Events & Issues

New Delhi, 20 June 2011

Mamata’s New Agenda

DISMANTLE ‘STALINIST’ FORCES

By Dr Nitish Sengupta

The election that swept away the CPM-led Left Front in West Bengal and put the TMC Congress combine in power was no ordinary poll.  It marked the end of en experiment to create a Stalinist society within a Parliamentary democracy, undoubtedly taking full advantage of that democracy.

Significantly, it heralded the return of democracy.  The credit goes to Mamata Bannerjee’s three decades of crusade.  Also the Election Commission must be given kudos for organizing a free and fair poll, the first one in several decades.

The large scale recovery of arms and ammunitions in West Bengal allegedly dumped by CPM workers in the last few weeks and the unearthing of a large number of human skeletons allegedly of former Trinamool workers missing for years and killed by the CPM paint a lurid picture of the political regime that ruled the State during the last 35 years. 

They provide eloquent proof, if evidence is needed that the CPM which profess Marxism really tried to create an essentially Stalinist social structure in West Bengal by taking advantage of the democratic system. 

Indeed, in realizing this objective the Marxists did not hesitate to kill all those who opposed them.  In every district the CPM had its units who specialized in murdering people, some who were experts in raping women and others who were past masters in demolishing offices of Opposition parties. 

Shockingly, the police was reduced to a wing of the Party which simply carried out the directions of Party bosses and did not pay any attention to the basic requirements of the Indian Penal Code or the Criminal Procedure Code.  True, while the urban areas by and large escaped this attempted Stalinisation, it was the rural areas which were principally targeted by the Marxist Party.

Following the CPM’s success in Operation Barga which ensured the support of the share croppers and rural masses, the Party also converted rural West Bengal into a Party dominated area. There was a Party functionary everywhere called the Local Secretary of the Communist Party (popularly called LCS) who became the principal power centre at every area, more important than the SDO, the local Police Inspector and even the District Magistrate. 

Every police station (thana) would only take orders from the LCS.  Whereby, a police thana would refuse to register a FIR (First Information Report) without the approval of the LCS.  People going to the thana with genuine complaint would be turned back and asked to get a recommendation from the LCS. 

Similarly, schools and colleges would admit students only on the recommendation of the LCS.  Ditto the case with hospitals wherein patients had to be recommended by the LCS. Even the Secretariat Departments could not move in any matter unless the petitioner had obtained recommendation from the LCS of that area. 

Added to this, was the tyranny exercised by armed CPM cadres in selected areas. Usually they would physically control a certain part of every constituency.  When elections came they would ensure that 100 per cent votes in that constituency would go to the CPM candidate which would also ensure his victory. Notwithstanding, the votes secured by candidates of other Parties in rest of the constituency.  Undoubtedly, it is this more than anything else which explains the victory of the CPM in successive elections in West Bengal. 

Moreover, the Party dominated the trade unions, student community, school teachers and college professors along-with peasant organizations. Only CPM members or sympathizers were recruited as college professors and school teachers.  No one was appointed the Vice Chancellor unless he or she had been a CPM sympathizer or Party member. 

Undeniably, all this continued unabated for over three decades and would have continued for several more years but for Mamata Bannerji’s crusade and mistakes committed by the Left leadership.

In addition, the outside world either did not quite believe what was going on in the State or chose to ignore it. Recall, even during the Vajpayee-led NDA regime, when Mamata repeatedly complained to the Union Home Ministry against the atrocities committed by the CPM, the then Home Minister L.K. Advani chose not to believe her and instead would listen to the dhoti-kurta clad CPM Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya, who convincingly presented a contradictory picture. 

Recall, even the late Rajiv Gandhi, despite his feelings against the CPM, did not take the much-needed strong action against the Left Brigade and chose to listen to then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.  Consequently, the outside world tolerated this systematic dismantling of democracy and the creation of a Stalinist society. 

Notably, the present day Congress leadership should be complimented on the foresight it has shown in aligning with the Trinamool Congress and helping the process of the Left Brigade’s demolition both in the Parliamentary and State Assembly elections.

Furthermore, Chief Minister Mamata Bannerji needs to be credited for fighting a crusade and putting an end to the Left Brigade’s corrupt and tyrannical regime as also for restoring normalcy in the State. 

In sum, Mamata foremost task should be to dismantle the Stalinist regime that the CPM had created and to ensure that in future people are allowed to cast their votes according to their conviction, not turned away from the polling booths by Left Party cadres.  In that process, the Chief Minister needs to make sure that a Party like the CPM cannot come back to power ever again. ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)