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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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