Crisis, Criminalisation and Carnage in West Bengal Tea Industry

A t least twenty-one people are reported to have been done to death in a most grisly carnage in the Dalgaon tea estate of Jalpaiguri district. On 6 November morning, a group of workers had apparently gheraoed the house of the local CITU strongman Tarakeshwar Lohar over the controversial appointment of three outsiders as clerks. But anticipating ‘trouble’ the leader had already kept his henchmen ready who opened fire on the protesting workers. The sequence of events soon led to this ghastly carnage, but Tarakeshwar Lohar, his family and close cohorts mysteriously managed to escape to safety.

An explosive crisis has gripped the tea industry in the country. Wages are being systematically reduced, bonus and other customary ‘benefits’ are being increasingly denied, and with lock-out and closure assuming epidemic proportions employment itself has become most uncertain and insecure. While small-scale ‘unregulated’ tea-growing is being encouraged in cultivable lands, workers are being evicted from established tea gardens to transfer the latter to powerful real estate barons. According to a report, in North Bengal alone some 400 tea garden workers have been starved to death or driven to suicide.

For the tea garden workers, the brewing crisis in the industry is accompanied by the ever-tightening noose of repression. The governments of all tea-growing states are adopting increasingly repressive measures to crush the workers. Between the Manjolai tea estate massacre in Tamil Nadu in July 1999 and the Chandmoni firing in Siliguri in June 2002 and the most recent killing of five workers of Khobang tea estate in Tinsukia district of Assam, the history of tea garden workers’ agitation in the country has been witness to recurrent incidents of police brutalities.

The Dalgaon incident is preceded by another similar but smaller incident that claimed three lives in Changmari tea estate in the same district in February this year. These two incidents reflect the same crisis in the industry and the growing unrest among the workers, but follow a slightly different pattern in that they surfaced as internal clashes of the dominant CITU-affiliated union. Like the INTUC-affiliated ACMS union in Assam, many well entrenched leaders of the CITU-affiliated union in West Bengal are also busy colluding with the industry and the local management to subject the workers to drastic cuts in wages and deterioration in working and living conditions.

Apart from reflecting this general crisis of the tea industry, the Dalgaon carnage also brought home the growing criminalisation of politics in Left-ruled West Bengal. The government and leaders of the CPI(M) are however making a ridiculous attempt to trivialise even such a grisly and eye-opening incident by describing it as an isolated and apolitical event. The local and state leaders of CPI(M) and CITU are issuing conflicting and confusing statements about the exact nature and history of association of Tarakeshwar Lohar, a kind of tea garden mafia don who was at the centre of the entire episode, with the formal structure of the party and the trade union. But every observer of West Bengal politics knows it only too well that the likes of Tarakeshwar Lohar and Rashid Khan are not only characteristic products of the CPI(M)’s politics of power but increasingly they are also the local pillars of the CPI(M)-led political establishment.

While the CPI(M) is busy hiding its connection with the individuals involved, the state government refuses to accept its share of responsibility for a human tragedy of such massive magnitude. Hence the government’s refusal to institute any inquiry into the carnage. Yet at another level, the government and the industry and the entire corporate lobby are keen on using the Dalgaon incident to push the agenda of curtailment of trade union rights and an aggressive restructuring of industrial relations. While defending the rights and interests of tea workers in the face of the crisis, the red flag trade union movement must defeat every attempt of the industry and anti-worker forces to use the Dalgaon tragedy to demoralise the workers and discredit the entire trade union movement. At the same time, the Tarakeshwar Lohars must be resolutely weeded out of the trade union arena.

TN Assembly Must Withdraw its Autocratic Fiat,
WB Govt. Must Institute Judicial Inquiry into Dalgaon Carnage

(handout issued to the press in Kolkata by CPI(ML) GS Dipankar Bhattacharya on 10.11.2003)

1. TN Assembly Must Withdraw its Arbitrary Order: The arrest warrants issued by the Tamil Nadu Assembly against senior journalists and officials of “The Hindu” and DMK organ Murasoli mark a grave threat not only to the freedom of the concerned journalists and newspapers but to the press and democracy as a whole. We join the freedom-loving people and democratic conscience of the country in condemning this draconian assault on democracy and demanding an immediate withdrawal of this absurd order.

The Tamil Nadu incident is not an isolated instance of misuse of institutional powers, but characteristic of an increasingly illiberal and intolerant polity. The arrest warrants served on journalists are of a piece with the prison sentence that Arundhati Roy had to serve for allegedly holding the Supreme Court in contempt. Notions like contempt of judiciary and privilege of legislative institutions are being stretched to absurd lengths to silence dissent and crush people’s movements. The time has come to redefine the contours of these notions to save democracy from being held to ransom.

If Gujarat and Tamil Nadu provide extreme examples of parties in power trying to browbeat, intimidate and curb the press, in states like Bihar and West Bengal too, the press is coming under increasing attack for exposing the rot in the system. CPI(ML) is committed to waging a powerful people’s resistance to save democracy from these growing attacks.

2. Scrap POTA Lock, Stock and Barrel: The recent announcement made by Advani about raising special CRPF battalions to tackle Leftwing extremism is part of his design of transforming India into a police state. The CPI(ML) appeals to all freedom-loving democratic forces to come out boldly against this design of state repression. The time is also ripe for demanding a complete repeal of POTA in place of a cosmetic review and facelift of this draconian piece of law which has already been thoroughly exposed.

We welcome the verdicts pronounced recently against the guilty in Safdar Hashmi and Naina Sahni murder cases. Even though it has taken years for the Indian judicial system to pronounce these verdicts, it is welcome that the guilty have not managed to escape scot-free. The assassins of student leader Chandrashekhar and trade union leaders Shankar Guha Niyogi, Datta Samant and Shyamapada Raut are however yet to be punished. Public pressure needs to be intensified to bring the guilty to justice in all of these cases.

3. Bengal Govt. Must Order Judicial Inquiry into Dalgaon Carnage: We call upon the West Bengal government to immediately institute a judicial inquiry into the Dalgaon tea estate carnage. The government and leaders of the CPI(M) are making a ridiculous attempt to trivialise even such a grisly and eye-opening incident by describing it as an isolated and apolitical event. Every observer of West Bengal politics knows it only too well that the Dalgaon incident cannot be extricated either from the growing criminalisation of the CPI(M) variety of politics or from the explosive crisis situation overshadowing the tea industry.

The Rashid Khans, Dulal Banerjees, BD Singhs and Tarakeshwar Lohars are all characteristic products of the CPI(M)’s politics of power and the attendant ties of collusion with crime and corruption. While the Left movement in West Bengal must take up the challenge of freeing the workers from the clutches of degenerated mafia elements, we must defeat every attempt of the industry and anti-worker forces to use the Dalgaon tragedy to demoralise the workers and discredit the entire trade union movement.

4. CPI(ML) to Contest 21 Assembly Seats in Four States: In the forthcoming Assembly elections and by-elections, CPI(ML) will put up a total of twenty-one candidates in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, apart from contesting two of the three Bihar Assembly seats where by-election will be held on November 20.

While the Election Commission remains rightly concerned about the partisan role of the bureaucracy in the election-bound states, the growing influence of big money virtually threatens to disenfranchise the people. Already the government has legalized corporate funding and relaxed the ceilings on election expenditure. A move is also afoot to double the security deposit for Assembly and Parliament candidates. The CPI(ML) has strongly opposed this move in an all-party meeting convened by the Union Law Ministry in Delhi on 29 October.

“Save Democracy, Save India” Campaign

The “Save Democracy, Save India” campaign being conducted by the Party since August 15 has evoked a welcome response from the people at large. As part of the campaign a highly successful ‘People’s Rights Rally’ was held in Lucknow on 16 October on the eve of the VHP’s October 17 flop show at Ayodhya. Political conventions were held in Pondicherry, Chennai and Vijayawada, and a rally in Bhubaneshwar on 7 November. The CPI(ML) categorically opposes some of the recent judicial pronouncements seeking to curb basic democratic rights of the people including the right to strike and freedom of assembly and speech. Party feels that the growing attacks from different quarters on the democratic institutions and democratic rights of the people must be defeated with a powerful countrywide mobilization of popular democratic opinion. This campaign has been a major effort in this direction. The first phase of the Save Democracy campaign will conclude with the launching of All India Agricultural Labour Association at a national conference of agricultural labourers in Bhojpur district of Bihar on 14-15 November.

Strengthen the Left Movement and End Naidu’s Reign of Death and Deception

On Nov 5 a convention was held by AP unit of the CPI(ML) at Vijaywada on "Democratic Agenda and Role of the Left in Andhra Pradesh" as part of 'Save Democracy, Save India' campaign. CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya was the main speaker of the convention.

Party's AP State Secretary presided over the convention which was also addressed by CPI State Council member Subba Raju, CPI(M) State Committee member Uma Maheshwar Rao, K. Rama of New Democracy, , Dr. P. Jaswanth Rao of Kanu Sanyal group, K. Venkateshwar Rao of ML Committee, SUCI State Committee member Subba Reddy and CPI(ML) Central Committee member B. Bangar Rao. More than a thousand people attended the convention. An impressive rally was also held on the day.

Addressing the Convention, Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya said that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is threatening the people with early elections and is desperately trying to manufacture some synthetic sympathy to steal another election victory. The people of the state are however fed up with his reign of death and deception and are eagerly looking for an opportunity to say ‘good riddance’ to this puppet regime of the World Bank and the Sangh Parivar. Starvation deaths and suicides, encounter killings and lock-up deaths have become the hallmarks of Andhra Pradesh under Naidu’s tenure.

"Naidu’s Vision 2020 has proved to be an out and out Vision 420 for the state with hundreds of farmers under distress being driven to committing suicide by consuming Tic-20. Like Jayalalitha in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Naidu is also out to dismantle the public distribution system. Now that the findings of the Velugu survey commissioned by his own government have exposed his false claims regarding dramatic reduction of poverty in the state, he is dismissing the survey. He now wants to choose the poor of the state through some kind of lottery system!" He added.

The Andhra Pradesh unit of CPI(ML) will intensify the people’s movement against Naidu government’s attempt to dismantle the public distribution system and deny even the minimum facilities and rights to the poor and toiling people of the state. The CPI(ML) will seek the cooperation of all other Left organizations in the state to confront the Naidu government’s disastrous anti-people agenda with a powerful people’s movement insisting on an immediate democratic agenda of the people. The Party has also appealed to the Left ranks in the state to reject any kind of electoral understanding with the Congress and fight for establishing the Left as a powerful and independent political force vis-à-vis both the BJP-TDP combine and the Congress.

Fight BJP-BJD Misrule in Orissa with People’s Agenda of Social Change and Democracy

The Orissa unit of the Party held an impressive "Save Democracy rally" held on Nov 7 at Bhubaneswar and resolved to intensify people’s struggles for a starvation-free developed Orissa. The rally was addressed by Dipankar Bhattacharya along with Party State Secretary Kshitish Biswal and member of the Central Committee Malleswar Rao.

Comrade Dipankar said in the rally that while the entire KBK region (comprising Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput districts) has become internationally notorious as a starvation zone, the BJP-BJD government in Orissa and the NDA government at the Centre remain completely indifferent to the plight of the starving adivasis and rural labourers. The devastating floods this year in Orissa have added to the misery of the people and the governments have failed to ensure even a semblance of rehabilitation for the flood victims.

While the tribals of Orissa are fighting for restoration of tribal land, the central and state governments are busy with their conspiracy to evict the tribals from forests by describing traditional forest-dwellers as encroachers. Millions of the rural poor in Orissa remain excluded from the BPL list and the public distribution system is being systematically dismantled. The state government is not able to spend the amount sanctioned for Orissa under rural development and employment generation schemes and massive corruption flourishes in these sectors denying the people whatever limited benefits they could have otherwise secured.

The Navin Patnaik government is serving as an accomplice of the BJP in furthering the communal fascist agenda of the RSS. While outfits like the VHP and Bajrang Dal are being given a free hand to carry out their mischievous communal agenda, adivasis and other sections of the rural poor and youth fighting on the issues of land, wages, dignity and democracy are being subjected to indiscriminate harassment and repression. Instead of addressing the issues of starvation, unemployment, bondage and land alienation, the central and state governments are busy strengthening the repressive machinery to crush the people’s movement.

AIALA National Conference

The founding Conference of All India Agricultural Labour Association (AIALA) will be the concluding event of first phase of 'Save Democracy, Save India' campaign launched by the CPI(ML). With one and a half million members in different parts of the country, the organisation is prepared to intensify struggles for radical land reforms and enactment and enforcement of a comprehensive central legislation for agricultural labourers. A massive 'Mazdoor-Kisan Ekta Rally' will be held before the conference on 14 Nov. in Arrah.

CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya will be the chief guest of the Conference. The draft of the proposed manifesto and programme has already been circulated by the preparatory committee of AIALA for extensive study and deliberation. CPI(ML) aims to strengthen this class organisation for giving further impetus to its ongoing agrarian struggles which is the key of powerful political movement in the country.

On the eve of the launching of this most important class organisation of the Party, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has said, "We launched 'Save Democracy, Save India' campaign three months ago to mobilise public opinion against the communal fascist offensive of the Sangh Parivar, the increasing imperialist threats in the garb of globalisation and the brutal domination of market forces leading to a growing denial of livelihood and democratic rights of the working people. On the basis of a powerful mobilisation of the rural poor and the working class, we seek to increase the communist' intervention in national policies and establish the Left as the leading core of any third force against both the BJP and the Congress-led coalitions".

The last phase preparations for this Conference are in full swing. Arrah-based cultural team 'Yubaniti' has prepared a programme 'Dhadhkal Chingari' (vivacious flames) on the theme of struggles of toiling people and is staging it at several centres of Arrah and elsewhere in the district. An audio cassette of folk-songs by Krishna Kumar Nirmohi and Brijendra Anil, voiced by Nirmal Kumar Nayan, is also being used at each and every chowk and nukkad in the town. Several banners and hoardings prepared by Party volunteers are on display in the area. A number of gates dedicated to the memory of the martyrs of heroic Bhojpur peasant struggles have been erected. Hundreds of activists from all mass-organisations of the Party are engaged in last-minute preparations of the Conference. Rallyists and delegates will start reaching there from 13 November noon. No doubt, the Conference will be a festival of the rural poor who is the soul of the CPI(ML) movement for last thirty five years.

OBITUARY

Comrade Manju Devi, District Committee member of the Party in Jehanabad and President of Jehanabad-Arwal AIPWA unit was killed in a cruel and dastardly attack by the Ranvir Sena in the afternoon of Nov 10 at Puraan under Karpi thana in Arwal District. She was on her way to attend a meeting of the Khet Majdoor Sabha, when three Ranvir Sena goons came on motor bike and sprayed bullets on her and accompanying comrades. As badly injured Manju tried to struggle out, she was caught and shot from point-blank range resulting in her instant death. The incident sent shock waves through the state and thousands of people from nearby villages collected at the spot, demanding immediate arrest of the killers. Another comrade, Awadhesh who is a district party cadre has also received bullets in the attack and is seriously injured.

Comrade Manju has been active with the Party since 1980, the period when the Brahmarshi Sena was active in conducting massacres in the area. She was leading the organisation of women agrarian labourers and rural poor women, Janwadi Mahila Manch, the women’s wing of CPI(ML). She had been active in the movement against feudal dominance and exploitation of women in Jehanabad and had led several movements against police repression and feudal oppression in the area. She played a pioneering role in the movement against the killing of a student by the police in Imamganj. She was also elected as member of Zilla Parishad in undivided Jehanabad district in 2001 from Surajpur constituency when she defeated a Ranvir Sena supported candidate by a good margin. This constituency is an area of feudal dominance and brutal oppression. Com. Manju belonged to Dharnai village of Senari Block. After the division of the district into Jehanabad and Arwal Manju contested again in Arwal and though the number of votes polled by her increased, she was defeated this time owing to malpractices and rigging by opponents.

CPI(ML) has condemned this killing and demanded the arrest od all the killers immediately. The Party also holds the State government and district administration equally responsible for this cowardly incident. The Party has declared to lunch agitation which will continue till all killers are booked and punished.

Comrade Manju has 3 children, the eldest is in class 4. Her husband is also a wholetime activist of the Party. Manju had dedicated more than 2 decades of her life to the struggle of the rural poor in Bihar. Lal Salaam to Com. Manju. Long Live Com Manju!

CPI(ML) in Assembly Elections

The Party will field four condidates in Delhi (Narela, Mandawali, Patparganj and Rohtas Nagar), six in Rajasthan (Surajgarh, Khetri, Jhunjhunu, Nimbahera, Lasadia and Udaipur Rural), three in Madhya Pradesh (Ater, Bhind and Laskar West) and eight in Chhattisgarh (Masturi, Sipat, Arang, Jagadalpur, Keshloor, Bemetara, Saza and Bhilai).

AISA Protests TN Assembly's Order

AISA activists from JNU, DU and Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi held a protest demonstration at Parliament Street, New Delhi on Nov 10 and burnt effigy of Jayalalithaa to condemn TN Assembly's order against 'The Hindu' and 'Murasoli'. Agitated students raised slogans and displayed placards that read "Anti-dalit, anti-worker, anti-media, anti-democracy Jayalalithaa Get Lost" and "Revoke TN Assembly order - Restore Democracy". Demonstration was led by AISA Delhi President Pankaj Tiwary, Secretary Ravi Rai and JNU Students' Union General Secretary Mona Das and others.

Demonstration in Dehradun

The Uttaranchal unit of CPI(ML) alongwith many other left and democratic organisations held a rally and demonstration at Dehradun on third anniversary of foundation of the new state on Nov 9 to press upon a twelve-point charter of demands that includes amendments in State Reorganisation Bill, implementation of Ceiling Act, Chakbandi in hill areas, halt to privatisation of govt. orchards and education, redistribution of land of big cooperative farms in terai region to landless, Gairsain for the state capital instead of Dehradun, renaming the state back to Uttarakhand, punishment to the guilty of Mujaffarnagar firing and rape incident, and ban on sale of liquor in the state, etc. Party's Uttaranchal Incharge Raja Bahuguna led the demonstration along with leaders of various organisations.

This demonstration was called by Uttarakhand Samyukta Sangharsh Morcha of which CPI(ML) in an important constituent. Party in Uttarakhand has been instrumental in forging an alliance of non-Congress-non-BJP parties and organisations. It also played an important role in organising gherao of Uttaranchal High Court on Sep 1 and Uttarakhand bandh on Oct 2 earlier under the same banner.