People's Democracy

Arun Kumar Mishra

BIHAR is in turmoil. Hectic political and agitational activities are going on. Political formations of landlord and bourgeoisie are making their bid to woo the masses to further their political cause. But the masses feel cheated. The recent spontaneous agitations of the peasants and other sections of toiling masses in Nalanda and Sasaram show that they went their real economic and social issues to be addressed. The prospect of further pauperisation and massive unemployment stare in their faces. With the bifurcation of Bihar the residual Bihar is bereft of any industrial base. The so-called economic package, which was the slogan of pro-division forces, has yet to arrive.

The exodus of Bihari workers from Delhi after the closure of thousands of industries has further compounded the situation. Agriculture, the mainstay of the residual Bihar, is faced with a severe crisis as the peasants are forced to sell their produce at throw-away prices. The spectre of a similar situation after the rabi harvest haunts the already pauperised peasantry. The step-motherly attitude shown by the BJP-led centre and the slanging match between the state and central governments on the issue of purchase of agricultural produce are adding insult to the injury of the much harassed peasants of the state.

It was in this background that the jeep jatha --- jointly brought out by the Bihar State Kisan Sabha and the Prantiya Khetihar Mazdoor Union for mobilising the peasantry against the so-called reform of the agriculture sector at the WTO’s dictate --- has generated a lot of enthusiasm and popular participation of the thousands of peasants during the campaign.

Led by state CPI(M) secretary Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, Bihar State Kisan Sabha general secretary Vijaykant Thakur, its vice president Krishankant Singh, Bihar Prantiya Khetihar Mazdoor Union president Ram Nath and general secretary Sarangdhar Paswan, former MLAs and kisan leaders Vishwanath Singh and Girdhari Ram, these jathas crisscrossed 20 districts out of the 37 districts and addressed several dozen impromptu meetings. Thousand of peasants and agricultural workers participated in these meetings which shows their willingness to fight for survival. Due to the massive earthquake in Gujarat, all the agitation programme in the month of February had to be abandoned as there was urgent need to help the earthquake victims, though in Saharsa the kisans did paralyse the central government offices on February 5. The CPI(M) and different mass organisations gave a call to collect fund and other materials to be sent to Gujarat. According to a report, the party and different mass organisations have already sent more than a lakh rupees to Gujarat through different agencies who are engaged in rescue and rehabilitation work.

After 23 years, Bihar is going to elect its three-tier panchayat bodies in 6 phases. The process has already started. Nominations are going on and the election will be completed by the end of April. It is now clear that all the bourgeois-landlord parties had vested interests in keeping the grassroots democracy in abeyance. The main responsibility lies with the RJD and its dilly-dallying tactics for not holding these elections. But the BJP-led reactionary forces too cannot be exonerated, as they too put obstacles in the way and at the same time shed crocodile tears for the decentralisation of power and loss of Rs 500 crore per annum.

After the intervention of the apex court and the Patna High Court, the process of electing the panchayats has started. The BJP and its allies began to raise the reservation issue for the Dalits and other similar issues. Sushil Kumar Modi, leader of opposition in Bihar assembly, threatened to go to the court on this issue. Recently the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar also raised this issue and threatened to go to the court. It was only the Left forces who raised the issue of holding panchayat elections immediately. The CPI(M) organised a mass campaign through dharnas, demonstrations and other methods, from the block to the state level, in the beginning of 2001. The CPI also raised this issue by organising a movement separately.

In Bihar the panchayat elections are taking place on a non-party basis. Left parties insisted that the election should take place on party basis but all the bourgeois-landlord parties were in favour of elections on the non-party basis.

The CPI(M) has decided to ensure the BJP’s defeat and to fight on the seats where it has a fair chance of getting elected. The CPI(M) will try to have adjustments with other Left parties wherever possible.

After the process of nominations started, almost every bourgeois-landlord party faced the Hobson’s choice of owning and disowning candidates. For, everybody who is somebody in such a party filed nominations and claimed the patronage of the higher-ups in the party. On the other hand, the Left parties chose their candidates in an organised manner. It seems the coming election will see a lot of bloodletting as the gang leaders and criminals are putting in their papers as candidates at different levels. In between, the Left parties met the election commissioner and demanded adequate deployment of paramilitary forces to ensure free and fair polling.

The Asthawan byelection has exposed the chinks in the armour of the NDA. The Samata Party of Nitish Kumar and Lok Janshakti of Ram Vilas Paswan, two high profile ministers at New Delhi, are engaged in a no-holds-barred campaign against each other. These two gentlemen are also accusing the BJP of not siding with them. But now the BJP has decided to go in favour of Samata Party after the intervention of the central leadership.

This will further strain the relations in the NDA camp. The result of this byelection will certainly influence the course of political development in the state because Asthawan is Nitish Kumar’s stronghold. The CPI(M) has decided to support the RJD as only the RJD is capable of defeating the Samata Party candidate backed by the BJP.

The CPI(M) and different mass organisations are preparing to mobilise the masses to oppose the forthcoming anti-people budget proposals. There are enough indications that the NDA government will utilise the Gujarat earthquake to push through anti-people and anti-working class proposals to please its imperialist masters abroad who are clamouring for further opening up of the economy in general and doing away with all the labour laws in particular. After panchayat elections, barring the CPI(ML) Liberation, all the Left parties have come together to mobilise the peasants in a big way.