[Reader-list] Lalgarh does not exist

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear Subhrodip

I appreciate your concern about the displacement of tribals, which has not
at all been looked at in the media. It is certainly true that the media has
presented the situation in Lalgarh the way the CPI(M) would like us all to
believe. The fact is that it's the way the police handled the situation
after the blasts involving two Union Ministers and the current CM of Bengal,
last year. The police insulted the tribals instead of catching the culprits,
and certainly the CPI(M) cadre would have had a role to play, for in Bengal,
I don't think there would be a difference between the government, the party
cadre and the police.

The Left, while talking about providing rights to the poor and the
downtrodden, has totally forgotten its ideological stand, and has thus stood
against the very goal it wanted to achieve: political, social and economic
empowerment of the poor. The Left has systematically destroyed institution
after institution, and the fine line between the govt. and the party has
been blurred, as the party seems to be the overriding institution to decide
everything. If one looks at field of culture, all organizations related to
the govt. and culture dept. are having Leftist intellectuals. If one thinks
about police, it's loyalty to the CPI(M) which matters more rather than
maintenance of law and order.

The Left has even used the mechanism of decentralization of power to extend
its power down to the village panchayat level. In a normal situation, this
would have helped the people to get power in their own hands. Instead, the
Left has totally misused this situation. Now the poor, the migrants, the
Muslims and the tribals are systematically kept poor and downtrodden. The
govt. schemes are meant to serve the interests only of the CPI(M) supporters
in each village. Others are simply omitted. Loyalty is the factor which
decides whether one gets help or not. Even in the recent Cyclone Alia, there
was news that the CPI(M) panchayats were distributing aid only to their
supporters who were affected, and others were simply ignored.

What's more is that the Leftists were at least earlier known for not using
resources by govt. for their personal economics. Now of course, it's a
different ball game. Under the current Bengal govt., many such things have
come to light. Look at Nandigram and Singur, and the way the police indulged
in shooting rather than trying out other methods. Killing of people even by
the police under deteriorating law and order situation should be the last
step, and should be tried only if the situation can't be under control.
Instead, like in the rest of the country, the Bengal police proved their
incompetency by shooting first, and the Bengal govt. also proved theirs by
killing and then talking.

Then came news in the media about how the CPI(M) cadres were getting rich in
the villages by diverting resources obtained through the govt. machinery for
private purposes. Only CPI(M) cadres could be present in the poverty line
scheme. Supporters of other parties would not be allowed even to attend
panchayat meetings, and even if a handful of them did so, during passing of
financial budget or discussion of other schemes, they would simply be
shouted down upon. And now of course, we have Lalgarh, where if Left cadres
can't be there, it's wrong, but if the Left had it, all cadres from all
other parties would be wiped out and sent out of Bengal.

Of course, the Left has changed the nature of the state so much, that today
the situation, at the village level at least, is not dictated so much so by
caste or sex, as by party affiliations. And whenever the Left failed its
power waning, they have resorted to violence both through the party
machinery and through the govt. machinery. This way, the Left has resorted
to killing the TC activists, and even Congress and other activists.

The state is now polarized on party lines, and since the Left has obstructed
any kind of democratic opposition to rise through non-violent methods, the
only method left for the Opposition to survive is by violence. This is what
we have seen too. The Trinamool Congress is no better than the Left in its
record of violent acts. Infact, now that the police has begun to feel that
the Trinamool may come back to power in the 2011 Assembly elections, they
have probably forgotten to support the CPI(M) cadres, which is why we now
keep hearing news of the Left activists being killed in villages where only
Trinamool cadres exist.

So now, all kind of democracy is brought to a halt. Dissent has been dealt
with through violence. And villages are classified as Left or Trinamool
ones. This is utterly disgusting, and one of the most destructive features
of the Left govt., for which the Left mainly, and so also in part the
Trinamool is responsible. And Mamta Banerjee doesn't inspire hope that if
she does come to power in Bengal, things will change too much from there.

Regarding the current situation in Lalgarh, I feel that the govt. should not
have simply sent forces first. The first option, in any case, as in this
one, would have been to see if there are any possibilities of talks. After
all, in this case, the PSBJC has stated that they are ready for talks, and
since they have formed in short term to protest the atrocities inflicted by
the police on them (in the name of investigating the Lalgarh blasts 2008)
and in long term to ensure development of the tribals, the Central govt.
should have instead asked the State govt to first think of talks.

It seems however that the Congress was thinking of supporting the Left as
well, just in case they lost out Mamta's support. Which is why the forces
were sent and violence as an option has been considered.

Anyways, more than the Army, it's the CRPF which has been notoriously
involved in most of the cases which have tarnished the image of the defence
forces. In Chhatisgarh, they have been found in numerous reports, indulging
along with Salwa Judum activists in rapes, murders and killings, stealing of
pigs, cows, and burning of homes. Is this what the CRPF is meant for? In the
North East, it's they who seem to create most of the troubles in the name of
the AFSPA. And I recently read a news item saying that the CRPF which was
sent to troubled Assam during the period of communal violence (I believe
between Bodos and Muslims), two of them were involved in raping a girl.
Probably the CRPF needs to be given a shock treatment when such incidents
are on a rise. (I don't believe there should be armies required in the world
at all, for they only distort our views to justify their relevance. However,
the inevitable fact is that no state is going to withdraw its army, and so
what we must strive to do is to balance out our views, and let them not
commit wrong deeds in the name of defence activities.)

It is also shameful that Maoists have been declared terrorists, without
realizing why people support them. For 60 years, you couldn't bring
development to tribals, and your machinery colluded with party cadre for 32
years to ensure tribals were oppressed and cheated. Now that a group of
people come and ask the tribals to fight against you, are they actually
terrorists? They don't even want a new state. What they want is development,
and why can't we talk with them, sit down and discuss issues. After all,
creation of the Maoists is a failure of our model of development, and the
sooner or later the Indian state realize this, the better for us.

Regards

Rakesh