Surya Kanta Mishra: “The attack on democracy is even more intense in the rural areas.”

Interview with Surya Kanta Mishra, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly by SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY. FRONTLINE, Volume 29 - Issue 09:: May. 05-18, 2012 ‘In denial mode'

“IT is as though criminals have started thinking that it is their government.” Surya Kanta Mishra, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), feels that West Bengal is heading towards becoming an “anarchic State”.

In an interview to Frontline, Mishra spoke about issues ranging from the rise in violence in the State, the Mamata Banerjee government's policies and its claims of achievements made in the past one year. “Instead of taking the State forward from where it stood a year ago, they are reversing the process of progress and development, undoing all that had been achieved. The future really looks gloomy,” he said. Excerpts:

The CPI(M) has adopted a policy of wait and watch before making any proper assessment of the Trinamool government. But what is your preliminary assessment a year after it came to power? In which direction do you think the State is heading?

We had never said that we would not be critical. We said we would play the role of a responsible Opposition. We will not oppose for the sake of opposing as they [the Trinamool] did. There is a fundamental difference between our opposition and theirs. When Mamata Banerjee was announcing her achievements after 100 days or after 200 days [since assuming power], we pointed out that one could not make a proper assessment in such a short time. The problem is that she started claiming that she had completed 90 per cent of the work. We did not want any report card from her, nor did we want to grade her.

But one thing that has become clear after almost a year is that the government does not have any vision. It is directionless. They have neither any concrete programme, nor any sense of priority. They are trying to rush things through, which is proving counterproductive, be it in the area of industry, land, or problems in the Darjeeling hills. Every time they try to resolve an issue, they complicate matters further.

But one thing that the Chief Minister should not have done – a promise she has not kept – is the assault on democratic institutions and democracy in general. This is dangerous, and we had earlier warned that this assault would not be confined to us, the CPI(M). It will spread.

As to where the State is headed, nobody really knows. All that was done before is now being undone – like land reforms, the establishment of a democratic, decentralised panchayat system and other institutions of participatory democracy. Our successes in the agrarian sector, based on which we were setting up industries – all such processes are being reversed. This is endangering the overall growth of the State. I will not yet say that an anarchic situation is prevalent here, but I fear it is heading in that direction.

Over the last several months political violence and crime have been on the increase. Do you think the government is doing enough to curb them?

The violence against us has increased a lot. Since May 2011 [when the Trinamool-led government came to power], around 4,800 Left workers and supporters have had to be hospitalised – most of them in serious condition. A large number of them have, in fact, been crippled by acts of violence. After coming to power, the Trinamool forcefully occupied more than 700 CPI(M) offices.

The situation is particularly bad for Left workers and supporters in the eight districts of Pashchim Medinipur, Bardhaman, Bankura, Hooghly, Purbo Medinipur, Cooch Behar and the North and South 24 Parganas. In the first four districts that I mentioned, it is no longer possible to carry out even simple democratic functions; more than 40,000 Left workers have been driven out of their homes, party offices have been forcefully occupied, hefty fines have been imposed upon them. We have a detailed list of these figures.

It is not possible to understand the situation by the number of killings alone. In the 1970s, under the Congress government, there were more killings of Left workers. But the situation of silent terror that is prevalent today is more effective in demoblilising any political opposition. It is not that they are perpetrating such terror in places where the Left is weak; in fact, it is worst where we have a reasonably strong support base – like the first four districts that I just mentioned. You can see how we were proved right when we said that this violence would be directed not only against us; today, Congress workers are being attacked. Even sections within the Trinamool camp are fighting each other.

Apart from political violence, general crime has also increased greatly. It is as though criminals have started thinking that it is their government; and the police and the administration are just not handling the situation in a proper manner.

With all these things happening around us, the Chief Minister remains in denial mode, insisting that nothing has really happened. In none of the incidents of violence and crime – be it the Park Street rape case, the murder of two CPI(M) leaders in broad daylight in Bardhaman, or the rape on a train in Katwa – has the Chief Minister condemned the acts or apologised for them. Instead, she said they were orchestrated incidents.

What is your opinion on the government's policy relating to land acquisition for industries?

First, I would like to say, regarding land, that thousands of people in rural Bengal have been ousted in the last one year. Even Trinamool supporters have not been spared.

Now, regarding the State government's land acquisition policy. The government claims that it is against acquiring land on behalf of industries. So how can land be acquired for industrial purposes? Their solution has been to lift the land ceiling, so investors can directly buy land – but the government will have no role in acquiring land from the farmers. Unfortunately, this will empower the land mafia and the land sharks, and as a result, farmers will be denied their rightful compensation and rehabilitation packages, which will not happen if the government acquires the land.

Moreover, big manufacturing industries will be reluctant to come, as they know how difficult it will be for them, without the intervention of the government, to get the kind of land required to set up large plants. The situation is not conducive to big industries.

Not just in the case of land. The present government does not really have a proper industrial policy. Take the case of power. When we were in government, we left behind for the State a surplus; the present government is now in such a state that it has to reduce power generation to minimise losses. Moreover, the way the resource mobilisation plan has been done, nobody knows where funds for infrastructure development will come from. The process of industrialisation is not just about giving land. It is important that the atmosphere is also conducive to industrial growth.

What is the government's major achievement in its first year in power?

Apparently, the Darjeeling hills are peaceful – which everyone can see is not the case – and peace has returned to Jangalmahal. But this is just an illusion of peace. It cannot be considered an achievement, as it is paving the way for another wave of problems. Then, of course, there are a whole lot of promises that are yet to be kept. The only positive work that I feel the government has done is to have decided not to set up the Legislative Council as it had decided earlier. We opposed this decision, and they finally dropped the idea.

Instead of taking the State forward from where it stood a year ago, we are seeing that they are reversing the process of progress and development, undoing all that had been achieved. The future really does look gloomy.

There has been some disenchantment with the government among the urban middle class. Do you think this has spread to rural voters? Will it have an impact on the upcoming panchayat elections?

We have seen disillusionment among the urban middle class, even among those who voted for a change. But the attack on democracy that we talked about is even more intense in the rural areas. On top of all that, there is major distress in the agrarian sector, as is evident in the spate of suicides by farmers and agricultural workers groaning under the burden of debt.

Whether this will influence the results of the upcoming panchayat elections is very difficult to say. The ruling party has been threatening to prevent the Opposition from fielding candidates. It all depends on whether our candidates will be allowed to file their nominations. But I will say that when people start understanding the implications of what is happening around them, they will get disillusioned. But to go into the mode of active resistance takes some time. 

Mamata’s paranoia

Deccan Herald, ‎Aug 18, 2012

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is becoming more and more intolerant and paranoid about individuals who question her and institutions which she is oath-bound to protect.

courtesy@write choice.in 

A simple question asked by a villager at a public meeting about rising fertiliser prices and farmer deaths was enough to brand to him a Maoist. Even though he was in fact a supporter of her own party, he was arrested, let off and rearrested and is now facing charges which may land him in prison. Some students got into trouble a few weeks ago for asking her questions she did not like in a TV talk show. A professor was arrested for forwarding on the internet a cartoon that lampooned her. Any word of criticism is taken as a sign of a conspiracy to unseat her.

The allergy to adverse comments and unfavourable opinions extends to institutions also. Earlier this week she cast aspersions on the judiciary and judicial bodies by claiming that judgments can be bought for money. The statement was made at an official seminar in the West Bengal Assembly. It was highly inappropriate and irresponsible on the part of the chief minister to make a sweeping statement about the judicial system in public in so cavalier a manner.

The immediate reason for the tirade, it may be assumed, might have been the striking down of the Singur land legislation by the Calcutta high court. If there is dissatisfaction with the working of the judiciary or a specific complaint against any judge, there are institutional ways of redressing it. It is wrong to make charges without substantiating them and throw mud on the entire judicial system.

Mamata also criticised ‘committees and commissions in the country’ for their lack of ‘accountability’ after the state human rights commission awarded compensation to two people, including the professor who circulated the cartoon, and recommended action against the policemen who arrested them. Obviously the comment was an attempt to hit back at the body whose order has embarrassed her.

The increasingly intolerant ways and words of the chief minister has started creating discomfort even among her supporters. There are cases of people losing their freedom or lives for asking inconvenient questions in authoritarian societies. But questions are vital in a democracy and Mamata Banerjee is yet to learn this. She should remember that she came to power after posing to the people of the state questions about the Left Front government.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/272357/mamatas-paranoia.html

Zero tolerance

By SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY

FRONTLINE, Volume 29 - Issue 17 :: Aug. 25-Sep. 07, 2012

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s absolute intolerance of criticism resurfaces with the arrest of a farmer.

Mamata Banerjee. Her apparent paranoia has made her overdependent on the police.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made it very clear that she will not tolerate dissent, criticism and jokes against her government and that police action will be initiated against her critics. First came the arrest of a professor who forwarded an innocuous cartoon of her by e-mail; then came the branding of a college student who asked her an uncomfortable question on a private television channel’s chat show as a Maoist; and now an indigent farmer has been detained for voicing his grievances to the Chief Minister at a public meeting.

All Shiladitya Chowdhury, a farmer from Binpur, did was to point out to Mamata Banerjee at a rally at Belpahari in Pashchim Medinipur district that the rise in fertilizer prices was ruining farmers. But that was enough for the angry Chief Minister to label him a “Maoist” and have him arrested under non-bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

On August 8, like thousands of others in the region, Shiladitya had gone to attend Mamata Banerjee’s rally at Belpahari. The area was until recently a known Maoist belt, and so the Chief Minister’s rally was taking place amid heavy security. Shiladitya, who was sitting in the front row beyond the security cordon, got up in between and loudly said that farmers were dying and were not getting proper prices for their produce, that fertilizer prices were increasing, and that the government was not doing enough to redress farmers’ grievances.

Mamata Banerjee reacted aggressively, pointing him out in the crowd and ordering the police to catch him. As he was being led away, she referred to him as a Maoist who had sneaked into the rally ground to create disturbance. Upon questioning Shiladitya, the police found that he had no links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and allowed him to return home. But later, the Jhargram Superintendent of Police, Bharati Ghosh, reportedly claimed that Shiladitya had “escaped” before the interrogation was completed – a feat that is difficult if not impossible given the heavy security at the venue.

After his “escape”, Shiladitya went straight home to Nayagram, but the police waited two whole days before picking him up again on the night of August 10. This time he was arrested under Sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty, a non-bailable offence), 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, non-bailable), 447 (criminal trespass, bailable) and 506 (criminal intimidation, bailable). The following morning he was produced before a district court and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

The arrest raised a storm of protest from a cross section of the media and civil society. Political parties, both allies of the Trinamool Congress and those in the opposition, spoke out in one voice against the arrest. Communist Party of India (Marxist) Member of Parliament Nilotpal Basu said the arrest was tantamount to “autocracy” while West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Om Prakash Mishra called it a “bizarre case of heightened intolerance”.

Ambikesh Mahapatra, the Jadavpur University professor who was arrested in the cartoon case. The West Bengal Human Rights Commission has recommended that the State government compensate him.

The strongest criticism came from an unexpected source – Chairman of the Press Council of India and former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju, who had, months earlier, showered praise on Mamata Banerjee for her integrity and uprightness. “Her action is most undemocratic, to say the least. I had earlier given a statement in favour of Mamata Banerjee…. But now I have changed my opinion and believe she is totally undeserving to be a political leader in a democratic country like India…,” he reportedly said. He also warned officials carrying out her orders that they could face a situation similar to those sentenced in the Nuremberg trials.

Even in her days in the opposition when she was heading the violent agitation in Singur that led to the departure of Tata Motors’ small car project from the State, she reacted angrily to any question she perceived to be critical of her movement. The term “Tata’s agent” was attributed to anyone asking her an uncomfortable question. But after assuming charge as the Chief Minister of West Bengal in 2011, her threshold for tolerance of any perceived criticism has been diminishing at an alarming rate.

Apart from Ambikesh Mahapatra, a Jadavpur University professor of chemistry, Subrata Sengupta, septuagenarian retired engineer, was arrested for forwarding by e-mail a month-old cartoon relating to Mamata Banerjee’s insistence on removing the then Union Railway Minister, Dinesh Trivedi, from the Cabinet and replacing him with present Railway Minister, Mukul Roy. Her branding of young students who asked her uncomfortable questions on a television chat show as “Maoists” came a month later. As she stormed off the set, she asked the police to take photographs of those who had posed difficult questions to her.

There are many who feel that Mamata Banerjee appears to be constantly looking over her shoulder for unseen enemies. This apparent paranoia, say others, perhaps explains her overdependence on the police. “Apart from the intolerance and undue haste that characterises the present government so far, there appears to be a more-than-necessary dependence on the police. This may be harmful in the long run for any democratic polity,” a senior government official told Frontline. Despite all the criticism, the Mamata Banerjee government has remained unapologetic. On each occasion she and her party leaders defiantly justify their stance, no matter how illogical their justifications may appear.

In the cartoon case, the government and the party’s interpretations of the innocuous mail ranged from being “lewd and obscene” to indicating a sinister plot to kill Mamata Banerjee. The farmer’s voicing of his grievances was interpreted as a dangerous bid to breach security and cause mayhem. Mukul Roy, who was present at that meeting, claimed that Shiladitya was drunk and pushed the police personnel and women around him, although video recordings of the incident show no evidence of such action. Shiladitya, who hails from a family of policemen, had been selected for a training programme at the Central Reserve Police Force camp at Binpur.

As with the previous incidents, this time, too, the Trinamool leaders’ excuses serve only to diminish the credibility of the ruling party. “It is not what he said but how he said it that was offensive,” a Trinamool Congress source told Frontline.

HRC Report

In a development that has caused much embarrassment to the State government, the West Bengal Human Rights Commission’s report on the cartoon incident has recommended that the State government compensate both Mahapatra and Sengupta by paying them Rs.50,000 each for the manner in which they were arrested and detained and take action against the policemen responsible for the arrest. The report states: “Citizens who are expressing or airing a critical opinion about the ruling party cannot be picked up from their residence by the police at the instance of an agitated mob whose members are unhappy with the critical views of those two persons. If this is allowed to continue, then not only the human rights of the dissenters will perish but free speech, which is the life blood of our democracy, will be gagged. Constitutional provisions will be reduced to parchment promises and we will be heading towards a totalitarian regime in complete negation of democratic values….” The Commission also made it clear that “no one can attribute even remotely any suggestion which is lewd or indecent and slang” in respect of the cartoon that was forwarded.

Though it is not binding upon the State government to follow the recommendations, according to political analysts, governments normally abide by such suggestions. What remains to be seen is whether the present report will prompt the Mamata Banerjee government to avoid such embarrassments in the future. 

Achievements of Left Front Govt are Ineradicable

EMINENT SPEAKERS OPINE IN KOLKATA

KOLKATA, 20^th JUNE: THE achievements of the Left Front government of West Bengal, made during its 34 years long journey, are indelible and no amount of slander can wipe them off. This was the opinion several eminent speakers voiced in a seminar that was organised in Kolkata to commemorate the day of establishment of first Left Front government in West Bengal in June 1977. The seminar, organised by the Left Front, turned into a huge gathering at Nazrul Mancha.

C P Chandrasekhar, an eminent economist, tracked the policy perspective of successive governments in India after independence and identified the alternatives thrown up by the Left led governments. According to him, the Left Front government of West Bengalwas a manifestation of these alternative policies in action, though within structural limitations. Chandrasekhar said the most glaring success of that government was the land reforms through which the agrarian crisis was addressed. Despite initial backwardness and stagnation in the seventies, West Bengal recorded evident successes on social indices including infant mortality, maternal mortality and education. 

N Ram, distinguished journalist, recalled the days of semi-fascist terror in West Bengal in the seventies, and commented, “Many friends in media chose not to know or not to inform.” He said the Left Front assumed office in a terrible situation when the youths were frustrated, education was in a doldrums, and democracy was in peril. The Left Front government then brought about a social security.

Ram emphasised that land reforms not only ensured distributive justice, they actually empowered the peasantry and contributed in the growth of production. Those successes are now in danger under the new regime. Already 61 farmers have committed suicide in West Bengal. Any attempt to reverse the land reforms in the state would invite disasters.

Ram lauded the role of the West Bengal’s Left Front government in poverty reduction, decentralisation of power through panchayats and, on top of everything, the defence of democracy. The civil liberties and democratic rights of the people were safeguarded under the Left Front government. “The initial trends of the new government have sent ominous signals of intolerance,” he said. Ram then added, “Left Front leaders have soberly accepted the defeat in the elections and have reacted with patience but there should be serious watch that the rights of people are not lost.”

Ashok Mitra, the finance minister of first Left Front government, sharply criticised those who talk of so called ‘misrule’ of the said 34 years. Maitra said the ‘misrule’ was that more than 60 per cent of land distribution in the entire country took place in West Bengalalone. The Left Front government ensured the minimum wages for the agricultural workers, established three tier panchayats, and ensured democratic rights of the working people including government employees.

Mitra said it was known to the Left parties and their activists that no fundamental transformation of the society would come through a state government. The aim was to rush whatever relief was possible to the people within the constitutional limitations. Tremendous successes was achieved though there were mistakes. The task of the Left is to overcome those mistakes and go forward with Leftism.

Biman Basu, chairman of Left Front, said that one of the major tasks of the first Left Front government was to restore democracy. In 1977, just after the Left Front government was formed, Comrades Jyoti Basu and Promode Dasgupta gave a call that no political retaliation should be carried out. The government freed all political prisoners.

The first Left Front government fulfilled 28 tasks of the 36 it had promised declared in election manifesto. The new government in the state which assumed office in 2011 has declared that they had already done everything that could have been done in 10 years. Let the people of West Bengal judge such unfounded proclamations.

The seminar was moderated by Professor Shobhanlal Datta Gupta.

On this occasion, the Left Font also brought about a book on the real situation of the state at present. The book, titled West Bengal: Which Way was formally inaugurated by former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.  

Left Front leaders paid floral tributes at the Martyrs’ Column before the programme.

People's Democracy, June 24, 2012

HALDIA SHOWS THE WAY: ‘YELLOW CARD’ to TMC GOVT.

KOLKATA, 5^th June: ELECTIONS to six municipal bodies in West Bengal, which was marked by terror, reflected signs of discontent against the TMC government.

It was particularly manifest in Left Front’s win in Haldia in East Midnapore district. It was here that the anti-Left Front anarchy reached its crescendo since the days of Nandigram. Trinamool Congress wrested East Midnapore district council in 2008, won the parliamentary seats in 2009 and all assembly constituencies of the district in 2011. Right from 2009, incessant attacks have been launched against CPI(M) in Haldia. After 2011, the trade unions in this industrial and port town were made a special target. CPI(M) offices were destroyed or captured, hundreds of workers were chased away from their workplaces. The reign of terror was led by TMC Lok Sabha member Subhendu Adhikary who proclaimed that there would be no one in Haldia to hold Red flags. Frontline CPI(M) leaders were jailed under false cases.

During the elections to the municipal body, CPI(M) and Left Front could not conduct peaceful campaign even for a single day. Candidates were threatened with dire consequences, their families attacked. As Congress had no alliance with TMC, their candidates and potential candidates were also attacked. Congress candidates had to withdraw nomination after their family members were kidnapped. Left Front conducted determined, door-to-door campaign. Even on the day of elections, TMC hoodlums raided different areas to threaten people, though they faced resistance from the poorer sections.   

The people of Haldia rebuffed the TMC and the Left Front retained the municipality with a 15-11 margin. Out of these, 14 were won by CPI(M) and 1 by CPI. In three wards, Left Front candidates were defeated narrowly, with margins of 40 to 52 votes only.  Left Front chairman Biman Basu congratulated the people of Haldia and said that they have silently rejected the politics of terror.

The dejection of the TMC with the defeat in Haldia was very much evident. Immediately after the results were declared, TMC activists attacked the car of Tamalika Panda Seth, CPI(M) leader and outgoing chairperson of the municipal body. CPI(M) activists were attacked in different places. CPI(M) local committee office in Haldia was ransacked.

In nine wards of Durgapur Municipal Corporation, TMC went into full-scale terrorisation.  CPI(M) booth camps were attacked. In many wards, TMC activists entered into booths and took control of EVMs. CPI(M) polling agents were not allowed to enter. Booth capturing took place in many wards. TMC activists started terrorising the people from the night before. They threatened voters not to come out of houses, particularly in areas where Left has a strong presence. In some wards, police helped TMC and chased away voters from the queue. Practically, Durgapur witnessed a serious attack on the democratic rights of the people.

The Left Front has demanded repoll in 29 booths in Durgapur where CPI(M) polling agents were chased away and voters were dispersed by TMC anti-socials brought from outside the city. TMC won this corporation with 29 seats while Left Front won in 11 seats. The Congress and BJP won a seat each, while an independent won a seat.  

In Panshkura, the atmosphere was vitiated. There also Left Front cadre and even Congress cadre were not allowed to campaign freely. TMC threatened to ‘whitewash’ the opposition. TMC retained the municipality winning 12 seats while Left Front bagged 5. CPI(M) won 3 seats while CPI bagged 2. TMC’s outgoing chairman was defeated by CPI candidate. Congress failed to get any seat here.

Another setback to the TMC occurred in Congress’ hand at Coopers Camp when the latter won 11seats out of 12. Congress maintained their hold on the notified area body despite all out aggressive campaign against them by their partner in the state government. Top leaders of the both the parties were engaged in bitter exchange in Coopers Camp as well as in Nalhati in Birbhum district. TMC retained this board with thin margin, winning 8 seats while Left Front won 3, Congress 3 and BJP 1. Here too TMC’s outgoing chairman was defeated in two seats despite every attempt to get him through. In a ward, Left Front candidate was even arrested the night before the voting day and was freed on bail only in the next afternoon that too after a rebuff from court. Widespread discontent was reflected in Nalhati.

Left Front suffered defeat in Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri district. Election process was more or less peaceful here. But TMC took no chance and just before the elections they admitted Kamtapur Peoples’ Party leader Mitali Roy in their fold. KPP is a secessionist party demanding separate Kamtapur state for quite long time. TMC won 11 and Left Front 4 seats while BJP won in a ward.

Biman Basu alleged that in many areas of these six municipalities, people were terrorised and normal democratic atmosphere was lacking. TMC unleashed violence before and even after the declaration of results. This was an ominous sign for civil rights in the state.

Suryakanta Misra, leader of opposition, termed the entire results as ‘Yellow card’, a warning to TMC and its government. “If they do not mend their ways, people will show them Red card in the future”, said Misra. He also alleged that the ruling party has started fearing people within a year of assuming power. This is the reason behind their terror tactics in civic elections.

People’s Democracy

10^th June, 2012

West Bengal: A Year of Violence & Crime

16th May, 2012: This is not something the people of Bengal had bargained for when they bought the slogan of “paribortan” advanced by the TMC-Congress combine and decided to end 34 years of uninterrupted reign of the Left Front. Killings, arson, rape, molestation, physical assaults on women, forcible collection of money, eviction from land -- have all become a daily occurrence. It does not surprise them anymore. Slowly but surely, people have started comparing the current dispensation with the dreaded period of the seventies, when the state witnessed semi-fascist terror. Will the state fall back to those days is an apprehension being shared by more and more people.

Between the period May 14, 2011 when the TMC combine assumed office to May 12, 2012, as many as 65 Left Front leaders, activists and supporters have been brutally killed by TMC goons. 4904 persons had to be hospitalized on account of the injuries sustained in such attacks.

The steep rise in the overall crime graph points to the general deterioration in the law and order situation during the past one year, since the TMC combine assumed office. 40,124 people have been evicted from their homes. It is estimated that an amount of around Rs. 28 crores has been forcibly collected from 9529 persons.

There has been an alarming increasing in the number of rape cases. 23 cases of rape have been reported from different parts of the state during the past one year. Apart from this, there has also been an overall rise in the incidents of atrocities against women. During the first year of the TMC regime, and shamefully with a lady at the helm, 517 cases of molestation of women and 790 cases of physical assault on women have been reported. One of these cases pertains to the rape of a speech and hearing impaired girl in Bankura by a resident doctor within the hospital premises. In an overwhelming majority of these cases the culprits owe their allegiance to the ruling TMC. Unfortunately, however, in many cases, the complainants have been discredited, their character assassinated and motives assigned. In cases were police officers have investigated independently and proceeded against the culprits, they have been promptly transferred. The CM has had the cheek to call these cases “politically motivated” or “fabricated”, even if it meant tarnishing the image of the victim and defending the perpetrators of these crimes.

There has been a planned and systematic attack on land reforms implemented during the Left Front rule. Apart from 26,838 pata holders and bargardars (who had received tenancy rights during the tenure of Left Front government) who have been evicted from their lands, 3,418 peasants are not being allowed to cultivate their own land.

The attack has now spread to democratic institutions and the electoral process, besides the massive attack on the political opponents of the TMC.  Even the levels of intolerance have seen a steady growth. The innocuous act of forwarding an email containing a caricature of the Chief Minister saw a university professor, Ambikesh Mahapatra landing behind bars. Newspapers and periodicals that a library could subscribe to have all been listed and sent in an order to libraries across the state. Boards put up by the Ganashakti daily have been made a special target for attack. 250 of such boards on which the daily was pasted for reading by the public who could not afford purchasing the paper, have been destroyed. The democratic right to protest is also sought to be curtailed. Another renowned professor, Partho Sarothi Ray was arrested and jailed for taking part in a peaceful demonstration against eviction of slum dwellers.

Since October 2011, 38 incidents of attacks on the election process in different institutions in the state have been reported. 84 student union offices have been captured by the student wing owing allegiance to the TMC. Assault on students, teachers and staff in educational institutions are increasing.

It is but natural that the brunt has been borne by the CPI(M), the mass organisations under its leadership and its partners in the Left Front. Apart from the 65 leaders and cadres of the Left who have been mercilessly killed, 611 offices of the CPI(M) have been ransacked and captured. 217 offices of the mass organisations have been captured in different parts of the state. 14 Party conferences at various levels were attacked. 3293 persons have been arrested on the basis of false and fabricated cases being foisted on them. Arms are being planted in houses and offices of the Party and in subsequent raids “recoveries” are reported. The reported number of such cases is 169.

Besides, there has been a sharp increase in the number of kidnappings, looting of shops, dismantling of elected three tier panchayat bodies or forcible resignation of elected representatives.

But this is not all. In the seven month period between October 12, 2011 and May 12, 2011, agricultural distress has led 53 peasants to commit suicide, which the government is not ready to admit.(INN)

Post Poll Violence perpetrated by AITC and INC miscreants against CPI(M) & Left Front activists in West Bengal as reported from May 14, 2011 to May 12, 2012

At a glance

1	Killed	65
2	Abetted to commit suicide	12
3	Peasant suicides (from October 12, 2011)	53
4	Rape	23
5	Molestation	517
6	Physical assault on women	790
7	Injured & hospitalized	4904
8	Evicted from house	40124
9	Ransacked, looted & burnt	2867
10	CPI(M) office ransacked & captured	611
11	Attack on Party conferences	14 (from November 2011)
12	Mass organisations & trade union offices captured	217
13	Attack on the election process in different institutions	38 (from October 2011)
14	Student Union offices captured	84
15	Ganashakti Board destroyed	250
16	Pre-planned so called `arms recovery’	169
17	Arrest on false and fabricated cases	3293
18	Forcefully collection of money. No – amount	9529 (+) Nos – 27 crore 87 lac 8 thousand
19	Not allowed to cultivate own land. No – Acre	3418 (+) Nos – 9222.73 Acre
20	Eviction of Patta Holder & Bargader. No – Acre	26838 (+) Nos – 9404.13

* Apart from the above statement, the incidents like kidnapping, assault on students-teachers-staffs, ransacking educational institutions, looting of shops, dismantling of elected three tier panchayat, forcing to resign from the elected bodies are not enlisted.