People vow to create their Alternative at Delhi - A tidal Red wave at Brigade...!

        
                 People, in unending protest lines, in lakhs, came in from all over the state; women, the elderly, children, youth, students, teachers, intellectuals, farmers & workers. The spirit was revolutionary, the ambient sound, mythical. A roar a minute, from every common man, registering his protest against the misrule of the 30 month Trinamool government! The thunder of the collective roar would have surely reached the CM’s ears when CPI (M) General Secretary, Prakash Karat said that the only alternative for a people’s government at the center was the Left led coalition. The collective roar seemed to better itself when former Chief Minister & CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya thundered that while Mamata Banerjee is able to avoid answering to the Bengal Assembly, she will have to answer to the people.

                 The entire Left Front with its state & national leaders were in full attendance on the stage & speaker after speaker was greeted with thunderous applause from the assembled multitude. The martyrs were remembered, saluted! The galaxy of speakers were led by Prakash Karat, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Biman Bose, Surjyakanta Mishra of the CPI (M), Ashok Ghosh & Hafiz Alam Sairani of the Forward Bloc, Kshiti Goswami of the RSP, Manjukumar Majumdar of the CPI, Ratan Mazumdar of DSP, Janmejaya Ojha of the SP, Mihir Bain of the RCPI, Pratim Chatterjee of the MFB, Umesh Choudhury of BBC, Shivnath Sinha of the Workers party, Samar Bardhan of the Bolshevik party. Every speaker castigated the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool government for its attack on democracy, its encouragement of unprecedented atrocities on women, its inaction on the growing inflation & the growing totalitarian nature of its government.  Forward Bloc & RSP leadership flays both their errant MLAs & the conduct of the Trinamool party in the unprecedented horse trading in the just concluded Rajya Sabha polls.

                Left Front Chairman & CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, Biman Bose reminded the audience of the promises made by the TMC before the 2009 LS polls & 2011 Assembly polls. The promises of employment, industry, schemes for farmers, universities, even airports across the state, et al remained empty. He reminded the audience that while her promise before the polls was to do away with contractual employment, she had only created a handful of contractual jobs which pay less than the minimum wage. All that the CM was interested in was hosting ‘festivals’ at the cost of keeping crores of stomachs hungry. The government & the ruling party were encouraging the growth of anarchy & divisive forces. It was trying to break the unity of the poor & toiling masses, every dissenting voice muffled. He urged the people of Bengal to recognise the true face of this ‘dishonest’ political force, which has taken 145 lives of left workers & leaders so far. She had allowed her ‘naughty’ boys to attack women with gay abandon, with the most heinous cases of rape & murder becoming common place. It was a shame for all Bengalis that the most modern, cultured & safe society of Bengal leads the country today, in atrocities against women.

               Prakash Karat termed the rally a historic one, both in terms of sheer numbers & for overcoming the Trinamool terror. He blasted the UPA-2 government which came to power in 2009 with Mamata Banerjee’s help as one which has only multiplied the woes of the common man; rampaging inflation, growing unemployment, massive corruption. The BJP, which was trying to position itself as an alternative, had the same economic policies. Modi’s Gujarat model, he said, is but a euphemism for large scale ‘loot’ by big corporations, Indian & MNC. He stands for ensuring supernormal profits for these companies & will complete the full measure of neo-liberal economic policy. That apart, Karat reminded the people of BJP’s divisive agenda & Modi’s role in the 2002 genocide. The party is therefore working towards creating a non-Cong & non-BJP alternative that will govern the country on an ‘alternative policy’ trajectory. He informed the people of Bengal of the initiative taken by the CPI (M) & the left parties to bring together all secular & democratic parties to fight the scourge of communalism; a 14 party convention was successfully held in Delhi. He announced that all parties will meet soon & announce the ‘Third Alternative’ before the Lok Sabha elections.

              The Leader of the Opposition & CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, Surjyakanta Mishra electrified the audience with his appeal to the CM to use her ‘eyes & ears’ to listen to the protests of the people of Bengal. He castigated her for the complete lack of democracy in her party, her voice being the only one, as was evident in the TMC rally on the 30^th of Dec. As he delivered the Charge sheet, one after the other, the massive crowd roared its approval. He dubbed the government, 1) Totalitarian, 2) Anti-people, 3) Anti-development & 4) Corrupt. He exposed the massive growth of per capita debt of Bengal after this party came to power. 55,000 crs had been added in just 30 months, more than 1/4^th of the total debt the state had after almost 60 yrs of rule since independence. Bengal had gone from being the 13^th in per capita debt to being the no.1 in the country. He charged that the CM had bankrupted the state by her ad hoc expenses, most of it in festivals across the state, throughout the year. The new administrative calendar was more of a festival itinerary, having planned 60 in the coming year, one a week. He thundered that the people will no longer allow her to loot the votes like she had done during the Panchayat & Municipal polls, they will fight back. Mishra ended his speech with a reference to a legendary piece of dialogue from Satyajit Ray’s iconic ‘Hirak Rajar Deshe’. Replacing the Raja with a ‘Rani’, he asked the people to do what the revolutionary school teacher had asked the people fighting the evil tyrant, ‘Dori dhore maaro taan, Raja hobe khaan khaan’, i.e., ‘ Give the rope a strong tug, the King will bite the dust’!

                            Former CM & CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, ended the meeting with a brief detailing of the policy alternative; industry & jobs, arresting the fuel price hike & inflation, Land to the rural poor, no selling of banks, insurance companies or natural resources. Every policy commitment was seconded by the people by a thundering roar. When he thanked the audience & the people of Bengal for ensuring a record turnout, the applause lasted minutes. He said that the Mamata government was insulting the youth of the state, not only increasing unemployment by closing down industry, but being dishonest in advertising creation of new jobs, a trickle actually; like the contractual policemen, which paid less than minimum wage or exhorting them to work for fraudulent companies such as Sharada, etc.  He accused her of playing with the lives of the Bengali people. He said all work, be it industry or agricultural had come to a standstill. He termed the government as shameless; to be wasting people’s money for promoting her own face in government sponsored advertisements at an unprecedented scale, every possible media vehicle, every day. He blasted the CM again for having a tacit understanding with the communal BJP & exposed Modi’s governance claims. He reminded the people that Gujarat, unlike Bengal had no Land Reforms, no people’s representation at the grass-roots. It was backward in both primary & secondary education. He said that the people of Bengal know that it will repent the ‘Two Laddoos of Modi-Mamata coalition’ that BJP PM hopeful offered, i.e. ‘Modi at the Center & Mamata at the state. The people of Bengal, he said , knew that the left front stood for all round development of the working masses & will vote for a non-Cong, Non-BJP ‘Third Alternative’ at the center.

             Earlier, in the day, one saw scores of people march towards the Brigade grounds from all corners of the city. A common slogan was that the ‘Mamata Government was no longer required in the state’. Echoing the sentiment, Biman Bose ended his speech urging the people of Bengal to turn out a win for the Left Front in each of the 42 seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections. That would be a record. But then, this political season has been one of breaking records, the turnout at this Brigade Rally of the Left Front surpassing all previous benchmarks & expectations!

                  As Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said, ‘the voices of the toiling masses of Bengal cannot be stopped; the Red Flag can never be forced to surrender’!

Students pledge fight against Fascism, for democracy...!

           The atmosphere at Nazrul Mancha was revolutionary! Young students in thousands, belonging to SFI, AISF, AISB, PSU filled the air with the promise of a new dawn, when exploitation shall be no more, no one in position to snuff out young lives fighting for the democratic rights for all. They reaffirmed their promise of ‘Freedom, Democracy, Socialism’. The soft but grim voices of students reminded the world of the Marxist promise of a better world, their Red Salutes, their slogans, an ode to the immortality of Sudipta would ring in the ears of the thousands, for years to come, assembled to pay homage to the martyrdom of young Sudipta Gupta on the 2^nd of April, by a brutal police of a fascist government.

            History was invoked, Neruda, Spartacus, Ulysses, Comrade KV Sudesh, who was butchered, cut into 21 pieces by the bourgeoisie government of Kerala, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Sunil, et al, giving voice to man’s eternal rebellion against injustice; a symphony of young, trembling voices taking individual anger & rebellion to its crescendo, ’Revolution’.  Auteurs Mrinal Sen & Tarun Mazumdar registered their anger in their blunt expression of solidarity to their cause.

          Speaker after speaker, from all the four left student organisations railed against the insensitivity of the Mamata government, decried its attempt at denying the students their political rights, enshrined in India’s constitution. They took an oath of continuing the fight that Sudipta gave his life for. Ritabrata, National Secretary, SFI was solemn throughout his speech but comprehensively denounced the politics of the campaign against politics. He reminded everybody that modern politics has been born out of the modern desire of people to fight for their rights. The royalty or feudal lords did not need ‘Politics’, it is the exploited multitude who need to fight for their rights. The current government’s action in stopping student union elections is a fundamental step against democracy. When its spokesmen & patronised intellectuals build a case against party politics, it is primarily conspiring to weaken the people’s fight, as the target is always the left. In the absence of the left, the default correlation of political forces swings in favour of the ruling class & specifically, ‘Capital’.

           Today’s memorial service will remain a milestone in the Bengal’s people’s fight for democracy & justice. It will prove to be a turning point in the imminent fight against the Mamata government which is fast shedding its fig leaf of being democratic & exposing its fascist underpinnings. This government, apart from encouraging the lumpen in Bengali society has taken concrete steps to destroy the democratic structures built over the last 34 yearsof left rule. College & University management bodies, which were represented by all its stakeholders, students, employees, professors, etc were replaced by handpicked individuals. Elections to co-operative societies were stopped. Associations of the policemen were banned only to be replaced by her minions. Student union elections were stopped, using the incident of a policeman’s death during a college election process, by her own leaders. It was against this that the SFI staged a civil disobedience movement & Sudipta was killed in police custody. This was when she crossed the Rubicon of Fascism, with her police taking over the role played so far by her ‘Brownshirts’. Undeterred, she has gone on to inciting her partymen to destroy thousands of party offices of the left & the murder of over 90 of left workers & leaders. Her government has also actively derailed the 3-tier Panchayat elections which have taken place like clock work since it was first instituted by the first Left Front government in 1978. In a bid to reverse the gains of the land distribution done by the left, it has led a hundred farmers to their death.

           The people of Bengal are rising in anger against this tyrannical government. Comrade Sudipta Gupta’s death shall not go waste, as the students resoundingly established today.
Long Live Comrade Sudipta!  Long Live the Revolution!

Condemn Attack on CPI(M) Leader Com. Rezzak Mollah, MLA.,

             The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the physical assault on Comrade Abdur Rezzak Mollah, member of the West Bengal State Committee of the CPI(M) and MLA. Rezzak Mollah was assaulted by a Trinamul Congress leader Arabul Islam and others while visiting a Party office which had been burnt down by the TMC men. Rezzak Mollah received injuries to his face and has been hospitalized.
         This is the latest instance of the continuing violence by the Trinamul Congress against the CPI(M), the Left parties and the opposition. The CPI(M) demands that the TMC leader and others responsible for the attack be immediately arrested.
          The Polit Bureau appeals to all democratic forces to raise their voice of protest against the thuggish violence indulged in by the Trinamul Congress in West Bengal.

West Bengal : A Year of Violence & Crime

    

 
   

                     

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At a glance

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

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

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

           ELECTIONS to six municipal bodies in West Bengal, which was marked by terror, reflected signs of discontent against the TMC government.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

courtesy :

People’s Democracy

10^th June, 2012