The bloodbath continues in rural Bengal as Panchayat elections are being held. About a dozen lives have already been sacrificed and, in all likelihood, there is more to follow. Carnages, beating, eviction and partisan clashes continue. These clashes are not just between the ruling Trinamul Congress and the opposition Left Front or Congress, but no less between the rival groups of the Trinamul itself, and as it appears, in most cases it is the opposition – the left parties, Congress and “unofficial” Trinamul groups which are at the receiving end of rampant violence. What could be a mundane element of practicing democracy – villagers electing their own local government to work within their reach – has become an event of manifest coercion for establishing absolute partisan control, particularly by the Trinamul Congress.
The Birbhum district president of the Trinamul Congress, Anubrata Mondol, for example, urged his supporters from a public meeting not to allow the opposition to field candidates (Anandabazar Patrika, June 3, 2013). He also called upon his supporters to hurl “bombs at the police if they try to protect the Trinamul dissenters”. Another Trinamul leader, actor turned member of Parliament, Tapas Paul, could not restrain himself from advising with dramatic fury his supporters to teach the supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI(M) a lesson: “jutiye lamba kore din… keliye soja kore din” (“beat sense into them with your shoes…straighten them out with a thrashing”). Another Trinamul leader, Monirul Islam has threatened to behead a Congress leader. These are a thin sample of the mounds of terrorising statements that have been made by the leaders of the ruling party on many occasions in the recent times.
The results of such calls for “partisan cleansing” are clearly evident. In about 14% of the constituencies, the Trinamul Congress won uncontested as the opposition could not even nominate its candidates, denying the people their right to choose. People in many of the constituencies were either not allowed to vote or were coerced to vote for the ruling party.
It certainly is a cause for concern that the state which had added meaning to Panchayati Raj by holding regular elections since 1978 without a hitch, had to now invoke judicial intervention to complete the electoral process.
But, are these gross violations of democratic rights something absolutely unknown to West Bengal? Was democracy completely safe during the Left rule? How was it in the Panchayat elections in 2003, that 7000 seats were won uncontested? Why, despite a positive move in the 1980s towards strengthening the local governments through decentralised planning and implementations, the state government followed a reverse track, turning the Panchayats into mere local level bureaucratic accessories? These are few questions people are asking in the air.
The Questions:
It was perhaps the very collapse of the movement for decentralisation, a positive political action towards empowering the people at grass root level, which led to the nurturing of a culture of political absolutism in the state.
One wonders how despite growing inequality between classes – which is an all-India phenomenon in the time of neoliberal capitalism – the Left maintained its regime in West Bengal undefeated for three and half decades.
Does the Left truly ignored the poor at both political and societal levels, where not enough opportunities were created for them to take part in their own capability building? Is it true that did not create enough opportunities for education for all even after three decades of uninterrupted rule?
Studies show that it is the poor, constituted mainly of dalits, adivasis and Muslims, who face the most severe discriminations in education and health. This neglect resulted in discontinuing the process of decentralised planning, though it was initiated as a pioneering pro-people movement in the 1980s in the then Medinipur district. Ajit Narayan Bose, who played a key role in designing this movement, points at the socio-political factors responsible for the collapse of this movement in West Bengal:
…absolute lack of response … by any Zilla Parishad outside Midnapore to implement this programme of village planning by villagers. It appears that it is not possible for either the potential "Trustees" or the existing party leadership to be enthusiastic about enabling the villagers to prepare their own plan. … The extent of elitism as manifested in the disbelief in the ability of the rural poor for self-reliant activities appears to be very deep among leaders of all political parties whether in power or striving to be in power. This disbelief may be the basis of their ‘bad faith’ that unless they remain perpetually in power the interests of the poor cannot be served.
Are these true?
(a) growing impoverishment among rural population reflected in the increased share of agricultural labourers among the workers (b) reversal of land reform that was reported in the West Bengal Human Development Report, responsible for preventing the rural surplus from getting re-invested, and (c) large number of outmigration of the rural youth in search of employment.
In search of Lesson:
The Panchayat polls of 2013 offers a major lesson not just for the Left Front, but all concerned with political activism. It is the existence of an opposition that guarantees the life of a body polity, and a pursuit of absolutist domination can only invite a tragic destruction.
The main aim of the local Trinamul Congress leaders is not just establishing absolute control, which the Left also had attempted earlier, but to wage a war against the working classes. TMC leaders are openly threatening in various public meetings that the land reforms programme of the Left was an “absolute misdeed” and they would “right the wrong by giving back the lands to the original owners”.
Trinamul’s absolutism is a ferocious attempt of fuelling class hatred of the rural elites against the poor. The repeat of history, in this case, is not a farce but a criminal destruction of social justice. The introspection by the mainstream Left, is far too inadequate to check this rampage not only against the poor but also against all democratic institutions and norms that the people of West Bengal had earned though protracted struggle.
The urgent need is maximum solidarity to fight against this massive destruction looming large in rural West Bengal by uniting all democratic forces, the demand of which is clearly raised in the high percentages of polling defying the violence and terror unleashed by hegemonic power.
The Birbhum district president of the Trinamul Congress, Anubrata Mondol, for example, urged his supporters from a public meeting not to allow the opposition to field candidates (Anandabazar Patrika, June 3, 2013). He also called upon his supporters to hurl “bombs at the police if they try to protect the Trinamul dissenters”. Another Trinamul leader, actor turned member of Parliament, Tapas Paul, could not restrain himself from advising with dramatic fury his supporters to teach the supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI(M) a lesson: “jutiye lamba kore din… keliye soja kore din” (“beat sense into them with your shoes…straighten them out with a thrashing”). Another Trinamul leader, Monirul Islam has threatened to behead a Congress leader. These are a thin sample of the mounds of terrorising statements that have been made by the leaders of the ruling party on many occasions in the recent times.
The results of such calls for “partisan cleansing” are clearly evident. In about 14% of the constituencies, the Trinamul Congress won uncontested as the opposition could not even nominate its candidates, denying the people their right to choose. People in many of the constituencies were either not allowed to vote or were coerced to vote for the ruling party.
It certainly is a cause for concern that the state which had added meaning to Panchayati Raj by holding regular elections since 1978 without a hitch, had to now invoke judicial intervention to complete the electoral process.
But, are these gross violations of democratic rights something absolutely unknown to West Bengal? Was democracy completely safe during the Left rule? How was it in the Panchayat elections in 2003, that 7000 seats were won uncontested? Why, despite a positive move in the 1980s towards strengthening the local governments through decentralised planning and implementations, the state government followed a reverse track, turning the Panchayats into mere local level bureaucratic accessories? These are few questions people are asking in the air.
The Questions:
It was perhaps the very collapse of the movement for decentralisation, a positive political action towards empowering the people at grass root level, which led to the nurturing of a culture of political absolutism in the state.
One wonders how despite growing inequality between classes – which is an all-India phenomenon in the time of neoliberal capitalism – the Left maintained its regime in West Bengal undefeated for three and half decades.
Does the Left truly ignored the poor at both political and societal levels, where not enough opportunities were created for them to take part in their own capability building? Is it true that did not create enough opportunities for education for all even after three decades of uninterrupted rule?
Studies show that it is the poor, constituted mainly of dalits, adivasis and Muslims, who face the most severe discriminations in education and health. This neglect resulted in discontinuing the process of decentralised planning, though it was initiated as a pioneering pro-people movement in the 1980s in the then Medinipur district. Ajit Narayan Bose, who played a key role in designing this movement, points at the socio-political factors responsible for the collapse of this movement in West Bengal:
…absolute lack of response … by any Zilla Parishad outside Midnapore to implement this programme of village planning by villagers. It appears that it is not possible for either the potential "Trustees" or the existing party leadership to be enthusiastic about enabling the villagers to prepare their own plan. … The extent of elitism as manifested in the disbelief in the ability of the rural poor for self-reliant activities appears to be very deep among leaders of all political parties whether in power or striving to be in power. This disbelief may be the basis of their ‘bad faith’ that unless they remain perpetually in power the interests of the poor cannot be served.
Are these true?
(a) growing impoverishment among rural population reflected in the increased share of agricultural labourers among the workers (b) reversal of land reform that was reported in the West Bengal Human Development Report, responsible for preventing the rural surplus from getting re-invested, and (c) large number of outmigration of the rural youth in search of employment.
In search of Lesson:
The Panchayat polls of 2013 offers a major lesson not just for the Left Front, but all concerned with political activism. It is the existence of an opposition that guarantees the life of a body polity, and a pursuit of absolutist domination can only invite a tragic destruction.
The main aim of the local Trinamul Congress leaders is not just establishing absolute control, which the Left also had attempted earlier, but to wage a war against the working classes. TMC leaders are openly threatening in various public meetings that the land reforms programme of the Left was an “absolute misdeed” and they would “right the wrong by giving back the lands to the original owners”.
Trinamul’s absolutism is a ferocious attempt of fuelling class hatred of the rural elites against the poor. The repeat of history, in this case, is not a farce but a criminal destruction of social justice. The introspection by the mainstream Left, is far too inadequate to check this rampage not only against the poor but also against all democratic institutions and norms that the people of West Bengal had earned though protracted struggle.
The urgent need is maximum solidarity to fight against this massive destruction looming large in rural West Bengal by uniting all democratic forces, the demand of which is clearly raised in the high percentages of polling defying the violence and terror unleashed by hegemonic power.
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