People's Democracy

FOR the last two months the people of West Bengal under the leadership of the Left Front had an inspiring mass campaign to collect funds for the victims of the Gujarat carnage. To reach the relief funds collected to the victims a Left Front team visited Gujarat on June 8 and 9 under the leadership of Somnath Chatterjee (MP and leader of the CPI-M Lok Sabha group). Other members of the team were Ajay Chakravorty (MP-CPI), Abani Roy (MP-RSP) Nilotpal Basu (MP- CPI-M), Md. Yaqub (MLA-FB), Ramapada Samanta (MLA-DSP), Brahmamay Nanda (MLA-SP) and Brinda Karat (central committee member of CPI-M). The team was accompanied by Gujarat state committee leaders of the CPI(M) and CPI.

The team disbursed Rs 47,32,070 directly to 996 affected families and 171 women widowed in the communal violence in about 15 areas of the state. This is the largest relief programme in Gujarat directly financed by mass collections from the people that has so far been undertaken by any political party or NGO.

People greeted the team warmly wherever it went. The message of solidarity from the people of West Bengal to the victims of the communal violence was very effectively conveyed through the programme. At the same time many important issues were raised by the victims who met the team, that could be taken up in parliament and directly with the central government.

An important feature of the relief programme was the effort to reach the relief directly to the victims after a proper survey in some of the worst affected areas prior to the visit of the team. Secondly, while the main relief programme was for members of the Muslim community who have been the worst affected, some very poor dalit and OBC families in affected areas whose houses were burnt or damaged and whose livelihood was directly affected were also identified. This work was mainly done through contacts made in the camps. Thirdly, after the identification of families to be helped, the entire amount was made into individual drafts/cheques so that there was no cash transactions involved. This ensured the complete transparency of the disbursement of this substantial amount of money. Fourthly, the help to the legal work for the victims, being done by the Citizens Initiative, the most prominent platform of secular NGOs in Gujarat working among the violence affected, was also an important gesture of solidarity which was highly appreciated by the groups.

On June 8, the programme in Ahmedabad started with Akbar Nagar. This is a slum settlement of jhuggis (cluster of slums) that had been completely razed to the ground on Februry 28 affecting about 227 families. All these families had shifted to the near by Aman Chowk camp in one of the worst affected areas of Bapu Nagar. A large number of people from the Muslim community, including the area Congress corporator were waiting for the team. A public function was held and the individual amounts for building material was given. In this function victims of nearby areas were also asked to attend so that the relief could be distributed in one place. Thus people from affected areas of Hardas Nagar, Bapu Nagar, and women who had been widowed in the violence also attended the function. 100 families of street vendors whose wooden carts had been burnt or self-employed families who needed help to restart their work, were given the necessary help.

In this function as in others, the speeches made by leaders of the team stressed on the message of solidarity from the people of West Bengal and the commitment of the Left front to defend secularism and the rights of minorities. This had a very positive impact.

The next programme was held in a dalit dominated area of Rajpur- Gomtipur. This area borders a Muslim dominated area being separated by a road. About 56 houses of dalits had been damaged, eight of them badly damaged. The Left Front team was the first to go there with aid. A big function was organised in a local hall by a group of secular minded dalit youth. This group had been earlier attacked by the VHP because they had tried to help their Muslim friends during the violence. Significantly, this group of secular youth accompanied the team to the neighbouring Muslim area where the third function was held. The two groups of friends met for the first time since the violence started. It was an important occasion for them and they mentioned that the Left Front efforts from far away Bengal had helped them renew their friendship.

The following function in Shahpur was also significant as it brought together people from both communities who had lived together in the Shahpur area that had been burnt during the violence. Here the relief was for reconstruction as well as to restart their work.

There were six programmes in the post lunch period, which continued till late evening. This included a big meeting in the largest relief camp of Shah Alam where 35 widows were given relief and a visit to Juhapura camp where money was given for 10 widows and for help to the running of the camp. The Shah Alam camp organisers mentioned specifically their appreciation of the role of the Left Front in parliament and all the support they have been getting. They also mentioned that they had refused to organise meetings for any other party. In fact many of the camp organisers said they were holding such meetings for the first time. Earlier the team held a meeting in a tribal dominated area of Bhilvas. There are 125 families who were housed in the Kankaria camp for the last three months after a few huts had been burnt. The PM, chief minister, Advani etc. had made many visits to their camp to emphasise that Muslims were the aggressors. However nothing had been done to actually help to rehabilitate the families. All those scheduled tribe families who had not got any government relief were identified and given some help by the Left Front team. In another area of Vatva, 100 poor Muslim families whose implements and handcarts had been destroyed were given some help to restart their work This programme was organised in consultation with the Behavioural Science Centre, an NGO which has been working in the area.

The team then met two legal aid teams and donated Rs 5 lakhs to help their work. At present the main work is still in filing compensation forms, FIRs etc. Some petitions are also being filed in the Supreme Court. The teams are also filing what they call ‘perspective FIRs’ from different sections such as women, workers, artisans, professionals, students etc. with details of the complicity of the state government. A prominent Lawyers Association in Gujarat is reported to have made a statement that no Muslim complaints would be taken by them. The chief public prosecutor in the state is an RSS man. In such a situation the main work is being done either by Muslim lawyers or by a few NGOs. Thus aid to legal work is important.

The last meeting on June 8 was with 10 families of those burnt alive in the Sabarmati Express at Godhra station. The meeting could be arranged with the help of the district collector. Several of the family members are deeply resentful that their tragedies have been utilised for political purposes. The team expressed their deep condolences and assured them of support and help.

On June 9, the team divided into two and visited the rural camps. One team went to Himmatnagar and Modarsa in Sabarkantha district which was one of the worst affected districts. Approximately 9000 people are staying in nine camps in the area. The team also went to Santrampur where houses had been attacked and destroyed, where people had been burnt and where there had been mass stripping of women. The team met many of the victims and gave help to the widows.

The other team visited Baroda where a press conference had been held. It visited a camp in Taiwada, Kalol, another very badly affected area and also Godhra. While the team was in the Godhra camp which houses victims from the rural areas of Panchmahal district, a scooter driver who had been stabbed and was bleeding profusely was rushed into the camp crying for help. He was afraid to go to the police on his own because of the false cases registered against Muslim victims. This shocking incident brought home clearly the continuing violence of the sangh parivar outfits against Muslims.

In all the rural camps visited, meetings were held in which the relief was given. Here also the team was greeted with warmth and appreciation for the gesture of the people of West Bengal and the Left Front parties.