11) ANTI-LEFT TERROR CAMPAIGN ACROSS BENGAL

By Kimball Cariou

     In the months since the May 2011 electoral defeat of Bengal's Left Front government, the campaign of violence against the Indian state's progressive parties has continued, taking dozens of lives. The violence is part of a long-term strategy by right‑wing and extremist elements to destabilize the Left Front, which had been in power since 1977, and to reverse the land reform and democratization policies adopted during these years.

     A recent letter to the Prime Minister from the Left Front - a coalition of ten communist, socialist and progressive parties, the largest of which is the Bengal unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - outlines the wide scope of the attacks against its supporters.

     Most of the killings and assaults have been the work of thugs from the Trinamul Congress (TMC) which won the May election in part by creating an atmosphere of intimidation and fear. The new state administration, headed by Mamata Banerjee, has concentrated its post‑election  offensive against the CPI(M), which had been at the forefront of decades of struggles to defend the interests of peasants and other working people in Bengal.

     One result may be a greater impetus for the disintegration of Bengal, such as the push to create a separate "Gorkhaland" within the current borders of the state. Ever since India gained independence from Britain in 1947, the country's main left forces have opposed tendencies to fragment its territory into smaller pieces, a process which they argue will divide the population along caste and  ethnic lines, at the expense of building broad, united struggles for fundamental social progress.

     A 100‑page summary of the violence unleashed against the Left from the Assembly elections up to August 15 is highly revealing. During this time, thirty Left Front leaders and workers (28 from the CPI‑M and two from the Revolutionary Socialist Party) were killed, and another seven driven to commit suicide. Assaults against women totalled 684, including 23 rapes. A total of 3785 people had to be hospitalized for injuries inflicted by their attackers, and others were prevented from seeking treatment or lodging complaints with the police. There were 2064 reports of arson and looting of houses, and 14,081 persons were evicted from their homes. Thousands more have been compelled to pay off local TMC leaders to avoid being driven out or attacked. According to a conservative estimate, the total of extorted funds could exceed Rs. 277.7 million ($5.6 million).

     A wide range of offices and buildings used by trade unions, political parties and other organizations have been attacked. The summary counts 758 such premises as being ransacked, burnt, forced to close or taken over by TMC goons. In 77 cases, student union offices have been captured, with elected leaders driven out or forced to resign. Student activists have been threatened against taking exams, effectively driving them out of their schools. 

     There has also been a widespread attack on the peasantry, with 3418 denied the right to cultivate their own lands, amounting to over 9000 acres. Another 26,838 rural tenants and sharecroppers have been forcibly evicted.

     Thousands of Left Front activists face trumped-up legal charges, often accused after weapons were allegedly "found" in their homes or offices. The campaign extends to attacks on freedom of the press; 241 public display boards featuring the pages of the CPI‑M daily Ganashakti have been dismantled, thousands of copies have been burnt, and its vendors often beaten up to disrupt circulation.

     The terror extends to disruption of the widespread network of local institutions of self‑government built up during the Left Front period. Physical attacks, threats, and orders of the new government have shut down many panchayats and other forms of local administration, as well as elected bodies on university campuses. In some areas, teachers and other staff are not allowed to enter their institutions.

(The above  article is from the December 1-31, 2011, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)