People's Democracy

IN CONNECTION with completion of 25 years of CPI(M)-led Left Front government in West Bengal, its significance and achievements have been propagated in various parts of the country by holding public meetings and publishing and distributing literature in this regard. These meetings were attended in large numbers by workers, youth, women, students, intellectuals, teachers, lawyers and other sections of the society. Each of these meetings were addressed mainly by a prominent personality from West Bengal.

PUBLIC meetings were held at Nalgonda, Khammam, Hyderabad and Ibrahimpatnam in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh which were addressed by Dr. Surjyo Kanta Mishra, West Bengal minister for panchayat raj and other leaders.

When there was instability all over the country and the world with governments lasting for not more than one or two consecutive terms, how was it that the Left Front in West Bengal could provide a stable government for 25 years by winning the elections for six consecutive terms with two-thirds majority in the assembly? Dr. Mishra said many people asked this question and answered that there was no magic and that the key was the stability among the people. He explained how this was not the case in rest of India. The policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation pursued by the central government made workers unstable at their work places, with factories closed, industries becoming sick and implementation of voluntary retirement scheme. Other sections of people were also being subjected to instability - peasants with lands being given to the multinational corporations and increasing concentration of land; the youth with growing unemployment; minorities with Gujarat genocide; and the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other downtrodden sections of people with various problems. Dr. Mishra said that in West Bengal, the Left Front government could ensure relative stability during the last 25 years of its governance to various sections of people, even within the limited powers available to it under the present constitutional dispensation.

Explaining the rapid strides made in implementation of land reforms, growth in agriculture and purchasing power of the rural people and consequently in per capita consumption of cereals, strengthening of local bodies with devolution of funds and powers etc., Dr. Mishra said, "People trust us and we trust people. The state government has many limitations. We do not create false hopes and illusions among the people." It was made clear to the people that the present structure would not allow the state government to solve fundamental problems of the people, he said. "Unless we change the bourgeois-landlord system through revolutionary process, we can not bring about a fundamental change in the social structure. The ultimate objective we, the communists have been pursuing - establishing a society free from exploitation- the Left Front government has been helping to change the correlation of forces to achieve that objective", explained Dr. Mishra.

The Left Front government, apart from championing the rights of the people of West Bengal, was also striving to defend the constitution, secularism and democracy of the country. It was in the forefront of the fight for greater devolution of powers to the states, against the debilitating economic liberalisation policies of the central government, said Dr. Mishra. He strongly criticised the Vajpayee government's policy of encouraging division of states in order to make them weak and said "we cannot be free unless the states are strong".

Dr. Mishra stressed that the struggle for federalism, secularism and democracy was crucial for keeping the country united and expressed confidence that through independent struggles, the Left would be able to rally all patriotic, democratic and secular forces to forge a united front.

B V Raghavulu, secretary of the state committee of the CPI(M), addressing the meetings in Hyderabad and Ibrahimpatnam, highlighted the fact that inspite of having a sizeable 24 per cent minority population in West Bengal, the Left Front government ensured communal harmony and brotherhood prevails among the people of various communities. He also gave a piece of advice to the Andhra chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to realise from the experience of the Left Front government in West Bengal that the problem of Naxalism could be solved through implementation of land reforms and not through encounters. Another lesson to be learnt from the experience of the LF government was how to strengthen the local bodies through decentralisation, said Raghavulu.

While P S N Murthy, secretary of Hyderabad city committee of the CPI(M), presided over the meeting held at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram on June 30, V Ramnarsimha Rao, secretary of city council of the CPI also participated in the programme.

At the meeting held in Nalgonda on June 29, M V Narasimha Reddy, member of the central committee of the CPI(M), explained that more than 1000 farmers and handloom workers committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh, sale of tribal children of tribals was taking place in Nalgonda district and indebted farmers in Guntur district were selling their kidneys , while West Bengal under the Left Front government was free from such horrendous situation. In the meeting held at Khammam, member of the state secretariat of the CPI(M), Dr Y Radhakrishna Murthy, CPI district secretary S Venkateswarlu, CPI(M) leaders P Somayya, T S Prasad, S Kotayya and others participated.

Another meeting was held in Vishakapatnam on June 26 in which the West Bengal minister for power, Mrinal Banerji was the chief speaker. He said that during the 25-year rule of the Left Front government in West Bengal not even a single public sector industry was privatised. On the other hand, 38 industries in the private sector were nationalised and they were running profitably, he explained. Plans have been prepared to ensure uninterrupted supply of power even to the remote areas in the state, said Banerji.

Ch. Narsinga Rao, CPI(M) state secretariat member, said that West Bengal was going to be the guide for the entire country and fearing this prospect, the anti-Left parties have embarked on a massive misinformation campaign against the Left Front government.

M V S Sharma, Party district secretary, who presided over the meeting, said the 25 year rule of the Left Front government was a record in the world.

A meeting was also organised in Kankipadu of Krishna district on June 29, in connection with silver jubilee celebrations of the Left Front government in West Bengal. B V Raghavulu, V Umamaheswara Rao, secretary of Krishna district committee of the CPI(M), V Lakshmana Rao and others participated in the programme. Earlier, a procession with red flags was taken out in Kankipadu from market yard to the venue of public meeting.

THE completion of 25 years of Left Front government in West Bengal was commemorated in Jharkhand by holding two separate meetings at Bokaro and Dhanbad. These meetings were attended in large numbers by workers, students, youth women, intellectuals, teachers, lawyers, government employees, and people associated with trade and industry. In both these meetings, the West Bengal minister for cottage industries Bansagopal Choudhury was the main speaker. J S Majumdar, secretary of CPI(M) Jharkhand state committee, also addressed these meetings.

The meeting in Bokaro was held on June 22 in Yadav Prasad Memorial hall which was chaired jointly by the CPI(M) and CPI district secretaries - Ramchandra Thakur and Gulabchand Thakur. In Dhanbad, the meeting was held on June 23 and was presided over by the G K Bakshi, district secretary of the CPI(M).

Addressing these meetings, Bansagopal Choudhury, enumerated with facts, statistics and examples various achievements of the Left Front government and contrasted the harmonious situation prevailing in West Bengal with that of Gujarat where the recent state-sponsored genocide against the minorities shocked the entire world. He highlighted the fact that West Bengal stands first in producing rice in the country and that it has reached the productivity level of Punjab-Haryana in respect of wheat. It is also the biggest producer of fish and a leading state in vegetable production. Choudhury also explained in detail the achievements of West Bengal Left Front government in the field of infrastructure and agricultural development viz electricity, irrigation, roads-communication, cooperatives and credit facilities, marketing and storage facilities.

He told the audience that the sixth Left Front government is pursing a course of rapid industrial development based on new technologies and fresh capital investment. He informed that 4 lakh cottage industries employing around 25 lakh people exist in West Bengal mainly due to the policy of Left Front government which treats this sector as a priority area. But all this could be achieved, he claimed, due to successful implementation of land reforms which benefited 25 lakh families by the distribution of 11 lakh acres of surplus lands. Another important reason was the creation of a vibrant three-tier panchayat raj system through which 50 per cent of the development work is carried out resulting in the deepening of participative democracy and empowerment of the poor and deprived sections of the society.

J S Majumdar, speaking in both the meetings, touched upon the achievements of the LF government and hailed it as a beacon light for the democratic and toiling people of the states ruled by bourgeois-landlord parties. "Looking from a state like Jharkhand, the achievements of the LF government stands out in sharp contrast to what is happening here with the BJP-led government bent on pursuing an industrial-economic policy calculated to benefit the foreign and Indian monopoly capital and to further hit the interests of the adivasis, and other deprived sections of population", said Majumdar.

"WEST BENGAL is the advance post of democracy in India and it is a state where communal harmony is prevailing and substantial economic relief is being provided to the people despite constitutional limitations", said Mohammad Amin, the West Bengal minister for labour and central committee member of the CPI(M). He was speaking at a meeting held to commemorate the completion of 25 years of Left Front government, organised by the Punjab state committee of CPI(M) on June 28 in Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall in Jalandhar.

Mohammad Amin narrated the various achievements of Left Front government, particularly the unprecedented land reforms, the real empowerment of rural masses through panchayat raj system, providing greater access to education for the poor etc. He drew attention to the fact that the Left Front government is presenting people- oriented alternative economic policies in the scenario of imperialistic led liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation and new colonist WTO regime.

Addressing the function, Balwant Singh, secretary, Punjab state committee of the CPI(M) congratulated the valiant people of West Bengal for ensuring the completion of 25 years of Left Front government which has emerged as a role model for the people of the country. He strongly criticised the NDA government at the centre and the Modi government for the recent communal carnage in Gujarat. He commended the Left Front government for ensuring complete peace in West Bengal during the anti-sikh riots in 1984. Among others, who spoke included state secretary of CPI, Joginder Dayal, Charan Singh Virdi, Rachpal Singh, Raghunath Singh, Vijay Mishra and Lehmbar Singh Tagger. Hundreds of CPI(M) activists and leaders from all over the state participated in the meeting.