People's Democracy

 HT Concocts Suicide Deaths in Bengal

 Koushik Chakraborty

YET again the bourgeoisie media has resorted to blatant lies in an attempt to malign the Left Front government of West Bengal. The Kolkata edition of The Hindustan Times has cooked a series of stories stating that farmers of Burdwan district were committing suicide due to the failure of the state government’s policies. This was blatant lying.

The HT reported on September 21 that two farmers – one in Ausgram and another in Guskara villages of Burdwan district – committed suicide due to the failure of the state government policies. On enquiry it was revealed that neither of the two were farmers. One was a carpenter who resorted to this extreme step due to family trouble and another was a rickshaw puller who died due to excessive drinking.

On September 30 the daily reported that Becharam Mallick in Kalna village committed suicide due to his utter poverty. The fact was that he was suffering from prolonged mental depression and his own uncle has ruled out any other reason. The newspaper also termed the Trinamul leader Rabindranath Chatterjee as the local MLA although Anju Kar, minister of the West Bengal government is the elected MLA from the region. So much for the reporter’s accuracy of facts.

On October 1, The Hindustan Times further circulated a story of one Himadri Pal of Polsona village to have sold his kidney due to poverty. But even the present Congress Panchayat representative of the village could not identify the above-mentioned person in the village.

Another slanderous propaganda, by the same daily was about the suicide of Sona Bauri of Kolkol village near Galsi. The newspaper concocted a story that Sona Bauri had taken a loan of Rs 50,000. Later he had to sell his 12 acres of land and still had to go to Kolkata to sell his one kidney to repay the loan. The reality however is Sona Bauri was a landless peasant, and even his wife does not know anything about the above loan or selling of his kidney. Her questions to the reporter of Ganashakti daily were, “If we had 12 acres of land why would he committ suicide?” She made it very clear that Sona had never gone to Kolkata, let alone selling of his kidney.” The HT further went on to publish a story of a person named Radhamadhab having vanished from Dhenua village in Monteswar although so far no one has been able to identify any person of that name in the village.

The one and only aim of such malicious propaganda by the media is to paint a negative picture about the LF state government. But the working class of West Bengal knows its friends and can also identify its foe. The people of the state, with their vast experience about the vicious role of the bourgeois media, will certainly rebuff such malicious campaign and go on to strengthen the peasant movement under the Left Front.