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new dynamism is being witnessed in Punjab after the 7th Party Congress. The Party shouldered the task of combining work among small peasants with that among agrarian labourers and dalits in a planned way, and some positive initiatives in this regard have also been taken.

In Mansa, where we have clusters of villages of concentrated work in four blocks, our influence is spread among small peasants, agricultural labourers, brick kiln workers and construction workers. A mass organization Mazdoor Mukti Morcha also functions here.

When BKU (Ekta), a peasants’ organization representing mostly small peasants, launched a “Freedom-from-Debt” movement in coordination with the Party, some demands in the interests of agricultural labourers were also raised in this course. The question of bonded labour and that of women labourers (who are forced to pick up cow-dung and rubbish from landlords’ cowsheds and houses) was also raised.

The struggle sharpened in Nangal Khurd village of Mansa block. It spread to nearby villages Khara and Jhunir etc. When the Party raised these questions, the landlords started accusing us of fomenting tension between peasants and agricultural labourers. Attempts were also made on some local Party leaders’ lives. But with patience and by laying an emphasis on widespread mobilization, attempts were made to resolve cases of oppression on agricultural labourers. A number of women were also relieved from the compulsion of bonded labour jobs.

In Dalelsinghwala village of Mansa block, both BKU(Ekta) and CPI(ML) sided with dalits. It so happens that whenever dalits rise in movements, local landlords and rich peasants impose sanctions on dalits, not allowing them to take water from communal wells, to cut grass or procure fodder for their livestock and even to perform ablutions utilising the fields, personal or communal. When the movement was going on, Party and BKU(Ekta) leaders went to Dalelsinghwala village and talked to the peasants. Leaders of Mazdoor Mukti Morcha also went there. In this way the Party could win over small peasants to the side of the dalit agrarian labourers and forge a unity of both against the landlords’ tyranny.

It was in this area that when the Panchayati water taps were closed for dalits, around 100 people belonging to 12-13 villages led by Mazdoor Mukti Morcha held a “Nal Bachao March” (march to save the water taps for dalits in the village) and staged a dharna before DC’s office. A memorandum was also submitted on the above demands.

-- Jita Kaur