The Marxist, XXXI 2,
April–June 2015
The Left movement in West
Bengal – the most powerful contingent of the Left movement in India – today
faces intense repression by the State Government led by the Trinamul Congress
(TMC) and by the ruling classes in general. Dr. Surjya Kanta Mishra,
member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), holds the
two crucial positions of Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal
Legislative Assembly and and Secretary of the State Committee of the CPI(M). Dr
Mishra gave this interview on the state of political repression in West Bengal
to Madhav Tipu Ramachandran on May 19,
2015. The interview was conducted over three hours, during a journey by car
from Kolkata to Nadia. In the interview, Dr Mishra speaks on what he
characterises as a three-pronged attack on democracy and the people in West
Bengal, an attack whose victims go beyond the Left and Left parties; on the
attack on Left forces in the State; on comparing the current repression with
the period of semi-fascist terror in the State in the 1970s; and on the need
and prospects for a resurgence of the Left in the State and in India.
MTR: What is the nature of
political repression in West Bengal today?
SKM: The
repression that we have been facing in West Bengal today, four years after the
changing of the government, is a multi-pronged one. There have been three types
of attack against the people of the State: first, an attack on democracy and
democratic institutions; secondly, an attack on peoples’ livelihoods, and
thirdly, an attack on secularism in the State.
Concurrently, there has been a
concerted and violent attack on the CPI(M) and the Left Front.
MTR: What has the Left had
to confront?
SKM: Around
170 comrades have
been killed during
this period. More
importantly, thousands of comrades have been brutally attacked and
denied hospital treatment, their complaints have not been registered, and many
of them — more than 5000 by my estimate — will be physically handicapped for
the rest of their lives.
More than 1500 offices of the Party,
the Left Front and mass organisations have been attacked, and either captured
and converted to Trinamul Congress (TMC) offices or put under lock and key.
More than 100,000 comrades have
been implicated in false cases.
Many people have been forced out of
their places of residence, more than 51,000 at the last count. When people
return to their places of residence after a certain period of time, say one or
two years, they are not allowed to speak to anyone, not allowed to leave their
houses, their mobile phones and landlines are taken away, and they are not even
allowed to drop letters into a post box. They are forced to pay fines to
goondas, often to the tune of several lakhs.(our estimate is that Rs 50 crores
have been taken in total by means of extortion in the State)
MTR: How does the extortion
take place?
SKM: The money
is taken after threats and leaving no paper trail, although we do have a few
documents. Where persons who have been forced to leave their home do not
return, members of their families are sometimes tortured. The goons say: “Tell
him (or her) to come back, live here, pay the fine; send him (or her) the
message that otherwise their family will not be allowed to live here in peace.”
MTR: You described the first
kind of attack as on democracy and democratic institutions.
SKM: What I have
described is part of the larger attack on the forces of democracy in society.
It
is said that
in parliamentary democracy,
the House belongs
to the Opposition,
that is, the Opposition must take the lead in
addressing issues within the Legislature. In West Bengal, we publish an account
every year of how many questions we asked, how many remained unanswered, how
our adjournment motions were rejected, how no time was spent on non-official discussion
and non-official resolutions, how resolutions were passed solely by the
Government — no one else — and how our resolutions were thrown out.
The Press Corner in the Assembly is
no longer open to the Leader of Opposition when the House is not in session.
MTR: What exactly is the
Press Corner?
SKM: During our
time in Government, we organised that a Press Corner be opened, in order that
any member of the House be able to meet the Press and discuss policies and open
issues to debate. As a Government, we believed in keeping ourselves accountable
to the people via the Press. We used to regularly go to the Press Corner and
discuss our policies.
The
Press Corner usually
has to close
by 5 p.m.,
and one day,
a few months
after the new Government had come to power, an
accusation was levelled against me to the effect that I had exceeded the
deadline by five minutes. Although I am sure that I did not overstep the time
limit, even if I had, it is hardly cause to close the Press Corner to the
Leader of Opposition. They have closed down the Press Corner for three and a
half years now, and whenever the Assembly is not in session, I have to arrange
Press Conferences in the street outside (although I can, of course, hold them
in the Party office as well). Ministers can hold press conferences in their
offices, but ordinary MLAs of any political party should have the right to
speak out to the press, which is why the Press Corner was built in the first
place.
MTR: There have been other
incidents in the Legislative Assembly.
SKM: These are
manifestations of the new regime. When we moved an adjournment motion in the
house for a discussion about the Sarada chit fund scam, a few of our MLAs were
beaten up and injured inside the House by ruling party MLAs. The injured
included a woman, Debalina Hembram, a former Minister, who was thrown between
bench and desk in the Treasury benches. The other injured MLA, Gauranga
Chatterjee, our State Committee member, sustained a fracture in the skull, but
the government hospital to which he was admitted said that there was no injury,
and refused to admit him. He was then admitted to a private hospital and the CT
scan he undertook subsequently revealed his fracture clearly. Nothing further
could be done about this, for if something happens within the House, the Police
will not take action and so nothing was done.
Thus, even the legislature, which
is said to be the place where the Government in a parliamentary democracy is
accountable to the people, has failed to discharge its constitutional
responsibilities.
MTR: Are these attacks
directed solely at the Left?
SKM: No, the
attacks that were first aimed at us are now aimed at the entire Opposition — as
well as at members of the ruling party itself. I told the Chief Minister that
at least 50 people of her party have been killed by her own people, and I
believe they do not even have a record of them.
The historical experience is that
when the attack on democracy begins, nobody is spared, not even members of the
ruling party. In the chit fund case, TMC MPs and other ruling party loyalists
are now being disowned or being forced to leave by the party as its leaders
believe that these people may have divulged sensitive information to the
CPI(M), or to the courts or police.
MTR: What about other
democratic institutions?
SKM: All of
them are under considerable pressure. The local bodies and all the authority
they had are under attack. Elections are rigged, people outside the ruling
party are not allowed to submit nominations, and even if they do manage to
submit them, are then forced to withdraw their candidatures. Co-operatives are similarly
besieged (have been
“captured”) – no
elections are held,
and they are
run by “administrators.” There is
no campus democracy for students or teachers. Student elections are under
attack, and the right of students to form unions denied. The right of workers
to strike has been taken away.
Other democratic organisations,
such as the constitutional bodies, are under attack. There is no Chairperson of
the Human Rights Commission (HRC), because when the Commission delivered
certain judgements or recommendations unpalatable
to the government,
they found a way to
remove its Chairman. Thereafter,
they appointed the former Director General to the HRC, an appointment that I
opposed as a member of the Selection Committee. I stated that never has a
police officer with several human rights violations sub judice been appointed
to a Human Rights Commission. He now acts as de facto Chairman of the
Commission – which is a reflection the state of human rights in our State.
The State Election Commission has
not been spared either, as the government’s war with the State Election
Commission on the issue of holding panchayat elections showed. A Sessions Court
judge has had to come to us for safety and security, which shows that there are
members of the judiciary who are under personal threat. The Central Bureau of
Investigation has had to ask the High Court to transfer the case out of Alipore
court, since they did not expect justice from the Alipore court.
MTR: You described the
second kind of attack as being one on people’s livelhoods.
SKM: People are
denied wages after working on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme, denied work when funds are available, and sometimes denied
employment on the basis of political loyalty, anyone but a supporter of the
ruling party being unacceptable for employment. Wages are sometimes withheld
for six months or even a year, thus violating the terms of the law.
Farmers are not paid the
procurement prices declared by the Government, and mechanisms for output
procurement are not in place. The agrarian situation is deteriorating every
day. There have been farmer suicides in West Bengal, as had not occurred in the
34 years of Left Front rule preceding the period in power of this Government.
MTR: Are the issues of
livelihoods singularly issues of rural areas?
SKM: No, in
recent times, the industrial sphere has been characterised by closures in
traditional sectors (for example in the tea and jute industries) and in other
sectors, and by a failure to start new industries. People are thrown out of
employment because factories are being closed and because of the hooliganism of
the ruling party in the factory sector. Today’s newspaper says that the Chief
Minister has announced that seven jute factories are to reopen. These mills had
become unviable and unable to function because hooligans of the ruling party
had demanded ever greater amounts of money as extortion. The Chief Minister has
ultimately had to ask them to see that the factories reopen. A temporary change
in the situation does not, however, reflect what is happening every day
everywhere else; her words in this case are nothing more than lip service, with
nothing actually changing in the field.
Members of the business community
have begun to complain that they are unable to run businesses because they have
to pay this ‘extortion fee’. The insurance scheme that we introduced while in
Government has not been implemented properly. The Government is not paying the
premium amount to which it is committed, and a sum of to Rs 69-70 crores has
been left unpaid by the government in the last four years (a substantial
proportion of this relates to crop insurance). Government employees and
teachers have not been paid their dearness allowance; up to 48 per cent — a
proportion almost unheard of — of their wages remain unpaid, and the failure to
pay wages now affects around a million people.
MTR: You described the
“third prong” of the attack as being on secularism.
SKM: There has
never been any serious incident of communal tension in this State since
Partition. During the 34 years of Left Front rule, whenever there was communal
tension in the country, the army was swiftly deployed and political steps were
taken to ensure that such tension did not flare up in the State.
For example, when anti-Sikh riots
swept the country after Indira Gandhi’s death, not a single case was registered
in West Bengal. Similarly, after the Babri Masjid incident, the firm secular
stance of the government prevented communal violence here in West Bengal. Our
political ability and the mobilisation of people ideologically and
organisationally against communal violence made sure communal forces were
unable to raise their swords.
A dangerous situation is now
developing in the State, with the ruling party at the Centre taking the Hindutva
line and the ruling party in the State giving shelter to Jama’atul Mujahideen
fundamentalists from the other side of the border. The government in Bangladesh
is in pursuit of them and they find protection here under the ruling party and
its administration. With respect to the incidents at Khagragarh, subsequent to
the investigation carried out by the intelligence agencies, the political
people who sheltered the guilty have not been apprehended; in fact, the
administration has gone into denial mode and has destroyed evidence of the
blast in Khagragarh. No one in the ruling party has been booked. There is a
tacit understanding between the two ruling parties, with the ruling party at
the Centre and the ruling party in the State taking opposite sides, thus
further polarising the two communities. It is one of the greatest dangers of
the present time that, in a State that had not seen political parties taking
the side of this or that community for so long, the left and democratic and
secular forces are attempting to be made irrelevant, and that the people are
being divided along communal lines. Even during the semi-fascist terror of the 1970s
or during the days of the Emergency, this sort of communal tension was never
seen in West Bengal.
MTR: How would you
characterise the differences between the present situation and the semi-fascist
terror in West Bengal in the 1970s?
SKM: There are
many differences between the two periods of political repression. The 1970s
were a different time, the situations at the State, national, and international
levels were different — and history does not repeat itself. The attack then
came at a time when the CPI(M) and associated Left Parties were growing very
fast. In terms of electoral performance, we had 40+ Members of the Legislative
Assembly (MLAs) in 1967, 80+ MLAs in 1969, and 110+ MLAs in 1971. It was a fast
growing force that came under sharp attack during the semifascist terror,
notwithstanding the rigged 1972 elections. After 1972, we boycotted the State
legislature for five years, a period during which we depended solely on extra-
parliamentary activities. We won only 14 seats after that election, down from
around 114; the election of 1972 was an one that made the term “rigging” enter
the political lexicon in a new way. When elections were held in 1977, the Left
Front achieved a majority of almost two-thirds; it had great popular support,
and remained in power for 34 years, its share of the popular vote always
remaing between 40 and 50 per cent. In the 2009 and 2011 elections, we saw a
definite decline in the Left vote-share. The elections of 2009 and 2011 were
not rigged as were the elections of 1972. These two elections gave the popular
mandate to the ruling party; in other words, we were not, in 2009 and 2011, a
growing party as we had been in the 1970s.
MTR: Are there other
differences? What about the number and method of deaths? Are they similar?
SKM: The number
of casualties now is not comparable to the number in those years since the
nature of the attack has changed: more attacks, fewer deaths, more handicapping
injuries than fatalities — a change, therefore, in the tactics of attack. The
attack is also much more extensive or widespread than in the 1970s. The
semifascist terror was concentrated in urban areas in a few districts and in
certain select rural areas. The current political repression is mostly in rural
areas and covers all districts barring one or two, more repression though in a
different form.
The international contexts are also
different. The Vietnam war ultimately succeeded, all of South Vietnam and
Saigon were taken over by the National Liberation Front, and the socialist camp
and the international community had not been overwhelmed by imperialism as they
have been now. That was the time of the Bangladesh liberation movement, and the
Indo-Soviet Treaty signed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi brought a certain
unity to the fight in Bangladesh.
MTR: And you mentioned the
issue of the State’s secular fabric.
SKM: Yes, in
spite of the attacks of the democracy, communal forces did not gain ground. In
Bengal, the entire people were united behind the liberation forces in
Bangladesh, irrespective of which side of the border they were on. Whether a
person was Hindu or Muslim, the shared the opinion that the Razakars were the
enemies of the people. The situation has changed. The erstwhile Razakars, now
part of the fundamentalist forces, are crossing over and being provided shelter
on this side of the border.
MTR: What are the tasks –
the battles — that confront a new political generation today?
SKM: It is a
new experience that the present generation is going through, and an important
one. Our generation had the experience of fighting semi-fascist terror and
working during the Emergency. The young today must gain experience in fighting
in the new global situation and the new correlation of world forces in favour
of imperialism, of confronting globalisation and neoliberalism and their impact
on national policies, identity politics, and reactionary post-modernist
philosophies that are being propagated on a global scale. There is thus a great
change in the situation — our generation did not have the experience of
confronting these challenges simultaneously. The younger generation faces a
multi-pronged challenge, difficult and complicated at every level, globally,
nationally and in individual States. I believe they will gain more experience
than we did during our lifetimes.
MTR: And what, in that
context, are the prospects for a resurgence of the Left?
SKM: I shall not
go into the global dimensions of this question, although the fundamental
objective of establishing a socialist and democratic order in the country is
associated with the international situation and what other countries are going
through — and there is much need to learn from each other’s experiences. I
believe that there are objective conditions for a successful resurgence of the
Left, whether globally or in the State of West Bengal.
MTR: What would you say
about West Bengal in particular?
SKM: We first
noticed the erosion in our support base after the panchayat elections of 2008
(that is, even before the Lok Sabha elections of 2009). In spite of the changes
that have taken place in elections thereafter, we believe that there has been
no fundamental change in the correlation of the forces in the State since then.
Notwithstanding some erosion, the ruling party continues to have majority support
in terms of its popular base. Now they have taken to force, and are rigging the
elections to distort the actual correlation of votes in the State out of the
fear that if there is a free and fair election, their vote share will decline
substantially and the Left Front’s share will increase, and although they would
probably not lose the majority of votes, their margin of victory would
decrease. They are apprehensive particularly in the areas where the Left are
strong and able to offer some resistance.
MTR: What are the positive
developments in this regard?
SKM: The phrase
that the bourgeois press loves to repeat — “The Left continues to bleed” – can
no longer be made to appear self-evident, because, going by the municipal
election results, in terms of popular support, the Left have been able to stop
the erosion. Siliguri, but not Siliguri alone, has shown that it is possible to
counter the terror and beat the TMC. That is the positive development, and has
happened for the first time after four years.
MTR: What about the threat
of the BJP’s rise in Bengal?
SKM: That is
the other important development, and manifested in the municipal election
results. about a year back, there was a campaign that the BJP was emerging as
the real alternative to the TMC in the State. We said firmly at the time that
there is no alternative to the Left, and that statement has been vindicated by
the municipal election results. The threat of the BJP emerging as the
alternative to the TMC has been proved beyond doubt to not be the case, as the
BJP has suffered a considerable erosion in support. Be it Congress or BJP, the
other parties remain behind the Left in terms of vote share — that is the other
important fact to have been established.
But when all said and done, the
situation is so complicated and difficult that one should not become complacent
as a result of the reduction in the BJP’s vote share. One must perceive that
communal forces continue to pose a great threat to the unity of people and to
secularism, and that that threat should never be underestimated, for
communalism cannot be gauged just by vote shares; it has the potential to do
severe damage to the state’s secular fabric.
MTR: What do you conclude
from these recent developments?
SKM: Our
conclusion is that, in spite of its complications, the present situation is one
in which there is potential for the Left to forge ahead and grow further. This
is evident from the mood of the people, and the successful resistance to attack
in the last municipal elections, the attack itself having been launched by the
ruling party in connivance with the local administration (with the State
Election Commission pleading its helplessness). It is also evident from the
fact that resistance is something that has developed almost spontaneously, with
women at the forefront of the struggle.
So objective conditions that have
developed that are favourable for the Left to project itself as the real
alternative in the battle for democracy and for secularism and against the
increasing attack on people’s livelihoods. What we consider our most important
task is to see that the subjective conditions are focused on organising local
and broad-based struggle, uniting the Left and the people, and people and
parties associated with the secular and democratic struggle, to build up
organisation and not to depend solely on spontaneity. The objective situation
occurs independently of individual human will; at the same time, the subjective
can be used to take advantage of the situation and overcome the complexities of
the objective situation — and that depends on our effort and our will. It is
the Left and only the Left only that can provide the alternative in this battle
for democracy.
