The ‘logic’ of the CPIM and the (West Bengal) State police under its control for launching an all-out attack on the villagers of Nandigram who had totally cut themselves off from the State to counter its anticipated move to dispossess and displace them is extremely clear. The State cannot tolerate the refusal of the people to be ruled by it. That is precisely why it makes use of its sovereign power to demonstrate and establish its supremacy or hegemony. In this particular regard, the State presumably governed by Leftist ideology has acted no different – not at all. The main reason for worry here is that the CPIM has completely forgotten that it is not a wing of the State the way the police or any other administrative department is. One may, however, retort that hardly anywhere in the world wherever the Communist party has come to power has bothered to keep a distance between itself and the State. Rather it looks upon the State as an instrument for its own expansion.
Why the people of Nandigram could not trust the ‘assurance’ given by the Chief Minister? One has to keep in mind that this is the very people who had elected a CPIM candidate as their own representative. The initial attempts of the State and the Party to control Nandigram proved futile. We are here not talking of the ferocity of the attempts that the villagers had to face. Subsequent to that, the Chief Minister and his party announced the launching of a campaign to ‘educate’ the people about the benefits of ‘industrialisation’. It needs be reiterated here that the price that the peoples had to pay as a consequence of such ‘education’ campaign earlier undertaken by the Stalinist Communist Parties, including in the Soviet Union, proved to be extremely high. Those who had refused to be ‘educated’, who knows not what happened to them. Likewise if the people of Nandigram had drawn the inference, given the fact of ‘education’ campaign, that the move for forced acquisition of land is very much in the offing – waiting for an appropriate moment; they can hardly be blamed.
For the CPIM, people’s refusal to take its promises as gospel truths was something intolerable. The most interesting, and also disturbing, is, however, the reaction of the leaders of the Party and the affiliated intellectuals. The Chief Minister kept on repeating himself. And accordingly Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat echoed that the communal and fundamentalist forces are forming a grand alliance in Nandigram. They branded the resistance in Nandigram as the outcome of a conspiracy jointly hatched by the ultra-Rightist and ultra-Leftist forces. The naïve peasants of Nandigram have been in a planned manner instigated; that is the constant refrain of the Party. Aditya Nigam, in one of his comments, has aptly asked how come when the peasants would follow the Party line, they’d be termed as ‘class-conscious’ or ‘enlightened’ and when not, the self-same people would immediately become ‘confused’ or ‘misled’!
The CPIM has termed the ‘Jamait-e- Ulema Hind’ as communal and fundamentalist and on that basis objected to its role in Nandigram. The dismal conditions of the Muslims in the State, after thirty years of Left rule, have recently been brought to light by the Rajinder Sachar Committee. As a consequence the Party has been compelled to start thinking about their development. *If the argument of the Party is that under its rule there was no communal riot in West Bengal then how can it be differentiated from a similar claim made by Atal Bihari Vajpayee that under the BJP rule there were less riots?* Is not terming the united action on the part of the Muslims to defend their own interests as peasants, or something else, as communal, fundamentalist and reactionary not essentially an echo of the arguments put forward by the BJP? Is it ‘secular’ to demand that Muslims must remain ‘loyal’ (to the Party) in return for ‘protection’? One of my friends, in this context, drew my attention to a letter by Stalin when he had been working in the Caucasus area before coming to power. Stalin had termed Muslims essentially reactionary and sought permission from the Party to set them right. How is it possible to forget Stalin’s anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim attitude?
One human rights activist friend of mine confided in me with great sadness that after going through a fact-finding report on Singur by a team based on an on-the-spot survey, of which my friend had been a member; Brinda Karat has announced that no friendly relationship is possible henceforth. This arrogance underlying the assumption that she has the unilateral and exclusive right to continue or sever friendship also calls for some analysis and examination.
After Sumit Sarkar, Tanika Sarkar, Mahasweta Devi, Saoli Mitra and others openly came out against the CPIM, some ‘intellectuals’ have praised the actions taken by the West Bengal government even while they have termed the deaths in Nandigram as ‘unacceptable’. The media has described these intellectuals as CPIM supporters. I do really wonder whether after this statement its authors can ever henceforth expect to be considered as ‘objective’ or ‘impartial’.
Medha Patkar and many others have been challenged on their rights to speak on Nandigram on the ground of not being Bengalis themselves. One has very rightly put that by this logic, Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat et al also have no right either.
The most severe damage that Nandigram has caused is perhaps to the credibility of the ‘intellectuals’. The hesitations of the non-Bengali progressive-democratic writers, critiques and such others have now shown up that their real commitment is not towards ‘justice’ and ‘people’ but to something else. In a tone of arrogant superiority, Prakash Karat and his retinue of ‘intellectuals’ are calling Sumit, Tanika and others as ‘misled’ and advising them to ‘rectify’ themselves. The story of ‘rectification of the intellectuals’ in the erstwhile Soviet Union and the Eastern Europe under its suzerainty is long and blood-soaked. Mercifully the whole India is not West Bengal. Perhaps the time has come that we all start speaking up and debate undeterred. On violence, on Marxism, on the character of the State and power, and, above all, on the commitments and obligations of the intellectuals.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 
THE SECRET “POWER-KEY” OF
THE GOVT. OF WEST BENGAL
{West Bengal, a province of the democratic republic of India, by all means is having a fascist government. Elected in the “disguise of democracy” this government acts and gets re-elected exactly in the way a fascist government does. Strangely it is continuing the same for the last three decades. Socialism or Communism believes in one particular system of distribution of wealth. The system stresses that in order to establish this ‘dogma’ only the group of people who believe in this system should go and stay in power. Naturally the political base of this system is not the majority of the population, but their believers or party-cadres. Thus the success of the socialist or communist party in public election depends upon how efficiently these cadres can manage the voters.
In the arena of political administration any system of managing votes through cadres is known as “Fascism”. In the religion-biased countries fascism works in the religious line. In the secular or communist countries it works in the line of muscle-power or better ‘cadre-power’. All the governments of the socialist countries were, by all means, Fascists. The cadres were strong believers of one particular system of distribution of wealth. The irony was, even when such cadre-based governments were in power in the socialist countries, the doctrine of “Equal distribution of wealth among the entire population” turned to ‘myth’. Naturally the common people who earlier sacrificed many of their rights for its sake revolted. Their struggle resulted in success and the ‘dogma’ was sent to the museum of history.
Bangalees are renowned all over the world for their intelligence and sympathy. When they heard of a system that ‘ensures right of all citizens over the entire wealth of the country’ they felt attracted, even though they were aware that this system would curb many of their rights. These kind-hearted Bangalees, however, lacked the intelligence to realize that in political arena a sustainable system may be expected only if it stands on the endorsement of the majority of the population, and not on the manipulated acts of the cadres. This lack of intelligence on the part of the people of West Bengal is the reason that enabled the fascist CPI(M) led coalition government to rule till today, even though the very system (or dogma) suffered from pathetic failure in the countries of its origin.
In this article we shall endeavor to show (01) Why we call the CPI(M) led coalition government of West Bengal a fascist government, (02) What mechanisms this government uses to grab political power, (03) What made the peasants of West Bengal to revolt against this govt.’s so called policy of industrialization, (04) What made this government so desperate to drag on their ‘unpopular’ and ‘anti-people’ programs etc. }
INTRODUCTION :
No, it was not the call “Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom”. Rather the call given by the authorities of Socialism was like “Please allow us to form a government by the blind supporters of socialism, and we will establish the claim of all people over the entire wealth of the country”. In fact what they promised were :
(i) Bare minimum necessities for all citizens,
(ii) Equal opportunity and scope for all citizens and
(iii) Forfeiture of some civil and human rights in order to ensure the earlier two.
This was the time when the people in both the prominent ex-socialist countries had been suffering from frustrations due to atrocities of their dictators. At this time what was most expected on their part was the “Fulfillment of the bare minimum requirements” and not “Due share obtainable by self-effort in a competitive world”. That was the reason why and how the preachers of socialism came to power. Socialism reigned for about five or six decades when the common people suddenly discovered :
(i) Yes, the bare minimum provisions were available and the dull, idle and crippled persons were happy for it.
(ii) But the intelligent, industrious and energetic section of people could no more be satisfied with that. They felt themselves deprived to see themselves in the same line with the crippled persons. They were confident; if given chance they could live a much better life by dint of their labor and intelligence.
(iii) The intelligent, industrious and energetic section of people discovered, even there was the saying of treating every one equally, VIP treatments were there for the party-cadres irrespective of their education, human qualities or efforts.
So, the intelligent, industrious and energetic section of people revolted in which they were aptly helped by the democratic countries of the world. That was how Socialism slowly and steadily entered in graves in the countries where they were born, had their first breath and then had established the strongest foot-hold.
Socialism came to West Bengal, the land of the Bengalese mainly because these people are intelligent and sympathetic to fellow citizens. When the preachers started their preaching they felt attracted towards the humanitarian appeal of this doctrine. Now Socialism has suffered from premature death in its birthplace. Its Indian preachers turned rotten beyond recognition. However, their political wing is still holding power in the state (West Bengal). What does it indicate ? The probable answers might be:
(i) The common people (of West Bengal) have found it extremely helpful for them.
(ii) The common people do not like this government, but still the fascists win the election results due to some sort of mechanism.
All but the blinds and the insane know, the second one is the right answer.
(01) WHY CPI(M) LED COALITION GOVT. IS FASCIST : Democracy may have one hundred drawbacks, but still it is preferable because only this one ensures optimum human rights and allows people to change the ruling political party if it is not acceptable. However, it is extremely difficult to change a cadre-based (or fascist) party. In spite of its numerous blunders and atrocities the people of West Bengal failed to kick out this party from the throne. The only reason behind this failure is, the CPI(M) led coalition party with its ruthless cadres acts like a fascist party and engage the government to work for them. One blessings of modern civilization is the free flow of information. Due to this advantage brutalities, blunders, conspiracies and atrocities including cold blooded murders committed by the CPI(M) cadres and the law enforcing agents working under them has been vividly expressed before the world. On March 14, 2007 fourteen or more peasants have been murdered by the police or CPI(M) cadres. It is difficult to differentiate between Police and CPI(M) cadre because the cadres are used to wearing police uniform.
There was a time when the preachers of socialism used to preach that true democracy exists only in socialism. Socialism allows only one party to compete. That makes even a school boy to understand why socialism is fascist in nature. It needs a little more intelligence to understand why the CPI(M) government of West Bengal (India) is ‘fascist’. This government allows many parties to compete in the election, but the cadres manipulate the concerned factors in order to bring the result of the election in their favor.
(02) THE MECHANISMS USED BY THIS GOVT. : The CPI(M) government is continuously inventing, modifying and changing mechanism to manipulate results. Three decades ago they came to power with the help of their preachers. After the party won, the preachers turned to musclemen and party-cadres. The two items these cadres liked most were (i) Money and (ii) Liquor. Since then the elected government patronize their cadres with these two items.
The time when the CPI(M) government came to power there was a strong industrial set-up in West Bengal. Those have now rotten beyond recognition. It is often said that the CPI(M) caused their closures. The truth however, is after the party came to power, their political fraction in the industries started shouting for more pay and privileges that the owners could not afford. Naturally they closed their establishments. In order to suppress the depression of the jobless workers the CPI(M) govt. made arrangement for supplying ‘liquor’ probably as compensation. The jobless workers started al sorts of crimes and anti-social activities. The government maintained a lenient look at them because they used to collect muscle men from that group at the time of election.
As for the farmers, the CPI(M) cadres incited the dependent cultivators (barga-chashi) against the land owners. Due to their interference the dependent cultivators got some right over the land they used to cultivate. They compelled the land owners to sign yearly agreement with the dependent cultivators. Initially the dependent cultivators were assured that they would be given the ownership of land, which was never fulfilled. Now, when they ask for that the cadres say, ‘look, if any other party comes to power then you would loose this privilege of yearly agreement even’. And it is obvious that they are true. No democratic political can leave the reformation program of agricultural land constrained by continuing such a contract of distrust.
When the industries were abandoned by their owners what did the government and their cadres do ? Just have a look at some of those sites and you would know all. The government has managed to construct multi-storied shopping complexes, apartments etc. on that land. The party has been benefited from such projects due to :
(i) Commission at the time of selling of land,
(ii) Profit during construction,
(iii) Kick backs at the time of allotment or sale of premises etc.
The mechanisms by which CPI(M) has been benefited are numerous in number. We have mentioned a few above. Another such mechanism was, the persons in charge of collection of tax, service charge etc. from the people was asked to charge at higher rate or not to deposit the sum in government account. In West Bengal there were numerous such cases of fraud, where there was nominal investigation and no one was charged. This clearly indicates, the government had their endorsement behind and the defrauded money went to the party fund.
However, the scopes of such ‘fund-making’ activities for the party is in jeopardy in the recent times. Various organizations have invented their own mechanism to avoid the same. For example, in order to avoid the “sucking of the CPI(M) cadres” the bus owners do not keep any management office on land. On the other hand they manage monetary transactions and other services inside the vehicles.
A fascist government needs big sum in order to win election. When the fund-raising activities faces problem what can a fascist government do ? They can do two things :
(i) To face defeat in the coming election or
(ii) Find out alternate mechanism of fund collection before the election.
The CPI(M) government of West Bengal has opted for the second one.
(03) WHY THE PEASANTS REVOLTED : In India acquisition of agricultural land for industrial use is not a new thing. It did not create any serious problem earlier. Most of the time the problem was solved by increasing the price of procurement. In such reality what made the peasants and the local people to stand so violently against the ‘innocent-looking’ program of the government ? There may be many reasons and we mention a few.
(a) The government that ignored the issue of the development of industry and even strangulated the existing industries for the last three decades is suddenly showing extreme interest in it. Everyone excepting the fools would say, the government definitely has evil or different intention.
(b) The literate people have enlightened the affected peasants. The peasants now realize that as asset land is much better than cash money or a job in the industry. They know, while their future generations can get the benefit of land, they won’t get any benefit of their job in the industry.
(c) The job in the industry is valid or beneficial till the industry runs or can earn profit. Its closure would bring misery or peril for the family.
(d) The peasants very well know that with their present qualification and experience they cannot get any good job in such type of sophisticated industries.
(04) WHY THE GOVT. IS DESPERATE : We have already mentioned that CPI(M) can win in the coming election in West Bengal only if they can energize their cadres with money and that, it is now getting increasingly difficult for them to squeeze out money from the people in the traditional methods. Establishing industry is in fact their new policy of raising fund to be used for the cadres. They can be benefited from this projects in the following ways :
(i) Someone reading in primary school can understand that the invited industrialists would have to or has already given large sum on money in CPI(M) party fund.
(ii) After the land is procured the CPI(M) government would ask the central government for money to develop the land, construct roads, establish power and water lines and so on so forth. There is wide scope for CPI(M) to get monetary benefit from these
(iii) The owners of the industry would spend large sum of money in construction and procurement. There is wide scope of collection of commission from all these jobs.
Thus, the project of establishment of industries in West Bengal is now no more the project of the industrialists only. The project has turned to be the “milking cow” of the government and CPI(M) party for their coming election. That is the reason why they are so desperate.
Also there is alternate scope for owners of the industries to have been profited from such projects. The owners in general use to acquire several times of land they may actually need. After the government arranges infrastructural facilities and supplies to this land, its price would rise by several times. At that time the owner would sell the extra land and may get their land at zero or negative cost.
CONCLUSION : Men with eyes can see the atrocities of the police and/or CPI(M) cadres on the unwilling land owners of West Bengal. Men with ears can hear the cries of the bereaved people. Men with hearts can feel their pains. No intelligent man should believe that the CPI(M) government of West Bengal is doing these projects for the honest purpose of industrialization in the state. In case they had that intention they would not have caused the death of the previous industries. During the last three decades they did not take any sincere endeavor to re-open the closed industries or keep those running. What they did was to earn commission and kick backs from the sale of that land and construction of structures on it. Now, when the election is coming nearer and they are apprehending tougher competition, the Fascist political party has initiated new venture for collection of money. The CPI(M) knows, their only hope to win in the election is the manipulating acts of the party-cadres. And the cadres would do the same only if they can be fed and drank well. Naturally, the successful implementations of these “so-called industrialization projects” mean lengthening of the rule of the fascist party in West Bengal.
If the people of India want to avoid seeing atrocities on their fellow brethren and hearing their cries of pain, they have to find out the real intention of the fascist CPI(M) government behind such projects and act accordingly.
Prof. Bijon B. Sarma. Architecture Discipline. Khulna University. Khulna-9208. Bangladesh.
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THE PARADOX AND FACTS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
BY CPM IN WEST BENGAL (INDIA)
Prof. Bijon B. Sarma
INTRODUCTION :
In the contemporary world (i) There is a general trend in constant lowering of the price of agro products,
(ii) Mechanization of agriculture creates jobless situation for the agro-dependent workers and
(iii) The only way to create jobs for the redundant labor force is “Industrialization”.
Who on earth does not know these plain truth ? Definitely the fools, and only the fools.
The common people of West Bengal are creating tremendous resistances to the CPM-led government’s endeavor for establishment of SEZ (Specialized Export Zone). Are they fools ? Ironically they are not. On the other hand they are among the most intelligent group of people, who have been able to foresee the conspiracy of the CPM-led government. In this article we shall explain the “why and how’s” of this phenomenon.
NEED FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION IN WEST BENGAL :
In West Bengal of India the population density is enormous that was caused due to : (i) Need for children in the agro-fisheries related professions, (ii) Conducive climate of the land and (iii) One way flow of the Hindus from the neighboring country. In a land with such realities, the best way to employ surplus population is Industrialization. That justifies the need for industrialization in West Bengal. Industrialization was one of the most essential needs of West Bengal three decades ago, when the CPM government captured power in this state. By all means the day the CPM rose to power in this land was the darkest and most unfortunate day for this land and the people there in. During the last thirty years the people have witnessed darkness and darkness only. When the outside world, even the other states of India progressed slowly and steadily under democratic governments, West Bengal rolled and rolled around the dark tunnel created by a fascist government, where the party ensures its win in the election by means of cadres. (Most recently these cadres have been named ‘Harmads’ by the common people.
In spite of their declared soft-corner (?) for the industrial workers, the CPM government started strangulating the industries since the day they captured power.. During the last three decades they have withered the base of industrialization in this state for their selfish interests. Now, after thirty years of their evil rule if they are making big shouts saying, they want industrialization. Quite often the CPM government is now found to shed crocodile tears for it. Only the “Harmads” of their party and the dull-headed fools might believe, they really want it. One does not need to be very intelligent to understand the truth inside.
COMMUNISM AND DEMOCRACY :
In these days democracy has been proved to be by far the best type of administration. In West Bengal of India a party that never believes in democracy is in power. It is known to al that Communism believes in single party election or ‘game in the name of democratic election’. After knowing this basic fact and bare truth, those who want to say that there still exists any trace of democracy in Communism are the worst fools of this world. Bangalees in general are renowned all over the world for their intelligence. In the past many Bangalees have proved their intelligence through their activities. However, when the literate section of the Bangalees are found to endorse communism as a means of people’s administration, we have to opine, at least these Bangalees seriously lack in this quality. Well, some intelligent Bangalees may support Communism when they are greedy and have turned ‘Harmads’ in order to squeeze money from cadre-activities. But when honest Bangalees express their support for this ism, one can be sure about their intelligence. You may ask the following question to any sensible man,
“ Dear Mr. X, do you believe in this age Fascism can work better than democracy ?”
The reply in cent percent cases will be “No”.
In that case how can they endorse Communist party which, by all means is a fascist party simply because of the reason that ideologically they support one, and only one party, where as democracy is a multi-party system ?
RISE OF COMMUNISM IN WEST BENGAL :
Needless to mention that a Fascist party needs cadres to manipulate people’s will in the democratic election. Some three decades ago communism rose to power by that way. Since then they remained in power by using the same technique. They caused the closing of the industries; as a consequence they got huge number of jobless workers as their dependent cadres. (CPM in fact did not close the industries intentionally. When their cadres started ‘chandabazi’ in the name of many things including better pay for the workers, the owners of the industries had no option other than to close their industries). If CPM succeeds in establishing industries now, their party cadres would bring the same fate for those within a few years. CPM needs party cadre to keep them in power, the cadres need money to eat and drink and the owners of industries are their easy prey. CPM has brought their cadres to such a stage that now they are not in a position to keep them under control. ‘Procuring party fund’ is the popular term they use for such purposes. .
For three decades CPM has been collecting money from the common people in order to feed their cadres, who help them to win elections. However, in these days ‘chandabazi’ is getting increasingly difficult and hence their party-bosses have adopted new policies. This is their so-called “policy of Industrialization”.
CPM’S POLICY OF INDUSTRIALIZATION :
Industrialization was essential for the over all development of the state and specially, for employing the excess population in West Bengal thirty years ago, twenty years ago, ten years ago and even today. The party that failed to understand this simple fact for such a long period of thirty years, and not only that, the party that constantly incessantly ruined the base of industrialization for this long time is suddenly shouting for industrialization and the need for industrialization. Should any person with little intelligence believe that they have any honest intention ? The answer is ‘No’, where only the fools would differ. The logical question that may be raised here is, what made CPM to shout for it at this time ? If one thinks coolly one does not need much time to realize the following facts :
(i) The central government is ready to give ample money for establishment of SEZ (Specialized Export Zone). CPM is expecting to earn big money from this project.
(ii) Large Industrialists are willing to establish industries in West Bengal for obvious reasons. CPM expects to have kick-backs from them.
And there is every possibility that after the industries are established (at highly exorbitant cost) the greed of the party bosses and cadres would soon close those because of their “never ending and ever increasing hunger”.
INDUSTRIALIZATION IN WEST BENGAL :
In the present context with low income from agro-products, excess of population and need for competing with other provinces and countries Industrialization is a must for West Bengal. Only a democratic party and not any fascist party can materialize such a plan. Every Bangalee with little intelligent should be able to realize it and should endeavor for it. We know, many of the Bangales of West Bengal have the intelligence to understand this fact, but they could not express that because of the fear of the ferocious cadres of the CPM. It is high time to be courageous also and speak the truth.
(01) Charu Majumder had to have a pathetic death. But is there any account regarding the number of innocent men and women this man endangered and ruined ? How many thousand families lost their dear children for that Charuo ? How many families were broken because of Charu’s evil teachings ? If that evil soul remained alive today, what punishment could have been justified for such offenses ?
(02) Charu is gone, Jyoti is stil there. Is there any account in West Bengal stating how many millions of Rupess have been wasted due to Jyoti’s wrong and evil policies ?
In Nandi gram, Singur and elsewhere the common people have started giving befitting replies to the above questions. With their cheap labor-force, agro-products and other infra-structural facilities there is absolutely no reason why West Bengal would not grow as one of the finest industrialist state of India. But that great task can be done only by a democratic party, not by the fascist party that ruined the very base of industries in West Bengal. In West Bengal potential industries may grow only on the site of burnt corpse of CPM.
After Charu and Jyoti, the people of West Bengal has got Buddha. This man has accepted the charge of murders by the party Harmads. This is encouraging, bit not sufficient. He should he more courageous. He should realize the truth, confess their wrong doings and then ask the central government for rule by the ‘central government’. A free and fair election should be arranged where fascist parties should to be allowed to take part. Charu and Jyoti have worked for creating ferocious “Harmads” out of innocent human being. Now Buddha can work in the opposite direction in order to turn the Harmads into human being. In that case the people of India may get another Buddha, the great.
West Bengal could have been a better living place for the human being, if there was no Charu and no Jyoti. The achievements by Bangalees like Vidyasagar, Rabindranath, Subash etc. have been neutralized by tyrants like Charu and Jyoti. Both the paths are now open before Buddha. Only time can tell, whether he will have the additional name “Harmad” or “Great” in the coming years.
———————————————————————————————————————————Prof. Bijon B. Sarma. Khulna University, Bangladesh.
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BANGLADESH NEEDS FRESH LEADERS AND
METICULOUSLY DESIGNED SYSTEM
(Part Four – Tools for Election)
INTRODUCTION :
At present the Bangladesh Election Commission is working for holding general election in the country. For this purpose they are devising systems and taking new their programs, the first one of which is the preparation of voter list. In addition they are having discussions with the established political parties. It seems as if they are thinking of finalizing the “tools for election” on the basis of discussion with the political parties. It is known to all that that in Bangladesh all the political parties have proved their inefficiency. In view of the same the caretaker government on many occasions has declared their intension to incorporate fresh people in this arena. But strangely we have not noticed any tiny endeavor on their part to incorporate fresh brains. The present program of EC in finalizing things as per discussion with the established political parties may result in disaster because of a number of reasons. Some of these are :
(i) The EC’s ‘extreme honor and care’ for the established parties would make the parties to think that they are highly important in this program. Naturally they would endeavor to squeeze out optimum benefit from the EC. They may even threaten to boycott the election if their ‘likings’ are not met.
(ii) The EC’s discussion regarding various instruments and tools of election with such parties may create golden opportunity to infuse their ‘motivated’ ideas.
(iii) When the parties would realize that the EC cannot hold the election without their endorsement they may raise unnecessary, complicated and unsolvable issues in order to waste time and thus to push the EC to the dead end.
(iv) Whatever logical and appropriate provisions the EC may fix, it is almost sure that the political parties would not agree to those not because those are bad, but because they are aware that their difference of opinion would increase their strength of bargain.
(v) The finalization of the tools of election by discussion with the political parties may result in provisions that might ensure their return to power.
In such a situation the most intelligent way for the EC is to incorporate fresh people is to introduce such systems that may be easily accepted by the common people. If the EC can do that then the political parties would realize that their bargaining tendency or non-acceptability would make them to ‘miss the bus’.
In this part of the article we shall present samples of a few “Election tools” in order to attract the common people. These are : (01) REGISTRATION FORM, (02) PARTY’S STRUCTURE AND FORMATION and (03) FUND PROCUREMENT.
(01) SAMPLE REGISTRATION FORM :
APPLICATION FORM FOR REGISTRATION OF POLITICAL PARTY
Chapter : NATIONAL(01) / DIVISIONAL (02) / DISTRICT (03) / THANA (04)
01. NAME OF PARTY : ……………………… ……. …….. ………. ……….. …………
Or temporary Code name : (Applicable in case of Division, District and Thana levels)……… …… …………
02. PRINCIPLES : (Applicable for the National Chapter only. These will be applicable to the subordinate chapters after annexation) ……. Nos. (05 to 10 Principles to be enclosed as Annexure – A)
03. OBJECTIVES : (Applicable for the National Chapter only. These will be applicable to the subordinate chapters after annexation) ……. Nos. (10 to 20 Principles to be enclosed as Annexure – B)
04. MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE : (Number will be : National 80 -100. Divisional 50 -70. District 40-60. Thana 30 – 50). ………… Nos. (The list with posts to be enclosed as Annexure – C)
05. MEMBERS OF THE WORKING COMMITTEE : (Number will be : National 70-80. Divisional 60 -70. District 50-60. Thana 40 – 50). ………… Nos. (The list with posts to be enclosed as Annexure – D)
06. ENTRY FEE AND MONTHLY CONTRIBUTION TO BE CHARGED TO THE MEMBERS :
(i) Members of Central committee : (a) Entry fee Taka …………. (Limit : Central 4000-5000, Divisional 2000-3000,
District 1000-2000, Thana-Maximum 500 )
(b) Monthly contribution Taka …………. (Limit : Central 400-500, Divisional 200-300,
District 100-200, Thana-Maximum 50 )
(ii) Members of Working Committee : (a) Entry fee Taka …………. (Limit : Central 3000-4000, Divisional 1000-2000,
District 500-1000, Thana-Maximum 400 )
(b) Monthly contribution Taka …………. (Limit : Central 300-400, Divisional 150-250,
District 50-150, Thana-Maximum 40 )
07. CONTRIBUTION FROM SUPPORTERS AND COMMON PEOPLE :
(i) Contribution from supporters : Taka ………. (Limit max. : Central 250, Divisional 200, District 150,
Thana- 100, maximum two times a year) )
(ii) Contribution from the common people : Taka ………… (Limit max. : Central 50, Divisional 40,
District 30, Thana- 20, maximum once a year) )
08. CURRICULUM VITAE OF THE MEMBERS : (To be enclosed as Annexure – E as per in the following format.
(01) Name. (02) Photograph (03) National Identity Number, (04) Father’s name, (05) Mother’s name, (06) Date of birth, (07) Permanent address with phone no., (08) Present address with phone no., (09) Marital status with names and dates of birth of children, (10) Educational qualification, (11) Present profession, (12) Past profession(s), (13) Previous political affiliations, if any. (14) Affidavit.
AFFIDAVIT :
(i) I, the undersigned do hereby affirm that all information stated above are true to my knowledge.
(ii) I affirm that in my past life I was never a loan-defaulter in any financial institution, given punishment for any criminal offense or discharged from service for inefficiency or corruption.
(iii) I authorize the authorities to disclose the above information for public viewing and verification. I understand that in case any of challenge, the authorities would invite me to clarify the situation, in which case either I shall defend myself or withdraw my membership.
(iv) I understand that my party with be abide by written constitution. In case I discover any deviation, I deserve the right to take the defaulter to court of law.
(02) PARTY’S STRUCTURE AND FORMATION (sample):
(a) STRUCTURE OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE : The posts in this committee will be determined as per following schedule : Members of the Presidium – 1/%, Secretary – 2%, Treasurer 2 nos. Other positions shall be decided by the chapter .
(b) STRUCTURE OF THE WORKING COMMITTEE : The posts in this committee will be determined as per following schedule : Members of the Presidium – 1/%, Secretary – 2%, Treasurer 2 nos. Other positions shall be decided by the chapter.
(c) FIRST TIME FORMATION OF THE COMMITTEES : The various chapters have to apply for registration showing the full-fledged Central and Working committees. Since there may not be no scope of election within this short time, the like-minded people would choose the members and their positions as per their convenience. The EC would register such chapters if other conditions are fulfilled. After registration the Central committee shall work for two years and the Working Committees, one year. Later however, all the committees shall work for two years, such that the election of the Central committees will be held in the odd years and that of the Working committees, in the even years.
(d) FORMATION OF THE SUBSEQUENT COMMITTEES : The subsequent committees will to be formed by ballot votes given by the members. The time of election, voters, election procedure of these committees are given hereunder.
(i) CENTRAL COMMITTEE :
(a) National Chapter : Time : Odd Year, December month. Election : Votes by the Central committee members. Ballot vote by the National chapter and postal votes by the Division, District and Thana chapters.
(b) Divisional Chapter : Time : Odd year, November month. Election : Votes by the Central committee members. Ballot vote by the Divisional chapter and postal votes by the District and Thana chapters.
(c) District Central Committee : Time : Odd year, October month. Election : Votes by the Central committee members. Ballot vote by the District chapter and postal votes by the Thana chapters.
(d) Thana Central Committee : Time : Odd year, September month. Election : Votes by the central committee of the Thana chapter.
(ii) WORKING COMMITTEES :
Time of election : The elections will be held in the National, Divisional, District and Thana chapters exactly in the
above manner in the even years.
Voters : Only the members of the respective working committees would act as voters.
(contd..)
PROF. BIJON B. SARMA, ARCHITECTURE DISCIPLINE, KHULNA UNIVERSITY
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hey read this interesting article by sumit and tanika in Hardnews magazine where raises fundamental questions about what it is to be a leftist. Its angry and reflective. Do check it out
check out http://www.hardnewsmedia.com
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It is an article by Sumit and Tanika Sarkar. missed out on the Sarkar bit.www.hardnewsmedia.com
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TATA’S NANO PROJECT IN SINGUR
AND IT’S AFTER-AFFECTS
PREAMBLE :
At last the extremely high-sounding Nano project of Tata in Singur (West Bengal, India) had been called off. Various parties are now accusing one another on the basis of their loss of selfish interests and judgements. Considering the big talks of the entrepreneur, expectations of the future consumers of cars, aspirations of the land-dependent people, hot debates of political parties, unbelievable love of the ruling party (renowned for strangulating the industries of West Bengal) for industrialization, controversial comments and statements by the politicians and technical experts etc. the Tata-Nano-Singur is by far the most renowned “incident” of West Bengal since 1947. The flow of discussion regarding the failure of this project at present flows in the following two major streams :
Stream One : TNS (Tata-Nano-Singur) failure would stop the process of industrialization in West Bengal.
Stream Two : TNS (Tata-Nano-Singur) failure has saved the country from great curse.
We shall endeavour to arrive at a conclusion on the basis of analyses. Our discussion will take place on two bases : (01) Information published in medias and (02) Common sense. We know that this is not the age when all persons speak the truth. On the other hand telling lies or twisting the fact is now the common practice and the same has been widely accepted by those in business. Thus in spite of whatever our leaders, businessmen or medias preach, intelligent men can pick up the truth. This article is supposed to be read by intelligent people. In this article we shall mention the information obtained from various sources as usual, while those synthesized by intelligence will be denoted by a legend IA (Intelligent Assessment ).
WHAT WERE UNUSUAL ?
In the TNS project there happened many unusual things. In order to arrive at the conclusion one need to have a good knowledge of those. We shall mention and then explain the most important of those hereunder :
(i) Government’s over enthusiasm in the TNS project.
(ii) Abnormalities in Tata’s project.
GOVERNMENT’S OVER ENTHUSIASM :
It is a matter of common sense that industrialization is extremely important in the resource-constrained and over-populated countries. When the British left India in 1947, West Bengal was quite rich in industries. After they left, the elected governments patronized the same and those flourished. This trend discontinued as soon as the CPI(M) came to power. World has witnessed how the cadres of these parties compelled or forced the owners of the industries to close those. This was natural because :
(a) The party came to power in the name of safeguarding the interests of the workers,
(b) The party-cadres found it a good business to collect booties from the owners of the industries,
(c) The government endorsed the same such that the cadres can ensure their votes in the following elections.
Once in power, the party continued for over three decades. This is most unusual because this government does not have any record of bright achievements and in democratic elections the voters are supposed to change any bad party from power. IA (Intelligent Assessment) says, it happened so because the party used their cadres to compel the voters to vote for them. However, neither of the government, their party-cadres and the panicked voters would say “yes” to this analysis, and the reason is clear.
Even though the government realized the importance of industries for the progress of the country, they could not help because by their consideration, the cadres’ satisfaction was more important than the income of the industries. In order to keep the cadres satisfied the government did many tings including the following :
(a) They retained god believing and puja system in the country, even though these are not permitted in the communist system. IA (Intelligent Assessment) says, it enabled their cadres to collect easy money from the common people.
(b) They introduced mass-scale liquor supply throughout the country, because their cadres love it.
(c) The cadres were allowed to make money by grabbing and then selling the properties abandoned by the industrialists.
(d) The cadres were allowed to make money in all possible unlawful ways.
The contingent of satisfied cadres has enabled the party to remain in power for such a long time.
In such a context the government has expressed over-enthusiasm in industrialization. The question is, has any basic change take place in the recent years ? Has the mentality of the cadres changed such that the investors may feel assured to establish industries ? We know the answer, which is “no”. In such a context what may be the objective of the over-enthusiasm shown by the government for industrialization ? IA (Intelligent Assessment ) says, the prime objective of the government is to collect money for the party (not the government) such that they can meet the needs of their cadres. In this project also they arranged to fulfil the same objective under the slogan of “industrialization”.
WILLFUL DEVIATIONS IN THE PROJECT SUBMITTED BY TATA :
As an expanding private company Tata had no reason to have known the above mentioned weakness of the government of West Bengal, where a capitalistic country was endeavouring with the obsolete concept of so called communism. Like an intelligent, or more correctly, shrewd businessman they chalked out a program in which they could gain their financial goal.
Usually a car assembly plant necessarily includes the following essential items :
(i) Plants for manufacturing the body,
(ii) Plants for the assemblage of parts for the vehicle,
(iii) Plants for painting and finishing and
(iv) Sheds for preserving the procured spare parts from local and foreign sources.
No developed country ever allows the establishment of allied industries in the same premises, and there are genuine reasons for it. Some of these are :
(a) In this age standard cars can be manufactured only with genuine parts/components produced in their highly sophisticated manufacturing plants (in most cases such plants are inaccessible to others) scattered all over the globe, and
(b) Manufacturing of parts/components by various companies in the same compound creates excellent scope of averting taxes by the parts/components manufacturing companies.
(c) Accommodating all the ancillary industries under the ownership of one company is termed as vertical industry and such type of industries are highly discouraged in the developed countries for their ignorance of others’ interests.
In fact such industries are against the principle of “capitalism”, where capitalism stresses on utilizing only the factors (men and equipments) and processes (technology) of production for producing the best quality products at the highest rate. Needless to mention that in this age the production of the component parts of a vehicle in Tata’s compound at Singur can in no way ensure the production of a standard car.
Undeveloped countries at times are compelled to swallow the proposal of “principal+ancillary industries” given by powerful multi-national companies, because of their ‘inability’ to bargain. Also the autocratic countries may do the same in the vested interest of their dictators. It is strange that the democratic government of an enlightened state like West Bengal could be befooled to swallow such a proposal. The cause of swallowing may be understood from there extra-ordinary leniency in taxation and extremely soft loan policy. The company could apprehend that the clauses in the contract were shamelessly in their favour and that their publication could arouse public anger. So they included a clause against declassification of the same. It may be mentioned that business secrecy act known as “commercial intelligence” is applicable in case of manufacturing processes of products. In democracy the government is elected by the citizens for safeguarding their welfare and to uphold the country’s honour for a limited period of time. There can be absolutely no reason for such a government to keep the contract signed with a businessman secret.
GOVRENMENT’S ACTION IN THE ABNORMAL SITUATION :
In the abnormal situation where the interest of the government was to collect ‘food’ for the cadres, the government signed a contract which were unethical and unlawful because of the following reasons ;
(a) In case the suppliers of parts/components were to supply their products, the government could get the various related taxes. But when Tata shows those as their ancillary companies they not only come under tax remission, but also under privileges enjoyed by Tata.
(b) By every likelihood Tata was to enjoy part of the financial privileges to have been enjoyed by the ancillary companies.
(c) It was the convention that like any other private enterprise Tata would procure land for their industry. In this case the role of the government was to (i) help them in doing it as per rules prevailing in the country and (ii) to watch if the interests of the citizens are not harmed. In place of doing that what the government did will be considered “extremely shameful” in the history of this country.
THE SHAMEFUL ACT :
The British Government introduced the law of “acquisition of private land for public interest” in the 18th century. Even this colonial government did not apply that rule excepting during the time of wars. But the so-called “democratic government” of West Bengal applied the same in order to acquire people’s lands at government rate in the so-called “public interest”. The future generations of this country may go for solving the mystery, “why and how could the CPI(M) government consider Tata’s interest as public interest. The net outcome of the government’s act was :
(a) Tata got huge land at extremely low price and
(b) If the project was successful it could pave the way for any future governments to acquire valuable properties of the citizens and then to give the same to the relatives of the ministers, cadres of the party or to large enterprises on the plea that they were doing these in the name of “public interest”.
By this consideration, the failure of Singur project may be considered as a blessing for the present and future citizens of West Bengal.
BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE ONE-LAKHI CONCEPT :
When Tata cold discover that they could have enormous gains from this project mainly due to (a) Less cost for land, (b) Collection from the ancillary firms and (c) Government’s benevolence, all of which were to act as subsides, they could profitably sell their cars at Rupees One lakh each. Without such subsides, however, no standard company can expect to sell such type of cars at less than two lakhs. While its birth was calculated on dishonest intentions, its death has saved the citizens of Kolkata and adjoining areas from the curse of over jamming, accidents and pollution.
ACCUSITION BY TATA’S REPRESENTATIVE :
After the TNS project was declared aborted, Mr. Ratan Tata, the representative of Tata in a press conference accused Mrs. Mamata Banerjee of Trinomul. Among others he mentioned that someone with big money was active behind Mrs. Banerjee. Probably he intended to say that his rival motor companies extended financial assistance to their rival parties. IA (Intelligence Assessment) says, he might be correct. Let the name of this company is ‘X’. We can say, ‘X’ was doing the same for the sake of their business. In the present day companies get their schemes passed and intentions fulfilled through bribes. This is now an open secret. Tata applied the same trick in which they arranged to deprive the government from huge taxes and the land owners from due price. So, they do not have the moral right to say anything against another company that adopts similar trick.
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ROLES OF TATA AND ‘X’ :
If the X company was not there, then by every likelihood Mrs. Banerjee’s mission would not have come out successful. A single lady cannot have the resources to fight against the ploy of a gigantic company like Tata. However, the great difference between the roles of these two is :
Tata’s intention was earning profit, which they endeavored to do by :
(a) Bribing the government,
(b) Depriving the land owners with less price (as fixed by the government),
(c) Depriving the non-owner people dependent on those lands,
(d) Depriving the government from huge taxes and finally,
(e) Helping the government to introduce and enact a jungle rule by which would get the government could to acquire anybody’s land anytime in the name of public interest.
On the other hand, X’s intention was earning profit by eliminating or defeating a shrewd and highly dishonest competitor. Coincidentally their mission served a great blessing for the people of West Bengal. It sent a strong message to the Government of West Bengal against the use of the jungle rule of acquiring citizen’s land at anytime in the name of public interest.
In future Tata’s role will be known as “associated conspirator”, while that of the unknown and unseen X company will be admired as a great blessing.
TEACHINGS FROM SINGUR :
After Tana’s Nano Project at Singur has been abandoned various authorities and agents are expressing differing views about the future of such type of industrialization in West Bengal. The two major types of comments are : (01) It would stop industrialization in West Bengal and (02) It would have no affect on future industrialization of the country. Needless to mention that CPI(M), the ruling party is the chief advocator of the first comment, by which they would endeavor to keep Mrs. Momota Banerjee under pressure.
As a matter of fact whether industrialization would take place in West Bengal on a lot of factors, which are relevant to Tata’s project. It is known to all that the present government has strangulated most of the industries of West Bengal during their regime and that they have done it through their policies. They shout for giving more management right and financial benefit to the workers, who, as per policy of the government work as their cadres. The government does not have any policy, provision or program for safeguarding the interest of the owners. In such a situation the owners have been compelled to close their establishments. Now the question is, has there been any change in the attitude and policy of the government or the party ever since they came to power ? The answer is no. The counter arguments may be : “Why then big companies like Tata are coming for such type of industrialization ?”
Careful observation might reveal that the entrepreneurs who are coming now have tow objectives :
(01) To avoid labor-based industries, such that the “popular-cum-suicidal” labor policy of the government cannot affect their industries.
(02) To make profit from other sources. We have seen how Tata planned for huge gains from land, bank loan, government taxes, manufacturers of component parts etc.
After one carefully realizes the above facts, one has to comment that Tata’s recent action would not have any significant affect on the country’s industrialization. In this case the facts are :
(01) Industrialization in West Bengal shall initiate as soon as the present government and their party would change their current attitude and policies, or a government with amicable attitude would come to power, and
(02) In future no industry with Tata-type attitude (i.e. making profit from other sources) would express interest to invest in this sector n his country.
WHAT NOW ?
After the failure of the Tata to establish motor company at Singur, the burning question is, how can the abandoned properties be appropriately utilized and the affected parties, compensated. The affected parties are (i) The country, (ii) Tata and (iii) The land owners. These problems can be solved in the following ways :
(i) The country : If Tata could market their one-lakhi cars, definitely the middle-income people West Bengal would have been their most prospective owners. It is less probable that persons capable of making bigger purchases would at all buy the car with this quality and standard. By that way the narrow roads of West Bengal should have been further jammed with cars, thus increasing the countries’ dependence on fuel, pollution, traffic jam, vehicular accidents and jobless situation of persons engaged in the public transport sector. Now the government should take up a program of manufacturing better type of vehicles for the interest of the country.
The government’s ‘weakness’ for Tata is evident from their over benevolence for this private organization and signing of the ‘secret’ contract. Now they should rise above the meanness, endeavor to understand the technicalities of the project and ask Tata to establish their plants without those so-called ancillary industries.
(ii) Tata : Tata should be given the offer or directives to manufacturer better quality vehicles, more suitable to the people, environment and economy of West Bengal. In case Tata does not accept the offer, they may be asked to pay all government dues and those payable to the people and leave the place. After that the government give the offer to other companies.
(iv) The landowner : When the government would understand that the so called ancillary industry was nothing but Tata s tactics of additional profit by depriving the government from due taxes and creating privileges for the manufacturers of spare parts. Once the government can realize this fact it will be no problem to find out 400 acres of land for the unwilling land owners.
CONCLUSION :
Mr. Ratan Tata once mentioned Nano as the Peoples’ car. He was wrong. In the present perspective of West Bengal, where the roads are narrow, environment is already polluted, fuel needs to be imported at great pains etc. a light-body car like Nano cannot be treated as the peoples’ car. On the other hand, the peoples car (vehicle) is the one that creates less pollution, carries more people at less cost and does not need imported fuel.
So, the government may decide for establishing a plant for assembling such type of vehicles. The plant necessarily would include assembly and painting plants and storage shades. The vehicle to be manufactured may be “Bio-diesel driven double-decker bus”. Double-decker bus can carry more passengers per trip in the same width of road, and West Bengal is capable of producing huge quantity of Bio-diesel from Jetropa plants. The government can make open call for the entrepreneurs to establish such a plant, or take up the program by themselves.
Finding out weapons of debate to overcome the opponent is completely different from the ruling of a country with the objective of the welfare of the entire people and the land. Communists are quite renowned for their debating and arguing capability. However, they can do something better for the country only if they forget that tendency and invest their brains and energies in understanding the problems and finding out the best solution. Let us see, not Nano, but bio-diesel driven double-decker buses to rightly serve the purpose of the common people.
PROF. BIJON B. SARMA, HEAD, ARCHITECTURE DISCIPLINE, KHULNA UNIVERSITY, BANGLADESH.
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Question : WHICH ONE IS PEOPLES’ CAR (VEHICLE) IN WEST BENGAL ? TATA’S NANO OR A BIODIESEL DRIVEN DOUBLE DECKER BUS ?
Prof. Bijon B. Sarma
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