People's Democracy

BENGAL PANCHAYAT POLLS & CPI(M)-BASHING

  Behind Their Fabrications Lies A Deeper Cause

  Sitaram Yechury

THE CPI(M)-led Left Front's resounding victory in the recently held elections to the local bodies in West Bengal seems to have upset the drum beaters  of  the Indian ruling classes no end. This is particularly so of the RSS-paid pen pushers in the media. Though aged, some of them continue to twist their fragile spines into macabre contortions to spew venom and weave webs of fabrication and falsehood. (A case in point is Mr T V R Shenoy's column in cyberspace rediff.com, May 16.)

Most of the national dailies have editorially commented (read: done CPI(M) bashing) about these elections. Almost all of them (with the honourable exception of The Hindu, which chose to advise Ms Mamata Banerjee on how she should build a credible alternative to the Left Front in Bengal) have used the choicest of abusive epitaphs to decry what they call as CPI(M)'s "rule of  terror." The presumption is that if the CPI(M) had not unleashed terror, by their definition, it could not have won the panchayat elections.

CHOICEST TERMS OF ABUSE

But, wait a moment! It was after all the prime minister Mr Vajpayee --- who being the true `swayamsewak' that he is, has no love lost for the CPI(M) ---  who has gone on record saying that he did not understand as to why the CPI(M) was resorting to violence when its victory was a foretold conclusion. The most vituperative anti-CPI(M) media house in Bengal is the Ananda Bazar Patrika group whose English daily, The Telegraph, editorially endorsed the prime minister's statement (May 15). Yet, instead of seeking to answer the prime minister's perplexity, it proceeded to conjure imaginary stories of CPI(M)'s supposed "axis of terror."

Not to be left behind, the BJP's unofficial rag, The Pioneer, in its editorial on May 14, used such sensational language such as "blood splattered,” "brutalisation,” "scientific rigging giving way to primordial savagery," etc.  The Statesman, in its editorial on May 16, characterised these elections as a "blood stained hoax on the electorate.” Not lagging far behind, the Hindustan Times editorially commented on May 16 that these elections have "little legitimacy in view of the large-scale violence." According to it, the CPI(M) "can now hardly be considered a responsible political party." 

It is not surprising that such choicest terms of abuse did not find a place in print even after the RSS-led communal octopus unleashed a state-sponsored genocide in Gujarat last year. The BJP's electoral victory is the "assertion of the democratic process" --- so we were told! The very same columnists whom we referred to above, in fact, went to the extent of calling all those who saw the electoral result in Gujarat as a distortion of the democratic process due to the large-scale communal violence, as those who insult the people and popular verdict. It is not a different matter that one of such venerable "columnists" has been rewarded for the services rendered and now sits as a member on the all-powerful board of the Prasar Bharati! This was done by unceremoniously sacking people of much higher academic and journalistic calibre from the board in order to make way for such servile sycophants.

The pages of calumny written over the so-called "terror" unleashed by the CPI(M) actually establishes the following fact irrevocably --- that the Indian ruling classes and their current representatives spewing communal poison have lost yet another chance to defeat the CPI(M)-led Left Front in West Bengal! 

THE BOOT IS ON THE OTHER FOOT

First, let us examine their charges of the so-called CPI(M)-led violence. As reported in these columns last week, of the 42 persons killed in poll-related violence during these panchayat elections, as many as 26 belonged to the CPI(M). Of the eight Congressmen killed, six died while they were preparing bombs, obviously to attack the CPI(M) and the Left Front. The Trinamul Congress lost two of its supporters. The BJP, mercifully, does not figure in the list. This is not surprising because the BJP is hardly a political force in the state and has never won a single assembly seat on its own.  Even those with a very fertile anti-communist imagination will find it difficult to digest these facts. If the CPI(M) initiated the violence, then why should it have lost an overwhelming number of people who were mercilessly killed during these elections?

A further analysis of the areas where this violence took place establishes as to who is primarily responsible for such violence. The largest number of deaths took place in Murshidabad district. Eight leading CPI(M) cadres were done to death by the Congress-Trinamul-BJP mahajot in this district. The Congress has won the zilla parishad. (The only other district where the Congress will sit in office in the zilla parishad is Malda, where it will do so in an open alliance with the BJP and the Trinamul Congress. So much for their politics and principles!) One of the television channels (Sahara Samay) had done a package on the violence in Murshidabad. However, the terror-struck families were shown without mentioning as to which party's supporters they were. These were the Left Front's supporters who were terrorised into not exercising their franchise. The boot, Mr Shenoy, therefore, is on the other foot! It is on the foot that today is responsible for the most barbaric crimes committed against humanity by whipping up communal poison and passions in the pursuit of sharing the spoils of office.  There can be no greater irony than the fact that such depravity thrives in the name of God!

GENESIS OF THE VIOLENCE

It is also necessary to examine and analyse the genesis of such violence in Bengal. For, in every election, there is unleashed a spate of violence. The superficial and those in search of sensation in the media take recourse to portraying this as the product of political rivalries. However, behind this falsely created veil lies a deeper cause. 

To understand this, it is necessary to take a brief look at what immense impact the land reforms implemented by the Left Front government have had in Bengal. Over the last two decades or more, nearly 11 lakh acres of land, hitherto held illegally by landlords and other vested interests in rural areas, were acquired and legally distributed amongst the landless poor.  Even if we were to put a value of Rs 1 lakh per acre (which is an underestimate), this land distribution means a transfer of assets worth Rs 11 thousand crore to the poor. Such a massive transfer of assets to the poor is unprecedented anywhere in independent India.

No less than 27 lakh landless families benefited from such a distribution.  Even assuming a family size of five, this means that over 1 crore 35 lakh people are today able to live a decent life which was denied to them in the past. Some 56 per cent of the beneficiaries belong to the scheduled castes and tribes --- double their proportion in the state's population, which is 27 per cent. Of these, more than five lakh pattas have been given jointly or separately to women. In addition, 15 lakh sharecroppers have been recorded, which means that their right to the land they are cultivating is now inalienable. Add this to those who benefited from the land reforms in other ways, and you will have many more than two crores of people who have benefited from the Left Front rule in Bengal. That is, more than one-fourth of the population in the state and a majority in its rural areas. About 94 per cent of the cultivated land in Bengal is held as small holdings.

However, in every election, an attempt is made to reverse these very gains that have accrued to the people due to the Left Front government. By defeating the Left Front, the erstwhile landlords and other rural vested interests seek to recapture these lands and resources once again. Of all elections, those to the panchayats are more than vigorously fought by these reactionary elements since the panchayats are custodians of the land records. By capturing the panchayats, these sections hope to doctor the records, drag the poor into litigation that they can ill afford, and recapture through manipulation the land that has legally been distributed to them. 

Further, Bengal is the only state in the country where more than 52 per cent of all developmental funds are routed through the panchayats. Control of the panchayats by vested interests (particularly of the BJP variety) means immense opportunities for corruption and sleaze. This temptation is so strong for these sections that, in its pursuit, they are prepared to unleash murderous violence. 

BATTLE LINE IS CLEAR

In other words, what is happening in rural Bengal is an expression of intense class struggle. Those who have been deprived by the Left Front government of their illegal and illegitimate wealth are now seeking to regain their lost ground. This is the battle line in Bengal. On one side of this battle line are ranged the millions of rural poor who have, for the first time, gained their right to own the land that they cultivate. Ranged on the other side are the reactionaries and rural vested interests, rallied behind the mahajot of the Congress, BJP and the Trinamul Congress. Ranged with the rural poor are the red flags of the CPI(M)-led Left Front.

Thus, what the superficial tend to portray as a clash between political rivals is essentially a grim battle that is fought between the exploiters and the exploited at the time of every election in Bengal. The exploiters do not wish to lose any opportunity to re-establish their supremacy. The people of Bengal, however, have once again foiled their efforts. They have done so at the cost of great sacrifices while fighting unto death for their hard-earned rights. 

That the venerable editors and the columnists, whom we referred to above, choose to stand with the reactionary forces is not surprising. For, standing with the exploited does not give them either the benefits of office or an opportunity to make money. 

JUST ONE CASE OF FABRICATION

It is interesting to recall that, at the time of the last panchayat elections in 1998, these very columnists and editors had mounted a huge media campaign alleging that five CPI(M) workers had outraged the modesty of a woman Trinamul Congress worker. Much was written by venerable columnists about the CPI(M)'s "morality," "degradation," "degeneration" and what have you. Five years later, on May 7, 2003, the Alipore court delivered its judgement in this case, acquitting all the five CPI(M) workers as innocent. Those columnists, today, have no option but to eat their own words. Since they have written so much, they may not be able to digest all that they will have to eat now. They may therefore lose their digestive powers even if they do not lose either their spirit or their capacity to fabricate! Hence the next charge against the CPI(M) could well be that it is responsible for causing them indigestion! 

Paraphrasing Marx, they give their slogan: Servile pen pushers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your conscience. You have a whole world of sleaze and nepotism to gain!