Police Enters Trouble Torn Nandigram
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
German co to invest Rs 25 cr in West Bengal
Economic Times, India - 5 hours ago
... of seals for hydraulics, steel plants and defence sector, Hunger GmBH will set up a unit at Sankrail, West Bengal, at an investment of Rs 25 crore. ...
West Bengal a favourable investment destination: French envoy Times of India
'French cos keen to invest in Bengal now' Financial Express
Bengal a favourable investment destination: French envoy Mangalorean.com
Left Fron is quite successful in its campaign of Damage control as nearly five months after they were barred from entering into the trouble-torn Nandigram, the West Bengal police have been able to set up camps in eight villages in the area.The state government is trying to broker talks between political parties at the local level at Nandigram to break out of the impasse ...The police on Friday entered to stop attacks from Marxist-dominated Khejuri on Nandigram and vice-versa, East Midnapore Superintendent of Police G A Srinivas said on Saturday. The SP hoped that the police presence would help in resuming development work in the area which was halted following violence. The Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee convenor Sheik Suffian said that villagers of the troubled block had been initially apprehensive of the entry of police, but had accepted it as it would bring peace.
Mamat Bannerjee isolated. Sidkullah Chowdhari has little impact. the left has got so many mass organisation besides its well trained cadres. Kisan sabha has got fifteen million mebers ! More over, CPIOM has got Multi Tier autonomous party organisation and the Local Committtees virtually dictate the police and administration. While the opposition has no organition at all! No grass root connection! No secoond string leadership. Thus, sustained Resistance is so impossible in West Bengal!
Imam Bukhari was imported to convince Muslim Vote Bank in Bengal. he failed. Marathi writer Sahitya Academy winner Laxam Mane was the chief guest in Katha Sahitya Utsav, a gov sponsored proggramme. Though the representative of Bengal dalit Movement Manohar mauli Biswas was not allowed to say anything on Dalits` plights in Bengal. He was interrupted and ousted from the stage.All contemporary prose writes were present there. Poet Nirendra Nath Chakrabarti was Fecilated in another event by the Kolkata Mayor. Thus, after Media the most of the vocal inmtellectuals also have been managed well. Only Mahashweta Devi continues to write!
Left has now the greatest challange to mange the Mini Front within Left Front. Nonagenerian Comrade Jyoti Basu has got the job!
The fate of Kerala`s two top ruling party leaders chief minister V S Achutanandan and state-unit chief Penirayi Vijayan, who had been suspended from the politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for infighting, is to be decided at the three-day meeting of the party?s central committee beginning here tomorrow. The 85-member central committee, which has veterans like former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet as members, is CPI(M)?s supreme elected body that meets occasionally to take key policy decisions.
The CPI(M) is likely to discuss the situation in West Bengal where the leftists are faced with a dilemma of industrialisation versus rights of farmers. The party?s strained relations with the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh over the land rights issue is also likely to be discussed.
The presidential elections, in which the CPI(M) and other Left parties have sided with the UPA, are also likely to figure in the meeting as would be the forthcoming elections for the post of vice-president.
On the backfoot over the Nandigram issue, West Bengal's ruling Left Front major CPI(M) today sprang a surprise peace icon -- former Congress chief minister Bidhan Chandra Roy -- saying it would observe his birthday on July one as 'Peace Day for Nandigram.' As it progressively transpires, it is not just a captive police and a cowering administration that is to blame for the simmering violence in Nandigram.
"July 1 is Dr Roy's birthday. Our party will take up state-wide programmes on that day to demand restoration of peace in Nandigram," CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose said. Roy, a medical practictioner whose diagonistic ability was legendary, still commands respect among the people of West Bengal for his succesful efforts in setting up industries in the state from the late forties to the early sixties.
"It was under Dr Roy's chief ministership that the Durgapur Steel Plant and a number of other industries were set up in the state. Since then there had not been any industry in the state. Only now are industries coming up," Bose said, explaining why Roy's birthday was chosen for the programme. Bose said a state-wide fund-raising programme to rehabilitate the homeless in Nandigram would be taken up from July eight to 14, involving the mass organisations, clubs, voluntary organisations and the common people.
"This programme will not be taken up by the party. It will involve various organisations, clubs, institutions and the common people. The idea is to involve the people, irrespective of political views, in the rehabilitation of the homeless in Nandigram and the adjoining areas.
When pointed out that July eight was the birthday of party leader Jyoti Basu, he asked journalists not to 'read' into the choice of date, saying it had nothing to do with the choice of date for the programme.
Not even one note was out of tune as singers enthralled the audience at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata for nearly two hours on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Left Front rule in West Bengal on Thursday.
But the note of discord was evident when it came to the speeches that followed and also when a sizeable section of the audience started leaving immediately after CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu finished speaking and much before chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had delivered his speech. Asking the Opposition to be more responsible, Basu recalled how he, as Leader of the Opposition, had helped in B C Roy's industrialisation programme. But he did not utter a word on the policy unveiled by his successor.
CPM and other Front partners differed on some political issues as well, with the CM calling for "alternative Leftism" to make the state front-runner in agriculture, industry, education and culture, while RSP leader Kshiti Goswami and CPI leader Manju Majumdar stuck to "fighting capitalism and changing society while staying within a capitalist system".
The thrust of the CM's speech was the need for rapid industrialisation. Appealing to the Opposition not to derail that, he said: "We don't know retreat." While mentioning about land reforms and that vested land is still being distributed, he said the state would have to advance industrially as youth, passing out from engineering and other colleges and universities, wanted industry. But Goswami said: "We mustn't lose sight of our goal."
Unhappy with the level of unity in the Front, Basu said: "It is okay in Kolkata. But in districts, meetings are not held regularly. There must be a monthly meeting of the Front in every district."
Forward Bloc leader Ashok Ghosh, too, called for more unity.
We'll question all the IMA members who watched the CD. We'll also question the boy. Their statements would be treated as the main evidence," he said. Vachchani on Thursday told TOI that the doctor-couple wouldn't be arrested for the present: "We've taken suo motto action based on newspaper reports. I've ordered an inquiry. I've asked my officials to complete the probe within seven days or before. We'll arrest the couple and seal their hospital once their criminal conduct is proved."
The police had been unable to enter Nandigram since January when roads were dug up to prevent their entry. They again made an attempt to enter on March 14, which led to police firing in which 14 people were killed.
The eight villages where police camps have been set up are Garchakraberia, Kalicharanpur, 7 No Jalpai, Khodambari, Satengabari, Basudevpur, Sonachura and Adhikari.
Over three decades, the Left Front in power may have been able to perfectly conceal the tension within but over the last ten months or so, it has been coming to the fore every now and then since the government acquired land forcefully in Singur.
"Who's going to convince them that industrialization in itself is not development? This drive for industrialization is obfuscating the difference between the two. Development means inclusive growth and this form of industrialization cannot guarantee that,” said RSP leader Kshiti Goswami.
The rift has been widening and the CPI-M has been alleged of being arrogant.
"This arrogance will lead to strong reactions within the Left Front. And in that situation we'll have to rethink our political positions within the Front,” said Goswami.
This certainly is the first in a long time that differences are getting bluntly surfaced, that too, over a sustained period of time.
But the CPI-M doesn't see its allies as a threat which is understandable because they haven't grown in strength over the last thirty years.
The three key partners: Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI - had bagged as few as 45 seats in all in last year's Assembly election, which is less than a fifth of the Left Front's 235 legislators in the Bengal Assembly.
"We are confident that whatever differences are cropping up among ourselves, we are really in a position to resolve those differences through discussion,” said Left Front Chairman Biman Bose.
Discussions so far have failed and as the rift widens, the CPI-M too seems to be rethinking its position on industrialization and consequent displacement.
While there's no going back on industrialisation, partners of the CPI-M have forced the government to think of models for development with a human face.
Oil majors join hands to market natural gas, Kolkata first stop
Kolkata Newsline, India - 19 hours ago
Kolkata, June 22: GAIL (India) Limited and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) had entered into an understanding in April 2007 for a joint venture for ...
Gail’s breather The Statesman
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Job cry from Tata trainees
Bandel/Howrah, June 22: More than 200 students of the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Howrah and Hooghly districts today boycotted classes demanding a “definite” assurance of jobs to land losers in the Singur Tata Motors project.At the Ramrajatala ITI in Howrah, about 187 students staged a demonstration.Yesterday, the students had submitted a memorandum to the institute’s acting principal, Soumen Basu, who forwarded it to Howrah district magistrate Khalil Ahmed.
Gautam Polen, one of the protesting students, said the government had promised them jobs at the Tata Motors ancillary units. “But it has gone back on its promise. We will flatten the boundary wall of the factory if denied jobs.”
Abhijeet Das, training as an electrician at the Bandel ITI, said confusion had led to the unrest. “We have heard that only those who get 90 per cent and above will be given jobs. We are confused and so we have decided to protest.”
Director of industries M.V. Rao clarified that 90 per cent attendance, and not marks, is a must.
In Delhi, a Tata spokesperson said: “If they successfully clear the training and related tests, they will become eligible for employment.”
Foreign Secy. holds talks with Buddhadeb
On the eve of the Foreign Secretary-level talks in Dhaka, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon today held discussions with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee. The Foreign Secretary-level talks, the first to be held in Dhaka during the caretaker regime in Bangladesh, would review bilateral relations and were likely to centre around infiltration and militancy issues in particular, officials said. Declining to divulge the agenda, Menon told reporters that he had taken the advice of the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary "which will be useful in tomorrow's talks." "My talks covered almost all important issues that concern both West Bengal and Bangladesh," he said. The Chief Minister said his talks with the Foreign Secretary touched upon many important issues "which cannot be discussed with you."
Thirty Years of Left Front Government in West Bengal
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
THE Left Front government in West Bengal has been in office for the last thirty years since its first installation on June 21, 1977. The uninterrupted tenure of this government, elected by the people of the state for seven consecutive terms, is a significant event in the history of world democracy.
CHANGED LIFE IN COUNTRYSIDE
West Bengal is free from religious intolerance, caste conflicts and ethnic tensions. The state has a glorious tradition of communal harmony. The people of West Bengal take special care for strengthening the democratic secular polity of our country.
The Left Front government in West Bengal is committed to pursuing an alternative path of development aimed at raising the common man’s standard of living. We have been implementing schemes and programmes to mitigate the hardships of the economically backward and middle class people.
West Bengal has made significant strides in several directions over the last three decades. Thirty years ago, our government initiated land reform measures. Major emphasis was placed on the redistribution of ceiling surplus land among the landless poor agricultural labourers. It was also decided to ensure the rights of sharecroppers. As a result of these land reforms, small and marginal farmers now own 84 percent of the total agricultural land in West Bengal. More than 55 percent of the beneficiaries belong to the SCs, STs and the minorities. The programme called Operation Barga has been successfully implemented and the names of a large number of sharecroppers have been registered in the record of rights relating to agricultural land in the state.
In 1978, West Bengal gave a radically new orientation to its panchayat bodies following the electoral commitment of the Left Front. Since then, panchayats in our state, provided with decentralised powers, have been playing a very important role in building rural public assets and in executing the development schemes and projects in the countryside.
We have taken steps to strengthen the institutional capacities of our panchayat bodies. Our efforts are being directed towards furthering gender equity and social inclusion. Our panchayats are also discharging their responsibilities of empowering women and of providing elementary education in various areas, along with promoting public health and livelihood options.
The total number of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in West Bengal is now 5.3 lakhs. These SHGs comprise 53 lakh members, of whom 90 per cent are women. The rural sanitation programme is progressing well in our state, and 74 percent of the rural households now have access to sanitation facilities. A number of gram panchayats and panchayat samities have been awarded Nirmal Gram Puraskar by the government of India.
The land reform measures and the activities of village panchayats in West Bengal have brought about remarkable changes in the quality of life in the state’s rural areas. The effect of land redistribution has got reflected in the increase of foodgrain production. Irrigation facilities have been enhanced. Seeds and other inputs of cultivation are being provided to the peasants. The total foodgrain production, mainly rice, has been steadily increasing. Fish production, too, has reached new heights. West Bengal holds the top position in the inland fisheries sector in the country. The purchasing power of the rural people of West Bengal has significantly gone up, resulting in the increasing demand for industrial goods.
SECOND STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
Now the state government is laying stress on the second stage of rural development programmes. Agri-business has been identified as one of the key areas of development in West Bengal. The state is now developing five agri-export zones, food parks, cold chain and other forms of infrastructure. A modern multi-food processing unit, set up by the Dabur in North Bengal, has started functioning. Frito-Lay India has established a food processing unit in the district of Howrah. Our government is striving hard to sustain its success on the agricultural front.
Based on the significant growth in agricultural sector, West Bengal is moving fast to accelerate the pace of its industrial development. It is now recognised as one of the leading states in India in respect of industrial investment. The economic environment of West Bengal is conducive to the promotion of manufacturing and knowledge based industries.
The economy of West Bengal has been growing at an average rate of more than 8 percent annum for the last few years. The state offers vast opportunities for investment in areas such as iron and steel, chemicals and petrochemicals, IT and IT enabled services, gem and jewellery, leather, engineering, agri-business, bio-technology, real estate, health services and tourism. The state government announced its industrial policy in 1994. West Bengal provides attractive facilities to investors. These include the availability of raw materials, an advantageous location, a good network of communications, low cost of operations, a sound agricultural base, a large and concentrated market, and a good pool of human capital and skills. I think investors are now convinced of the pro-active role of our government. The state government has been pursuing an industry friendly policy. For the last five years the annual industrial investment in West Bengal has been more than Rs 2,000 crore.
West Bengal’s growth in some sectors deserves special mention. In the chemical and petrochemical sector, three major units --- Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation’s PTA plant, and South Asia Petrochemicals --- have been working successfully for the last few years. Japan’s single largest FDI in India has been made through the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation’s PTA plant (MCC-PTA) at Haldia.
In West Bengal, the iron and steel industry is regarded as one of the thrust areas of growth. West Bengal is a major leather producing state. The newly set-up Kolkata Leather Complex offers modern facilities for the development of leather related activities including tanning, manufacturing and designing. The West Bengal government is also concentrating on promoting micro and small scale enterprises and textiles. The state government is spearheading many initiatives and partnerships to develop West Bengal as the regional commercial hub in the East.
Our government is stepping up efforts to develop the infrastructure sector. At present, the power position in the state is stable. We are proceeding with our plans for creating significant power capacity addition in the public sector. Three new satellite townships, world class expressways, ports, a seaport, a logistics hub, construction of roads and bridges are some of the important initiatives undertaken by us. It is necessary to appreciate the fact that the state government alone cannot develop, upgrade and maintain the infrastructure sector. We believe that the public-private partnership (PPP) can harmoniously work to offer adequate infrastructure facilities. We have already taken several effective initiatives in this area.
SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS
Our state, though a late starter in the field of information technology, has achieved remarkable growth over the last decade. At the moment, there are more than 250 IT companies which are providing direct employment to over 50,000 professionals. These companies registered an export earning of over Rs 3,500 crore in the financial year ending March 2007. The IT industries in West Bengal are also creating jobs in the support service sector, housing projects, infrastructure etc. West Bengal today is the home to most leading names in the IT sector, including TCS, Wipro, IBM, Cognizant, PWC, HCL, Genpac, Skytech, Siemens, HSBC etc. Foreign as well as domestic IT companies are operating in the state, contributing to its economy.
The department of information technology has been constantly striving to attract high-end IT companies, KPOs and BPOs to the state to generate more employment and increase export revenues. It is our vision to emerge among the top 3 states contributing around 15 percent to 20 percent of the total revenues generated by this sector in the country. The government is trying to focus on high-end and VLSI industry and to develop satellite IT hubs in towns such as Silliguri, Durgapur, Kalyani, Kharagpur and Haldia. While IT parks on PPP model have already been launched at Silliguri and Durgapur, efforts are being made to develop an advanced IT park near the IIT at Kharagpur.
In the sphere of education, our government is making progress in spreading universal and free elementary education. We have accorded priority to the implementation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All campaign). A mass literacy programme has been continuing in the state over the years. West Bengal has achieved 75 percent literacy rate. Stress is being laid on extending and expanding the technical education schemes and vocational training programmes. Computer education has been introduced in the state on a fairly large scale. The number of schools has increased, and at the same time, the dropout rate is decreasing. The mid-day meal programme in schools is being carried out with the participation of all concerned. In new areas, colleges are being set up, and the growing number of students passing out from these institutions indicates the gradual improvement of our educational standards. Several universities with special orientations such as law, engineering, medicine, technology and animal and fishery sciences have been set up to meet the needs of a large number of students. All the universities of the state have been functioning creditably. The University of Calcutta has completed the 150 years of its existence. We are setting up some centres of excellence at the higher education level. Kolkata occupies an important place in the history of science education and research in India. Our state has the distinction of having a number of internationally reputed scientific research institutes. The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research at Kolkata, recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, is a significant addition in the sphere of higher education and research in West Bengal. Our state is internationally acclaimed as a seat of culture. We must keep alive the cultural tradition of West Bengal.
West Bengal has a comprehensive healthcare system. The state government caters to the healthcare needs of 72 percent of its people. Recently we have taken a number of steps to improve the condition of the state-run hospitals and health centres. Special care is being taken to improve the quality of the primary health centres in the state. We are concentrating on improving the health infrastructure.
We are implementing and promoting different programmes to serve the interests of the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes and hill people. A minority sub-plan is going to be soon introduced in the state.
West Bengal has a pioneering role in providing unemployment benefits to the workers of locked-out industries. The scheme, introduced in 1998, now provides financial assistance of Rs 750 per month to every worker of the registered factories and plantations that are locked out.
We have already launched a scheme of provident fund for the unorganised sector workers in the state. Some schemes are being implemented for the welfare of the building and other construction workers of the state.
It is incumbent on us to step up the all-round development of West Bengal. The process of economic development is moving from agriculture to industry. Thousands of young men and women are seeking jobs. It is they who will shape the future of our country. We cannot afford to fail them. We have to strive our utmost to live up to the people’s expectations.
http://pd.cpim.org/2007/0624/06242007_buddhadev.htm
Nandigram and After
By Sudhanva Deshpande
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2007-06/24deshpande.cfm
The small voice of history has delivered another statement in the local
government by-elections in West Bengal. The people didn't write
manifestos
for or against this or that policy. They spoke at the polls.
Even though these were by-elections, they were extensive enough, and
given
the acrimonious debates around the Singur and Nandigram issues, these
elections had acquired an added importance. Since panchayat elections
are
fought around issues of local development, the questions of land
acquisition, compensation and development were foregrounded.
If the opposition charge of widespread resentment against the state
government's drive towards industrialization, particularly in the rural
areas, was correct, the elections results were expected to reflect
that. On
the other hand, if the Left Front's claim that it had the mandate of
the
people for industrialization was correct, the results would indicate
that.
What happened in the state as a whole? What happened in the two
hotspots,
Singur and Nandigram? And what happened at Salanpur, the site of the
proposed Bhushan Steel plant?
Two gram panchayats (local self-government bodies at the lowest,
village
level) fall in the Singur block of Hooghly district. These are
Balarambati
and Bora. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) won both.
28 gram panchayats went to vote in Hooghly district. In the previous
election in 2003, the Left Front had won 23, the Trinamool Congress 4
and
one seat had gone to an independent. In 2007, with greater political
polarization, no independent candidate could win. The Left Front got
23, the
TMC 5.
Nandigram falls within the Purba Medinipur district. Here, of the total
25
gram panchayat seats that went to vote, the Left Front held 16 and the
opposition 9 (TMC 6, BJP 2 and 1 independent) in 2003. This time
around, the
opposition tally dropped to 6 (TMC 4, independent 2), while the Left
Front
tally increased to 19. The one seat in Nandigram itself voted left.
At Salanpur, near Asansol, the Left Front retained its seat, with its
victory margin going up from 600 the last time around to 4000 this
time.
In the state as a whole, of 398 gram panchayats under vote, the Left
Front
had won 249 in 2003, while the opposition had bagged 147 (Congress 37,
TMC
40, BJP 8 and 62 independents). This time, the Left Front increased its
tally marginally, to 256, while the opposition got 142 (Congress 43,
TMC 45,
BJP 5, independents 49). In other words, in the state as a whole, while
the
Left Front and the opposition more or less maintained their overall
positions, the greater political polarization meant that independents
were
squeezed out.
These are the results at the lowest level, the gram panchayat, where
the
effects of land acquisition would be felt most sharply.
At the next level, the panchayat samiti, of the total 94, the Left
Front had
won 64 in 2003, while the opposition had 30 (Congress 8, TMC 3, BJP 1,
independents 18). This time around, the Left Front increased its tally
marginally, to 65, while the opposition got 29 (Congress 6, TMC 9, BJP
1,
independents 13). In other words, once again, the independents tended
to get
squeezed out, while the TMC gained 6 seats over its previous tally of
3.
In Purba Medinipur (where Nandigram itself falls), of the 6 seats, the
Left
Front and TMC had 3 each in 2003. This changed to 4-2. The Left Front
wrested one seat from the TMC. In Hooghly, site of Singur, which has 2
seats, the Left Front had both in 2003. This time, it lost one to the
TMC.
At the next level, the zilla parishad, of the total 24, the Left Front
had
22 and the opposition 2 in 2003. This time around, the Left Front
slipped to
19, while the opposition got 5. This difference of 3 is accounted for
by
Howrah, which is really an extension of Kolkata and where the Left
Front
lost both the seats it held earlier, and by South 24 Parganas, where
the
Left Front lost one of the four it held the last time.
In urban areas, the Left Front lost some of its edge. In the municipal
elections, of 104 wards that went to poll this time, the Left Front won
62
and the opposition 42. This has to be compared to 72 and 32 the last
time
around.
The TMC wrested the Panskura municipality from the Left Front. This was
the
one result the media went to town with. Why? Because this was supposed
to
show that the Left Front, the CPI (M) in particular, was losing ground
in
West Bengal, especially because of people's anger over land
acquisitions.
Some reports made it appear as if Panskura borders Nandigram.
This is nonsense. Neither does Panskura border Nandigram (it is at the
other
end of the district), nor have the rural areas voted against the left.
In
fact, in Panskura, the anti-left forces ganged up to give Mamata
Banerjee
her dream mahajot, grand alliance. In areas where she had campaigned
most
vociferously, however, she lost. To reiterate what has been shown
above, in
Singur, in Nandigram and in Salanpur, people have voted left.
The relative reverses suffered by the left have been in urban areas,
not
rural. Logically, it should have been the other way around. If farmers'
lands were being expropriated forcibly to set up industries that would
benefit urban consumers, as was the opposition charge, then surely the
villages should have voted for the opposition and the urban areas for
the
left.
Mamata Banerjee, incorrigible as she is, has made the usual shrill
noises
about the CPI (M)'s "strong-arm tactics." This is nothing new. She has
made
the exact same noises in each and every election she has lost, barring
the
2006 Assembly election, which the Election Commission watched over like
a
hawk. Even the Congress on the one hand and the news media on the
other, no
friends of the CPI (M), no longer makes this accusation. To be sure,
some
Maoists continue to shriek about CPI (M) intimidation, which seems a
bit
rich, given their own predilection to wanton violence.
The left response to the election results has been more mature. Jyoti
Basu,
who had said he was "a little worried" about the elections, expressed
"relief" after the result. Biman Bose, chairperson of the Left Front,
said,
"It is too early to interpret the results as a mandate for or against
industrialisation." The implication is that the real verdict will come
next
year, when the scheduled panchayat elections will take place all over
the
state.
A number of prominent intellectuals and activists have been unhappy
with the
CPI (M) over Singur and Nandigram. In our analysis of the political
economy
of the crisis, Vijay Prashad and I argued that these events must "give
us
pause." (http://www.counterpunch.org/prashad05232007.html). We had
further
stated that "the Left Front must be judged, and it must face as much
materialist critique as possible."
The same must apply to critics of the left. There is no question, as
Vijay
Prashad and I argued, that the critics of the left "could play a good,
critical role in West Bengal, pushing from the left, criticizing and
learning." However, this pushing, criticizing and learning can only
happen
if we, intellectuals and activists, learn to confront hard realities
and
listen to the people.
The Left Front had sought the mandate of the people in the last
Assembly
elections (in 2006), on the plank of re-industrialization,
employment-generation and development. In elections where its every
step was
closely scrutinized by a hostile Election Commission, through a
campaign
that was absolutely violence-free, with a massive voter turnout, the
Left
Front won a massive mandate, increasing its tally from two-third of the
state Assembly to three-fourth. Even Mamata Banerjee had to admit that
the
elections were free and fair.
The recent elections, though they did not cover the entire state, were
still
a massive exercise in popular democracy. The elections were remarkably
violence-free. The voting percentage was 85%. The Left Front won 64% of
the
village-level gram panchayats, 69% of the block-level panchayat
samitis, 79%
of the d
