both in Kolkata and Birbhum, the work for Muslim girl’s hostels have started and new buildings for Baker and Carmichael Hostels (meant for Muslim boys students) along with maintenance work of old hostels have started.

11. In the recent past, merit and need-based scholarships for Muslim students have been given through Chief Minister’s development fund amounting to Rs. 4.49 crores for 6197 students at pre-matric stage and Rs. 5.03 crores for 2223 students at post-matric stage. In 2008-09, 8500 Muslim students would be given scholarships of total Rs. 6 crores. For studying medical and engineering courses, 429 Muslim students have been given interest free loans amounting to Rs. 2.10 crores in 2007. In 2008, it has been increased to Rs. 3 crores for 500 Muslim students. Rs. 1.40 crores have been given to Techinacal Training and Cottage Industry Corporation to train Muslim students.

12.In the sphere of madrasah education, West Bengal has a unique system of running its 506 madrasas, affiliated with West Bengal Madrasa Board. Already, Rs. 6 crores have been spent for the second administrative building of Madrasa Board in Salt Lake. The curriculum of these madrasas combine subjects of English, Modern Indian languages, social studies, sciences, maths, Islamic history and Arabic. 110 junior madrasahs has been uplifted to the status of senior madrasahs in the state in the last financial year. In the current financial year, steps have been taken to set up 66 new madrasas, upgrade 110 junior high madrasahs to high madrasas and 89 high madrasas to senior madrasahs. More than 3200 posts have already been created to facilitate this development effort. West Bengal government bears the salaries of the Madrasa teachers of the state, a step which is unheard in many states. West Bengal has also constituted Madrasa Service Commission to impart quality and trained teachers at the Madrasas of the state. More than 52% teachers in Muslim dominated Murshidabad district are from the minority community.

13.In Urdu speaking areas, 200 nursery schools and 300 madrasas would be given approval shortly. 32 Alim madrasas have been upgraded to Fazil stage. In 125 higher secondary madrasas, librarians have been appointed. Rs. 50 lakhs have been allotted for libraries in these madrasas. Recently, in 100 madrasas, laboratories are made. With 300 new set-ups and 400 junior-high madrasas have been given approval to transform into high madrasas in the near future.

14.The Bengal government is also concerned for the promotion of Urdu language and for this purpose, Rs. 2.70 crores have been allotted for Urdu academy in the last financial year.

15.Rs. 4 crores have been approved for setting up boundary walls for graveyards meant for the Muslim community.

16.Rs. 2 crores additional grant with a total grant of Rs. 7.60 crores have been given to the Wakf Board. This grant can be increased in future if necessary. In Bengal, Wakf property reclamation, registration and survey work is going on.

17.Rs. 35.74 crores have been disbursed by the West Bengal Minority Development Corporation as loans to the people belonging from minority community. The state is also the first to create a minority development and welfare fund to cater to the minority community. West Bengal is also the first among the country in terms of success of giving loans to Minority community through the West Bengal Minority Development Corporation. The entire Rs 22 crores allocated in this fund have been spent for developmental purposes of the minority community.

18.In the state budget plan outlay for the Department of Minorities Affairs and Madrasa Education, an increase from Rs. 110 crores in the current year to Rs. 121 crores in the next year has been proposed. Since the entire responsibility of teachers connected with madrasah education has been taken by the State Government, the total budget of this department will be raised to the level of Rs. 524.11 crores in the next year. No other government has allocated so much money for the minority development in its state budget. An additional sum of Rs. 20 crores have been allocated by the State Government for this Corporation by way of assistance for training to further employment generation (already included in the programme for combating recession).

19. A second Hajj house namely Hajj Tower cum Empowerment Centre has been built near Kolkata airport. For Hajj pilgrimage facilities, an additional grant of Rs. 20 lakhs has been spent by the government. In 1977, only 600 people from the state went for Hajj pilgrim, while last year, 7996 people have enlisted themselves for the Hajj, and bulk of them is from the rural background. This increase is a result of the empowerment of rural masses due to the pro-poor policies of the state government. West Bengal is also the first state in the country to publish a guide book in the regional language for the benefit of the Hajj pilgrims hailing from the state. The state also started a website for the Hajj pilgrims and free SMS service to facilitate the Hajj pilgrims. In the field of housing, special emphasis has been given to allocate houses to the minority community.

All these combined efforts of the various departments have resulted in paving the way for all round development of the minority community in the state. This is not to say that there is no scope for further improvement of the Muslim community in Bengal. However, the CPI(M) led Left front government is determined to continuously work for the development of minorities and address the daily livelihood questions and better the socio-economic conditions of Muslims in Bengal. Furthermore, it is also determined to carry forward its political agenda in opposing imperialism and communalism. This consistency of fighting against both communalism and imperialism have been correctly noticed by a number of Muslim groups who have decided to support the Left and other non-Congress secular parties top form an alternative non-Congress and non-BJP government at the centre. Thus, it is the urgent necessity of our time that the unity of the working people and marginalised groups like Muslims under the leadership of the Left needs to fight both communalism and imperialism in order to form an alternative to the neoliberal policy regime.

PERSPECTIVE OF 15TH LOKSABHA ELECTION

by NIRUPAM SEN

The forthcoming Lok Sabha Elections is a significantly important political struggle for the Left. The Left Front will be facing these elections basing their stand on the politics of careful introspection and praxis, revolving around the numerous issues relevant to our state and country.

More than 50% of the popular mandate is for the Left Front

The last few decades have been a witness to numerous veiled and direct attacks on the Left Front in India. The leaders and members and the party workers at all levels have demonstrated limitless patience and unyielding conviction in the face of such attacks, and have thus retained and in fact, increased the popular support that they had garnered with time. The Left Front has been responsible for holding the seat of governance in a state for a period of more than 30 years with the popular mandate of more than 50% of the state’s population. And the prolonged efforts of the left Front in trying to raise general consciousness and create awareness amongst all about their democratic rights has been reflected in the fact that the number of votes polled in this state is far more than that in most other Indian states. And this is an endorsement of the fact that the general populace is exceedingly aware of their democratic rights and privileges, as well as highly politically conscious. None of the polls in this state has seen a voter turn-up that is lesser than 80%. And amongst this huge number of people who chose to exercise their democratic tights through voting, a staggering 50% or more have supported the Left Front for the last 32 years in all their electoral ventures. This includes the last Panchayet Elections too. An election that saw a sudden tide of propaganda around the state and around the nation that The Left Front was slowly losing the support of the populace that it had so carefully nurtured over the years. This propaganda then took the form of immature attacks in the form of slander, opportunism and bankrupt politics against the Left Front. And facing this unprecedented scale of attacks, the Left Front again polled a vote count of more than 50% in these Panchayet Elections.

A multi faceted propaganda to estrange the working class from the Left Front

The magnitude of this propaganda was unprecedented, and the Left Front was facing such an attack from all quarters for the first time. There has been a conscious effort to physically annihilate its presence from various areas, as well as a consolidated attack through the means of systematic lies, false information and slander. The sole purpose of these attacks is to bring about an estrangement amongst the working class and the consortium of parties which stand for them, the Left Front, and more specifically its major constituent, the CPI(M). And the attackers have shown that they are ready to stoop to any level, to adopt any falsehood, to achieve their purpose.

And this is not the sole handiwork of the political opponents of the Left Front. The media has played a strong role in dissipating the lies fed by the opposition to the people, across the state, across the country, and sometimes across the Globe. And the scale of such an attack is what makes it unheard of. The Left Front fights the elections this time under the shadow of such an attack.

This propaganda has, in fact, affected the people who have a not-so-firm political stance

The Panchayet Elections were closely followed the parliamentary bypolls in our State. These have thrown up mixed results. But the detractors have blown these up with the propaganda that the ‘Left has been defeated’. This bypoll has actually seen an increase of votes in favour of the Left in the Para constituency in Purulia. AT the same time, we have been defeated in Nandigram and Bishnupur. In the 2006 state elections, the Left had polled a total of 44% votes in this constituency. The combined vote % of the INC and TMC was 52%. Thus it is quite evident that they have managed to to attract a significant amount of our supporters towards them. This ‘swing’ section, who supported us in the last elections, has been influenced vastly by the recent events and false propaganda that has blossomed in the political scenario of the state, and they chosen to support our opponents. And this has led to another cycle of propaganda, that the popular foundations of the Left are staggering.

A consortium of destructive forces have united against the Left

We have been witness to a strange phenomenon in the political canvas of West Bengal – there is a humongous effort to unite the ultra left and the right wingers against the Left Front. All the poltical struggles that have taken place recently in Nandigram, Singur, Lalgarh, Gorkhaland, Greater Coochbehar have seen an overwhelming presence of the political opponents of the Left, sometimes in direct participation, sometimes as covert allies. And the media has played and important role in propagating their false views and propaganda amongst the general population.

The campaign of the opposition shows an absence of politics, only unsubstantiated slander and a stubborn attitude against progress

This time the political campaign plan of the opposition is unique in that it shows a complete lack of politically relevant matter. The only scope of such campaigning is a meticulous system of lies and slander against the Left front led by the CPI(M). There are no criticisms or attacks based on ideological or tactical stands. There is no presence of an alternative plan of action. They are characterized only by the fact that they blindly oppose any steps taken by the Left Front. The destructive forces of the opposition are stubbornly obstructing any developmental plans or steps taken by the Left, and there is a complete lack of reasoning and logic throughout.

Take for instance, the inauguration of the East-West Metro rail project in Kolkata. Our esteemed leader of the opposition declared, ‘How many metros does one city need? This is eyewash!’ It’s surprising that a leader of the opposition can speak such words! The fact that a city can and in fact, does have more than one metro line (as seen in many cities around the world) is a fact that is conveniently unknown to her. But this is what the opposition is propagating through their campaigns. This is what they are taking to the people.

The sole purpose of the opposition is to oppose the left Front on all grounds, at any cost. The Congress, on one hand, declares that they shall not be an obstacle in the path of development, and on the other, they are forging electoral alliances with the one entity which is obstructing any development in the state.

The INC declares time and again, that their sole agenda is the country’s progress. Where has this declared policy vanished when it comes to our state? We have seen that at the all-parties conference in Singur, a conference which was held in accordance with suggestions given by Priyaranjan Dasmunshi of the INC, the INC placed their arguments in favour of the TMC – opposed to industry and development. And yet they speak of development. And this same congress has now entered into an opportunist electoral alliance with the TMC, the sole entity responsible for destabilization and obstructing development in the state.

The alternative being presented in place of the Left Front is a party which defies all sort of sane reasoning and logic, which is totally bankrupt of ideology.

This is a party which consists of a group of spineless persons, whose only role is that of a stoking the ego of their autocratic leader, and this leader is being presented as the face of the alternative which would replace the Left Front. The murderous attacks or physical assaults on Left Front cadres and sympathisers have become commonplace. These attacks are taking place on the marginally poor in the rural areas. The brunts of these attacks are borne by tribal leaders, rural peasants who are sympathetic to the cause of the Left. And none of these horrific and gory details find their place in the information system of the state’s media. And even if they are, they are not being accorded due importance or significance, or sometimes even being propagated with lies and falsehoods. And the complete opposite takes place when the victim is someone from the opposition.

Don’t the near and dear ones of these victims whose only fault is that they are supporters of the left feel any pain or loss? Don't they leave behind hapless children and family members? But none of this is served up as significant news. The people of the state must understand and analyze the hidden agenda behind this phenomenon of attacks and cover ups by the media.

The LS Elections decide which policies the country will follow

The LS elections are not fought over local issues. How the country would function as a whole, what are the policies that would determine the path taken by it, is what is determined by the outcome of the LS elections. Will be continue on the present economic path as decided by the previous set of people in charge of the country? We, the Left, have played a significant role in the last LS elections. The popular mandate given to us by the people of West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala helped us set up a new power equation at the Center. We had consolidated a considerable strength of numbers which enabled us to directly engage in policy making for the country. And for the first time in the history of independent India, we have been successfully able to raise questions and bring about a debate regarding the economic policies followed by those in power. We played the role of unmasking the true intentions and destructive character of the economic policies adopted by the NDA, followed by the UPA. And we have succeeded in stalling most of these suicidal policies, which would otherwise have led to economic devastation for India. The people must understand this role played by the Left. And since the powers-that-be know that the state of West Bengal is the strongest foothold for the Left, they have directed all their forces against the Left Front government in this state, hoping to weaken them as a political entity, thus enabling them to implement the policies which we have successfully opposed till now.

We have played a historical role in the contemporary politics of the state and the country.

While we have been saying that generating employment is our current and principle aim, the policies adopted by the national government has only led to a downsize in employment opportunities. The Left Front in West Bengal has been successful in two things, one- We have fought the new economic policies in a country wide perspective adopted at the center, two – while at the same time these policies have led to unemployment and general economic malaise, we have worked hard and succeeded considerably to generate employment in our state. And this story of success is what has peeved so many, thus allying them together for this attack on the Left.

We have always maintained and iterated that if the income of the majority doesn't increase, then the internal market will not expand. And if this market does not expand, then indigenous industries will never flourish. So the policies adopted must be aimed at generating an increased income for the majority of the population. The internal markets have to expand to usher in indigenous industries. The drive for industrialization must generate proportional employment for the people.

The liberalization of the economy and the so called economic ‘reforms’ have led to a crisis.

In 1991, the P.V. Narasimha Rao headed Congress government at the center, which had our present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the finance minister, had adopted a plethora of liberal economic policies, which have been in practice for the last 15 or more years. We had continuously warned that this would lead to an inevitable crisis, we had fought against these policies, and our cause has been validated by the recent phenomenon in the economic canvas of the country. This crisis is plaguing not only our country, but the entire world. In the USA, reputed banks like Lehman Brothers, along with many other financial institutions have had to file for bankruptcy and close shop. The primary reason behind this debacle is the fact that the people who took loans from the banks were unable to or unwilling to return the money to the banks. The huge amount of money reserves accumulated by these banks was recklessly given out as loans. Since the majority of the people are poor, the unrestrained greed of the rich few, who wanted to create consumption frenzy and a virtual market within the market, led to these easy loans to one and all. The aim was to encourage those people to take loans who have a purchasing power. The bottom line of economic liberalization is – stop any government intervention in the functioning of financial institutions like banks. We know that the normal functions of a bank are to function as an establishment where people save money, and to provide loans for endeavors like farming and industry. The interest paid by a person who lends money from the bank is more than the interest paid by the bank to the person who keeps his savings with the bank. That is precisely how a bank generates profits. And thus, the cash reserves of the bank are used to increase overall production in the society. And increased production means increased opportunities for employment, and general social well being.

But the new liberal policies have resulted in increased production using advancements in the fields of science and technology, and at the same time have led to a decrease in the purchasing power of the population to buy these produced goods. The local markets have not expanded like they should have. Wealth is being centralized in the hands of a select few. The banks no longer felt that investing their money in factories or such was profitable. The new areas where the private banks began investing and handing out loans at incredibly low rates of interest were – the real estate sector, the automobile sector, the retail sector, etc. With the increase in the volume of loans given at low interest rates as house loans to the common people, the prices of land and raw materials began to rise exponentially. This led to an increase in the share prices of those groups involved in the real estate business. This led to a stalemate position where ultimately, everybody was a producer, not a consumer. And then suddenly the value of these properties began to depreciate at a tremendous rate. The money invested by the bank in these sectors was lost. It became impossible for the people to pay back the loans to the banks. And finally, the government came forward to bail out these banks. But this in turn led to another crisis in the economic canvas.

With the banks becoming bankrupt, the industrial sector suddenly found itself short of funds, and no place to get them from. And with the markets shrinking, the purchasing power of the majority had not seen any significant increase, which led to a decrease in overall production. This led to lay-offs and unemployment on a massive scale. The current economic downturn is much more widespread in magnitude then the Great Depression of the 30’s. The rate at which unemployment has increased around the globe after 1991 is unparalleled in history. Statistics show that there has been an increase of 6.1% in terms of unemployment rate.

As an example, on a single day in USA, it was declared that 10,000 people had lost their jobs. By the end of the day, that figure had reached 50,000. In 2007, 17,90,00,000 people had lost their jobs, while at the beginning of 2009, this figure was a staggering 23,00,00,000. The scenario in our country is horrifying too. While adopting the neo-liberal economic policies at the Center, the government had maintained that there was no need to expand our indigenous market. This led to the fact that the goods produced here were sold in foreign markets. To bring about a decrease in costs of production and to ensure that they are smoothly transferred to foreign markets, the government negated all constraints on export-imports and opened up our markets. The government provided massive help in terms of tax cuts, infrastructural subsidies, special economic zones, reduced export duties, etc. The economy of the country soon became dependent on exports.

The Left has cried hoarse about the fact that if indigenous markets are not expanded, then we would face a grave economic crisis real soon. We would be competing with other developing countries for exports, and this would lead to the capitalists exploiting our economy even more. The capitalist countries wanted cheap raw materials and a market to sell their produced goods. The liberalization of our economy ensured that they were provided that in this country. There is a tremendous uprise in terms of campaign to increase consumption of consumer goods.

Karl Marx had once aptly remarked about capitalism, ‘Capitalism blows up needs to disproportionate figures, and gives rise to inhuman, irrational, multifaceted greed’.

The only section in opposition to these anti-people neo liberal policies is the Left

Our government had wanted Foreign Direct Investment in sectors like nationalized banks and insurance companies. They had sought to modify the laws accordingly. We the Left had struggled vehemently against such legal modifications and implementation of these policies. This would have led to our economy completely being in control of foreign capitalists. Entry into the banking and insurance sectors would have resulted in the savings of the common man being controlled by these forces. And that money would then be used to gamble in the global financial sectors by these powers. We have successfully stalled any such intentions. The media has tagged us as ‘conservatives’. And now, the Governor of the RBI has declared, ‘The economic crisis plaguing the world has not affected India with equal magnitude, because the controlling reins of our economy our still in the hands of our government’. And the sole reason for this was the struggle of the Left Front.

We have opposed the price hike in petroleum products. The government said that the international price of crude oil has increased. It is being said the demand for oil has exceeded its supply, thus resulting in a price rise. The people have believed these lies fed by the media. But what is the truth? The price of a barrel of cruse oil had once peaked to 150 dollars. Presently, it has depreciated to 40 – 42 dollars. So this story about the demand and supply is pure falsehood. The truth is, the oil companies were amassing huge reserves of oil for future trading and artificially increased the price of crude oil, so that these reserves could be sold at a high price. And the driving factor behind such immoral actions is the drive for increased profits.

The price of food products have been increased too. The American president, George Bush, remarked that ‘Prices of food grains have increased because the people of China and India are consuming more quantities of food.’ During this time, our government had bought food grains from Australia at a higher price than what is paid to our own farmers, to meet the shortfall of food grains.

Capital is being earmarked for speculation, not for production

Unlike finance capital, speculative capital is removed from the circuit of productive capital and does not create surplus value, but only “re-distributes” it. Speculative capital is not reinvested in hiring more workers, expanding plants and equipment, purchasing raw materials or new technology. Instead, these vast amounts are diverted into speculation where investors gamble on changes in the prices of financial instruments.

Our national share markets saw a sudden influx of foreign capital. The volume of shares traded increased, leading to a consequential increase in the price of shares. The average person began investing his hard earned money in buying a large number of shares. When the rate of increase in price of these shares reached a new high, the foreign capitalists began selling them off. This led to an abrupt fall in the priceof these shares, leading to tremendous losses being suffered by the person who had invested in them.

In this manner, the foreign companies have injected 18 million dollars into our national share market for purposes of speculation. We had vehemently opposed this. We had said that we should allow FDI only in direct production - industrialisation, and not speculation. The advent of new technology would have led to new industries, and thus, increased employment oppurtunities. We had not opposed this sort of Foreign Direct Investment. But we are strongly against speculative capital. But the Central government paid more importance to speculative capital, thus leading the country's economy to the current crisis, which is horrifying in magnitude.

We are not the only ones who have been affected, there are many other Asian countries who are facing the same critical scenario. Thisis because the about 47% of these countries' net production is earmarked for export. Thus, with the sudden decrease in foreign exports, these economies also faced an overpowering recession. Recent studies say that instead of job generation, the current economic crisis would lead to the loss of employment for around one crore people in India in the current year. Although the paradox is that this is still a fraction of the crisis which we would have ultimately faced, had the Left not fought inside and outside the parliament to protect the interests of the citizens of this country.

The Indian Government had planned to handover the pension funds of all state and central government employees to private entities under the veil of 'pension fund management'. This money would then be invested in the share market. In the USA, the same scenario has led to the vanishing of pension funds of 2.5 lakh people. Their pensions have been stopped. We have succesfully stopped our government from carrying out such a dastardly act.

And it is only us, the Left, who have fought relentlessly against these anti-people policies of the UPA government.

And it is not only our economy, but also our political stance which is at stake

The IMF or the World Bank’s purpose is not only limited to influencing us in determining our economic policies, but also as a direct influence and possibly decision maker in case of our political stand. The capitalists have always aimed to be the driver of the political carriage of India. They have to capture and monopolize our markets so that they can sell their produced goods here. And that is precisely why they need to be in control of our politics.

For a long time now, USA has not identified a growing market for selling their nuclear power technology. And in USA itself, there hasn’t been any new nuclear power plants being built for the last 23 years. Thus, they need a market in a country like ours to sell their technology. And if they can sell us nuclear technology, that would also create the market for fissile raw materials like uranium. The nuclear treaty was all about that. It has put in place conditions that can effectively determine our foreign policy, our nuclear policy, it has brought the entire scope of our nuclear research under american supervision and monitoring. The government maintained that we were in such a dire need of nuclear power, that we would have to accept the terms of this treaty at all costs. We, the Left, did not declare that we did not need nuclear power. Instead, we said that for a poor country like ours, the financially viable solution currently would have been to increase our thermal power production with the help of the vast reserves of coal that we possess. The cost of that power would have been cheaper than nuclear power. And in the meantime, we could concentrate on indigenous research for generating nuclear power out of raw materials like thorium, of which there are considerable reserves in our country. But the treaty was solely aimed at promoting the commercial and political interests of the USA. The same USA who destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan and are now planning to demolish Iran.

The Left front and minority affairs

The recent campaigns against us have one salient point – that the Left in WB do not care about the minorities. The crux of this idea seems to be that the minorities elsewhere in India are far better off than they are in West Bengal. But the Sachhar Committee report speaks about the entire country. It says how the minorities have remained emancipated throughout the country. The important question here is, which political group has handled the reigns of this county for the better part of time? That group is the Congress. The Congress and its fledgling, the TMC, should answer about what they have done for the minorities. And at the same time, these parties support the USA who have been responsible for the most inhumane acts against Muslims throughout the world. Since a few of these Muslims are fundamentalists, in the eyes of the American imperialists, all Muslims are fundamentalists. And these same imperialists are responsible for the barbaric atrocities against the Palestinian people. And the Indian government is buying arms and military technology from the perpetrators of this heinous crime, the Israeli army. And this government has shown covert signs of joining in the ‘war against terror’ on the side of America, ‘ to annihilate terrorists and protect democracy’. What an irony! The biggest global terrorist of our times is the USA.

There is no political group in India other than the Left, who don't only preach secularism, but protect it with their blood. 50% of the total population of West Bengal consists of Muslims, Scs and Sts. And the major chunk of this population form our rural poor. Once these people were landless labourers. They have benefited most from the land reforms and land redistribution schemes of the Left. 84% of rural land is now owned by these once small and marginalised peasants. Which means that this land is owned by these same minorities. The Sachhar committee report has conveniently omitted this part.

We want more development, especially in the regions where these minorities form a large part of the populace. Development denotes better roads, more educational institutions, healthcare centres, industrial development, etc. And the INC-TMC alliance is opposing exactly these schemes.

Roads and industry would lead to an overall development of the surrounding region. And with this background, the Left front Government had planned to the building of roads in the South 24 Parganas and the industrialization of the area surrounding Nandigram, where the majority of the population are minorities. If these plans had materialized, then the main beneficiaries would have been these very same minorities. Are the groups who opposed these plans really in favour of the improvement of minority conditions? Is there any village where the inhabitants do not want better roads and connectivity. When the Rural Road Yojana came along, the precondition was that if villagers gave up a part of their lands, then roads would be widened. The rural poor came out in their own interests and gave up lands for the construction of roads.

At this same time, the tribals were made to dig up roads around Lalgarh. This means that the same roads which had enabled the connectivity of these remote areas with the prime regions were destroyed. An ambulance carrying a doctor and a nurse was blown up, thus putting the people of this region out of the reach of healthcare temporarily. Do these groups really care about the interests of these minorities?

Development and job generation seems to be a ‘crime’ in their eyes

We have identified the undeveloped regions and have put in place plans to speed up the rateof development in these areas. This is precisely why the recent plans of power plants in Murshidabad, a huge factory in Sagardighi and roads through the heart of South 24 parganas have been undertaken.

We have done all this with the aim of generating employment. If trying to create jobs for thousands of people is a ‘crime’, then we are ‘criminals’. If activities such as building and widening of roads, setting up educational institutions and healthcare facilities is a crime, then we would gladly commit such crimes. The people have to decide if they are on our side.

They had vehemently opposed the setting up of the thermal power centre in Bakreshwar. The price for that was paid in blood by the youth of the Left. They still follow the same poltics of opposition of developmental works. And we are firm in that we would do whatever it takes to protect the interests of the people.

The people have to decide if they want the sort of industry that would create jobs. If the country id to be served up on a platter to the alter of speculative capital, or if proper policies are followed to make ourselves self sufficient.

Divisive politics are at play to prevent a united consciousness against this crisis

If the Left is weakened, then the struggle for the interests of the working class, of the vast majority of this country living under poverty lines would never formulate into a significant battle. The struggle which we are pursuing to make India self sufficient and to safeguard the interests of the working class wholly depends on whether we are able to increase our strength or not.

The whole country is facing a crisis, and to divert the attention of the population from this crisis, there is a clear conspiracy at play to bring about a division amongst the people.

Sometimes these lines are being drawn on the basis of religion, sometimes on the basis of caste, and several separatist movements have taken form from this mess. Everybody wants seperate states. This new wave of parochialism and jingoism is taking visible form in Assam, Mumbai and elsewhere. We cannot allow this to happen in West Bengal.

A terrible power is taking shape in our state

This power fuels the fire of separatism in our state. They know that the unity of the people form the base for development. If you divide people, if you play them against each other, you can successfully halt any sort of development. These conspiracy to separate the Gorkhas, the Rajbangshis, the tribals, is something that we must question.

A terrible power is raising its ugly head in the state. It has joined ranks with the maoists, the naxalites, with the communal powers and the Islamic fundamentalists on one hand, and with the INC on the other.

A conspiracy to bring about a rift in the working class and separate them from the Left

This time the struggle is tremendously difficult, because the politics is quite complex. In the state, the Left front government has undertaken a plan for an alternative in the interest of the people. But we are unable to avoid the adverse effects of the policies formulated at the centre. For instance, the creation of the BPL lists has resulted in seething anger amongst the rural poor. We are against this, but as a state under the constitution of India, we are forced to work with these policies. We have repeatedly proclaimed that in a country where 77% of the population earn a daily wage below Rs 20, it is highly impractical to distinguish between the ‘rich’ and the ‘poor’. We demanded that everybody had to be brought under a mass redistribution scheme. But in most of their schemes – a family has to be identified who would get the benefits of the plan. A village might have 50 families who need these benefits. But according to the rules of the central government, only 5 are eligible for them. The other 45 are being pulled into despair and anger towards the chosen 5. And the government wants exactly that.

The primary issues like generating jobs and increasing income is being blatantly ignored. Instead, the poor are being divided on significant lines. Although we oppose such polices, we have tried to implement them pragmatically in our state, or the funds that are helping even a small fraction of the poor would have been returned.

And these sporadic issues are being used by the opposition in their campaign against us.

The central opposition party in our state

What is the nature of the leadership of the TMC? The nature in which they conduct their business of politics, what they say, how they behave, is visibly repulsive. Their sole function is the lumpenization of politics. Those heading it are a bunch of spineless court jesters, whose only agenda is the promotion of self interests. They are not concerned about the interests of the people.

In this time frame, one thing is to be kept under consideration. We are witnessing the emergence of sporadic pockets of destructive reactionary forces. This does not mean that they have appeared suddenly. They existed for a long time, but were hibernating. In the last 32 years, 35% - 40% of the populace have traditionally voted against the Left. A small fraction of these people are encouraging these anarchic forces in our state. Thee forces are being supported at all costs, even when most of them are anti-socials. And we must also accept, that due to numerous flaws and mistakes on the part of a small section of the leaders and cadres of the Left front, the poor who have turned against us are being used by these forces.

The basic nature of development is that it increases the general wants of the people. The fact that the wants of the poor have increased – is in itself a tremendous endorsement of the success of the Left front. We have brought about a visible presence of self respect amongst the poor. And the opposition wants to destroy this self respect. To transform the entire working class into spineless individuals. This is exactly how fascism rears it ugly head. The party which has no internal democracy, where none of its members can be vocal about their opinion, such a party can never propagate democracy if it comes to power. The democracy which has flourished due to the struggles of the Left, the phenomenon of the empowerment of the poor and the downtrodden, and the consciousness about their rights, which has led to the continuous opposition of the class hegemony in the country, is exactly what the TMC wants to destroy by weakening the Left. They are protecting the interests of the ruling class. And this is the sole agenda which has been undertaken against the Left in these elections.

There are still numerous areas of improvement in our state. But only the Left front has been able to and will continuously uphold the principles of struggle of the working class, and bring about the improvement of their conditions in the state. Only we will be able to steer our state in the path of progress and destroy the divisive politics of the opposition.

Our principle slogan in this Election

The parliamentary elections are an important political struggle. The interests of the country are linked to the results of this election, and this is exactly where the Left must play an important role. The Congress and the BJP both know that they would not be in a position to form the government with an absolute majority. These elections would, in all probability, see another coalition government at the helm of affairs. We must be in a position to determine the nature of this coalition, of its policies and of the role played by it.

Consequentially, we will be facing the forthcoming elections with two principal slogans – Defeat the Congress, Defeat the BJP. Because both these parties are against the interests of the working class, both are reactionary forces, they have to be weakened, and defeated wherever possible. It is true that the third alternative is still in a nascent stage. But there are a lot of regional forces which are not communal, but who work specifically for the interests of their region. These secular forces, who enjoy the support of a considerable section of the population, must be distanced from the Congress and BJP, and brought into the folds of the third alternative. If this can be realized, then the Third Front would become a considerable force in reckoning in the political canvas of India. We are trying to foment the conditions for the growth of the third alternative throughout the country. This alternative must base its role on realistic analysis of the nature of the issues faced by the people. And we, the Left, must play a considerable role in this analysis.

So we must work towards rearing a force that would defeat the Congress and the BJP, and we must strengthen this force wherever possible, and we must form a significant part of this force, so that we may play a proactive and positive role towards the building of the third alternative.