People's Democracy

Trinamul Bandh – A Magnificent Flop

  B Prasant

THE Bengal bandh called by the Trinamul Congress on August 2 evoked very little response in Bengal.  With most of the shops opening their portals to the city, the urban and rural life flowed along in its normal bustling course.  The issue of the bandh has been the conciliation bill for the rural areas.  By keeping life moving normally, the rural folk have effectively rejected the principal issue around which the Trinamul Congress called the bandh.

Commencing from the tea plantations of north Bengal, to Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan, the two Midnapores, and the two 24 Parganas, the wheels of industry turned as usual. A few misguided Trinamul activists tried to force the public transport off the roads. The people foiled their attempts, in Kolkata and in the mofussil.  The shops and establishments remained largely open.  The colleges and universities continued to distribute admission forms for the first year classes. 

Nearly 50 per cent of offices and establishments remained open in Kolkata and more than 80 per cent were open in the mofussil.  The ports and the Kolkata airport functioned normally.  Both the Kolkata and the Haldia ports hummed with activity. Trinamul-run Kolkata Corporation saw 80 per cent attendance of workers-employees.  Both the hill and dooar and the bagichas were active as usual. The coalfields worked at full steam. The locomotive factories of Chittaranjan and units in adjoining areas ran as usual.  At Haldia, the attendance was 90 per cent while at Kolaghat thermal power plant it was 95 per cent.  All the jute mills hummed with activity. 

Over the day, the police had to arrest, mostly for unruly behaviour and violence, close to 3,800 people.  Another 400 were taken into custody for blocking the passage of railways trains.

Addressing a crowded rally organised by the Bengal Left Front at the Rani Rashmoni Road crossing in the afternoon, LF chairman Biman Basu said that by convening a bandh on issues that were trivial, the Trinamul Congress was assiduously seeking to make light of the bandh issue. He said that there was no need for the bandh on the issue of the conciliation bill since the bill was aimed at providing legal relief for the rural poor, in particular. The bandh has been a complete failure even in the Panchayat areas where the Triinamul Congress has a bit of a hold.

The meeting later passed a resolution in support of the conciliation bill at the bloc level.

State secretary of the CPI(M) Anil Biswas was stringently critical of the bandh and of its sponsors.  Biswas said that by making irresponsible statements over the past few days, the Trinamul Congress leadership had sought to create an atmosphere of fear and terror to force the people to be wary of the strike day.  The Trinamul leadership had said that there would be violence on the bandh day.  The Left Front and the CPI(M) had asked upon the people to come out into the streets and foil the bandh in an active manner.  Indeed, outside of a few places in south Kolkata, the Trinamul Congress activists themselves chose to remain indoors throughout the day, and their supremo, who had earlier spoken of ‘walking on bullet-strewn paths,’ was no exception. 

On the other hand, throughout the day Left Front and CPI(M) workers along with the people remained alert against mischief mongers. Processions circulated throughout the day. 

In  another rally organised by the Democratic Lawyers’ Association, speakers like eminent pleaders, Dilip Gupta and Bimalendu Dey condemned the attitude of the Trinamul Congress and the Bar Council for organising illogical opposition to the pre-litigation conciliation bill; the bill, once passed into an Act, they contended, would benefit very rural people especially the rural poor through arbitration of small measures of dispute. 

The conciliation board would comprise a pleader from the bloc, an arbitrator trained by the state legal services authority, and an eminent person of the locality who would preside over the proceedings. Any side not satisfied with the proceedings of the arbitration/conciliation board could go and take advantage of the existing process of litigation.  They can also put up lawyers after seeking the permission of the chairman of the board.  Thus it was clear that the opposition to the conciliation bill, the lawyers contended, was one motivated by politics.