Bengal Panchayat Elections Rigged

Friday, July 26, 2013

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement: 

Rigged Panchayat Elections in West Bengal

The three-tier panchayat elections in West Bengal which have just concluded, has led to an unprecedented situation. The entire election has been marred by widespread attacks, intimidation and rigging. Thousands of candidates were prevented from filing nominations. In many places opposition candidates were prevented from conducting their election campaign among the people; the polling process was vitiated by widespread rigging, prevention of people casting their votes and violence against opposition candidates, their polling agents and supporters.

The run-up to the panchayat election saw determined efforts by the Trinamool Congress government to subvert the polling process itself. It required the State Election Commission going to the High Court and eventually the Supreme Court to get a decision to have a five-phase polling (against the wishes of the state government) and the direction to deploy central police forces along with the state police.

Despite these verdicts, the TMC government did everything to undermine these decisions. The Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself declared that central police forces need not be deployed. Shockingly, ministers in the government publicly threatened the State Election Commissioner and warned her of dire consequences. Defying the court order, the central police forces were not deployed at the polling stations with a few exceptions.

In the run-up to the elections, there were widespread attacks on the Left Front and the opposition. Around six thousand CPI(M) and Left Front candidates were physically prevented from filing their nominations. This led to a situation wherein for the Zilla Parishads in Hooghly, out of the total of 50 seats, the Left Front could not file candidates in 10 seats. In 6191 seats in the three-tier panchayats, TMC candidates were declared elected unopposed.

During the campaign, TMC ministers and leaders made the most provocative speeches inciting violence against all opponents. No action was taken against them. All through the campaign Left Front and Congress candidates were attacked, their campaigners including women beaten up and injured.

During the polling which began on July 11 and concluded on July 25 what was witnessed was a state-sponsored rigging of the elections by the TMC. In all the districts put together, a total of 4470 booths were completely or partially captured. For instance, in Burdwan district 909 booths, 750 in West Midnapur, 429 in South 24 Parganas and 400 booths in Coochbehar were captured. (See Annexure I).

In many booths, polling agents of the CPI(M) and the Left Front were driven out after which stamping of ballot papers took place. In fact all opponents of the ruling party faced a similar situation in many areas. In many areas from the morning itself people were not allowed to leave their homes in the villages to go to the polling booths to vote. Hundreds of Left Front supporters and workers of other opposition parties were injured in attacks when they attempted to go for polling. Many of them have suffered serious injuries and have been hospitalized. Even some candidates to the three tier Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and Gram Panchayat were not allowed to vote in many places. Even two Members of Parliament, Mahendra Roy in Jalpaiguri district and Nripen Roy in Coochbehar district were prevented from voting.

The state police which was stationed at the polling booths refused to intervene when attacks took place of workers and voters of the Left Front. In many instances, the police lathicharged or arrested those who were resisting the attacks or asserted their right to vote. In a planned manner, the central police forces were not deployed in many of the hypersensitive and sensitive booths.

Despite the orders of the State Election Commission and the High Court directive motorcycle gangs were not stopped and were allowed to move freely to terrorise the opposition and the voters. Even on the day of polling these gangs threatened people from going to polling booths.

The violence during the election campaign and during the polling has led to the deaths of 24 CPI(M) workers and supporters. (See Annexure II).

At no time has such a brazen attack and perversion of the democratic process of elections taken place in West Bengal or in the entire country.

The results of such a rigged election can only be a distorted one.

Annexure – I 

Booths Captured
Phase	District	No. of Booths
I	Paschim Medinipur	750
	Purulia	0
	Bankura	34
II	Hooghly	731
	Purba Medinipur	241
	Bardhaman	909
III	North 24 Parganas	311
	South 24 Parganas	429
	Howrah	291
IV	Malda	99
	Murshidabad	19
	Nadia	97
	Birbhum	140
V	Coochbehar	400
	Jalpaiguri	0
	Uttar Dinajpur	0
	Dakshin Dinajpur	19
	Total	4470

N.B.: Over and above the figure of captured booths mentioned in the list, a good number of booths were partially captured. 

In some cases, voters were not allowed to enter the booth or after two/three hours of polling the Left parties’ polling agents were driven out from the polling station and TMC people stamped on the ballot paper indiscriminately. 

In certain centres, after complaints were lodged with the State Election Commission or District Panchayat Election Officer, police intervention took place and polling resumed at the polling Centre.

Annexure – II

List of Left Front Workers Killed Between June 3 and July 25, 2013

Sl. No	Date	Name	District	Party
	3-Jun-13	Golam Mostafa	Murshidabad	CPI(M)
	7-Jun-13	Subhas Mondal (55)	Dakshin 24 Pargana	CPI(M)
	9-Jun-13	Dilip Sarkar	Bardhaman	CPI(M)
	9-Jun-13	Madan Saren (48)	Bardhaman	CPI(M)
	13-Jun-13	Kalimuddin Sarkar	Maldaha	CPI(M)
	14-Jun-13	Bhaskar Majumder (53)	Birbhum	CPI(M)
	21-Jun-13	Debsaran Ghosh (44)	Murshidabad	CPI(M)
	21-Jun-13	Amar Ghosh  (44)	Murshidabad	CPI(M)
	25-Jun-13	Ramjiban Khamri (65)	Paschim Medinipur	CPI(M)
	28-Jun-13	Akbar Ali (23)	Maldaha	CPI(M)
	1-Jul-13	Ankhiranjan Mondal	Uttar 24 Pgs.	CPI(M)
	3-Jul-13	Siatul Sardar (37)	Murshidabad	CPI(M)
	4-Jul-13	Md Eklakh	Hooghly	CPI(M)
	13-Jul-13	Naosad Sekh (33)	Murshidabad	CPI(M)
	15-Jul-13	Sk. Hasmat (40)	Bardhaman	CPI(M)
	19-Jul-13	Motherbox Malllick	Uttar 24 Pgs.	CPI(M)
	22-Jul-13	Khabiruddin Sekh	Nadia	CPI(M)
	22-Jul-13	Ashim Bagdi (25)	Birbhum	CPI(M)
	22-Jul-13	Jamir Sekh (40)	Birbhum	CPI(M)
	22-Jul-13	Kafiulla Sekh (45)	Birbhum	CPI(M)
	23-Jul-13	Billal Mondal (35)	Murshidabad	CPI(M)
	23-Jul-13	Fatik Sekh  (36)	Murshidabad	CPI(M)
	24-Jul-13	Humaun Mir (32)	Birbhum	CPI(M)
	25-Jul-13	Ajiz Ahmed (60)	Uttar Dinajpur	CPI(M)

West Bengal: Criminals’ Own Country

By Debasish Chakraborty

State Records Highest Growth in Crimes in Two Years 

WHATEVER happens to economic growth, West Bengal has achieved the highest growth rate of crime in the whole country. And this too in just two years! This grand success has been recognised by the Crime in India, 2012 report compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) that comes under the union ministry of home affairs. The report has also exposed that the state, under Trinamul regime, ranked first in the matter of crimes against woman for consecutive two years.

The NCRB report showed the incidence of total cognisable crimes in the states and union territories during 2007-2011, the quinquennial average of these five years, and the numbers in 2012. It also calculated the percentage change in 2012 over the said average. It showed that in West Bengal the overall incidence of crimes has increased by a whopping 41.6 per cent over the 2007-11 average. This is the highest increase in the whole country, while the average growth rate in crimes is 11.2 per cent for the country as a whole. Nearest to West Bengal is Assam with 37.6 per cent increase, while in Kerala it is 20.8 per cent. The rate of increase in the corresponding period was 15 per cent in UP, 19.2 per cent in Odisha and 6.2 per cent in Andhra Pradesh. West Bengal experienced an increase of 12.7 per cent over the 2011 figure.

The time period of this unprecedented growth of crime is exactly the same as that of the TMC rule in the state. Significantly, the period of 2007-11 witnessed widespread Maoist violence in three districts of West Bengal, and the anarchy and violence spearheaded by the then opposition during the Singur-Nandigram agitations, resulting in an increase in IPC crimes. But these components were absent in 2011 and 2012. Even then the unparalleled growth rate of crime points to an increasing dominance of criminals and anti-social elements in the society in West Bengal. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has often commented that criminals in West Bengal were now feeling that the government was theirs. The NCRB report has now proved him correct.

West Bengal, once the safest place for women, has turned into a horror place for them in the last two years. That this is not an overstatement has well been proved by the NCRB data. It shows that in 2011 the registered cases of crime against women in the state were 29,133. Then these increased to 30,942 in 2012, making the state Numero Uno again. West Bengal accounted for 12.7 per cent of the total number of crimes against women in India. For Andhra Pradesh the figure is 28,171 and for UP 23,579.

True the incidence of rape in the state dropped to 2,046 in 2012 from 2,363 in 2011. However, cases of kidnapping and abduction increased to 4,168 in 2012 from 3,711 in 2011. “Assault on women with intent to outrage their modesty” has also shown an increase to 3,345 in 2012 from 2,363 in 2011. Insult to modesty accounted for 556 registered cases in 2012.

It should be noted here that the state government has practically stopped sending details to the NCRB for the few months now. But even the truncated version has exposed the kind of rule that the first woman chief minister of West Bengal has created in the state.

The state administration in is no mood to look at the facts. State director general of police, Naparajit Mukherjee, contested the NCRB statistics, saying the rape incidents had come down "considerably." He said this in a media conference just after two consecutive incidents of murder after mass rape took place in North 24 Parganas and Nadia. In these cases, two girl students were killed after rape.

Opposition leader Suryakanta Misra has termed the lack of concern on the part of the state administration on the deteriorating law and order situation as the most serious source of concern. Taking a dig at the DGP, Mishra said: "He is talking like his master's voice." He accused the Mamata Banerjee government of using the police as well as the administration "shamelessly" in its interest. The CPI(M) leader also contested the government's view that recording of crimes against women had increased during its rule. "There is no scope for reporting of crimes at police stations across the state even in case of crimes against women," Mishra commented.

People's Democracy, June 16, 2013

Indian Fascism’s Putrefication : The Art of Political Murder

By VIJAY PRASHAD

COUNTERPUNCH, June 10, 2013

The iron has gone deep into the soul of West Bengal’s ruling party, the Trinamul Congress. On the morning of June 9, 2013, as he left his home for his morning walk, the Communist leader Dilip Sarkar, age 65, was shot by four “unidentified miscreants,” as the national news agency (UNI) put it. There is little doubt that the hand of guilt will slowly move toward the ruling party, the Trinamul Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee. The murder took place in Burnpur, an industrial city in Asansol district, which is the home of the IISCO steel plant. Sarkar’s political career began there as he rose amongst the ranks in the trade union to become the head of the Steel Workers’ Union. A member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI-M, Sarkar would represent the interest of workers in West Bengal’s legislature, where he represented the steel workers’ district. His death is a blow to the Left’s resurgence in the area. But it is important to underline that his is the third political murder in the district, after the murder of CPI-M activist and employee at the Lisco steel plant Nirgun Dubey, age 50, in July 2011 in Burnpur, and the murder of CPI-M activist Arpan Mukherjee, age 54, in Burnpur again in May 2012. There is a concerted effort in this belt to wipe out people who have been part of the resurgence of the Left in this area since 2009.

These puncutated killings are not unique, and nor has it been solely a targetted attack on the Left – although these political murders are part of what appears to be a policy to assassinate its ground level leadership. Over the course of the past few years West Bengal has seen the ruling Trinamul Congress Party, feted by the US government, cover up the murder by its cadre and its police forces a student activist, a police officer, and several opposition political figures (including from the Congress Party) as well as seen its leader threaten college professors, doctors and trade unionists with grave language. When videos show her party leaders and cadre directly involved in the public assassinations these men are hastily disassociated from the party, and in some cases, guileless and likely moderately paid substitutes have taken the fall for them. On the street the word is that the supari or payment for some of the killings of the CPI-M leaders could not be more than Rs. 2 lakhs – about $4,000, a measly sum. Political murder is certainly a weapon used by this brand of West Bengali fascism to exocise the Left. But this is not all that is afoot. There is a concerted effort to undermine the apparatus of the State, to intimidate its officialdom into fealty to the Trinamul. That is a policy that has been substantially enacted.

NaMonea.

At the other end of India, in Goa, the official party of Indian fascism, the BJP, has anointed its new leader, the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Modi has few counterparts in the world; analogies do not stick to him. He is a master of the media, having trafficed a vision of himself that has been taken without investigation by corporate journalists. Having risen in the BJP’s spear, the RSS, Modi told hold of the party apparatus in Gujarat where he oversaw the deliverance of the state both to the power of corporations and to the lathery scum of Hindu revanchism. It was the latter that happily went into the forests of Gujarat to torment the Christian tribals of the Dangs belt in the late 1990s and it was they who enjoyed the impunity afforded them to conduct the Gujrat pogrom against Muslims in 2002. Modi has tried to soften his image a little for the general public, appearing as the Avatar of Development and Good Governance. The true believers do not need to hear him frothing about the dangers of Muslims; his bonafides are clear from 2002. They have allowed him to recast himself as the man who will take India away from corruption and put down the hammer against all manner of anti-national tendencies (the great code for continuing the quiet war in Kashmir, the Indian North-East and in the lucrative mining districts at the geographical heart of India).

At Goa, the BJP finally gave this Gujarati Caesar the crown; he is to lead the party into the national elections of 2014. Jubiliation can be felt amongst the ranks of the BJP, whose pressure finally moved sections of the cautious national leadership to go with Modi. This cautious leadership rightly knew that the BJP cannot win power in Delhi on its own. It requries a coalition, their NDA, many of whose partners are wary of Modi and his hard-hammer fascism. They would prefer the recondite fascism of the older leaders – A. B. Vajpayee and L. K. Advani, both nasty specimens who emerged out of the far right’s cabinet of curiousities, but nonetheless able to cloak their views behind the illusions of chaste Hindi or an upper class pedigre. Modi has none of that. His is the politics of the lathiar, the Man of the Stick.

The ruling Congress alliance has allowed Modi and his Saffron Shirts to sharpen their sticks. During his anointment in Goa, Modi made light of the government’s development campaign whose slogan is Aapka Haq (Your Rights). It is rather Aapka Shaq, he said, your suspicion of the government. This is of course true. The expanding, but demographically minor, middle-class has certainly been inflamed as one corruption allegation after another has weakened the Congress. There is no doubt that the values of neo-liberalism have not only given licence to big business, but they have spread their wings into every cultural nook – including Cricket, where betting and spot-fixing scandals have tarnished the sport. The national consciousness is not, however, framed only by the suspicion of the government because of corruption. Livelihood is a central problem for the vast majority, but it is rarely the case that an election will be fought on the sociology of starvation. It will rather be fought contituency by contituency, with factors of caste and gender, political tradition and political violence as the main vectors.

In West Bengal, for instance, where the political violence has become truly dangerous, the local self-government polls are on hand. The Trinmul Congress’ district committee president from Birbhum Anubrata Mandal told a party meeting on June 2 that since the process of filing nominations was going to start the next day, his party had to be alert. “Both the CPI-M and the Congress are our enemies,” he said in a video clip that aired on television channels. “Do not allow anybody from the CPI-M or the Congress to file nominations for the panchayat elections.” Elections are not won solely by the fealty of a section of the population to this or that political tendency. They are won, in the world’s largest democracy, by money and force, by the forces of rotting fascism.

The Art of Political Murder » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Two Years of TMC Rule: An All Round Decline

KOLKATA: TWO years of TMC rule in West Bengal has seen an all round decline of development, thus destroying the remarkable achievements of the Left Front government. Biman Basu, Left Front chairman, said, on the occasion of the two years of Mamata Banerjee government.

Basu said that TMC came to power with a slogan to establish democracy, but shamelessly established the party rule in every sector of the government. The state has already witnessed autocracy, and severe anarchy. Comparing first two years of Left Front with this government, Basu noted that after 1977, wide ranging land reforms were initiated and three tier panchayat elections were held for the first time. Food-deficit West Bengal began turning self sufficient with tremendous impetus in agricultural production. In the last two years, on the contrary, peasant suicides have taken place and agriculture is in deep crisis.

Leader of the opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra said, the state had never experienced such high magnitude of scams as it witnessed in the last two years of TMC rule. TMC is running neck to neck with the UPA at the centre on the issues of corruption and misrule, he commented. The prime minister is protecting his law minister and rail minister on the one hand and the chief minister is giving excuses in favour of her MPs and ministers in Saradha chit fund scandal on the other, Mishra said. From the trident lights scam of Kolkata to the highest magnitude of financial corruption, the chief minister has consistently tried to save the accused persons. Saradha group and the state government have looted the people of the state in collaboration, he said.

Misra said, to hide the failure and corruption of their own the state government is also extending attacks on democratic rights. The freedom of speech and expression is also under attack in this regime. The agrarian sector of the state is under unprecedented crisis. The farmers are committing suicide because of non-receipt of the value of their crops. Instead of buying crops from the farmers the government is making arrangements with the rice mill owners. West Bengal used to enjoy the first position in rice production but during last two years the production has deteriorated by eight million tonnes yearly in average. Production of winter (boro) rice has also come down. The government did not show any intention of setting up cold storage in any block. The state government did not renew the insurance scheme for the farmers to protect them from the natural calamities which was in action during the Left Front regime. The state has been lagging behind in the NREGA project. Several social allowances have been discontinued, said Surjya Kanta Mishra.

The state government is only propagating provisions of investment instead of matured investment. According to the data of Directorate of Industries, the last few years of Left Front government attracted yearly investment of three to four thousand crores of rupees. It even reached to nine thousand crore rupees in one year. The amount of investment has drastically reduced during the new regime, said Surjya Kanta Mishra. Due to obvious reason, the state government is presently silent on Singur issue. Nor they are uttering anything about the projects of Infosys, NTPC or Jindal Group, he said. Haldia port was doing well; it was in a profit-earning condition but due to the anarchy of the ruling party that too is running through a bad phase, he added.

The new government has not been able to set up a single new unit for electric current. Additionally the setting up of 200 new sub-stations initiated by the Left Front government has also been discontinued. The new government did not co-operate in the expansion of the National Highways. The non co-operation went to such an extent that the National Highway Authority had to stop the work and leave the state. It is becoming tough to find out contractors to execute the jobs under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana due to financial extortion by the cadres of the ruling party. Nobody knows when the East-West Metro project will be completed in Kolkata, he said. (20^th May, 2013)

Peoples Democracy, May 26, 2013

West Bengal Left Front Memorandum to Prime Minister

Thursday, May 9, 2013

A delegation of the Left Front of West Bengal met the Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh on May 9, 2013 urging for a neutral, fair and high level investigation into the massive fraud of committed by the Saradha Group of companies and also the return of thousands of crores  of rupees to all the affected depositors immediately. The delegation comprised of five MPs and 6 MLAs and the former Finance Minister of West Bengal, whose names are appended in the memorandum.  The delegation will also be meeting the President. The copy of the memorandum presented to the Hon’ble Prime Minister is given below.

********

Dr. Manmohan Singh

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India

New Delhi.

Hon’ble Prime Minister,

Please refer to the Memorandum submitted to you on August 22, 2011 by the Left Front Legislative Party in West Bengal as well as the Memorandum placed before you on December 19, 2012 by the Left Front Members of Parliament, drawing your kind attention to the alarming problem of irregularities being committed by certain financial companies (so-called ‘Chit Funds’ in terms of local parlance in West Bengal) and requesting for an urgent action by the Central Government. Unfortunately, however, no timely intervention was made by the Central Government and the present State Government. As a result, a massive fraud has been committed by an irregular financial company (Saradha Group) by suddenly closing down all its offices and resulting in a widespread default on repayment to lakhs and lakhs of depositors, belonging mostly to the poorer sections in rural and urban areas of West Bengal. Employees in the print and electronic media owned or controlled by this Saradha Group have also lost their jobs due to this sudden closing down. There has been, due to the misdeeds of this company and similar other companies as well as  the Central policy of making small saving schemes less attractive and commission of the agents reduced, a severe fall in the small savings collection in the State - from Rs. 8,409 crore of net collection of small savings in Post Offices of West Bengal in the last financial year ( 2010-2011) of the Left Front Government to   (-) Rs. 987 crore in the next year ( 2011-2012) and to (-) Rs. 165 crore in 2012-2013 ( up to December), adversely affecting the State as well as the small savings agents.

 You are kindly aware that among the different types of financial companies, there is one category of companies which raise deposits from the people, invest the  money and promise returns  in terms of interest, etc. These companies are required to register with the Registrar of Companies       (ROC) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs of the Central Government, and then also obtain permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and function by obeying the guidelines of RBI. If there is any violation of these guidelines, then the RBI can take necessary actions, including stoppage of work of the concerned companies. There is another category of financial companies which raise funds from the people in terms of share/debentures, and then invest the money in various ventures, including real estate, hotels, television channels, newspapers, entertainment business etc., with promise of returns in terms of lands, apartments, etc. These companies are again to register first with ROC and then get approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under the Union Finance Ministry, and obey the guidelines of SEBI. If the guidelines are flouted, then SEBI can take action in terms of prohibiting the activities of the concerned companies. The Saradha Group belongs to this second category. It may be noted in the context that the State Government does not have any role in giving approval of these companies.

 Grave financial irregularities are committed by both these two categories of companies when they violate the guidelines of RBI or SEBI, as the case may be, by alluring promises in terms of false and unrealizable offers of interest or returns. There is usually a period after which these returns are to be paid back to the depositors. In the intervening period, the concerned companies keep on raising funds and often make very partial payment, and then suddenly close their activities without any notice, thus cheating the common people in a large scale as has been the case with the Saradha Group, as  mentioned above.

Under the circumstances, the State Government, within its limited power, can take action if any written complaint of being cheated is obtained, by immediately arresting the proprietors of the concerned companies, attaching all of their properties and then arranging through the Hon’ble Court, the sale of the properties for repaying back to the affected depositors. If there is no written complaint, even then the State Government can conduct enquiry on its own and submit the findings to the concerned Central Agencies (SEBI or RBI) for taking necessary action.  The State Government can also pass a Bill in the State Assembly for Presidential assent for implementing the Act, so as to take necessary action at the very initial stage of the offence in terms of decentralized administrative and legal framework in the districts.

 The Left Front Government in West Bengal had, during its tenure, taken all these actions. In 1980- 81, when some large financial companies had started cheating people, the State Government, on the basis of written complaint, took exemplary action by  arresting the heads of the  concerned companies and then attaching their properties for beginning the process of repayment through the Hon’ble Court. When again in 1991- 92, several companies had cheated people, the State Government in the Finance Department and the Home Department (involving both  Kolkata Police and District Police),  on the basis of written complaint, took prompt action by arresting heads of nearly 96 companies, attaching their properties (both movable and immovable, including bank accounts) and then starting  a Public Interest Litigation  on its own in the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court with a verdict for selling the attached properties through the Court - appointed special officer for beginning the process of repayment of money to the depositors. In the year 2002- 2003, when about 17 companies had cheated people, the heads of all of these companies were arrested, again on the basis of written complaints, and a process of prompt repayment was undertaken. Along with taking those steps, the Left Front Government had also introduced in 2003-2004 a bill (namely, the West Bengal Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Bill, 2003) for taking early preventive and punishable action against irregular financial companies with a decentralized framework as mentioned before. However after repeated exchange of views and urging by the State Government, when a much delayed Central response (although  for substantially similar bills for several other State Governments, Presidential assent was accorded with more promptness) was obtained in August, 2009 with Presidential message for a few changes, these changes were promptly incorporated and a new bill (The West Bengal Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishment Bill, 2009)  was introduced and passed unanimously (with TMC MLAs also present) in the State Assembly on December  22, 2009. The new Bill was then sent for Presidential assent. However the Presidential assent, despite reminders, could not be obtained during the tenure of the Left Front Government.

It needs to be mentioned that from 2008 - 09, a new feature emerged when several companies within jurisdiction of SEBI had started operating in a manner which created apprehension of cheating of people.  However, no written complaint of cheating was received by the State Government. The Left Front Government, therefore, started enquiry on its own involving jointly the Finance Department and Home Department (in terms of Kolkata Police and District Police) and then submitted its findings concerning four relatively big companies (including Saradha Group) to SEBI for necessary action. For the Saradha Group, the attention-drawing letter was sent by the Left Front Government on August 23, 2010. We now find that after closing down of offices of Saradha Group that SEBI has recently issued an instruction on April 23, 2013 on the Saradha Group to pay back to the depositors within a period of three months and with prohibition on taking any further deposit. Although this is a step in the right direction, it has been much too delayed.

 It is also noted with serious concern that we still do not know about any follow-up action by the TMC-led State Government regarding the enquiries started by the Left Front Government into the affairs of four companies mentioned above. We do not know because despite our specific queries, no answer was given in the State Assembly. Moreover, when a discussion on this issue was proposed on December 11, 2012 two Left Front MLAs (including one lady tribal MLA) were beaten up. We also do not know what action was taken by the TMC- led State Government on the 2009 Bill which was unanimously passed in the Assembly (with TMC MLAs present) for Presidential assent in the first twenty months of its existence. We now find that on the basis of a communication from OSD & ED Special Secretary to the Governor of West Bengal to the Secretary to the West Bengal Legislative assembly a motion was passed in the Assembly to withdraw the bill. The aforesaid communication reads:  The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has now returned the aforesaid Bill, considering it to be withdrawn by the Government of West Bengal as it has been decided to recast the Bill in order to strengthen it for the purpose of protecting the interest of the depositors in Financial Establishments. This appears to be a clear violation of legislative power of the State Assembly, since prior approval of the Assembly was not taken by the present State Government before sending its views to the Centre for return of the bill, 2009. Moreover, in terms of the communication mentioned above, the following sentence in Sl. No. 6 in the statement of object and reasons of this new bill seems confusing:  It has been advised by the Government of India to withdraw the said Bill. Then, with only a few changes in the 2009 Bill, the new Bill has been passed in the Assembly and sent for Presidential assent. We also find that some of these changes were not necessary and there is also a possibility of further complications and delay.  We suggested a remedial amendment to this new Bill, and a quicker course of action which was not accepted. After raising our anxiety about further delay which may be caused by this bill, we did not however stand on the way of passing of the bill. We want an early action on the part of Hon’ble President in terms of Article 201 of the Constitution.  

Meanwhile, the sufferings of depositors remain unattended.  We therefore urge upon you for considering the following actions:

(1) As several states are involved in this massive fraud of Saradha Group, CBI should immediately be involved in the investigation of this fraud under supervision of appropriate Hon’ble Court.

Since SEBI is the nodal Central agency, and the recent verdict of the Hon’ble Supreme Court (2012) clearly directs SEBI to be the agency for necessary action, SEBI should also be instructed in coordination with CBI and  SFIO to move into this Saradha case immediately, for a proper and  comprehensive investigation into the total list of properties (including different forms of illegal transfers) for immediate attachment and for moving the Hon’ble Supreme Court as well as Hon’ble Kolkata High Court for selling of the properties needed  for repayment to the depositors without delay, and also for exemplary punishment for the offending persons.

This entire process of investigation and attachment should be, for reasons of neutrality and fairness, under the appropriate supervision of Hon’ble Supreme Court and Hon’ble Calcutta High Court.

(2) Where there are reasons for anxiety regarding other financial companies in the State, joint action as mentioned about, may be undertaken immediately for correcting the practices of these financial companies for preventing further damages.

(3) National small saving schemes should be immediately restored by the Central Government to their previous status of attractiveness, with simultaneous restoration of commission of agents by both the Centre and the State Government.

(4)  Along with the highest priority on refund of depositors’ money, attention may be given from the national level for a massive programme of an economic reconstruction of the lives of affected depositors (small and marginal farmers, small and tiny entrepreneurs,  traders etc.) in terms of soft loans from the nationalized banks to the willing persons as well as rejuvenating the movement of Self-Help Groups in the State and democratically elected co-operatives (now rendered inoperative in the State) so that this massive loss can be transformed into a programme of reconstruction for growth of production and employment.

There is also  a need for paying attention to problems of journalists, performers and others connected with the closing  down of newspapers and TV channels in terms of inducting new entrepreneurs (without any link with irregular financial companies), or in terms of helping formation of co-operative of employees through assistance including soft loan.

(5) An all-out democratic and decentralized campaign should be started immediately among the affected people for convincing them to stay away from these irregular financial companies and to keep their savings, among others, specially in post office small saving schemes, nationalized banks and co-operative banks.

With regards,

Sd/-

Surjya Kanta Mishra

Leader of the Delegation & Leader of the

Opposition in West Bengal Assembly

Asim Dasgupta,

Former Finance Minister, West Bengal

Sitaram Yechury, MP

Basudev Acharia, MP

Barun Mukherjee, MP

Manohar Tirkey, MP

Probodh Panda, MP

Subhas Naskar, MLA

Paresh Adhikary, MLA

Prabodh Chandra Sinha, MLA

Anadamoy Mondal, MLA

Chand Mohammed, MLA 

‘Being an opportunist party, the Trinamul can align with anyone’: CPI(M) general-secretary Prakash Karat

Created 14 Apr 2013 - 00:00, The Asian Age Interview of the Week

What do you have to say about the recent outburst of political violence in West Bengal?

There has been sustained violence against the CPI(M) and the Left Front in West Bengal ever since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The Trinamul Congress is responsible for the attacks on the CPI(M) and Left cadres and supporters in an effort to suppress strong Left base in the state.

This attack intensified after the Assembly elections in May 2011. Since the Trinamul Congress government came to power, 96 cadres and supporters of the CPI(M) and the Left have been killed. The recent incident at a demonstration outside the Planning Commission office has been used to unleash another bout of organised attack on the offices and leaders of the Left Front.

What do you have to say about the attack by the SFI and CPI(M) activists on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the state finance minister Amit Mitra outside the Planning Commission? Do you condemn it? Do you think it is a good precedence?

There was no attack against the chief minister. There was a protest organised against the attitude of the state government regarding the custodial death of SFI leader Sudipto Gupta. Unfortunately, in the course of that demonstration, there was an incident involving Mr Mitra. We have condemned it. On earlier occasions, too, there have been such acts against various political leaders and ministers and we have always disapproved and condemned them.

Ms Banerjee has said that majority of those who got killed in West Bengal were Trinamul functionaries?

She is used to making such wild charges. Even on this occasion, she has said that there was an attempt to kill her. This is totally baseless.

What do you think about the way the West Bengal government is handling the murder case of SFI leader Sudipto Gupta?

A 23-year-old student died in police custody. Ms Banerjee declared that it is a petty matter. Why is the West Bengal government not ordering a judicial enquiry into the incident? Whether death happened due to killing or accident, let the truth come out.

West Bengal has a history of political violence. The Left dominated the state for more than three decades. There is a perception that the Left spearheaded violence and that it is responsible for creating a culture of political violence in the state?

This is a hackneyed charge against the Left. The political violence in West Bengal has been primarily an effort of the state machinery and the ruling classes and landlords, who unleashed violence against the Communist and the Left movements in the 1950s and 60s to suppress them. Even when the Left Front government was in office, violence was directed against the working class and peasant movements. The fact is that such violence existed before the Left Front government assumed office and is there even after the Left Front government ceased to be in office. The Trinamul Congress represents a reactionary force which is out to suppress democratic rights and give the Opposition no quarter.

What is your stand on the situation in Kerala, where one of your party leaders M.M. Mani had publicly claimed the party’s involvement in political murders? Even though you had said that an internal enquiry into the murder of T.P. Chandrasekharan was in the process, nothing has come out yet. Have you given clean chit to your partymen in this case?

As far as the speech by M.M. Mani is concerned, our party took action against him. The judiciary gave its verdict in all those cases. However, the UDF government in Kerala has reopened the cases and filed chargesheet against Mani, which is totally unwarranted. In the Chandrasekharan murder case, our party conducted an enquiry, but the matter is in the court. We are confident that the party’s leaders in Kozhikode district who are implicated in this case will be found innocent.

What do you think about Ms Banerjee’s stalemate with the state Election Commission over panchayat polls? Do you think the Trinamul Congress is deliberately delaying the elections?

We want the panchayat elections to be held on time. The state government is wilfully disregarding the recommendations of the state Election Commission about the manner in which the panchayat polls are to be conducted. The Trinamul wants to ride roughshod and hold elections in a manner in which the Opposition parties are not able to participate in a free and fair poll. That is why it is opposing the sensible proposals of the Election Commission.

Do you see any possibility of Ms Banerjee striking an alliance with the Congress ahead of or after the general elections?

Being an opportunist party, the Trinamul Congress can go with anyone. It should not be forgotten that the Trinamul was part of the BJP-led alliance government where Ms Banerjee was a minister. She has alternated between alliances with the BJP and the Congress. The only constant position she has is against the CPI(M) and the Left.

Do you see any possibility of your party striking an alliance with the UPA?

Our party has already decided to oppose both the Congress and the BJP. We, as the Left, will take a united stand. We would like a non-Congress secular government in office.

Why is the Left not taking a lead this time to form a Third Front?

Our efforts are to create an alternative based on alternative policies. This can come about only through movements and struggles jointly by parties and organisations who are committed to an alternative set of policies. The third front is more commonly associated with an electoral alliance. As far as the general elections are concerned, our party along with the Left will fight elections together and may have some understanding with some of the regional parties at states level.

How do you look at Narendra Modi emerging as a prime ministerial candidate?

If the BJP decides to project Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, it will be a clear message that it is going ahead with its hardcore Hindutva agenda. It is becoming evident that big businesses are backing Mr Modi. This form of Hindutva and big business support is a form of insipient fascism. That is the meaning of the Gujarat model of development, where the Muslims have been beaten down to the status of second-class citizens.

Bengal’s Slide into Fascism

By Vijay Prashad

On April 2, the four major student union federations jointly held a protest against the withdrawal of campus democracy in West Bengal. They wanted elections to be held for the student unions in their colleges. A tsunami of neo-liberal reforms in higher education had made the students restive. It was not just a matter of higher fees that exercised them. They were also furious at changes in the character of the education – with a tendency to yoke education to careers and to measure learning with fealty to rules developed in the North Atlantic. Thousands of students chanted their way down Kolkata’s College Street and assembled in Rani Rashmoni Road. They faced a police line, which advanced with unpleasant motives. The police arrested hundreds of students and threw them into private buses to be transported to Alipore Jail. On the buses, the police beat the students affiliated with the Communist’s Student Federation of India (SFI). One SFI leader, Sudipta Gupta, age 23 and a recent Political Science MA from Rabindra Bharati University, was beaten, thrown from the bus, retrieved, and beaten again. He died within hours of being admitted to SSKM Hospital.

The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamul Congress (TMC), said that his death was “an accident.” She was at that point opening the new season of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament. Despite hearing of the death of Gupta, she remained at the celebrations. Her police said that Gupta had been “man-handled,” although her consigliere, Derek O’Brien said that CCTV would vindicate Banerjee’s statement about the death being accidental.

Anger in the Left has been growing steadily. Gupta is the 93rd left cadre killed by the state forces or the Chief Minister’s party over the course of the past few years. It is in this context that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) leader Mohammed Salim asked, “what kind of fascism is this?” Banerjee and the TMC have not only targeted the Communists – anyone who crosses her path must be excised, whether someone who simply forwards a cartoon critical of her (Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested for defamation and passing offensive messages through the Internet) or someone who asks her a question at her public meetings (farmer Shiladitya Chowdhury of West Midnapore who asked, “What are you doing for farmers? Farmers are dying because they have no money. Empty promises are not enough,” and who was then arrested on grounds of criminal intimidation). Her party has taken its worship of her seriously (see the picture of a temple dedicated to her). If anyone insults Banerjee, the TMC will send its men to collect its blood debt.

The level of casual political violence in the state is startling. Activists of the ruling TMC had in February of this year clashed with activists of the Congress Party as both their candidates tried to file papers to run in student elections for Hari Mohan College in Kolkata’s Garden Reach area. Fists turned to guns and a policeman, Tapas Chakroborty, was killed. Nothing will come of it even though video shot at the scene shows TMC activists (including a local TMC councillor Mohammed Iqbal) involved in the fracas.

Two days after the murder of Gupta, the SFI held national protests and demanded that the Central Government hold an inquiry into the nature of his death – any state inquiry would be compromised by the culture of impunity that has begun to enfold the state. Only those who make noises about the government, such as Kolkata’s chief of police R.K. Pachnanda after the death of his officer, are transferred into limbo.

On April 9, Banerjee and her Finance Minister Amit Mitra came to Delhi to visit the Planning Commission. A demonstration against the murder of Gupta led by the Left greeted them. The Planning Commission heard of the demonstration, contacted the West Bengal officials to have Banerjee come through the secured VIP gate and avoid the main gate where the protestors had gathered. Banerjee not only ignored their advice, but near the main gate she got out of her car and walked toward it, through the highly emotional throng. It was an act of provocation. The Delhi police did not forcibly prevent her from doing this. Knowing full well the charged state of the demonstrators – gathered to protest the murder of a young comrade and Banerjee’s callous statements – the police should have insisted. It did not. Banerjee know full well the power of street politics. In April 1975, when she was with the Congress Party, her leader Indira Gandhi’s bête noire, 74-year old Jayaprakash “JP” Narayan, came to Kolkata. Banerjee personally blocked his car (standing on its bonnet) as Youth Congress activists smashed the windows, and almost beat up JP who suffered from acute respiratory ailments, which would have killed him if the stress were kept up. She a remarkable populist street fighter knew what she was wading into when she walked to the main gate.

In fact, all that happened to her, according to the Delhi Police, is that she was buffeted by the crowd (when she returned to Kolkata she checked herself into Belle Vue Clinic for a “check up”). Her Finance Minister lagged, and was himself caught in the wave, with his kurta slightly ripped as he struggled to make it through the gate. The police grabbed him and brought him within the premises of the Commission. This was not an attack, certainly not premeditated as the Bengal Governor put it indelicately. It was a crowd that found itself with those whom it had come to protest within its ranks – it would have taken an extraordinary act of self-discipline to have stepped back, created a path for them and held their tongue. One expects this kind of discipline from Communists, which is why the CPM made it clear that it did not condone the assault.

News of these events spread through the TMC channels, and its activists took to Bengal’s streets for revenge. It is not as if the TMC has been silent and that it took this scuffle in Delhi to provoke them. They have already been on the march, and simply used this as a pretext to continue their depredations – now in the full light of day. CPM and SFI offices across the state were attacked, as were academic institutions (a friend called to tell me that the laboratory at Presidency College was smashed up). Most shockingly, TMC activists attacked the office of the Ganatantrik Mahila Samity (the Bengal wing of the All India Democratic Women’s Association) in South Dinajpur, dragged onto the streets its leader, the veteran Communist and former parliamentarian Minati Ghosh and physically attacked and verbally abused her. AIDWA and the National Federation of Indian Women have called on the National Commission of Women to look into this case.

Things are at a tense pass. Activists of the Left have been called up to defend the buildings of the party and its mass organizations. The violence unleashed has the quality of the early hours of the Night of Broken Glass (the Kristallnacht), this time not against Jews but against the Communists. It is the reason why the CPM and its allies have tried to calm the situation – not only a sensible posture but also one that is motivated by its weakness before the fascistic character of the TMC. No liberal groups have come forward to defend the Left against TMC fascism. The media has taken the drama full tilt, neglecting to properly report the shenanigans of Banerjee and the negligence of the Delhi police. The media will not let this be in context. It is using the incident outside the Planning Commission to shore up the declining fortunes of the TMC machine, whose votes will be essential in the next parliament for a Congress-led bloc that now feels threatened by its own inadequacies.

Bengal’s Slide into Fascism » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names