People's Democracy

ADDRESSING a packed gathering at the Kolkata University Centenary Hall on January 5 on the 36th anniversary of the Bengali daily Ganashakti, Surjeet expressed the hope that "people’s power" would be able to establish itself in the country in the not-too-distant-future. (Bengali word Ganashakti means people’s power.) Till that time, said Surjeet, Ganashakti "will carry forth the task of assisting the campaign work and strengthening the party organisation in the state."

Tracing the history of the popular Bengali daily, Surjeet said with the Communist Party getting repeatedly banned, the need was felt as far back as the mid-1930 to bring out communist newspapers from different parts of the country. This was how Ganashakti came into existence.

Having come out as the weekly organ of the Communist Party till the mid-1960s, Ganashakti was made an evening daily when it was realised that the newspaper must engage in the task of dissemination of news on a daily basis. This was necessary in order to suitably respond to the anti-communist campaign spearheaded by the reactionary forces and duly carried in the corporate newspapers. Later it was made a "morninger" so as to carry fresh news to the reading public.

The path of development was, recalled Surjeet, far from smooth. The paper was banned time and again. Party workers selling Ganashakti were attacked, injured and in several instances brutally killed. "Through periods of hard struggle, Ganashakti has come as a viable and credible source of alternative news and from now on, it can only go further forward," said Surjeet.

Sharply criticising the role of the corporate-controlled media, Surjeet pointed out how a section of print and electronic media was engaged in whipping up a kind of jingoistic war-hysteria and proving to be the mouthpieces of the religious fundamentalists.

The need of the hour, Surjeet underlined, was to strengthen the peace initiative through bilateral talks and not through US interventionism. The corporate bosses of the national media, unfortunately, were patently ignoring this. "It is in such circumstances that publications like the Ganashakti could come forward and play a crucial role," he concluded.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and former Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu stressed how the Ganashakti played a crucial role in strengthening the party organisation while communicating to the people the party’s standpoint on various political, economic, social and cultural issues.

Drawing attention to the fact that a section of the working people continued to vote for bourgeois parties of dubious credentials during the elections, Basu said the Ganashakti has to play a crucial role in bringing various party committees together to tackle whatever lacunae in the matter of mass contact yet lingered on.

Ganashakti, concluded Basu, must work even harder in the days to come, in strengthening the Left unity and the Left Front government.

State CPI(M) secretary Anil Biswas briefly explained the role of the Ganashakti as a weapon of mass movement. He said that in the present crucial times, the paper must function as a platform against the lies and half-truths emanating from the corporate media.

Drawing attention to the fact that the fourth estate of today considered itself to be an institution of the vested interests, Biswas said Ganashakti must not only disseminate an alternate, pro-people thinking, but also work against the all-encompassing consumerism overwhelming large sections of the people.

Biswas also made two welcome announcements. First, a third edition of Ganashakti would soon start publication from Durgapur in the industrial belt of Burdwan. Second, the Siliguri edition of the paper has started to carry colour supplements from the first of the New Year.

Presiding over the occasion, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Left Front chairman Biman Basu urged the scions of the corporate houses to abstain from needlessly maligning the Left, stay away from distorting facts, mirror the hard reality as far as possible, and stand firm against the all-encompassing consumerism affecting the people’s lives.

On the occasion, Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya gave awards to various representatives and newspaper sellers who had worked hard to chalk some of the highest rates of circulation of Ganashakti in various districts. Midnapore was adjudged the best district as far as increasing the circulation of the Ganashakti was concerned. A short but attractive cultural programme brought the proceedings to a conclusion.