People's Democracy

“THE TASTE OF AMERICA”

Veil for Empire’s Intervention in Tripura?

Rahul Sinha

AS the assembly elections in Tripura are getting nearer, reactionary forces under the able guidance and leadership of the USA, are moving to form an unholy umbrella alliance in order to mount a decisive assault on the Left Front government in the state with the sole aim of preventing it from coming back to power. An indication in this regard came out when the US Consulate of Kolkata organised a daylong programme named, Americar Aswad (The Taste of America) at Agartala on April 24. That this programme was organised by the US Consulate, the manner in which it was arranged and the people who were involved in it --- all these provide one enough ground to suspect that the US is getting actively involved, once again, in moves to block the imminent victory of the CPI(M) led Left Front, in order to counter the so called communist menace.

The said programme was arranged with assistance from the union government which kept the state government completely in dark. Director of the public relations wing of the US Consulate at Kolkata, Jeffrey K Reno, had arrived at Agartala a day before the programme. The day long affair included programmes on music, history and culture of the USA, sharing information on the avenues of higher education in the USA and details of the procedures to get a US visa. In addition, there was a quiz competition on the USA and a film show. The programme was attended by the vice chancellor of Tripura Central University, Dr Arynodoy Saha, and a national English daily’s Agartala correspondent who is known to be the key person behind the holding of this programme.

The CPI(M)’s Tripura state committee secretary, Bijan Dhar, has strongly reacted to the programme. He expressed astonishment on how the central government allowed the US Consulate to hold the programme without even informing the state government. After all, the states are constituent units of a federal structure and not subservient to an empire. Bijan Dhar described the matter as of grave concern. The US imperialism has always considered the communists as their number one enemy and we the communists also consider the US imperialism as the foremost enemy of ours as it is the foremost enemy of the people of the whole world. These programmes are nothing but ways through which the empire makes its inroads. We have to find out the hidden agenda behind these programmes.

There are ample reasons to believe that the concerns expressed by the CPI(M) state secretary are not baseless. It became known later that the officials of the US Consulate visited the Indo-Bangladesh border areas near Agartala and a few other sensitive places on the sidelines of this programme.

The credentials of the persons associated with the said programme at Agartala only substantiate the concerns and doubts. For instance, Dr Arunodoy Saha, vice chancellor of the Tripura Central University, is known to be a rabid anti-communist. It is alleged that he was elevated to this coveted post because of his close association with the ruling party at the centre. This US returned academician firmly believes that the cases of human rights violation occur in China and Cuba alone. Apart from doing away with the May Day holiday at the University and dismantling the elected students union, he has to his credit an infamous attempt to distort the history of the university in order to deny the glorious role of the Left-oriented student and mass movements and the Left Front government in the origin and development of the university.

The said journalist, who was allegedly the chief organiser of “The Taste of America,” is also known for his sheer anti-communist attitude. He has been to US a couple of times. It will be worth recalling that after the unfortunate incident of some journalists getting injured in the scuffle between the police and the Youth Congress cadres during the latter’s ferocious attempts to stall the entrance exam of Tripura Medical College, this very journalist had straightaway written a letter to the union government demanding dismissal of the state government. Hence it is only natural that this sudden desire of the US Consulate to give the people of Tripura the ‘taste  of America’ --- just a few months ahead of the crucial state assembly elections --- and handpicking such persons as accomplices for a fulfilment of their desire, has created suspicions among the people.

What is now an open secret is that the US has been active in dislodging the governments led by the Left and communists in different countries of the world. Civil wars, coups and conspiratorial murders are only a few of their tools to accomplish this objective. The half a century old blockade against Cuba and the US orchestrated coup in September 1973 (“the other 9/11”) against the popular government of Salvador Allende in Chile are only a few of the glaring examples of these heinous attempts. It was no less a person than Patrick Moynihan, a former US ambassador in India, who in his book A Dangerous Place, himself confessed that the US had directly given financial assistance to the Congress party --- first in 1959 to dislodge the first ever elected communist state government led by EMS Namboodiripad in Kerala and then in 1972 to prevent the CPI(M) from forming a government in West Bengal. Wikileaks cables have also exposed the decision of the US to ‘cultivate’ Ms Mamata Banerjee, ahead of the 2011 assembly elections in West Bengal. Innumerable people also suspect the US hand behind the infamous Purulia arms drop in 1995 and behind the attempts to dislodge the Left Front government of Tripura in the late 1980s through the secret pact between the then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and TNV leader Bijoy Hrankhawl, leading to numerous cruel murders by the TNV ahead of the state assembly elections in February 1988.

As far as the 2013 state assembly elections are concerned, the people of Tripura would be fighting for the formation of the seventh Left Front government in the state. That victory would be a great boost to the anti-imperialist and anti-neo-liberalism struggles all over the country. Hence it is only natural if number one enemy of the communists, the US imperialist, lend all kinds of direct and indirect help to the reactionary forces inside the country and the to defeat the CPI(M). “The Taste of America” was nothing but a veil for this anti-communist conspiracy.