FROM THE STATESMAN
Maoist violence and political vendetta is once again set to eliminate every intermediate space of democratic protest and struggle, leaving the people with only two options: either line up with the state or follow their political opponents. This is the picture everywhere, from Lalgarh to Darjeeling, writes Parag Biswas
TV footage of villagers and armed Maoist cadres demolishing the CPI(M) party office at Lalgarh on 16 June 2009 reminded me of the footage of fundamentalist Hindus pulling down the 16th-century Babari Masjid at Ayodhya 18 years back.
As happened on 6 December 1992, the inevitable happened in West Bengal. Soon after the Bharatiya Janata Party assumed power in four big states in the late ’80s, the anger among a sizeable section of the majority Hindu population against the ruling Congress’ “minority appeasement” policy became evident. Hindu fanatics waiting in the wings came out into the open. Similarly, as soon as the election results came out and the wall of fear collapsed and mass anger against the ruling CPI(M) became evident in West Bengal, the Maoists waiting in the wings have come out into the open. And with the winds of change blowing in the state, political parties are out to settle scores.
The deep-seated culture of political violence, often hidden by the veneer of Bengali bhadralok culture, is back in the state with a vengeance. Political violence was evident in the early ’70s when Congress and Marxist workers killed each other routinely. Then the Naxalites joined in, lopping off the heads of vice-chancellors and innocent traffic policemen.
This was followed by the repressive regime of Siddhartha Shankar Ray during the Emergency. When the Left Front assumed power, it paid back in the same coin. Violence begat violence, and became the coin of political exchange in West Bengal — perhaps the only state where political workers are killed every now and then to settle political arguments. Unbroken Left Front rule for the past 32 years had settled the argument in the Marxists’ favour, and there was a seeming calm in the state. But at the first sign of a credible rival surfacing in the Trinamul Congress, the lid has come off to reveal the ugly political cancer.
The sickening pattern of violence is being played out in different towns and hamlets with murderous intent. A brief 24-hour record of the spiralling violence in the state between 4-5 June 2009 emphatically proves the point. On 4 June, a CPI(M) mob marched to the house of Trinamul Congress activist Yudhistir Dolui, set it on fire and hacked him to death. The mob then ransacked the Trinamul office and eight neighbouring shops in Batanol at Arambag. Then they took out a “victory” rally in the hamlet.
In retaliation, Trinamul activists beat up the CPI(M)’s former gram panchayat member, Tarini Manna, and torched his motorbike. Taking the cue, rival groups clashed in the neighbouring hamlets of Jakri, Goghat, Rammohan, Batanol and Pursura in Hooghly district. On 5 June, in Panskura in East Midnapore, Trinamul supporters clashed with CPI(M) cadres over nine bighas of vested land, leaving 12 injured. Angry Trinamul activists destroyed two CPI(M) offices. A day earlier, two CPI(M) supporters had been killed in Gajgiri in West Midnapore.
In Bongaon’s Gopalnagar, in North 24 Parganas, Trinamul activist Ian Nabi Mandal was shot dead on 4 June. In retaliation, Trinamul Congress supporters killed CPI(M) worker Sahadeb Sarkar at Gopalnagar the next day.
In villages, the propensity among party workers to settle scores, even with who are not direct political foes, is breaking up families, burying societal ties and eroding institutions built over the years. Yudhistir Dolui, for instance, was killed by his cousins who are with the CPI(M). Even media persons are not safe. Diganta Manna, part of a private television channel, was allegedly beaten up by CPI(M) workers on 5 June when he had gone to cover the Panskura incident. Read the rest of this entry »
