[Reader-list] Marichjhapi and the Revenge of Bengali Bhadralok: The story of a Dalit Genocide that remains untold

[A. Mani]

On Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 10:20 AM, Sudeep K S <sudeep.ks at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 9:49 PM, A. Mani <a.mani.cms at gmail.com> wrote:

>     I have no problems with crossposting. I just hope you are sending my
> mails also to your party mailing list:-) (pragoti at yahoogroups.com: This

That is not a party list. It is for the democratic Left. I am not a politician.

>     I am amused by your mail that looks like a party memo. One can not ask
> any questions, as it would be against party rules. Once you mention the word
> 'party', there is no need for any substantation in any way to whatever you
> say. This may work in your party meetings but not on a forum like this. My
> question stays,

The Left front was directly involved in the incident and diverse
opinions were involved. They can only provide the best clues. I can
also say that you are biased beforehand and seem to have been
brainwashed by the right-wing media about what constitutes an
'impartial enquiry'.

>    "Could you substantiate the above two "main aspects" of your version of
> the Marichjhapi story? Or shall we say this story of yours is completely
> fictitious and biased, without any research going into it?"

I at least tried to check with Bangladeshis and  CPI(M) party members
and have informed the list about a major side of the story.

>   (In addition to this, I have commented on a couple of your statements
> below)
>
> On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 9:57 AM, Sudeep K S <sudeep.ks at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 11:53 PM, A. Mani <a.mani.cms at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Caste is of little consequence in Left-Bengal.
>>
>>     You know what, CPM has been saying the same about Kerala also. What a
>> coincidence!
>
>> Caste is the business of a minority bourgeois. Within the party it is
>> taboo.
>> For the few religion-based clashes in the past, vested interests had
>> to rely on very small
>> groups of misguided people or hired goons. Caste-based clashes are
>> relatively unknown in West Bengal. These are well documented.
>>
>> >>
>> >> There are two main
>> >> aspects in the marichjhapi story:
>> >>
>> >> 1. Mismanagement of the refugee problem by the Left Government. Due to
>> >> resource constraints, the Govt realised that they could not offer much
>> >> support to the refugees in Dandakarnya.  But entry into the state was
>> >> allowed  - this was a mistake (they were explicitly warned of 'no Govt
>> >> support', though). Most of the village people in West Bengal resisted
>> >> their entry and many violent incidents did take place.
>> >>
>> >> The police action was intended to evict the refugees from Marichjhapi
>> >> and also to arrest particular merceneries.
>> >>
>> >> 2. The involvement of the CIA and related agencies (who apparently had
>> >> infiltrated the refugee lines) in organising armed training camps was
>> >> also a major reason for the police action. The CIA may never
>> >> declassify documents relating to their involvement (and when they
>> >> operate through other agencies, then it is not usually transparent).
>> >>
>> >> All decisions by the Left Government were taken on the basis of
>> >> feedback from the ground level. Within the CPI(M) party all these
>> >> aspects were debated in detail and
>> >> many did not want a direct police action.
>> >>
>> >>  Direct casualties in action were limited. It is also true that most
>> >> of the party people regard the forced eviction as the biggest mistake
>> >> ever.
>> >
>> >     Could you substantiate the above two "main aspects" of your version
>> > of
>> > the Marichjhapi story? Or shall we say this story of yours is completely
>> > fictitious and biased, without any research going into it?
>>
>> I checked up with party old-timers and former party members. "they
>> were explicitly warned of 'no Govt  support', though" was reported in
>> the newspapers.
>>
>> All these were debated extensively within the party at that time and
>> quite a lot was reported.
>>
>>
>> >     (The Kerala CPM also says "CIA" and 'foreign hand' whenever there is
>> > anything spoken against them.).
>>
>> CIA and foreign hand have been a problem even before
>> http://www.firstministry.kerala.gov.in/articles.htm
>>
>> 'CIA' and 'foreign hand' usually figure in accusations against others
>> and their misdeeds (often of a violent nature). They heavily fund the
>> Hindutva forces in Kerala in particular and there is plenty of
>> evidence for the same. But the legal framework for dealing with this
>> problem is not strong enough and is being persistently weakened
>> through liberalisation.
>>
>> You can find quantitative evidence in lots of places.
>>
>> >> There are no parallels with any other later-day incident.
>> >
>> >     Ok -- drawing parallels is the job of those who get to hear stories.
>> > Let
>> > them do it.
>> >
>> >> You can try claiming that the villagers in South Bengal were
>> >> 'casteist', but it is not true.
>> >
>> >     Again, what is the basis of this claim?
>>
>> Politics is far ahead of castes here (... if there is any).  There
>> should be some quantitative studies on this subject.
>
>     "There should be"? What do you mean by that? In that case I guess Ajay,
> Nilesh and Anoop could say the opposite, that caste oppression is far ahead
> than anything in West Bengal (sorry Left Bengal) and 'there should be
> proof'. I think they have done more than that, in a more convincing manner.
> Ajay Hela is from Bengal, from the scavenging Hela community, and I am sure
> he knows "if there is any" caste in West Bengal and how it works better than
> you or your party does.


We are dealing with attitude of the dominant political party towards
caste and the conditioning caused by other left movements here and are
not talking about the social aspect inherited by a minority bourgeois.
The original article is confused on this aspect.
The bourgeois media would not have bothered more even if the refugees
were 'high caste hindus'  given the fact that they constitute a "vote
bank for the Left".

Would the refugees have received a more favourable response from the
villagers had they belonged to some 'higher caste'? - This part is
more debatable

We have plenty of studies on the improvement of the state of SC/STs in
the state and also on correlations with things like resource
allocation. But these are more recent studies.


>> The Namashudra caste has the fourth-highest literacy rate of West
>> Bengal Scheduled Castes: 71.9 percent, or 80.6 percent for males and
>> 62.8 for females. The caste with the highest rate of literacy in West
>> Bengal has 82.5 overall, while the national literacy average for
>> Scheduled Castes is 54.7 percent (Office of the Registrar General,
>> India (undated),‘West Bengal Data Highlights: The Scheduled Castes’,
>> Census of India 2001
>> http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/SCST/dh_sc_westbengal.pdf –
>
>     Does that say anything about their life status in the society?


Literacy is an important indicator.

Best

A. Mani


-- 
A. Mani
ASL, CLC,  AMS, CMS
http://www.logicamani.co.cc