Communists Turn Unpopular
Over SEZ PlansBy Sujoy Dhar
12 November, 2007
Inter Press ServiceKOLKATA, Nov 12 (IPS) - When acclaimed filmmaker Aparna Sen refused to participate in a state-run film festival, that began on the weekend, it was a sign of how alienated Bengali intellectuals have become from a programme of economic reforms undertaken by Marxists who have ruled West Bengal state for 30 years.
Monday saw West Bengal paralysed by a general strike called to protest the killings of at least six villagers in Nandigram, as they fought well-armed cadres of the Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) they believed were after their land.
Last week’s killings at Nandigram, located about 150 km south of the provincial capital of Kolkata, were only the latest in a series of clashes, between the villagers and CPI-M cadres backed by the state police, since January over the provincial government’s plans to acquire land for a special economic zone (SEZ).
Violence in Nandigram has now claimed 34 lives since January and forced the state government to scrap plans for the SEZ. But, a turf battle has raged on in the village between the CPI-M, which leads the Left Front government in West Bengal, and the Bhumi Uchched Pratriodh Committee (BUPC), a local group formed to resist land acquisition.
Already Nandigram has proved to be an embarrassment for the CPI-M which, along with three communist partners, holds 60 seats in federal parliament that provide critical support to the coalition government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. At home the CPI-M has had to contend with anger over Nandigram from its communist partners besides fending off the Trinamool Congress, the main opposition in the state.
Mamta Banerjee, the leader of the Trinamool Congress, has called for an indefinite strike in West Bengal to protest the violence and the prevention of her party’s leaders from visiting Nandigram by CPI-M workers. With backing from the main national opposition the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other parties the strike could last until Wednesday observers say.
Apart from political parties, the BUPC has the sympathy of filmmakers like Aparna Sen and the intellectual class of a city long-regarded as the cultural capital of India. Solidarity is being expressed through a boycott of the Kolkata Film Festival (KFF), a major cultural event. "How can we take part in a festival when the same government that organises the festival has let loose such violence in Nandigram?" asked Aparna Sen,
"I was sitting on the dais where the social activist Medha Patkar was speaking. Beside me was a woman who I came to know was raped in Nandigram. As a woman can I keep quiet?" asked Sen. "We are against the Chief Minister (Buddhadeb Bhattacharya) and the Left that presides over these killings.''
Veteran actress Moushumi Chatterjee has refused to accept a ‘Lifetime Award’ that was to be presented to her at the KFF. "This is not the time to accept lifetime awards when the CPI-M is instituting 'life taking' awards in Nandigram. What is happening in Bengal is totally unacceptable. First, they sign an agreement to hand over land to industrialists without taking the consent of the people there because they are poor, and now they are killing them. We cannot tolerate this," said Chatterjee.
A grim-faced Bhattacharya, who also holds the home (police) and cultural affairs in West Bengal, inaugurated the KFF on Saturday. When questioned by the reporters about the boycott by the ‘royalty’ of the film industry in the state, he retorted: "I don't know who has not come to the festival. You prepare a list and hang it on the wall of your room."
A day later, the city police mercilessly beat up intellectuals protesting peacefully against the events in Nandigram near the festival venue, injuring several of them. At least 41 of them were arrested for violating law and order.
"They are attacking peacefully protesting people but taking no measures to stop the armed goons who are killing people in Nandigram," said noted poet and protestor Joy Goswami.
"There is nothing left to be surprised about now. If they can arrest peaceful protestors like us they can do anything," said upcoming actor Parambrata Chatterjee emerging out of the Kolkata police headquarters at Lalbazar.
"The film festival is a cruel joke now when the people are being killed in Nandigram," said another poet Shanka Ghosh.
Eminent Indian painter Jogen Chowdhury said unless the intellectuals protested they would become human beings without passion. "At this hour we cannot keep quiet. A filmmaker, a painter or an actor after all are people with passion. How can we not join the protest then," Chowdhury asked.
"The CPI-M is using the earlier displacement of about 1,500 supporters from Nandigram as an excuse to kill and drive out about 30,000 people from Nandigram now. They accused us of remaining silent when their own party supporters were displaced,’’ said Chowdhury describing the political vendetta playing out in the village.
"Actually the chief minister is a liar. He lies conveniently and then passes the buck on others. He has no shame left in him," said noted danseuse Mamata Shankar. She has plans to protest on stage during her upcoming performances.
But there are those who have stood by Bhattacharjee, among them the veteran filmmaker Mrinal Sen. But he has been castigated for his pro-government stance by his own contemporaries. "Mrinal Sen should see his own political films made in the 1970s that inspired so many,’’ said playwright Bibhas Chakraborty.
But most people from the world of entertainment with known leftist leanings have now turned against the CPI-M under Bhattacharjee. Among these is Saoli Mitra, daughter of the legendary theatre couple Sambhu Mitra and Tripti Mitra whose 'Pashukhamar', a stage adaptation of George Orwell's famous book against totalitarianism 'Animal Farm', once ran to record audiences.
"If the democratic rights of the people in villages are curbed then why not mine too. So when they attacked us and took us into custody I felt I am with the poor villagers whose rights are taken away by this government," Mitra said.
Copyright © 2007 IPS-Inter Press Service.
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