People's Democracy

People Foil Sporadic Attempts To Disrupt The PDS In Bengal

People holding a march against the vandalisation of PDS shops

B Prasant

SPORADIC albeit organised attempts are presently made to disrupt the smooth functioning of the public distribution system in Bengal. The vicious endeavours are orchestrated by the elements of rural and urban stakes in order to obstruct the rationing process of essential commodities. Specifically involved are the big shop owners and their subsidiary agencies. The Trinamul Congress, the BJP, the SUCI, and the Naxalites (and the Maoists in the red clay zones) -- shamelessly anti-people all the way as usual -- are in the van of armed assaults.

The Pradesh Congress lacking the support enough even among lumpens to take part in the machinations has issued several statements calling for a ‘CBI inquiry into the breakdown of the rationing system in Bengal.’

The people frustrated with the designs and machinations of the opposition worthies have chosen to offer resistance to the forays and assaults on the public distribution system. This has happened all over the state wherever lumpens of the opposition rank-and-file have tried to dislocate the rationing system. The people know that when the union government is keen to decimate the rationing system all over the country, the Left-led states have sought bravely to keep the public distribution of essential commodities from fair price shops in tact.

The state committee of the Bengal unit of the CPI(M) in its most recent meeting has called upon the conscious people to frustrate the designs of the troublemakers. It has iterated that the state LF government has been intent on keeping alive the public distribution system and has ensured that the people were not put to any discomfort in any way. The state committee has called all its units to rally the people and to defeat the conspiracy being hatched against the state LF government.

For the Trinamul Congress, participation in the attack on ration shops and ration dealers is its way out of the crisis gradually overwhelming that outfit, with encouragement to lumpenism becoming the forté of its chieftain.

Mamata Banerjee after all has recently and in full view of the people and the media, called for an ‘armed civil war’ in Bengal to ‘rid the state of the CPI(M).’ That there were perhaps not many takers for her preferred mode of anti-communist ranting and raving would never detract from the kind of mindset she seeks assiduously to impart among her unruly followers and history-sheeters encouraging them to run riot.

RIOTING AND LOOTING AT NADIA, BIRBHUM

In a heinous move, local leaders of the Trinamul Congress and the BJP at places in Nadia and Birbhum went out with loudspeakers and called upon the people to participate in the process of looting of ration shops, and extract money from the dealers. Taking up the cue a clutch of anti-socials came out with arms, putting to the torch several ration shops before looting them clean.

The BJP leadership then addressed the people to say that whoever attacked and looted ration shops would be given ‘cash incentives.’ While the people themselves would not respond to this dangerously criminal ploy, the armed cadres of the Trinamul Congress did — in Nadia and Birbhum, as also in Murshidabad.

At Nabagram in Murshidabad, the Adhir Chaudhuri fraction of the Pradesh Congress and Trinamul Congress goons joined hands to engage themselves in a running battle with the villagers and the police. They torched 20-odd houses, burnt police jeeps, and in the fray that followed at least 30 villagers and five police personnel were grievously injured.

This they did at Ketugram in the district of Burdwan. The Gram Panchayat where the armed goondas of the opposition outfits attacked the ration shops and fair price shop owners had earlier seen these elements threatening the ration dealers to pay them ‘fines’ for carrying out the public distribution system.

With the ration shop owners refusing to oblige the miscreants, the second wave of attacks began with use of saw bombs, staves, sharp, cutting weapons, and even country-made single barrel guns. It has been learnt that the entire ‘operation’ was chalked out and put to action by the discredited Pradesh Congress leader Adhir Chaudhuri (now out in bail) in conjunction with the Trinamul Congress – with whose leadership his camaraderie and closeness are well known – and the ultimate aim was to kill local CPI(M) leaders. This was made evident when houses of CPI(M) leaders were attacked and they attempted to put the houses to the torch. The police were attacked by the armed goons when they tried to intervene.

The state Left Front government has announced stern measures against all those found engaged in attacks on ration shops and ration dealers. In the meanwhile, the fair price shop owners’ associations have been persuaded to stay away from mass resignation as ration shop dealers.

POPULAR RESISTANCE

Hordes of armed goons, in the pay protection of the opposition in Bengal, have started to face more and more resistance from the people of rural and semi-urban areas and the criminals have often been caught red-handed at numerous places and handed over to the authorities.

There has been an important fall out of the popular resistance. In Birbhum, a dozen-odd people have come back sheepishly with the articles – mostly sackfuls of rice, wheat, and sugar – they had earlier looted from ration shops and have pleaded ‘pangs of conscience.’

An interesting incident occurred during the process of looting at Burdwan. Sheikh Fakir Mohammad, a local Trinamul Congress leader of ill-repute found himself at the receiving end of the goons in the pay of his outfit, when he saw his ration shop broken into and thoroughly looted. The intervention of a large group of people led by the local CPI(M) workers saved the hapless victim of his own outfit from witnessing the complete burning down of his ration shop and residence.

In a clash that later developed as the people chased the gang that had been indulging in sporadic looting of ration shops around the Nawab Haat area, several people including two CPI(M) district committee members, Ganesh Chaudhuri and Kamal Gayen received injuries. Also wounded was the local CPI(M) MLA Pradip Tah. In all eleven CPI(M) workers, and more than two-dozen common people of the locale were hospitalised with serious bleeding injuries.

At few places in Murshidabad the Pradesh Congress lumpens indulged in looting ruthlessly even the shops storing materials for mid-day meals. The police were forced to resort to lathi charge on the looters among whose ranks were expert arsonists carrying jerrycans filled of flammable material like petrol and kerosene.

Subsequently, two hundred villages in the area saw a vast number of people organising marches against the looters and arsonists. Shouting slogans, the villagers also reminded the people that rumour-mongering was afoot that the rationing system was being withdrawn. This would often make the panicky villagers attack and loot ration shops and the entire effort would be led by the opposition worthies. The CPI(M) has already engaged itself in a mass campaign against all kinds lie campaigns making ground, especially in the corporate media

ROLE OF THE CORPORATE MEDIA

In a bomb explosion, a man later known to be Dhanu Das died. The media immediately started floating stories about several people having been killed by the police and what was happening was a food movement by the people. The post mortem reported that depicted that Dhanu had died in a bomb explosion has since silenced all but the most anti-communist of the media houses. Similar attacks in different areas of Birbhum and Burdwan have been frustrated by the people themselves.

Since then the attempts at disruption have generally gone down but the people remain on the vigil. The Left Front leadership has urged the LF government to supply extra quantities of rice, wheat, and sugar from the fair price shops during the festive season coming up.

Elsewhere, LF chairman Biman Basu speaking at a large rally in Kolkata has sharply criticised the opposition for the foul game they were found engaged in, across the state. The Left Front government shall meet the challenge and go ahead to further strengthen the rationing system, he declared.

Biman Basu pointed out that in engaging itself in attempts to dismantle the public distribution system, the UPA government was yet again going against a declared step of the Common Minimum Programme to strengthen – and not weaken – the PDS. Biman Basu was also full of condemnation of the UPA government for the galloping rise in the price of commodities of common consumption across the country about which it would not do anything.