Dial 'M' for Murder

Sat, 2010-12-18 11:55 — subhanil

Swapan Koley used to get up at 4am in the morning to collect his share of newspapers which he distributed to various households. This was his source of earning to continue his studies in the college. He also had a dream. A dream of changing the world where all students like him will be guaranteed the benefit of education, where man will not oppress man for higher and higher profits. It is this dream that the murderers of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) wanted to destroy when they brutally killed Swapan Koley on 16th December.

He was beaten with rods and swords in his college. When he took shelter on the roof of a house near his college, he was thrown down from this roof. When he was trying to reach hospital on a rickshaw with the help of his friends, he was attacked again by the TMCP goons. Swapan Koley could not take it any more and died. His only crime was that he was an activist of SFI.

Shouvik Hazra is a bright student of English Honours at Asutosh College, Kolkata. Like any other day he went to college on 16th December. On that day, the SFI along with the non-teaching and teaching staff of the college were participating in a procession protesting against the violence unleashed by TMCP. The procession was attacked by the TMCP goons and Shouvik Hazra lost his left eye when a stone hit his eye.

This scale of violence unleashed in educational institutions is being orchestrated by the TMCP under the direct instigation of Ms. Mamata Banerjee and her cohorts to terrorize the youth and students who fight for a left cause and dream about making a better society. This is however not something very surprising. Ultimately the modus operandi of the Trinamool since its inception has been a politics of provocation and violence with which they have mobilized a large section of the anti-socials under their banner. It is this politics that has killed Swapan Koley and has blinded Shouvik Hazra.

Skirmishes and stray incidents of violence has been a part of student politics all over India. It is also a common sight that the students who were fighting yesterday joke about the incident the next day over a cup of tea or coffee. What Mamata Banerjee has done through her brand of politics is to shred away the romanticism of student politics, the passionate appeal for one's ideology and politics, the liberal space of debates and discussions in college campuses. Instead with her brand of politics student politics has been hijacked by local goons and thugs, campuses are being turned into graveyards of students, politics is being turned into an arena where students will not dare to tread. In other words, Ms. Banerjee and her goons want to destroy the culture of politics within students. This is not mere speculation. The President of TMCP said that they believe that there should be no politics in campuses, in a program in the Bengali News Channel Star Ananda. This is the real agenda of the violent attacks on the student community in West Bengal. It is the compulsion of Ms Banerjee to pursue this agenda since devoid of any constructive politics she is the first person to know that thinking students can never be part of the TMCP. This agenda is being driven with full speed keeping in mind the forthcoming Assembly Elections in West Bengal.

The criminal activities of the TMCP in the college campuses is nothing but an echo of the larger murderous game plan of the Trinamool. Their leaders openly proclaim that if they win the Assembly Elections in West Bengal, they will drive out all the left supporters and will uproot the children of Lenin! It is their vision that in West Bengal they will not allow the red flag to fly with brute force. In their pronouncements we are clearly hearing the footsteps of fascistic politics.

What she and her followers have forgotten is a simple truth that dreams cannot be murdered, ideas cannot be suppressed and the left ideology cannot be physically exterminated. Swapan Koley's cold blooded murder is an assault on the idea of free speech, of the right to dream and think differently. With his murder however many more Swapan Koley will be born ready to carry forward the red flag and the ideology of Independence, Democracy and Socialism.

While the people of West Bengal were trying to grapple with the death of a student, news came from Purulia that 7 Forward Bloc workers have been brutally murdered by the Maoists. This is the first time that such a big number of killings of political activists has taken place in West Bengal. Moreover, most of the activists were tribals, whom the Maoists claim to fight for. Gopeshwar Mahato, aged 70 was not spared by the Maoists. The Maoists also did not spare Ms. Chopola Gorait, a wife of a rickshaw puller and head of a panchayat. All these people were poor and supported the Left Front in West Bengal because of which they were brutally killed by the Maoists. The so-called revolution that the Maoists want to bring in India is basically a charade. What they are doing in West Bengal today is acting as mercenaries of the Trinamool. That is why Ms. Banerjee till date has not condemned any murder that the Maoists have committed in West Bengal.

The current situation prevalent in West Bengal is one of intense attack against the CPI(M) and the Left Front, which is reminiscent of the semi-fascist terror of the 1970s. In this situation the party must ensure that all sections of the population are mobilized against the fascistic tactics of the Trinamool-Maoist combine. Already in the jungle-mahal area we have witnessed how thousands of people mobilized themselves and ensured that Maoists are sent on the back-foot. The heroic struggle of the people of jungle-mahal should inspire people across West Bengal to rise up in unison against the violence unleashed by the goons of Ms. Banerjee.

www.pragoti.org

‘Bengal a lucrative investment destination’

Express News Service Posted online: Wed Dec 15 2010, 04:52 hrs

Kolkata: Assocham survey points to problem in land acquisition but says growth encouraging.

Many business and industrial projects may have hit roadblocks in Bengal but it seems that the chambers of industry have not lost confidence in the state. A survey conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has concluded that the Left Front-ruled state is the most lucrative destination for investments in the country.

West Bengal, the study stated, attracted a total investment proposal of Rs 5,77,904 crore till September, 2010. In the same period the country received investment proposals of Rs 1,04,93,601 crore.

Of the total investment proposals, 73 per cent has come from private sector and the remaining 27 per cent from government.

The state’s share of total investment undertaken by different governments in the country is 3.7 per cent and in terms of investments by the private sector, Bengal’s share is 6.7 per cent.

“West Bengal is a well established, matured economy. The trade off between equity and efficiency issues has affected growth of economy in the past. However, the state has the potential to achieve double digit growth rate by exploiting complementarities between its social and economic strengths,” said the new ASSOCHAM president, Dilip Modi.

The study also pointed out the problems of land acquisition that has hit many projects. It, however, added that despite such hurdles, Bengal’s position of being the sought after investment destination is an encouraging trend.

The survey stated that nearly 50 per cent of the investment proposals are in different stages of implementation and 48.3 percent of investments are in the announcement stage. Implementation of projects involving 1.5 per cent of total investment is stalled due to various reasons, the survey said. “It may be noted that owing to the prevalence of global recessionary trends and slow down of the Indian economy investments across states have been kept on hold. This explains that a major portion of the projects have not moved beyond the announcement stage,” the survey stated.

The survey also stated that there has been a balanced development of all the sectors of the economy.

This strategy is expected to help the state reduce dependency on agriculture, add value to primary sector products and augment sources of revenue for the state, it added.

Basu's demise marked 2010 in West Bengal

December 31, 2010

West Bengal witnessed 2010 the demise of its tallest political figure Jyoti Basu. Basu passed away on January 17 at the age of 96 in a huge loss for his party, CPI(M), but also the people of Bengal.

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Rahul does not know Marxism: Karat

Agencies

Posted online: Fri Sep 17 2010, 15:25 hrs

Patna : CPI(M) today hit back at Rahul Gandhi for dubbing Marxism a 'dead ideology', saying the Congress general secretary does not know history.

"Rahul does not know the history of Marxism. He should know that Karl Marx, the main protagonist of the Communist movement, was born in the 19th century and not the 20th century," Karat said at a public meeting here.

"In any case, Gandhi does not have the political understanding that the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi had," he said.

Attacking the Left Front government in West Bengal, Rahul had yesterday said it was "blinded by a dead ideology, which has failed worldwide, including in Cuba".

Karat also said the Left movement was there to stay till the issues of peasants, workers and class struggle existed.

Prakash Karat accuses UPA govt of patronising Mamata Banerjee and Maoists

PTI / Friday, September 17, 2010 18:46 IST

PATNA: The CPI(M) today accused the UPA government of patronising Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and the Maoists to oust the Left Front government from power in the 2011 West Bengal assembly elections in the state.

"The Centre is patronising the TC supremo and the Maoists to oust the over three decade old Left Front government from power in next year's assembly elections," CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told a public meeting in Patna.

He alleged that the UPA government was abetting Banerjee 'using Maoists' to kill 170 CPI(M) workers in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia in the state.

Thousands of CPI(M) workers had also been forced to leave home by armed Maoists apparently to ensure that the Trinamool Congress-led alliance won the assembly elections, the CPI(M) leader claimed.

He questioned the Centre's handling of the Maoist problem while drawing attention to the Lalgarh rally by the Trinamool Congress chief where a number of central ministers were also present.

Claiming that the killing of grassroot CPI(M) workers had increased in the state since 2008, he alleged that the Centre was a mute spectator to it.

He alleged that even secessionist forces like the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and Kamatapuris were allowed to be roped in by Banerjee in her bid for power.

Karat, however, said Left workers had launched action to retrieve lost ground in three naxal-infested districts bordering Jharkhand.

Warning the Maoists, he said they would soon be driven out from Lalgarh by his workers and not because central forces were deployed there. "Lalgarh me Maobadi nahin rah payenge."

He defended the Left front government and cited the implementation of land reforms, panchayati raj, scientific education in madarsas, prevalence of communal amity as its landmark achievements.

No riots took place in West Bengal during the anti-Sikh riots in late 1984 and post-Babri mosque demolition in Ayodhya in 1992, Karat said. The CPI(M) leader said the fight against reactionary and communal forces would suffer a blow if the Left forces were to be weakened in the country.

Pradesh Congress meet turns stormy over faux pas

06:09 PM,Sep 17,2010

Kolkata, Sep 17 (PTI): A West Bengal Pradesh Congress meeting to empower party president Sonia Gandhi to appoint WBPCC functionaries turned stormy today following a faux pas by senior party leader Virendra Katariya that former PCC chief Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi was "not in our midst". Katariya, who is PRO for the PCC elections, was giving a summing-up speech at the meeting when he made a reference to Dasmunshi and said, "woh hamarey darmiyan nahi hai (he is not in our midst)."

The remark drew immediate protest from Dasmunshi's wife Deepa, an MP from Raiganj, who said such a comment was insensitive towards a senior leader like her husband. Some senior state Congress leaders in the audience, also stood up in protest and demanded that Katariya withdraw his comment. A visibly-embarrassed Katariya quickly apologised. With a section of Congressmen continuing the protest, WBPCC chief Manas Bhuina ended the meeting abruptly by singing the national anthem. Dasmunshi was Information and Broadcasting Minister when he suffered a stroke on October 13, 2008 and has remained bedridden since.

He should read Nehru's writings: Md. Salim

TNN, Sep 17, 2010, 12.51am IST

KOLKATA: CPI(M) is not reading too much into Rahul Gandhi's denial of Trinamool's links with Maoists. CPI(M) central committee member Mohammad Salim said that links between Maoists and Trinamool have been exposed time and again.

"He hasn't said that there is no link between Maoists and Trinamool. He has only denied any direct link between the two. But the Jnaneswari Express carnage and Umakanta Mahato have proved the links," Salim said.

During his three-day trip to Bengal, Rahul Gandhi had commented that Marxism was a "dead" ideology.

"His father had said Kolkata was a dying city. Now, he is talking about dead ideology. He should remember that there is a difference between the situation in China, Cuba and West Bengal. We are running a state government here in a federal structure, while those two are sovereign countries. Here he can go and have dinner at a public place. In Kashmir, the government is run by their ally. Can he go around Dal Lake?" Salim said.

Salim said that Rahul should read his great-grandfather's writings. "He is from the Nehru family. He should read what Nehru's views on socialism were. We are happy that he has talked about Subhas Chandra Bose. Congress didn't allow him to work despite being elected president. They don't even mention him. But, if he has to talk about Subhas Chandra Bose, then his socialism, five-year plans also have to be spoken about. Rahul should decide whether he is a Nehruvian, Gandhian or a Manmohanic," Salim said.

Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal promotes eco-tourism

Sukna (West Bengal), Sep. 17: The officials of the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary in Sukna near West Bengal’s Siliguri District have involved the local villagers in protecting the wildlife and the bio-diversity of the sanctuary.

Divisional Forest Officer of the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary Tapas Das said that eco- tourism would enable the villagers to make themselves economically stable.

“See what we are doing here is we are trying to conserve the bio-diversity and protect the wildlife by way of this kind of eco-tourism. We are trying to make the villagers economically sustainable,” said Das.

“They can earn something from this, and as a result what happens they get interested and they protect the wildlife as far as the bio-diversity of the national park and the sanctuaries,” he added.

Villagers have been enrolled to participate in the project as guides and local girls will display their talent by presenting dance and vocal music for tourists.

The area is replete with wild life such as spotted deer; elephants, bisons, birds and butterflies which could be a great tourist attraction.

Villagers say they are happy with the initiative of including them in uplifting their economic status as well as promoting their culture and tradition.

“All the tourists who will visit, we will be able to interact with them and have a direct interaction with them. They will understand our culture and tradition. We want to promote our culture and tradition through this. And with the eco-tourism our culture and tradition will be able to move forward,” said Karan Thapa, a forest villager.

Some other exotic animals seen in the sanctuary are Royal Bengal Tiger, Himalayan black bear, rare mountain goat (Serow), porcupines and snakes. by Tarak Sarkar(ANI)

Leftist peasants forums meet Buddhadeb on drought issue

09:09 PM, Sep 15, 2010

 

Kolkata, Sep 15 (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was today urged to approach the Centre to declare the 11-drought affected districts as a 'national disaster'."A six-point charter of demands have been placed before the CM in the interest of farmers in 11 affected districts in the state," president of CPI(M) peasants' forum Pashimbanga Pradeshik Krishaksabha Madan Ghosh said.

The chief minister was also urged to waive crop loans for the khariff season, besides extending loans to farmers for the next crop at 4 per cent interest.Regretting that the state government had received only Rs 170 crore against an allocation of Rs 1400 crore from the Centre under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the forum demanded that the Centre release the remainder immediately.It also urged the state government to create more water bodies through panchayat departments in the affected districts, besides supplying the farmers with better quality seeds.The chief minister also elaborated on steps taken by the state government to overcome the drought situation, Ghosh said.

WBIDC to hand over land to ITC for production base

2010-09-14

The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) would hand over 18 acres later this month to the cigarettes-to-hotel conglomerate ITC to set up an integrated food factory in the state.

'We will hand over 18 acres to ITC on September 25. The cost of land per acre was in tune of Rs.20 lakh,' Subrata Gupta, managing director, WBIDC, told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Ficci.

During the annual general meeting of ITC in July, chairman Y.C. Deveshwar told reporters that the company had not been able to get land to set up production base (factory) in the state for long.

The land is at Panchla village in Howrah on National Highway 6, 35 km from Kolkata. The unit is planned to manufacture snacks like Bingo.

'Maoist'-TMC Goons Kill Five More CPI(M) Supporters

From Special Correspondent (INN)

West Medinipur, September 13, 2010: The ruthless 'Maoist'-Trinamul killers have struck yet again in West Medinipur district killing five poor agricultural labourers belonging to dalit Dome community in the early hours of today. Around 30 of these barbarians crossed over from the jungles bordering Orissa state into Nichu Patina village in Nayagram block in Jhargram sub-division of the district and brutally killed four brothers in one family and another person at around 2 a.m. These killings occurred in the midst of growing people's resistance in the district against 'Maoist' depredations that has resulted in many villages being liberated from the clutches of these goons during the past few weeks. The killings also mark the beginning of the two-day bandh call given by these killers against so-called terror of the CPI(M) from today.

The crime of Amrit Agwan (46 yrs), or the four brothers Rahim Agwan (43), Samaresh Agwan (38), Sapan Agwan (35), and Prasanta Agwan (27), all poor dalit agricultural labourers, to invite such brutal end has been the fact that they are supporters and workers of the CPI(M). The killers knocked down the doors of the victims homes and barged inside. Even as the terrified women folk and children, among whom included the 83 year old mother of the four brothers, watched in horror, the killers chopped off the limbs of the brothers. They then cold-bloodedly shot the four with 9 mm pistols from close range resulting in instantaneous deaths. The 84 year old mother was also injured while trying to protect her sons. The murder of Amrit Agwan was also equally brutal. The five dead bodies were taken by the police to the Jhargram divisional hospital where post-mortem was conducted. The bodies have been kept there at the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, people in the adjoining villages of Patina, took out processions condemning these killings. Hundreds of people in Tukuria and Sikarpur villages marched giving slogans against 'Maoist-TMC' barbarism. Six of these villagers returning from the processions to their homes were waylaid by Trinamool goons and beaten up resulting in injuries.

It is clear that the cowardly goons of this anarchic combine are letting loose their terror on the most downtrodden sections of people in newer areas in the fond hope of weakening the CPI(M). These ignorant beasts do not seem to be learning from the drubbing they have received from these sections in the so-called liberated areas, which they had to abandon. The patience of the common people in these areas as far as tolerating the mindless violence is concerned, is indeed running thin. And, many more would willingly take the place of these martyrs and carry on the struggle for peace.

Mamata using Maoists for party benefit: Karat

Express news service

Posted online: Sun Sep 12 2010, 03:34 hrs

Chandigarh : CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday accused Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee of using the Maoists for her party's benefit prior to the West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled for next year. He said that the Maoist violence in Bengal was targeted at CPM workers and more than 270 of them have been killed.

Addressing a press conference, Karat said that keeping in view the increasing violence by the Maoists, the central government had sent paramilitary forces to the affected areas, but Banerjee demanded that the joint operations be stopped. Instead she held a rally in Lalgarh with the Maoists last month.

"How can the Prime Minister tolerate such a thing? The Centre should specify what is the government's policy on the issue. Our people are campaigning against the Maoists. From tomorrow, we are starting a programme wherein leaders of our party would be going to different parts of the country to inform people about the situation in Bengal," said Karat.

Talking about the court verdict on the Ayodhya title suit to be pronounced later this month by the Allahabad High Court, Karat said that all sections should accept the verdict, whatever it may be. He said that this would be the only solution to the problem.

Karat also touched upon the issue of rotting foodgrain in godowns. "The Supreme Court's direction for distribution of foodgrain free of cost to the people should be complied with. At least in drought-hit areas like Bihar and Orissa, these must be distributed. The judiciary should not encroach on the sphere of the executive. However, in this case the spirit of the judgment should be appreciated. It is an issue pertaining to failure of the Public Distribution System. The families below poverty line should be helped," he said.

Karat demanded withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act from urban areas in Srinagar as well as those areas where the situation was returning to normal. He informed that a delegation of the party met the Prime Minister on this issue. He said that a political solution was required to solve the problems in Srinagar.

Who am I, really?

TNN, Sep 12, 2010, 12.00am IST

Fifteen-year-old Nayana Dasgupta is caught in an identity crisis and can't figure out whether she is a Bengali or Kannadiga!

I am what people call a Probaashee Baangali, or a Bengali settled anywhere away from West Bengal. In such a situation, one has to face many contradictions. On one hand, one has to adapt to the culture of the place you live in and at the same time, retain your ties to West Bengal. To worsen my state (funny I should use that particular word!), I was born in Bangalore and have lived here all my life. So, I have the task of enriching my Bengali culture as well as having to appreciate the culture down South.

So far, I have been able to balance both cultures and I may state without any hesitation that I like, rather love being a Bengali as well as a Bangalorean. But, on the path to maintaining equilibrium, one scale sometimes seems to weigh a little more than the other.

For example, I am very fluent in my mother tongue, Bengali. But I am officially illiterate in that language as I can neither read nor write it. On the other hand, I have learnt Kannada in school for four years (and have done pretty well in my tests!). I can read and write Kannada, thanks to my teacher, but am not as fluent. My friends and I, however, converse in Kannada sometimes and I too contribute generously in these conversations, with a few grammatical errors, of course!

My relatives in Kolkata are not exactly distraught about me not being able to read or write in Bengali, but ask me, "I assume you are learning Bengali as well?", to which I sheepishly smile and my parents say, "She has a lot of studying to do — you know, the pressure!" An enthusiastic uncle also sent me several Bengali textbooks from Kolkata. Slowly, he too realised that it was of no use. No one asks me the question any more.

As a result, I compensate for my incompetence in my mother tongue by learning Rabindra Sangeet with my aunt's 55-year-old harmonium. And to add feathers to my half-Kannadiga status, I can say that I love bisi bele bath more than any 'Baangali' khichudi and I prefer buttermilk over mishti doi.

One of my classmates has lived in several districts of West Bengal and is well-informed about Bengali culture despite being a Kannadiga. One of her favourite series of books is Feluda, whereas I quite enjoy reading Malgudi Days. She likes rice payesh (a well-known Bengali sweet) and I like nothing but sheemayer paayesh. Though my choice sounds more Bengali, her choice is more liked among Bengalis. She too is often surprised as to how my preferences differ from the average Bengali — for an ideal Bengali exists no more. Therefore, we have concluded that I should have been a Kannadiga by birth. I too often consider that this would have been a wiser decision by the Almighty. Things would have been much less complicated.

For example, once, when I had been to Kolkata for a cousin's wedding and was complaining that Bangalore was a much better city to live in, my mother gave me a stern lecture and the finality in her tone made my heart sink. She simply said, "This is your culture and your own state. You just have to accept it." I remember that I just looked up at the high ceiling of the room and inwardly wailed out a cry of frustration. I wondered wildly,

" Who am I? Where am I from?" The question still haunts me.

While I just can't stop liking kosambi, idli, rava idli, dosa, I just can't leave shorshe bata maach or shukto!

However, I have been somewhat able to manage the situation, since Bangalore is now Bengalooru. No finer name could have been given to this city — Bengal - ooru!

And, if none of these tricks work, I'll just say I'm a Bengali and talk in Hindi to strike a balance!

'TMC has rainbow alliance with Maoists':said Biman Basu

India Blooms News Service

Kolkata, (IBNS Sept 11) Trinamool Congress (TMC), the main opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, has a ‘rainbow alliance’ with Maoists since 2007, said Biman Basu, state secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M).

“The TMC, since 2007 in particular, started a nefarious game plan forming a rainbow alliance combining right wing forces with the left sectarian so-called ‘Maoists’ to beat back CPI (M) and the Left as well as the Left Front government. These ugly forces concentrated their attacks in the democratic rights of the people and democracy to create anarchy, lawlessness, and terror-stricken situation,” Bose said here.

“TMC the main opposition in the Bengal Assembly have started a nefarious game plan attacking democratic initiatives of the CPI (M) and the Left front parties. Since the Lok Sabha elections, these anti-democratic forces killed 279 CPI (M) and Left leader and workers. These martyrs are mostly poor agricultural workers, daily wage earners, and many of them are from the tribal community,” he said.

Alleging that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s TMC has the patronage of the corporate media barons, Bose said the party is continuing its ugly campaign based on ‘sheer lies’ and ‘slander’ in the state as well as in the rest of the country.

“Serious violent activities are perpetrated by the right reactionaries and ‘left’ sectarian so-called ‘Maoists,’ along with TMC in different parts of Bengal. In certain areas, these undemocratic activities are unleashed by the Indian national Congress (INC). Now it seems that the TMC and the INC want to move jointly together,” Bose said.

Saying the Left Front government of West Bengal stands for democracy & development, Bose stated ‘democratic’ people of Bengal, under the leadership of the CPI (M) and the Left Front, are continuing a serious campaign-movement against the anti-democratic violent activities of TMC and CPI (Maoist) joint forces, and Congress.

“With the assistance of UPA-2 government, TMC as a part of the central government, takes the advantage of all anti-democratic forces and continues their slanderous campaign against the achievements of the Bengal Left Front government.”

“Since the people of Bengal are fighting against the exploitative system, campaigning against the treaties with the US, which may jeopardise the sovereignty of India, and fighting for the workers’-peasants’ interests and for the interest of the democratic people, the reactionary forces of all hues are bent upon attacking the Communists and Left forces for their own class interests,” Bose added.

Eid celebrated in West Bengal

2010-09-11 18:40:00

West Bengal joined the rest of India in celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr with prayers and exchange of greetings Saturday.

The biggest Eid congregation was held on the sprawling Red Road in central Kolkata, where over 42,000 devotees took part in prayers.

Verses from the Quran were read and explained to the masses before Nakhoda Mosque Imam Fazlur Rahman conducted the prayers.

People greeted and embraced one another, visited relatives and friends on the occasion.

Heavy security arrangements were made across the city and all districts of the state to prevent any breach of peace.

'We have deployed more policemen this year, especially in areas where the major Eid congregations take place like Red Road, Park Circus and Belgachia. A large number of policemen in plainclothes have also been deployed,' said city Police Commissioner Gautam Chakraborty.

Rahul misinformed, says West Bengal Minister

KOLKATA: Reacting to the comments of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on the West Bengal government's ‘utilisation' of funds given by the Centre under the Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes, Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said the Congress leader had been given incorrect information.

 

“Political statements should be countered politically but at an administrative level, I can say that the picture is the opposite of what is being portrayed,” Dr. Dasgupta told journalists.

Pointing out that the State was awaiting the release of Rs. 1,400 crore, which was its due from the Centre on the rural employment guarantee schemes, he said the people were suffering. “It is no case for petty politics.”

“Shortage of funds”

The truth was that the State was facing shortage of funds and some pancahayat bodies and zilla parishads has had to raise loans for Rs. 25 crore just to meet payment obligations to the rural folk, some of whom are in acute distress due to the drought which has hit 11 districts.

In the wake of the drought, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had written a letter on the pending payments to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Following this, Rs. 170 crore was released.

“Irresponsible”

CPIM) Central Committee member Mohd. Salim on Monday dismissed as “irresponsible” AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi's remarks at a rally here about the siphoning off of Central funds, including those for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) in West Bengal. Mr. Gandhi should instead focus on why the parallel scheme guaranteeing employment in urban areas had not been formulated, he said.

Mr. Salim said a complete audit of the funds released under the MNREGS was conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India as well as by third parties such as NGOs.

 

As a parliamentarian and senior leader of the Congress, Mr. Gandhi should have read the CAG reports and consulted the concerned Minister before making “such irresponsible statements,” Mr. Salim said.

“The State government has not been able to implement the scheme because the Centre has not been able to release funds. Finance Minster Pranab Mukherjee himself admitted recently that there had been delays in the allotment of MNREGS funds,” Mr. Salim said.

Mr. Gandhi should instead focus on why there had been no progress in the introduction of a similar scheme guaranteeing employment to the unemployed in urban areas, Mr. Salim said.

Mr. Salim was also critical of Mr. Gandhi's remarks predicting the demise of Communism in the State comparing it to the fall of the Soviet Union.

The rank and file of the Congress was depleting in West Bengal under the influence of the Trinamool Congress. This should be of greater concern to the party, he said.

THE HINDU, Published: September 7, 2010 

YET ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL LEFT-LED STRIKE IN BENGAL

KOLKATA, 7th Sept. (INN): The 24-hour industrial strike that took the shape, character, and more importantly size of a general strike was another successful working people’s action throughout Bengal on 7 September.

VAST AMBIT OF SUCCESS

 

From the tea gardens in north Bengal (for once after a while, the GJM-GNLF call for non-participation in the Left-called strike was ignored courageously by the largest bulk of the chia kaman mazdoor, along the dooars and terai, down the Ganges amongst the bidi mazdoors, right over onto the west to the khadan (mining, chiefly coal) area of the rocky hinterland of the swift-moving Damodar river, across to the east in the heartland of industrial south Bengal crossing Nadia, the two 24 Parganas, and Howrah plus the factory-dotted suburbia of the sprawling Kolkata metropolitan area covering the fast-urbanising eastern by-pass area up to Dumdum airport, up in to the agricultural belt (chiefly sprawling potato patches ranging around the silent sentinels of the air-conditioned, concrete-and-fibre glass-cold storage facilities, onto our beloved forestry area of the red clay earth zone, down again to the dock-and-port area of east Midnapore, there was a hum of activities – of the striking workers taking to the streets, roads, gullies, by-passes, village meadows, alleyways, and the docks, the airports, and the river traffic points of departure and arrival of barges.

Why were the strikes such an enormous success in Bengal, in seriatim, one after the other? Why the success was exclusively achieved whenever the Left had called for such an action, with issues deeply touching the lives and livelihoods of billions of people, especially the poor and the downtrodden? The answer calls for a three-step exercise in thought and action.

LESSONS LEARNT

The lessons that we ourselves learnt especially during a short stint in the 190s, of an intense decade worth of working, time-to-time, in one of the powerful state units of what is surely the most fearlessly militant and popular TU in the country-- the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).

First, the issues concerning the pièce de résistance around which the emergent need for the working class action is to be woven are carefully sifted around and then finally fixed and decided upon by the national leadership of the TU organisations and the powerful ranks of the workers’-employees’ federations.

Once the issues are firmed up, the highly extensive and intensive, that is the beauty of a dialectical approach, as Lenin had shown during the initial, hesitant, yet bloody years of the past century in what was yet then Tsar-ruled, Cheka-terrorised, imperial Russia, campaign work starts. There are smaller rallies, local level approaches to households, and factory level meetings, indoor and outdoor, hundreds of thousands of them in the space-and-time of two-to-three months.

CAMPAIGN WORK

Then follows the campaign work on a larger, macro, if you like, scale with the TUs and left political parties, with the CPI (M) to the fore, organise bigger rallies going up from the district town, district HQs, and finally onto the Shahid Minar maidan or the Indoor Stadium in Kolkata, depending chiefly on the adversity or otherwise of the weather. All throughout these months, the Ganashakti runs a daily column on the need for the general strike to be a success detailing out every possibly response that the people might well like of us in a corporate ambience where any working class action is regarded as an action non grata.

On the day-night in the case of a 24-hour strike, the streets, the bylanes and the gullies, the fields and the mines, the docks and the tea gardens are active with marches, smaller rallies, street-corner, factory gate meetings, and the Red flag is aflutter very visibly across the state. This year, especial attention was given to the month of fasting (ramaz’an) of the minority community-- and the shops-and-establishments of every kind were seen to open and function as normal in the minority populated areas and zones, so that no inconvenience was to be created anywhere for anyone.

A GLORIOUS SUCCESS

 

Thus when the CITU leadership congratulated at the end of the day the people and the toiling masses for making the 7 September strike action a glorious success, they were iterating the deep and wide base that the people have built up over the decades in their hearts-and-minds for the CPI (M) and the CITU as the vanguard weapons of struggle, of campaign, of movements. Expectedly, nothing untoward, nothing unpleasant has occurred as we file this report despite attempts to the contrary. (B. PRASANT)

ANOTHER BORING TALE OF LIES, AND MORE LIES

RAHUL GANDHI COMES A-VISITING

KOLKATA, 6th Sept. (B. Prasant): We ventured out on a hot-and-humid afternoon on 6 September to have a listen to the ‘young’ man from 10 Janpath, whom the Naxalites – we mean one their many splinters and fractions existing within the splinter, the mind boggles- have chosen to describe in this metropolis as the ‘prince-in-waiting,’ we are sorry but we do not see any sarcasm going around here, rather a trembling confession that the left deviationists always scrabble around for and find, in the political debris, for comfort-- and then we found mud being slung at us. There was that in the form of rhetoric from the dais too, and thankfully, we were timing, for exactly 9.5 minutes. The place of occurrence was a sparsely covered patch of the Shahid Minar maidan.

The other, real, rather than rhetorical, parts of mother earth, wet from a recent splash, that came bounding at us, covering the better part of the ancient body corporal, in a thick lay of dark grey, were hurled by irate Congressmen who had earlier been instructed to ‘step up to the dais,’ and the accusing finger guided them to where we the men and women from media sat slightly atremble, tightly packed. Earlier to that, the media have been heard to remark how empty some of the’ frontal’ areas of the meeting ground were – committing thereby a near-fatal mistake in a Congress gathering.

As we were saying, we were constantly reminded by the present Shahid Minar ‘rally,’ of the desolate meeting addressed by the late Rajiv Gandhi at the Park Circus maidan late in the 1980s where, too, policepersons gave a tough fight to the actual audience and participants in terms of sheer numbers. The present ‘rally’ was not expected to be an aberration, and it was not.

What was said in those eager nine minutes-and-a-bit, deserve a semblance at least of a rejoinder. We shall ignore for the present, the ‘young’ person’s call, in an emotion-laden voice, about maintaining the ‘izzat’ of the Bengal Pradesh Congress even while going about a ‘mili-juli’ co-existence with the senior political partner here. We are sure a whoop of derisive laughter arose in the air at the Kalighat residence of the chieftain of the previously mentioned ‘senior partner.’

Then the lies started to pour out. There was a faux pas in the beginning though. It was said that ‘there now exist two forms of India,’ one for the poor the other inhabited by the rich – how true. Let us put in a small if discomforting refrain to that, if we can. For example, we can point to actual figures and say that close to 80% of the population is not able to spend Rs 20 per man-day for the very basic needs of living out even a poverty-ridden life as the super rich luxuriate in the comfort of tax havens within the dictates of the finance department.

The speaker would not bring out the glaring fact about the very parliament he is a member of, where there are 306 crorepatis, and that, of these super-rich, there are 141 Congress MPs. Dare we recall whose names feature on that list and whose do not? In the meanwhile, the tax concessions to the rich amount to Rs five lakh crore per financial year and increasing. The Left demand for Rs 450 crore worth of food subsidies is ignored

The speaker accused the Left Front government for leaving about ‘unutilised’ NREGA funds. Would the ‘young’ Congress leader kindly elaborate why, while even after repeated reminders, the union government is not willing to release Rs 1400 crore scheduled and earmarked for Bengal for that particular employment scheme itself?

There was a saving grace of a kind elsewhere at a ‘closed door’ meeting that the speaker took of the various segments of the Pradesh Congress in their office on the CIT Road, and one which we chose rightly not to attend although all the cameras of all the major TV channels and news crews, print and audio-visual, would troop in, and were covering the gory details ‘live.’

At that meeting, the speaker is supposed to have said-- we don’t give credence to the TV cameras of the corporate media, there could well have been a maligning voice-over or dubbing/remixing, who knows-- that he would like to come to Bengal so many times in the future to unfold, that ‘aap pareshan ho jayengey.’ We would reserve our comments on this especial bit of internal affairs of the Congress, Pradesh and otherwise.(INN)

Maoists open fire at CPI (M) worker

KOLKATA, 5th Sept., 2010: Even as Maoists shot at another person, who is  a worker of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), near Lalgarh in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district, Manoj Mahato, the secretary of the Maoist-backed Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee was remanded to 14 days in judicial custody on Sunday.

“Bidyut Pandey was shot at by a group of four persons, suspected to be Maoists, near his home at his village, Bhairabkundu, near Lalgarh,” Superintendent of Police Manoj Verma told media.

Manoj Mahato was produced in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, which remanded him to judicial custody.

There were reports that Bidyut Pandey was a relative of Anuj Pandey, a local leader of the CPI (M). Only late last week did Anuj Pandey lead a rally of party supporters and workers returning to their homes which they had left under the Maoist onslaught.

Mahanayak Uttam Kumar museum, gallery in Tollygunge

TNN, Sep 4, 2010, 01.05am IST

KOLKATA: More than 50% of his celluloid films are lost forever, but it is only now 30 years after his death that the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has decided to set up an archive on Uttam Kumar. There are also plans to set up a permanent gallery on the matinee idol.

On Thursday, minister of state for information and cultural affairs Soumendranath Bera, said that a decision has been taken to set up an exclusive vault to archive films, photographs and writings on Uttam Kumar at the Chalachchitra Shatabarshiki Bhawan in Tollygunge.

According to Partha Raha, curator of the Bhawan, still photographs on the matinee idol have been procured since 1948, many posters of his films as well as a number of booklets containing articles on Uttam Kumar and his films have also been collected. These have discussions, reviews and analyses of his films.

"At the moment, we have procured 13 celluloid prints of Uttam Kumar's films. In addition, we also have two films from the Satyajit Ray archive Nayak and Chiriakhana in which Uttam Kumar played the lead role," Raha said.

One of the four vaults at Chalachitra Shatabarshiki Bhawan, dedicated to Uttam Kumar, is also being named after the actor.

There are also plans to create a permanent photo gallery on the actor at the Bhawan. "This should be ready by December," Raha said. According to the minister, film scholars keen on research on Uttam Kumar will also benefit hugely from this archiving being taken up by the government.

According to film scholar Sanjay Mukhopadhyay, most of Uttam Kumar's celluloid prints are either damaged beyond repair or completely lost. "A proper film archive means a celluloid archive, and the technical expertise required for restoration of damaged celluloid prints is hardly available in our country. It remains to be seen how the state government goes about preparing the archive," Mukhopadhyay said.