Left's
Volte-Face Will
Stoke Public Wrath
By Harsh Dobhal
12 August, 2007
Free
Press Journal
Seldom before has blood been
spilled so callously for the sake of mighty corporations backed by willing
and supportive governments and their agencies as during the past few
months. From Nandigram to Khammam, the poor are being made to pay for
neo-liberal thrust in policies.
Work on Tata's Singur car
project is merrily on, as farmers are being made to pay through not
only their land and livelihoods, but also their lives. This led them
to gather before a People's Tribunal held in the last week of May to
account for Nandigram incidents. Its final report released on Thursday
has termed the violence of March 14, 2007 a "pre-planned, state-sponsored
massacre" carried out "to teach a lesson" to people opposing
the Special Economic Zone project on their land."
The Tribunal has strongly
recommended the continuation of the CBI investigation, initiated by
the Calcutta High Court on March 15, but wound up in just a week. Among
other aspects it wants the CBI to inquire into the specific roles played
by members of the local and State administration in the killings of
innocent people and atrocities on women. The 100-page strong report,
based on prima facie evidence coupled with over 194 depositions from
people and organizations in Nandigram and Kolkata, minces no words in
describing the incident; "On March 14 there were disturbingly a
large number of incidents of sexual violence by both police and armed
ruling party cadre against women… and many of them were carried
out in the most cruel, degrading and inhuman manner."
The State-sponsored violence
does not end with Nandigram. Earlier last month, police rained bullets
at protesting farmers in Khammam district of Andhra Prdaesh, killing
eight of them. The farmers were agitating for the implementation of
land reforms and housing for the landless. The protests were a part
of the daylong strike called by the left parties for the implementation
of land reforms in Andhra Pradesh.
Nandigram and Singur in West
Bengal, Kalinganagar in Orissa, Santoshpur in Chattisgarh, and now Khamman
in Andhra Pradesh: the political colour of the ruling governments in
these States might be different, but across the political spectrum,
neo-liberalism has been embraced unconditionally, ignoring the writings
on the wall: Mass uprisings are inevitable if the State continues to
allow industries to grab agricultural land.
Ironically, the Left, especially
the CPI (M), that spouts out anti neo-liberalism slogans in public rallies
but practices that very strategy on its home turf, today stands totally
shorn of its façade and hypocrisy. The party is fast acquiring
expertise in the veneer of sophistication to hide the dark face of capitalism.
CPI(M), the political party that goes around tom-toming about humanism,
has not even committed itself to disbursing minimum compensation to
the victims of Nandigram till date.
And to think of it the party
leadership did not waste any time in sending observers to Andhra Pradesh
to admonish, criticize and hurl barbs at the administration for its
high-handeness in Khammam. Of course, the party, with its selective
amnesia has conveniently forgotten that not a single Left leader of
any standing has visited Nandigram. As if this was not enough, the Left
parties managed to exert enough pressure on Andhra Pradesh CM Rajsekhar
Reddy so as to make him cough up Rs five lakh each for the kin of the
deceased. On the Nandigram front, however, there is an intriguing silence
on the issue of compensation to victims.
Going by the way the Left
is behaving, it seems that they have forgotten that the onslaught of
neo-liberal globalization policies everywhere translates into a systematic
demolition of the welfare state, cutting down on welfare schemes, undermining
health, education and social security. And all the while, these policies
only appease the financial markets and go about increasing armament
and armed interventions. This has often led to a sense of hopelessness
- individual and collective - creating a breeding ground for fundamentalism
and other vices.
It is unfortunate that in
six decades since Independence, India finds itself in a situation where
globalization has robbed people of their livelihoods. It is strange
that while riots and communal carnage are on the rise, the state is
vigorously playing the role of the protective shell for corporate houses
and multinationals. Sadly, even the Left, with its stated commitment
to the welfare state and fight against capitalism, has succumbed before
the deadly offensive of predatory neo-liberal policies. Nothing signifies
this more starkly than Singur and Nandigram: two villages in West Bengal
that perhaps mark a new low in the history of the communist movement
in India.
(The writer, Managing Editor
of Combat Law, a journal on human rights and law, can be reached at
[email protected])
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