Right to Strike

Press Statement

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

In the context of certain remarks made by Comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in a meeting of the Assocham in Kolkata, the Polit Bureau wishes to clarify the Party’s stand.

The CPI(M) firmly stands for the right to strike by the working class as a fundamental right. It has consistently supported the all-India general strikes of the trade unions against the neoliberal policies of the Central government and other urgent issues of the working class and toiling people.

August 28, 2008

New Delhi.

THERE IS ROOM FOR DISCUSSION ON SINGUR IMPASSE: BIMAN BASU

Biman Basu, chairman Bengal Left Front believes that that there ‘is scope aplenty for A discursive resolve of the situation that Mamata Banerjee and her adjutants on the violent left and the irresponsible right, have chosen to set up at Singur.’ Bimanda was addressing a crowded press conference at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan late in the evening of 28 August.

Elsewhere we found, on our third consecutive visit to Singur that the line of trucks carrying food articles, vegetables, fruits, fishes (how these stank) and most important, ampoules of life-saving drugs in a cold chain, like anti-rabies vaccine and insulin, plus a variety of anti-cancerous drugs in liquid form as well as thousands of refrigerated bottles of normal saline (NS) and other ‘drips.’ As the trucks run out of petrol, the drivers are seen shutting down the engines – and the refrigeration – periodically.

DANGEROUS

A dangerous situation has arisen as the medicines await the inevitability of getting useless what with the temperatures starting to fluctuate. Bengal manufactures Rs 500 crore worth of medicine and imports Rs 7400 crore worth per month. The road blockade, a meaningless, politically motivated, counter-humanitarian exercise by irresponsible bunches of opposition politicians has verily put the lives of patients, critical and otherwise, at stake.

The latest exercise in hoodlumism we saw in the early afternoon of 28 August was when a bunch of armed goons led by a leader of a ‘khet mazdoor sangharsh samity,’ abruptly blockaded the main portals of entry and exit points of the motor vehicles factory, thus suddenly escalating the nature of the ‘movement’ that we have noted has always been hovering, hanging, teetering nervously and dangerously at the very edge of anarchy and violence.

The press chose to unjustly attack Bimanda by singing in chorus with Mamata Banerjee that it ‘devolved on the state administration to find out alternate routes for the truckers,’ who are still on ‘hold’ on the NH 6, and now also along a big stretch of the Delhi Road -- right into Jharkhand and Bihar -- as the line of the grunting trucks at idle engine speed, spewing smoke, grow longer, and the drivers and the helpers become hungrier and thirstier.

PATIENCE

A patient Bimanda responded to the bellicose form of questions by politely pointing out to the excited journos - especially of the audio-visual media- to ‘realise that the alternate routes are not suitable to carry the ten-tonners and the 16-wheelers for, these roads were not wide enough or smooth enough for their passage.’ The media perhaps also chose to forget in a cruelly deliberate mode, the difference that has to exist between ordinary macadam, pitched, tarred road and a national highway. It is the latter that the Trinamulis and their brethren-at-arms (sometimes literally) have chosen to block up, and the people’s plight be damned.

We could not but fail to note how Mamata’s speeches too had become highly provocative today. She saw to it that the media was attacked, physically, including the OB vans of the Ananda Bazar Group’s ‘Star Ananda’ channel and those of the ’24 Hours.’ She also called the Left Front government as comprising a bunch of abnormal people, perhaps in a self-reflective mood.

Biman Basu condemned the attack on the media and added to say that whenever he had been the subject of uncalled for attacks by the media in the past, he had merely given the attackers the cold shoulder for “I know I am ‘spot on’ when I am amidst, with, and for the toiling masses, beyond whom I needn’t look.”

(BP)

29.08.08

HOW DARE THEY CALL THE BLOCKADE A SATYAGRAHA?

This was the rhetorical question that Biman Basu, Bengal Left Front chairman posed before the assembled media at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan in the afternoon of 29 August. This was the day the Trinamulis and their assorted hatchet-persons had called for a ‘satyagraha’ across Bengal for two hours.

Out in the streets of Kolkata, we saw gangs of Trinamulis, Maoists, and SUCI workers plus splinters of Pradesh Congress –hooligans all, waving the tri-colour- and putting the nationals colours to disgrace- fully ‘active, and how: stoning vehicles, blocking up important crossings in Kolkata and beyond, extending their ‘hold’ on the two major arterial highways that runs through Kolkata, NH 6 and NH 34, and generally making a great nuisance of themselves.

VEHICLES ATTACKED

We were witness to a smallish car of a well-known corporate media house, with ‘press’ stickers prominently displayed on the front and the rear glasses, being attacked by a gang of roaming ‘warriors’ of Maoists. They sought to drag out the driver-owner of the car, despite desperate protestations on his part, waving his press pass frantically for everyone to see. Having failing to do the deed they wanted to achieve- the mediaperson hung on stoutly to the steering wheel, for he knew his fate once he succumbed to the haul – the ruffians just went ahead and deflated the tyres of the vehicle with quick, expert slashes from large knives, leaving the elderly man fuming in silent condemnation.

We later found out that he in fact was coming to attend the LF chairman’s media conference, and the event of hooliganism occurred right at the Moulali crossing with a patient posse of police hanging back, and rightly so, when he was less than half-a-kilometre away from his destination. His mistake was to have taken Mamata’s words literally that press vehicles would not be blocked and detained. We have little doubt that the elderly newsperson will be wiser in the future, and certainly less trusting of the outfits his corporate media house continues to sponsor.

VICIOUS CYCLES OF THREATS-VIOLENCE-THREATS

The Trinamuli-Maoists-SUCI ‘satyagraha’ comprised of threats, violence, and more threats, followed by more violence -- across those areas of Bengal where Trinamulis have at least a semblance of ‘hold.’ Biman Basu was saying that people around Singur, in the villages and gunjes, were quite determined to participate as they have been doing in the past in developmental work and work of social welfare. The violence and the sit-in demonstration with its fear factor up front, had served to interrupt, halt, and put on hold all such pro-people and pro-poor endeavours.

PATIENCE TESTED TO THE FULL

The state government is eager and for a pretty long time, to ensure that, the disgruntled among the kisans whose land had been acquired, received something more than the sumptuous compensation package they already enjoyed. What deters the Mamata Banerjees from coming forward, showing boldness of the right kind maybe for once, and sitting across the table with Bengal’s chief minister for a full and frank discussion? The Mamata brigade had promised Buddhadeb at the Writers’ Buildings that their ‘satyagraha’ would be just that – peaceful demonstration. The recent events have proved how much deceitful the leadership of the rainbow opposition could be in practice.

The Maoists and their lackeys have today completely blocked out the portals of the factory, trapping inside a large number of technical personnel of Indian and foreign origin. The foreign technicians, pointed out Bimanda, ‘are our guests, guests of Bengal, guests of India,’ and yet, the ‘agitationsists’ would ‘show little respect for them, keeping them trapped inside the factory sans food and potable water.’

‘Is this their version of ‘Satyagraha,’ Bimanda again asked, anguished clear in his voice and demeanour, and ‘does it reflect the lofty cultural heritage of Bengal: can any sane, good-thinking person,’ went on the senior CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, ‘ever think of isolating the motor vehicles factory at Singur and divorcing it from the general process of pro-employment and pro-people industrialisation in Bengal under the Left Front government?’

Elsewhere thousands of trucks, lorries, and ‘matadors’ stand still on the highways and the perishables gradually rot, medicines go bad, and the people have started to feel the pinch on the markets already. ‘Does not,’ said Bimanda, ‘the Trinamuli chief have any control at all over her stormtroopers, asking them to keep at least one lane of the four-lane NH 6 open for the entry and exit of the vehicles?’

The state administration, Bimanda was saying ‘has shown an inordinate amount of tolerance and patience. Provocations galore notwithstanding, a peaceful ambience of a kind could be maintained until now. It is high time for all concerned to realise that the issue brooks no delay for resolution and early.
(BP)

28.08.08

HIGHWAY BLOCK WILL CREATE FOOD CRISIS IN CENTRAL BENGAL

On our third visit to Singur on 27 August where the hardy few ‘professionals’ of the Trinamul Congress and the Maoists, plus sundry SUCI elements were desperately ‘holding out’ by blocking the now-deserted NH 6 was filled with the nauseating stench of rotting cauliflowers, cabbages and potatoes, and other perishable vegetables—including tonnes of fish.

The truckers all sixteen thousand of them four thousand drivers, and the rest of them assistants and the ubiquitous headload carriers - were angry – very angry. They had found their way blocked by a few men with blunt and sharp weapons who also had openly on display; large bags of brickbats and stones, collected, the latter I mean, from the nearby Railway tracks.

Thus has been started a ‘counter-blockade’ – if we can call it that. After a brief discussion with the state transport minister, the truckers just parked their vegetable-rice-lentil-edible oil-laden vehicles – ten-tonners all of them, right on the highway albeit a small distance away from where the irresponsible workers of Mamata’s calling were having a disgustingly happy smile pasted on their faces as they sat hurling unprintable abuses at the truckers. The latter were not moved having driven hundreds of kilometres to reach out essential commodities to the people of Bengal.

The crisis will hit the markets within 24 hours of our filing this report and then things may take a very ugly turn – something that Mamata Banerjee blustering to us about her ‘winning ways against your chief minister,’ is yet to understand or is not willing to under stand.

For, understanding would mean acknowledging defeat and she will then have thousands of very angry people of Singur breathing heavily down her neck and worse, as they realised that the ‘show’ was not even close to ‘reality.’ The impasse is surely about to end—with a whimper and not a bang. Nevertheless, as state secretary Biman Basu was urgent in his fervent appeal to the people, the end should never ever be violent – from any sides.(BP)
27.08.08

BIMAN, BUDDHADEB CALL FOR A NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT OF SINGUR MOTOR FACTORY IMPASSE

The frustration was easy to gauge, as we looked upon the contorting face of Mamata Banerjee spewing venom against the Bengal Left Front government, against chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and against the entrepreneurs building the motor vehicles factory at Singur in Hooghly, less than hundred kilometres from Kolkata. 855 of the work of the factory have been completed. Nearly sixty ancillary units have started to buzz with activities in the factory area -- and beyond. The downstream units in the meanwhile are ready to receive the first orders for motor parts, vehicular and engine.

Mamata Banerjee could not wait any longer. Her support base even in Hooghly where her outfit had won several Panchayat seats, was unravelling fast. The ‘activists’ were becoming restless. Somen Mitra had split from the Congress and floated a new party that had ostensibly proved supportive of Mamata – and everyone in the Congress circle knows the famous fall-out that led to the formation of the Trinamul Congress between Mitra and Banerjee in 1997-98. They also know the capacity of Somen babu of swallowing political outfits completely once having made friends with it. Thus – the desperation had a certain raison d’être ring to her pattern of predictable enough behaviour.

Without her customary ‘ultimatum,’ usually delivered when the ‘action’ has already been started by her workers – the sit-in demonstration commenced at locations closely abutting the motor vehicles factory on 24 August. ‘We are a patient lot -- and this drew sharp bouts of laughter, angering Mamata no end -- ‘and had we been not so, we would have brought out the necessary tools lying at the ready for demolishing the factory-- the heavy hammers, and the pickaxes, and the shovels,’ she shouted, this time with great appreciation from the dais packed to capacity by her lackeys and also including the returning Medha Patkar, Anuradha Talwarkar, plus that swift turncoat, Amar Singh. The latter in particular was directly abusive of the entrepreneurs whom he had himself called upon to set up a motor vehicles factory in UP when Mulayam Singh & Co were in office.

Earlier, on 20 August at Buddhadeb’s invitation, a Trinamul leader and his history-sheeter Maoist ‘minder’ had had a talk with the chief minister as well as industries minister Nirupam Sen. At that meeting, Buddhadeb and Nirupam spelt out in detail the reasons why the demand for return of 400 acres of the project land was not a practicable one. Some of the claimants had left the place, in other cases, the ownership was in doubt, and then there was the court order about the government having to acquire land where compensation has not been accepted – for whatever reason. Full sets of papers and land utilisation maps on the project were handed over to the two worthies of the opposition

We recall that a court ruling at the apex level notes: ‘It is a settled law that if the land is acquired for a public purpose, after the public purpose was achieved, the rest of the land could be used for any other public purpose. In case there is not other public purpose for which the land is needed, then instead of disposal by way of sale to the erstwhile owners the land should be put to public auction, and the amount fetched through the public auction can be better utilized for the public purpose envisaged in the directive principles of the constitution.’ This was communicated to the Trinamul Congress representatives at the meeting.

The duo went back, and stuck to the claim of ‘returning 400 acres to kisans, and at the same time agreed to have further meetings with Buddhadeb and Nirupam. Nothing on that line materialised. Instead we had Mamata Banerjee shout loudly at the betrayal of the people at the hands of the government, adding such crude non sequitors as the entrepreneurs may well go back to ‘where they had come from,’ and ‘they are welcome to leave Bengal under LF government well alone’ and so on.

Buddhadeb responded, if that is the term, by being civil, polite, and non-confrontational in extremis, by calling a media briefing at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan in the afternoon of the day when the Bengal Left Front had met and endorsed the stance of the state government on Singur: ‘We are certain,’ said Buddhadeb ‘that the small car being put together at the Singur factory shall start to roll out in scheduled time.

‘More than 85% work has been completed’, added Buddhadeb. ‘We, he said, ‘are hopeful also that the opposition would realise that by demanding 400 acres to be taken away from the project, the project itself would become dysfunctional, and that we can hardly acceded to demands that are completely irrational.’

Buddhadeb also pointed out that the state government, after discussion with entrepreneurs, and the other ancillary industries involved in the project, ‘has drawn up a vast plan to employ the youths of the families who lost their land for this project.’ Several hundreds of youth are already at work after receiving professional training. Later Biman Basu, Bengal LF chairman called for negotiations to be continued to solve the impasse. Bimanda also hoped that the ‘programme of action’ of the Trinamul Congress ‘shall remain peaceful,’ and added to say that ‘everyone has the right to organise democratic movements and struggles in Bengal.’

Addressing a mammoth rally at Singur on 22 August Nirupam said in clear tone and unambiguous tenor that the people wanted the motor vehicles factory to come up, and the Trinamul Congress leadership should witness the vast proportions of the rally from which constant slogans arose in favour of an early completion of the motor vehicles producing unit.

Nirupam supplied the gritty details of the land acquisition and said that the LF government has acquired 997.11 acres of land at Singur. There are 10, 852 raiyats (cultivators) on the land parcel taken over. Of them, 8, 890 covering land area of 691.64 acres have accepted the highly lucrative compensation package. 2251 had, for various reasons, some obscure, others non-transparent, yet some others under duress, refused to accept compensation for a total of 305.47 acres of land. Nirupam concluded to say that the opposition to the project was the principal aim of the Trinamul Congress and its sidekicks and it was they who had blocked a great many people from accepting compensation, generally failing but succeeding marginally. This is their capital on which they seek to stall the development of the project, causing harm to the state itself.

In the meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee has continued with her sit-in demonstration, and on the second day itself – we stayed over at Singur – we could not but fail to note the thinning of her rank-and-file. Singh, Patkar, Talwarkar & Co has fled the scene. The sumptuous feasts and the free flow of alcohol – it is there for anyone staying back to see -- arranged for the ‘braves’ who stayed could not keep the people out there in the sun for any length of time and we fully expect when we visit Singur on Friday (29 August), Mamata and her faithful band comprising right reactionaries and left sectarians to be feeling more than a tad lonesome at the top of the garishly decorated dais.

Elsewhere, massive marches have been brought out by the district units of the CPI (M) and the Left Front, and by the Left student-youth organisations. Kolkata and Siliguri witnessed two such large processions. The demonstrations will continue throughout the month against the anti-people policies of the union government, and in support of the development of Bengal, thwarting all conspiracies. As we file this report, Mamata Banerjee has replied to Buddhadeb’s letter to her (asking her for a one-on-one meeting to solve the impasse) by rudely replying that ‘no discussion would be held unless the 400 acres of land were returned to their rightful owners.’

B. PRASANT

FRESH TRINAMUL CONSPIRACY AT SINGUR

The Trinamul Congress has started de novo its nasty game plan of frustrating the motor vehicles project at Singur. Very recently, the Trinamuli chieftain accompanied by the SUCI and various Naxalite splinters plus Maoists, instructed their goons at Singur to disrupt the ongoing work (the project is fast nearing completion), to issue dire threats to the workers a large percentage of whom are from outside of the locality, indeed outside of the district and the state.

Several workers as well as engineers were subsequently badly beaten up. More than 150 civil engineers have stopped attending the site in fear of their lives. 400 and more of the skilled workers have quit their jobs in the face of continuous threats, heckling, and physical assault, almost every day.

On 1 August, several hundred more of the skilled workers decided not to risk their lives and they have stopped attending the construction site. The principal demand of Mamata Banerjee – now joined with great empathy by the Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, muscle-bound with his new-found influence with the UPA – is that the 300-odd acres of land the owners of which have refused compensation must be returned to them.

This is nothing but a dirty game. The Trinamuli chief and her lackeys on the reactionary right and the sectarian left know very well that under a recent Maharashtra High Court order, unutilised land in any government project must revert to the government once the land has been duly acquired, and the state government then would have to sell the land parcels in a auction to the highest bidder amongst the participating people who intend to buy the land blocks. The matter is sub judice with an appeal pending at the level of the apex court of the country.

There are other complications involved here. First, a good deal of legal hassles has worked behind the decision by some whose land has been duly acquired for the project not to accept compensation, however high and profit-bearing. There is dispute over ownership; there are also instances of absentee landlordism. Second, the land acquired where compensation has been refused is not contiguous nor in single large blocks. Thus, it is not quite feasible to have the blocks recarved and tiny plots here and there identified to be served up as non-abutting land parcels to the so-called claimants, amongst whom, over and above, ongoing familial disputes and legal wrangles continue.

It is clear that what Mamata Banerjee angles at is scuttling of the project. It the people who have chosen to give the project a green signal by coming forward voluntarily in most instances to allow the state government acquire the land: 655 acres for the factory itself, and nearly 300 acres for the setting of the primary-level ancillary and downstream units that would produce motor parts and being labour-intensive would open the avenues of gainful employment. This is something she ought to keep in mind.

In the meanwhile, elsewhere at Kalighat, Amar Singh paid a longish visit to Mamata Banerjee’s residence. In a joint press conference that duly followed, Amar Singh, apart from such hard, realpolitik gestures involving conveying Mamata’s message to the central government for the ‘return of 400 acres (the figure grows and grows) of the acquired land at Singur back to their owners,’ and taking part in joint movements in Bengal with the Trinamul Congress-led groups and outfits, some political some hardly so, said that while his ‘brain has been controlled in the past by the Left, his heart has always remained with Mamata Banerjee and that never was contact lost.’

Amar Singh then went on to declare in a very odd-sounding couplet that from now on, he would ‘listen to his heart and would not allow his brain to function,’ or perhaps something akin to that -- to an awkward effect on all present except the Trinamul chief who kept grinning widely: a change from her usual and perpetual grimace.

B. PRASANT

GENERAL STRIKE : A COMPLETE SUCCESS IN BENGAL

THERE has been an unprecedented response from the people of all sections to the general strike called by the central trade unions and federations against the anti-people policies of the Congress-led UPA government. The strike action was total. The strike covered the entire state from the metropolis of Kolkata to the remotest hamlets of Bengal.

The state unit of the CITU has extended its felicitations to the toiling masses for making such a big success of the strike call. The strike day remained bereft of a single incident of confrontation, not to speak of conflict.

The success of the strike all over the country, believes the Bengal CITU leadership, ‘has proved the hollowness of the vaunted claims of economic success by the present régime up in Delhi.’
A look around the outskirts of Kolkata – principally in the two 24 Parganas, Howrah, and Hooghly showed that the factories and production units in the ‘industrial belt’ remained shut down. Shops had downed shutters, office had closed their portals, the schools, colleges, and other educational institutions were ‘on holiday’ for the students.

What we noted as an exception to earlier occasions was the fact that picketing was not necessary at all in the factories, markets, and the haats. The strike call was responded to, as we said, with great and spontaneous impulsiveness.

The workers of the power sectors told us that the demand for electricity in the greater Kolkata on the strike day was 542 MW less than normal. Overall, the state-level figure was 666 MW less than normal.

The coalfields, the jute mills, the engineering factories (including the motor vehicles factory at Singur), and the tea gardens remained closed. The CITU leadership expressed pride in the fact that the workers-employees did not treat the strike day as a holiday. Meetings, conventions, processions, jathas marked the day – all against the anti-people policies of the central government.

Shyamal Chakraborty, Bengal CITU president spoke to People’s Democracy and identified three special features of the strike action of August 20.

First, the response to the strike call was spontaneous in every sense of the term from all sections of the people.

Second, the strike with a wider participation across the society roused immense anger -- amongst the toiling masses in particular -- against the central government’s policies, in a much greater way than has been recently seen. This Shyamal put down to the long periods of campaign on the strike issues carried out by the CITU and other Left trade unions.

Third, and most importantly, the strike was not an end in itself – it was but a continuation of the campaign movement against the anti-people policies of the central government, a stream of struggles that shall go on in the days to come, gathering strength all the way from the success of the strike action.
B.PRASANT

20.08.08

PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT is the NEED OF THE HOUR: BIMAN BASU

Biman Basu, secretary of the Bengal unit of the CPI (M) spoke to People’s Democracy on the recent developments at Singur and Nandigram. At both places, disruptionist elements of the reactionary right and the sectarian left are determined to stop the process of development through murder, mayhem and worse.

PD: Bimanda, CPI (M) workers are being killed at Nandigram, mayhem is being carried out there, and in the meanwhile, the Singur motor vehicles factory has come under fire from a section of the Bengal opposition who demand that 400 acres of acquired land should be returned to ‘rightful owners?’ How would you react to all this?

Biman Basu: As I was telling you just now, the need of the hour is not strife, not attack and counter-attack, slandering and mayhem, harassment of the people and disruption of development. Without peace and amity, no development work, especially pro-people development work can take place.

Allow me to give you a few other instances of larger dimensions but of similar nature. When the Sino-Indian border dispute took place in 1962 over the identification of the border, the eponymous ‘McMahon Line,’ what was it that the Communist Party did? It spoke strongly in favour of negotiations between China and India, between the Chinese government and the Congress-led Indian government. Although for saying this, the Communist Party leaders were promptly put behind bars.

We shall give the example also of the fratricidal, almost religious war in Lebanon where Beirut was rendered into a bombed, ruined city. There, too, negotiations took place and the issue was sought to be, and finally was, then settled amicably. Similarly, one could tackle the bleeding Kashmir and its unique problem – through peaceful negotiations, as we say, ‘across the table.’ What prevents a dialogue taking place on the Singur and the Nandigram issues?

On the question of return of the land, Nirupam, our Industries minister has already said how difficult it is to gather together scattered parcels of land and then find the owners, and then organise a fresh compensation – the task is an improbable one, without rhyme or reason the demand is being made for motivated reasons.

An industry is being set up at Singur. A motor vehicles factory is coming up, 85 per cent and more work has been completed. The factory will generate a lot of employment. The solution to the violence impasse started anew is a dialogue, dialogue with the state government with a free and open mind.

The opposition especially the Trinamul Congress has won many seats at Singur at the gram panchayat and panchayat samity level. It devolves on them to ensure that the wheel of development does not slowly stop. The onus is on them, the opportunity is for them to serve the people in a constructive manner. And this is not done by making demands that are unreal and impractical.

PD: What would you say about the Nandigram killings, Bimanda? CPI (M) leaders, workers, and supporters are murdered in a series of attacks of late.

BB: Well, I would still hold that peace and development go hand-in-hand. I denounce the killings strongly – there are no words strong enough to express my condemnation. I despise politics of individual assassination and yet, I appeal to the party and the persons concerned at Nandigram who are responsible for these inhuman acts, to desist from the initiative that encourages the poor to kill the poor.

Anti-social elements are brought in, under the protection and patronage of the Trinamul Congress and the Maoists and our men killed, injured, wounded, harassed, driven away, and Party offices as well residences (hutments and little else) are burnt to cinder. This must be stopped.

Trinamul Congress controls the zillah parishad. The people have voted them in there. Are they not responsible for carrying forward the amicability of the earlier months during the end of the last year and the beginning of the New Year in the run up to the rural polls?

PEACE IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR

We need peace, we need amicable environment, we need responsible behaviour from the opposition, and we want dialogue to be scheduled or multi-partite, at Nandigram and at Singur. Peace should prevail over everything.

I hear that the Trinamul Congress leadership has called for a dialogue with the entrepreneurs building the motor vehicles project at Singur. Would it not have been better had they spoken to the state Left Front government first? Our Industries minister has already called for such a dialogue.

KILLINGS CONTINUE

In the meanwhile, the killing goes on at Nandigram, and elsewhere, too. In a barbaric assault in the afternoon of August 6, a combination of marauders belonging to the Trinamul Congress and the Maoists ambushed and killed comrade Niranjan Mondal, secretary of the local committee of the Rajaramchawk unit of the CPI(M). Comrade Niranjan was also a primary teacher in a school near to his place of residence.

A few hours earlier to the dastardly murder, Joydeb Paik, local committee secretary of the Sonachura unit of the CPI(M) was shot and left severely injured in his own residence. He is battling for life at a local hospital. Bengal chief minister has convened on August 8, an all-party meeting on the Nandigram violence towards establishment of peace there. There are lingering doubts as to the participation of the main opposition party in Bengal, the Trinamul Congress at that meeting for they have boycotted all such meetings in the past, recent and otherwise.

When a procession of the CPI(M) was proceeding along a narrow village path at a place near Adhikaripara, Trinamul Congress assassins attacked with guns and sharp weapons. In the assault that followed, a CPI(M) supporter, comrade Dulal Garudas was shot and killed. The houses of two CPI (M) workers, Badal Mondal and Anup Mondal were set on fire and burnt to the ground. The 24-hour bandh that Nandigram witnessed at the call of the CPI(M) was a complete success, proving the alienation of the Trinamul Congress, the SUCI, and the Maoists from the toiling masses.

At Midnapore west, at Lalgarh, the scene of many crimes committed against the CPI(M) by Maoists and their lackeys, a daily wage earner belonging to the poorest of the poor and a brave CPI(M) worker, comrade Fakir Karanga was shot repeatedly on head and chest in the Dharampur area on August 7. He was left dead in a bleeding heap – ‘revolution accomplished’ - the ‘stalwart’ killers then took off their chappals and ran away as fast as they could, shooting back occasionally at the villagers who had by then come rushing out and were on a hot chase.

The Maoists disappeared beyond the border and into a forest patch of a neighbouring state. They had been guided all the way by local units of the Jharkhandi party.

B. PRASANT

07.08.08

Massive Students-Youth Rally At Singur

ON August 9, the Left student-youth organisations held a march through Kolkata’s streets and lanes in their thousands to call for people’s resistance to all heinous attempts at creating anarchy in Singur and Nandigram as a ploy to foil the developmental policies of the popular Left Front government.

The next day August 10 saw more youth take part in a massive rally at Singur itself at the call of the Bengal unit of the DYFI with the clear message that industrialisation and growth should be pro-employment, and that nothing must come on the way of growth by any manner of anti-people impediment.

Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had declared long ago that ‘we are not interested in the colour, size, shape, or even the price of the small cars about to roll out of Singur. We are very much interested in the number of employment that the motor vehicles factory shall generate, directly, in the ancillary sector, and in the subsidiary realms of the mainstream production unit.’ This was nearly a year back.

Since then the Trinamul Congress, after a lull before an onerous storm, waited for what they considered an ‘opportune moment,’ and then launched a series of vicious attacks on the perimeter of the factory, destroying wire fencing, breaching solid brick walls with iron shovels and rods, physically harming the workers at the site, driving off the security guards at gunpoint, and then setting fire to parts of the perimeter structure, and declaring that not a single vehicle shall be allowed to roll out of the Singur factory. At the same time, the Trinamul chief organised secret parleys with the entrepreneur building the motor vehicles factory, but would not respond to Buddhadeb’s call for an ‘across-thee-table’ discussion.

All this came out clearly and with force from the young voices who spoke at the rally, and the speakers included state DYFI leader and state committee member of the Bengal CPI(M) Avas Roychaudhury, DYFI leader Pratim Ghosh and the organisation’s district-level leadership.

‘We want employment once we complete our education, and we want the Singur and other factories to come up,’ said one of the thousands of banners adorning the rally, the exact manifestation reflective of the innate desires of the youth of Bengal. Would the Trinamulis be able to block up the flow that emanates from the hearts-and-minds of the youth of Bengal? Would the Trinamuli chieftain care to ponder the implications of her anti-development stance?(BP)

10.08.08

THE MOTOR VEHICLES FACTORY WILL COME UP AT SINGUR : BUDDHADEB

THE Singur motor vehicles factory, sprouting of illogical and anti-people opposition notwithstanding, from whatever quarters, would be completed as per schedule. More than 85 per cent of the work has already been completed.

This was the firm assurance of Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to the people of Bengal and elsewhere. Buddhadeb was addressing a packed gathering at the spacious Mahajati Sadan hall in downtown Kolkata during the evening of August 5.

Buddhadeb threw a challenge to the likes of the Trinamulis, SUCI, 'Maoists', and the various splinters of Naxalites and stated that land was acquired at Singur over the guidelines available with the central government. The land acquired on which a factory was in its final run was not a piece of garment that could be 'returned to the shop from where they were purchased' as excess and compensation asked for.

Singur is presently in the throes of a great developmental upheaval with thousands of people working day and night to ensure that the deadline for the marketing of the vehicle to be produced was met squarely and fairly. There was no deception involved and the state Left Front government was quite determined that the factory would be complete in good time. This has also been the general view of the entrepreneurs involved.

More than six thousand youth would get immediate, perennial employment the day the factory starts production. 'Shall we,' asked Buddhadeb,' play ducks-and-drakes with their future?' 'Shall we go and deceive the people, the unemployed, the poor people, after having roused the flame of hope in them?' 'Nothing of this sort would be allowed to happen as long as a pro-people Left Front government was in office, and this I would like to assure the people,' declared the chief minister.

It has always been the moral responsibility of the Left Front government to take up the responsibility of appropriate rehabilitation for those who have given up their land parcels to the state government for it to acquire at Singur. Those who shed crocodile's tears for the 'kisans,' should keep in mind that with land being under increasing pressure of population, the sons and daughters of the kisans, too, needed the project to carve niches of employment, gainful employment in the days and months and years to come. History shall never absolve those who stand against this employment-generating project that would change the industrial and developmental scenario in Singur in particular and the entire district of Hooghly and beyond, in general.

With employment a priority, the state LF government, said Buddhadeb, 'has been engaged in stressing on the manufacturing industries that are labour-intensive.' 'We have also brought up industrial units all over south and north Bengal some under joint venture (JV), some under built-operate-transfer (BOT) mode, and some in the state sector and some in the private sector. The industrial scene in Bengal is going through a sea change - and for the betterment of the people, the youth, and the unemployed in particular.'

The Bengal opposition -- an irresponsible, anti-people, destruction-oriented anti-Communist opposition -- is bent upon setting the economy back, charged Buddhadeb. In this they would not succeed as the people would foil their attempts to disrupt development.

Buddhadeb's sane advice to the opposition was that it is for them to decide and set their minds on constructive talks with the state LF government, and let go of the unreal, unwanted elements that they are found clinging to while seeking every excuse to ensure that talks with the state government would not succeed.

B. PRASANT

05.08.08

Bengal CPI(M) Condemns Seperatist Activities Of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM)

IN a strongly worded statement, state secretary of the Bengal unit of the CPI(M) Biman Basu has condemned the counter-democratic, separatist, and segregationist activities of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). The statement was issued in the afternoon of August 5.

Basu said that the Bengal CPI(M) had been witness for some time now and with alarm to the manner in which the GJM leadership was depriving the people of the Darjeeling hill areas of one after another democratic right. An ambience of terror has been created that had left the hill people gasping in fear.

The GJM has issued 'orders' that unless the people participated in its 'programmes,' they would be the target of attacks, harassments, and even social boycott. The Darjeeling CPI(M) office was once again attacked on August 4, ransacked, and but for the brave resistance offered by the Party members who were inside, would have been occupied by force.

A brief attempt was even made to fly a GJM flag from the top of the CPI(M) office - the challenge was foiled. The Bengal CPI(M) has strongly condemned this attack and the ill-gotten attempt to forcibly occupy the office of the CPI(M) in Darjeeling town - and elsewhere in the hills.

“The GJM is also found engaged in the dangerous game of indulging itself in acts of provocation to try to create segregation and then a rift between the hill people and the plains people. This is an extremely condemnable, heinous act, and all such attempts at disruption of the people's unity should be opposed by every democratic-minded people. This sort of destructive activity will serve to complicate matters at the time when there was a process started for a tripartite meeting between the central government, the state government and the GJM up in Delhi”, the statement noted.

The Bengal CPI(M) has called for peace, amity, and people-to-people friendship in both the hill and the plains areas and has called upon the people at large to strengthen democracy and democratic norms everywhere in the district. (B P)

05.08.08

LEFT FRONT ANNOUNCES FRESH CAMPAIGN PROGRAMME

EVEN as the movement against price rise and the nuclear deal gained momentum in Bengal, the state Left Front met in the morning of July 28 at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan and arrived at decisions concerning the future shape of the movements in the new political situation at the national level.

Briefing the media, Biman Basu, chairman, Bengal Left Front said that the Left Front and Left mass organisations would observe the Hiroshima Day on August 6 and the Nagasaki Day on August 9. Both programmes will form part of the anti-imperialist campaign presently in operation in the state. The Left Front also extended full support to the August 20 all-India strike called by the sponsoring committee of all Left TUs across the country on a set of six demands touching people's lives and livelihoods. August 31 would be observed as the martyrs' day with a big convention at the Indoor Stadium in Kolkata with an expected gathering of 25,000 people.

August 11 would be observed as the centenary of the anti-imperialist martyr Khshudiram Bose's supreme sacrifice in the act of resisting the inroads of British colonialism. On September 1, the anti-war day, vast rallies would be held in Kolkata and at Siliguri on such issues as imperialism, price rise, runaway inflation, and the various anti-people and anti-poor policies of the UPA government, as well as the steady decline of the economy and of the political situation across the country, causing misery to the common people all the way. The two cities would witness two of the largest marches complete with colourful tableaux of recent years Biman Basu told newspersons. At least a couple of lakhs of people would march along the streets of Kolkata alone.
Expressing deep anxiety at the recent serial blasts at Bengaluru and Ahmedabad (one such blast took place cruelly inside a hospital), the Bengal Left Front called upon all democratic and patriotic people of the state to maintain vigilance. Biman Basu added to say that post-rural polls, efforts would be going on to cement fast the unity and solidarity of the Left Front.

The Darjeeling situation, said Bimanda, had recently become crucial with violence spreading slowly but menacingly across the hill areas. There could well be, he expressed fear, fall-out effects across the north Bengal districts out of the reckless risks Gurung's men were not unwilling to indulge themselves in.

All ongoing attempts at segregation going on at the behest of the separatists, including the forcible application of 'GL' license prefixes in vehicles operating in the hill areas of Darjeeling etc were harmful to the integrity of the country. There should be no breaking up of Bengal allowed, and the administration should take appropriate steps to see that peace and amity was restored in the afflicted areas as early as possible, Biman Basu concluded. (BP)

28.07.08

CONVENTION CALLS FOR MAKING AUGUST 20 STRIKE A SUCCESS IN BENGAL

A BIG convention held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata called for making the August 20 nationwide strike on a set of six demands - issues touching the daily lives and livelihoods of the toiling people - a noted success in Bengal.

Addressing the convention, which was full-to-overflowing as were the surrounding open spaces, senior CITU leader, and CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP, Shyamal Chakraborty said that following the 'win' in the trust vote in parliament using means that were dubious to the extreme, the UPA government was elated that the 'reforms' would now go ahead full steam. The workers-employees were ready to deflate the balloon of celebration of the ruling classes, and the August 20 strike was only the beginning. The working class was ready to ask uncomfortable questions of the UPA government like what caused the food crisis.

What caused the shoot up in the prices of essential commodities? Who sabotaged the public distribution system? What makes 77 per cent of the people of India go to bed with stomachs churning in insistent hunger? The common saying in rural Bengal is that once you are stuck in the gum of the gum acacia tree, the tree would not let go of you. Much in the similar vein, recalled Chakraborty, would US imperialism never ever let go of India from its servitude, now more than ever, what with the Left support having now been withdrawn.

The people's response would be to make the strike an all-out success, and to quote an old and still popular revolutionary song in Bengali by the late activist-lyricist Salil Chaudhury, on August 20 across the land, the 'wheels of the factories would not turn, the furnaces would not be aflame, and the chimney would not belch smoke.'

'The strike must be made total, complete, and participatory - it would not be a holiday but a day of strike, the occasion for action against the exploiting classes and their political parties,' said Shyamal Chakraborty.

All-India vice-president of AIKS Benoy Konar said that the demands that the strike was based on, must be grasped appropriately by the organisers and leaders and taken down to the level of the teeming millions of the suffering toiling masses. 'Liberal' as a word sounds rather fair, with touch of the humane. Nevertheless, when put in as 'liberalisation' by the forces of imperialism and their running mates, the word assumed in its new form a menacing threat to the common people. Globalisation stands for the world as one village to be exploited at will by the imperialists.

DUTIFUL TO
THE IMPERIALISTS

The NDA and the UPA governments have been very dutiful to the imperialist way. Tariffs have been cut down. Quantitative restrictions were withdrawn. Essential Commodities Act left defanged. The strike is a struggle of the working class and the peasants against these moves. When the Left were in a striking position as a support to the UPA to stem the communal tide, 'we could intervene successfully in preventing selling off of all PSUs, introduction of the ruinous-to-the farmers Seeds Bill, resist with success the privatisation of the financial sector, and fight bravely against the proposed ruinous-to-the nation 'nuclear deal'.

Now more than ever the Left mass organisations, the workers, farmers, the women, the employees, the students-youth and all other sections of the working people and the toiling masses must stand together firmly in opposition to the anti-people policies of the UPA government and make it accede to the demands placed before it by the people of the nation. Thus, the task of this moment is to spread out to every nook and corner of Bengal, in villages and towns and take the people along in making the strike a success of unprecedented note, said the veteran kisan leader amidst great applause.

Other speakers included Avas Roychaudhury of the DYFI, Shibshankar Roy of 12 July Committee, Ranjit Guha of AITUC, Saral Deb of TUCC, Ashok Ghosh of UTUC, Prabodh Panda of Kisan Sabha (affiliated to CPI), Shyamashree Das (Mahila Samity),and Gautam Roy (RYO).

28.07.08

Bengal CPI(M) Calls For Further Widening Of The Mass Base

IN its two-day meeting on July 26 - 27, 2008, the Bengal unit of the CPI(M) discussed a draft review of the rural polls. The meeting came up with a call for widening of the mass base by winning over class allies through struggles and movements.

In attendance at the meeting of the state committee was the CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, and veteran Party leader Jyoti Basu. Benoy Konar, a member of the CPI(M) central committee, presided. The agenda of meeting included besides the national political situation, a discussion on the draft review of the results obtained from the rural polls, and organisational matters.

Prakash Karat said addressing the meeting that in the present political situation, those sections of the poor and the exploited who were misled into voting against the Left Front and the CPI(M) must be brought back to the fold, as they remained class allies of the CPI(M). For this to be a success, the political activities must be stepped up further. The unity of the Left Front must be increased and any lacunae in the pro-people functioning of the state LF government must be appropriately rectified.

The programme of industrialisation must be advanced with the people's trust and support. The attacks against the Bengal CPI(M) and the Bengal Left Front would be sharper from the class enemies and their lackeys in the days to come for the CPI(M) having fought a brave battle against the imperialist conspiracy to render India into its 'strategic partner,' and thus forcing it to compromise its sovereignty. Karat also called for the Party organisation in Bengal to be further rectified and strengthened, and thus making it ready to face the enhanced level of assault.

The state committee members touched upon various issues during their important interventions. The issues included the nuclear deal, the generally anti-people policies of the UPA government, the weaknesses persisting in deepening mass contact, the slackening of the work pattern of booth level committees, the lacunae yet in existence in political content of the campaign movement, and the anti-people role of the Bengal opposition which now encompassed virtually the entire range of class enemies from the ultra and fringe left to the right reactionaries to the religious fundamentalists of all persuasions.

In his concluding remarks, state secretary of the Bengal unit, Biman Basu said that the rectification campaign would be continued with rigour and regularity. The process of improving the political-ideological level of consciousness of the different units of the Bengal CPI(M) would continue to be augmented. Mass contact, especially at the ground level, would be further deepened. He stressed on 'winning over of our class allies in greater numbers than ever before, especially in the present situation.'

The newly-elected panchayats where the CPI(M) and the Left Front were in office must be run in a democratic manner with wide popular participation. The mass organisations shall have to play a big role in making the Gram Sansads and the Gram Sabhas more active and more responsive to the demands and necessities of the mass of the people in the villages. The panchayats must be organised from a class outlook all the way, he stressed.

The number of Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samities and Zillah Parishads that the CPI(M) and the LF could win - facing as it had to a barrage of all-out attack from the opposition, the media, and foreign funded agencies - must not be politically belittled although 'we have a long way to go yet to be of full service to the poor and the exploited masses of the villages.' Biman Basu said the political background that confronts the CPI(M) must be utilised in full to try to bring the correlation of class forces in the favour of the Party.

Biman Basu continued to point out the recent period has seen that there has been a vast number of new recruits to the Party- they have come as dedicated soldiers, 'ignoring the frown of the enemy and the crown of consumerism and lust.' Of them the working people, the women, and other sections of the youth must be associated with mass frontal work. The elected must be educated in the task of running the panchayats based on a class outlook. They must know the real purport and significance of the terms 'honesty, transparency, promptness, efficiency, and compassion.'

In addition, the panchayat polls have seen another development to which Basu drew the attention of the state leadership. In these polls, in some areas, along with fresh support, some of the working people being confused and disoriented had voted against the CPI(M). The CPI(M) leadership must immediately go, talk to them and make sure that they are persuaded to rejoin the mainstream.

The state committee adopted a few programmes for the coming period that included an observation in the appropriate manner of the present situational reality, the birth anniversary of Comrade Muzaffar Ahmad known universally as Kakababu in the Party on August 5, the centenary of the martyrdom of Khshudiram Bose on August 11, and August 31 as the day of martyrdom of activists of the democratic movement. An appropriate set of programme would also be taken up to commemorate the birth centenary of the noted progressive Bengali writer Manik Bandyopadhyay.

B.PRASANT

27.07.08