DEMONSTRATIONS IN WEST BENGAL
By Gayatri Devi
Calcutta
The food movement: in West Bengal that commenced in February . has been described as the "most, violent upsurge of the people since the advent of independence in India." Home Minister Gulzarilal Nanda at one point, attacked it as "an artificial uprising." —
“Unprecedented in its widespread and. violent nature, there was no single issue on which the movement was launched. It was in fact | the expression of bitterness born out of eighteen years of frustra-— ‘tion, suffering and endless misery. :
In ‘mid February: the students of Basirhat, a; ‘district town, demonstrated before a local administrative office, demanding food . and kerosene, Chief Minister Sen having stated earlier in the state. legislature that rice and. wheat would be distributed regularly in "modified rationing" areas. The. promise had not been carried out in. many districts. Likewise people were not satisfied with the ration
1,900, grams ‘13 lbs. ? oz. | of rice and wheat per person each week.
‘The: modified rationing. system introduced. by ‘the government was a hoax in itself..Only "A'\-card holders were.entitled to food grains, which were distributed once..a-month and..sometimes only once in two . months. But the ."B" and "C" eard holders were not even entitled to ©
In addition, the government had adopted a policy of cordoning off deficit areas, causing a great deal of hardship. In the so-called deficit districts, . villagers had to pay. an exorbitant price of. Rs. 2.50 {one rupee $.21] for a:kilo of rice. Kerosene, the only means of lighting.: their homes, was in short supply. In villages and small towns, plunged into darkness for-.months because. of lack of. kerosene, school children could not study at night. :
So the students demanded food and kerosene. At Basirhat the police opened fire, killing Nurul Islam, a ten-year-old boy. This aroused. people all over the state. Students in every district held demonstrations demanding food and kerosene. They also demanded an inquiry into the shooting of Nurul Islan. : To suppress statewide strikes of students, ‘police resorted to gunfire at several places, including the district towns of Sarupnagar and Baduria. Three persons were killed. The government promptly _ ordered all schools, colleges and other educational. institutions’ closed. In the legislature, opposition members demanded a judicial. inquiry into the shootings. Chief Minister Sen, however, | was not prepared to go beyond a departmental inquiry. : * On February 25, the United Left Front of West Bengal. (consisting of six left parties, including the Right and Left Communist. parties of India, the Revolutionary Socialist party of India and the
Revolutionary Communist party of. India) observed a "Release of All | Political. Prisoners Day. “The front also demanded an’ adequate supply of food grains: ‘and kerosene and a judicial inquiry into the police shootings.’ Chief Minister Sen arrogantly accused. the opposition of exploiting the food and kerosene shortage as a "political game" and condemned the students and refugees. for their agitation.
“There were statewide protests against the chief minister' s statement: ‘The opposition in the legislature sought a meeting with the chief minister but he refused to sit with the leaders of the Left Communist. party of India. In protest, the United Left Front legislators tried’ to block the legislative proceedings and sixteen of them were | _ Suspended: by. the speaker of the legislative assembly.
On. March: 1, the ‘government dramatically ordered the schools and’ “Gellezes: to~ be reopened; but students went on strike. On March 3, the students staged protest demonstrations and marches in Calcutta and other urban centers. There were clashes with police for hours in Calcutta as. students attempted to burn buses and trains. In Krishnanagar, a- suburban town: near Calcutta, a young student, Ananda Hait, was killed and two others were injured.
As the police refused to hand over the body of Ananda Hait to his relatives, the residents of Krishnanagar raided the morgue on March 4 and took the body out in a procession. The police opened fire on this march of several thousand people. In retaliation, the demonstrators formed into groups and attacked the Congress party and government offices and also burned a minister's home. With rail lines and all other means of communication cut, the town was completely paralyzed. Barricades were put across the roads by crowds of people who engaged the police in pitched battles.
The anger of the populace soon spread to Santipur, district headquarters of Nadia. Municipal and government offices, the local. branch of the State Bank and the Congress party office were set on fire. The state government called out the army and handed over Krishnanagar and Santipur to the armed personnel. The opposition decided to boycott the budget session of the: Assembly.
The "West Bengal Food and Prisoners Release Convention,". held on March 5, called for a statewide general strike and hartal [general shutdown] for March 10. This "Bengal Bandh" call met with an unpre-=' cedented success. But the government resorted to repression. According to an unconfirmed report, more than fifty persons were killed by the police and armed forces on that day. The government resorted to indiscriminate arrests -~ more than 7,000 persons being rounded up, including all known leaders of the United Left Front and other left groups like the Forward Bloc and the Praja Socialist party. West Bengal remained completely paralyzed until March 13.
Faced with a serious deadlock, Home Minister Nanda and Food Minister Subramaniam came down to Calcutta and, seeing no other alternative, advised the state government to release the leaders of the United Left Front. Chief Minister Sen was also forced to release another group of leaders of the Left Communist party of India, including
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Jyoti Basu, leader of the opposition in the legislature, who had been: arrested earlier under the’ "Defence of India Rules." Sen at first threatened to resign, but finally yielded to the pressure of the central government.
On March 13 the. people of Calcutta organized the historical Silent. ‘procession to mourn the martyrs of the movement. The procession was banned, but hundreds of thousands joined in ‘the impressive protest. march in defiance of the ban. : ~'* The government thought perhaps that the movement could be. ended by releasing the United Left Front leaders. Sen agreed to meet them. and they placed before him a charter of eleven demands which included introduction of statutory rationing throughout the state and release of all political prisoners detained under the Defence of India’ Rules.
‘The state government ait ‘first indicated that it would consider some of the dematrids made by the United Left Front. ‘Jyoti Basu flew to Delhi for a meeting with President Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Despite the parleys, the West Bengal government did: not meet the eleven-point charter.
“The government's strategy is to make some concessions to the urban layers and thus isolate them from the rural masses. The short=_ age of food and kerosene is more acutely felt in the *villages than in the urban areas. Indeed the movemént in Wést Bengal has been unorganized. The leadership ‘came from the petty bourgeosie. Experience has shown that a movement of this magnitude ‘cannot be properly organized~ ‘unless a proletarian leadership comes to the forefront. Aftér several attempts at conciliation the United Left Front rejected the latest note from the West Bengal government as ‘unsatisfactory and scheduled another general strike and hartal | in the state (a "Bengal Bandh") , for April. 6.
‘What | form the food’ movement in the state will finally. take is difficult. to predict: .To carry the movement. to a higher stage it is: necessary’ to- organize “factory committees of workers, area’ committees. and elected committees of the rural masses in villages and coordinate them_at various levels. Only thus can a long-drawn-out movement of this type. ‘be conducted on the basis of a fighting program to. resolve. ‘the’ basic problems of the | “people.
SQUATTERS BATTLE POLICE IN BOGOTA
Two children and an adult were killed by police in