[Reader-list] Mass Convention of April 18 and Ongoing Struggle at Nonadanga

[asit das]

Date: 19 April 2012
Subject: Mass Convention of April 18 and Ongoing Struggle at Nonadanga



Mass Convention of April 18 and Ongoing Struggle at Nonadanga - A Report at
Sanhati <http://sanhati.com/articles/4937/>

Mass Convention of April 18 and Ongoing Struggle at Nonadanga - A
Report<http://sanhati.com/articles/4937/>

*April 19, 2012*

By Sudipto Muhuri. Photo credits: Purba Rudra.

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April 18, 2012

The underbelly of our urban landscapes is always dark amidst the halo of
its exterior. The glitter and glitz of the main roads tapers off by the
time one reaches the lanes and bylanes, which get narrower, till the pitch
roads gives way to the dirt roads. This is where the dispossessed live.
Huddled away from the eyes of a small minority of the “happening and
shining people” of the neo-liberal era (even while the poor are squeezed
dry by the very same people), lie their ramshackle settlements. Nonadanga
is no exception.

One meal a day was the order of the day for Shanti Mondal even before her
dwelling was bulldozed on the 30th march. Her dwelling was among the 200
such hutments which were demolished and burnt stock and barrel. Yet what
has been exceptional and remarkable about the people of Nonadanga is their
indomitable spirit amidst all odds, in face of this eviction and demolition
drive by the government. Even as their dwellings stand in ruin, their
resolve to fight back, to recover back what they lost in these last couple
of weeks, remains unshaken. The demands are pretty straight forward –
Reconstruction of the demolished dwellings and withdrawal of cases against
their comrades in arm; the seven activists who were arrested on the 8th of
April.

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Above: Rajkumar, day 8 of hunger strike

Today was the 8th day of the hunger strike. While Anwar Mondal had to be
admitted in CMC hospital in serious condition after all these days of this
hunger strike, the others - Rajkumar Naskar, Amitava Bhattacharya,
Lakhidhar Haldar, Sanjay Sarkar and Bidhu Bhusan Naskar have persisted. It
has taken a toll on their health- the eyes were red, the bodies looked
frail and yet their words echoed one of determined resolve, to battle it
out till the end.

The place was abuzz with hectic activity as people prepared for the
convention which was to begin at 4 pm today. The sight of demolished
housing was a constant reminder of the kind of brutality the state is
capable of unleashing on its people. The empty and hoax promises of
Ma-Mati-Manush sarkar had turned on the people to bury them in the very
Mati (soil) that it promised. That seething anger and rage was palpable.
Yet that rage has also meant the budding solidarity - among the people here
and the people who joined- writers, poets, students - some of whom have
even come from far of places like Bankura. They were also preparing and
serving food in the community kitchen that has started here. Today there
was meal prepared for more than two hundred people.

By the time the convention started, it must have been about 4:30 pm. Nitish
Ray, singer and activist from Nabadwip sang about how in these megacities
poor are being exploited and sidelined. Dipankar Chakraborty of APDR spoke
about the startling similarities of the turn of events leading up to the
struggle in Singur with that of Nonadanga. While the gory end of Tapasi
Mallick exposed the face of State terror of the Buddhadeb led CPM
government during the Singur agitation, here in the case of Nonadanga there
was the beating up of a pregnant woman by the police forces which exposed
the face of the Mamata-led TMC government.

Nonadanga might well be that fi rst spark and the fi rst solid resistance
of people against the might of the State, just like the Singur struggle was
in yesteryears. Even while Singur was the precursor to massive movements of
Nandigram and Lalgarh that followed it, there is a feeling in the air that
something similar is unfolding among the people, only this time it is the
urban poor.

Malavika Das, one of the residents whose dwelling has been demolished,
recounted the immense pain and agony of seeing her dwelling being razed by
the bullldozers. She wondered how the people in power behaved arrogantly
with the downtrodden, using the brute force of the police on one hand and
the party hired goons on the other. She urged for solidarity among the
people in this struggle.

Amit Dasgupta of Gano Sanskriti pointed out how the right to proper shelter
and housing was a non-negotiable right of every citizen in this country.

Purna Mondal, another resident of Nonadanga, wondered how the very same
politicians who came begging for their votes were not the least bothered
about their plight. He ridiculed the idea of turning Calcutta into London
and wondered what kind of people would live in such a city which
steamrolled over *manush*.

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Above: Purna: ” There is no place
for the poor in didi’s London”

Poet Saswati Lahiri recited a hope-inspiring poem even as she pointed out
how a section of the inteligensia in the city has been silenced and in a
way trapped by the being provided various forms of sops and rewards by the
government of the day. Biswajit Haldar, a veteran of the Anti-eviction
committee, vehemently urged for the broad solidarity of the people living
in various di fferent slums in the city. He also shared the success of the
resistance movement of slum dwellers in Dum Dum area who have so far
sucessfully resisted the takeover of their land by the Kolkata Metro.

Meanwhile people of Nonadanga were enthused in getting to know about the
press conference of fellow activist Partho Sarathi Ray, were he rea ffirmed
his commitment with this struggle in no uncertain terms.

Inspite of the eight days of hunger strike, Amitava Bhattacharya of MKP and
convener of Ucched Pratirodh Committee spoke passionately about the need
for unity among the slum dwellers in the wake of the repeated attempts by
the government to divide the people and pitting one against the other. He
explained how, by selectively distinguishing various slum dwellers based on
the number of years of their residence, and making empty promises to one
set of people, a shrewd ploy was in reality afoot to evict slum dwellers
and hand over land to the real estate developers. He pointed out the fact
that many of the people in Nonadanga have lost their jobs as a direct
consequence of the current eviction drive by the State. He described how
the State in its current avatar dared to play with the lives and livelihood
of people only because these are very people who starve and live on less
than twenty rupees a day and the government thinks this majority of (77
percent of the Indian population) hungry people are powerless.

He ridiculed and mocked the fact that the people who stole from the poor
were legal residents, living in the skyscrapers, while the toiling mass of
the poor on whose labour this city has been built have been declared
illegal and are being evicted. He warned the government to stop playing
with the lives of the poor because it might well be the fire of anger of
the people which will gobble up the government. He also sharply criticized
the State and the judicial system in context of the granting of bail to the
arrested activists,

While Partho Sarathi Ray was provided bail, the other six activists were
denied bail although all of them were arrested exactly under similar
situations and under similar conditions. He also mentioned about
approaching the High Court regarding the bail plea for the six other
activists who are still languishing in police or judicial custody.

Finally after a few more speeches by people of other organizations the
convention concluded with a screening of a very recent documentary film on
Nonadanga which also draws parallel with the previous eviction drives of
the erstwhile CPM led government. More than 700 people attended today’s
meeting.

While the night fell, the spirit of people of Nonadanga remained wide
awake. There was also this increasing realization among them that they are
on the cusp of a defi ning moment in the history of people’s resistance,
where they are standing in the forefront, representing and fighting this
battle not just for themselves but for the larger mass of people - the
urban dispossesed who are being assaulted and attacked by the current
onslaught of neo liberal forces. What the future holds, only time will
decide but surely if they win this battle, it will be the springboard for
other urban based people’s movements fi ghting against the ruling
neo-liberal dispensation.

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