[Reader-list] Marichjhhapi: In Search of Truth

[A. Mani]

http://pragoti.org/node/4388
Marichjhhapi: In Search of Truth
Wed, 2011-05-04 20:35 | Sourindra Ghosh

Introduction

In late 1970s, around 1,20,000 Bangladeshi refugees, a large number of
whom were marginalized lower castes called Namashudras, came to West
Bengal from rehabilitation centers of Dandakaranya and other regions
and took shelter in Marichjhhapi, a forested island in the Sundarbans.
The West Bengal government, on a temporary basis, provided for their
shelter and other basic needs. At the same time, the West Bengal
government appealed to the refugees to go back to their respective
rehabilitation centers. A majority of the refugees eventually
responded to that appeal. However, a few thousand of them stayed back
and resisted by force any attempt to repatriate them.

Conflict with the administration intensified. At one instance, the
police open fired at a violent mob of protestors that attacked a
police camp in Marichjhhapi, resulting in death of two civilians. The
Marichjhhapi incident has time and again come up in political
discourse, mostly in an attempt to depict Left Front government of
West Bengal, and the Left in general, as anti-dalit.

Death: Claims and Facts

There is a great deal of debate regarding actual number of deaths.
Dilip Chakraborty, thethen MLA from Bharatiya Lok Dal, claimed that as
many as 777 people died in the Marichjhhapi incident. On being asked
by Jyoti Basu, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, about the
source of the information, Chakraborty referred to one unnamed police
officer and promised to give further details later (Jyoti Basu, West
Bengal Assembly speech, 1979). However, there is no record of any
further clarification or evidence given by Chakraborty in support of
his claim. Jyoti Basu categorically mentioned in his speech that two
persons had died in police firing in Marichjhhapi. This could not be
contested by anybody on the basis of any credible evidence or report.

The death toll in Marichjhhapi has been brought into discussion again
in recent times. Ross Mallick (The Journal of Asian Studies, 1999)
claimed that 17,000 people died in the entire episode. The specific
number was derived from a PhD dissertation by Nilanjana Chatterjee
(Brown University, USA): “at least 3,000 refugees had secretly left
Marichjhhapi and scattered across West Bengal…At the end of July 1979,
a spokesman for the Dandakaranya Development Authority announced that
of the nearly 15,000 families who had ‘deserted’, around 5,000
families (approximately 20,000 refugees) had failed to return”. From
this, the number 17,000 was calculated by simple arithmetic of
deducting 3000 from 20,000. Mallick, however, did not provide any
reference for the number 3,000. There is no evidence whatsoever of
such a large number of people dying, either due to police action or
other causes. The numbers being cited by these people are entirely
arbitrary.

‘Instigators’

There were several organisations, which had actively led or backed the
mass exodus of over one-lakh refugees into West Bengal. Let us now
scrutinize the character of such organisations and the role they
played.

The Unnayanshil Udbastu Samiti (UUS) was in the forefront of the
refugee exodus and the consequent confrontation with the
administration. They played a key role in convincing the refugees to
leave Dandakaranya and settle in West Bengal. In 1975, a UUS team
visited Marichjhhapi and decided it to be ideal place for refugees to
settle. The attempted exodus from Dandakaranya at that time was
aborted by the then Congress government. Finally in 1978, the UUS led
the refugees to Marichjhhapi. Before coming to Marichjhhapi, there was
no consultation with either the state government or the central
government.

After the refugees settled in Marichjhhapi in 1978, there are records
(Gosaba PS, Case No.9 dated 13.2.1979) which suggest that when the
refugees tried to leave the island, they were threatened by UUS
volunteers with dire consequences and were forced to stay back (Island
of Death, Achintyarup Ray, Times of India 2010).

Jalais (EPW 2005), celebrating ‘entrepreneurship’ of Marichjhhapi
refugees, stated that local enterprises were set up in Marichjhhapi
along with schools and healthcare centres. It was not mentioned where
from the money came for such capital expenditures. We get our answer
from a memorandum (dated 22nd March, 1979) submitted by the UUS to a
parliamentary team that visited Marichjhhapi. Condemning a police
raid, the memorandum unwittingly reveals that during that raid “the
refugees ran away leaving their 157 boats behind loaded with timber
and firewood costing nearly Rs. 3.50 lakhs including the cost of the
boats”. The “loaded…timber and firewood” were collected by illegally
cutting trees of the reserve forest; the boats too were made from wood
of the reserve forest. The villagers used to fell trees and sell
timbers to the UUS (Times of India 2010). Such illegal timber trade
was one of the sources of funds for the UUS.

The UUS was also engaged in other illegal activities. In lieu of
money, they started ‘distributing’ reserve forestland to the refugees.
There were strict guidelines of the UUS: to be eligible for land, one
cannot be involved with any political or non-political organization
apart from the Samity.

‘Hindu Homeland’ & ‘Bengalistan’

Apart from the UUS, there are two other organizations that were
involved in the refugee movement; Amra Bangali (We the Bengalis) and
Nikhil Banga Nagarik Sangha (All Bengal Citizens Association). Amra
Bangali helped the refugees with donations. The Sangh, according to
Intelligence Bureau, distributed route-maps from Kolkata to Sunderban
among the refugees (in 1978). They also distributed a map of
Marichjhhapi island (Times of India 2010).

As declared in the website of Amra Bangali (www.amrabangali.org), a
sister organisation of right-wing Ananda Marg, the stated objective of
the organization is to establish Bengalistan or a Bengali homeland,
comprising parts of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, Orissa,
Bihar, Jharkhand, Andaman, and of sovereign nations like Nepal,
Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The objective of Nikhil Banga Nagarik Sangha is to establish a
separate ‘Hindu Homeland’. The Sangha gained notoriety in recent times
when they disrupted inauguration of Maitrei Express, a train
connecting Kolkata and Dhaka, on grounds that India should not have
cordial relationship with Bangladesh when Hindus in that country are
“persecuted”. The police also alleged that the organization is
responsible for planting three bombs on the train route
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7345724.stm).

Betrayal

However, after bringing into conflict the administration and poor mass
of people, who in the eyes of the administration were violators of the
law of the land (because of illegal timber trade and occupation of
reserved forest land), the very individuals who ‘led’ these people
deserted them. On May 1979, the three prominent leaders of UUS –
Satish Mal, Raiharan Barui and Rangalal Goldar - vanished from the
island (Times of India 2010). The hapless refugees were left to face
the consequences of the actions masterminded by such people and
organisations.

Role of the Left

It has been portrayed that the experience of Marichjhhapi demonstrates
anti-dalit casteist character of the LF government of West Bengal.
However, it is West Bengal government that initially provided for
shelter and other things when over one-lakh dwellers settled in
Marichjhhapi in 1978. The government had spent Rs 4 crore for that
purpose (Jyoti Basu, West Bengal Assembly speech, 1979).

The Left has also played a crucial role in ensuring basic rights of
the Namashudras. Namashudras are recognised as Scheduled Caste (SC) in
West Bengal. In 2007, a convention was organised by the CPI (M)
demanding SC status of the Namasudra, Pod (Pondra), Maji and other
similar castes among Bengali refugees, in states where they are not
recognized as SC. In sharp contrast, on June 6, 2007 the Mayawati led
BSP government in U.P. withdrew the recommendation of an earlier state
government for inclusion of Namashudras, Pod and Maji castes in the SC
lists of the state (Peoples Democracy, 9 September 2007).

We are all aware about the land reforms programme of the LF government
in West Bengal. West Bengal, which has only 3.5% of total agricultural
land in the country, accounts for nearly ¼ of land distributed in the
entire country under land reforms programme. But what did it mean for
the Dalits in the state? It meant a lot: West Bengal alone accounts
for nearly 50% of total number of schedule caste beneficiaries of
ceiling-surplus land distribution in the country. Also, NSSO data show
that West Bengal ranks second, next to Tripura (another Left governed
state), in the ratio of the proportion of agricultural land owned by
Dalits to their proportion in the rural population.

Enjoying political space is another aspect that influences social and
economic conditions that the people live in. Decentralisation of
democratic-political power, an important characteristic of Left Front
government of West Bengal, can give that rightful political space to
the deprived sections and the marginalised. In West Bengal, 33% of the
members of the Panchayat Samiti are SCs; in the Zilla Parishad, nearly
30% of the seats belong to the SCs; and in the Gram Panchayats, 34.6%
of the seats belong to the SCs; their share of representation in these
grass-root democratic institutions is in fact more than their
proportion in the population of West Bengal.

Conclusion

Involvement of the reactionary separatist forces and illegal
activities of the UUS, that includes use of force on the refugees to
stay back in the island, reveals a nefarious attempt to carry out a
rightwing divisive political agenda in the state of West Bengal. For
their narrow political goal, such forces took advantage of the pitiful
condition of the poor refugees, which caused immense suffering to
these people. In a few anti-Left propaganda-narratives, the real story
has been glossed over, and the Left is deliberately depicted as an
anti-dalit and anti-refugee force. The truth regarding Marichjhhapi
reveals an entirely different story.

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