Volume 1, No. 8, October 2000

Midnapur, a south Bengal district has hit the all India healines. The bloody battle for supremacy between CPI(M) and TMC-BJP combine has drawn the attention of all concerned. People’s March publishing below a article send by a group of revolutionary activists of Garbeta, in Midnapore.

Garbeta and Keshpur the two blocks in Midnapore district have come under sharp focus as the profusely blood-stained areas in West Bengal. The threat of president’s rule, troubleshooter power-hungry Mamata Banerjee’s brazen cry for blood and the defensive Jyoti Basu’s calculated cynicism soaked in an alibi for projecting a peaceful West Bengal, etc., have rnade the political scenario intriguing enough for a brief study of the actual reality prevailing there.

Garbeta and Keshpur, the fertile soil producing commercial crop like potato, are deeply economically-polarised areas and now have transformed into the veritable battle-ground for supremacy over the areas between the BJP-TMC combine and the CPI (M). What is the redeeming feature and much-less talked about fact is the presence and the counter-onslaught campagn led by the CPI (ML) [PW] against the fascist political gangs. This adds a new dimension to the scene.

The political history of West Bengal provides a of contradictions and bizarries. While the CPI (M) led United Front tried to crush the Great Naxalbari uprising in 1967, and the CPI (M) and the Congress lumpens joined hands in a macabre dance to eliminate the CPI (ML) cadres in 1967-’72 period, now it is the rivalry and despicable display of muscle power by the TMC, a splinter organisation of the Congress (I) and its ally the BJP against a decaying, internally squabble-ridden CPI (M) ruling the state for 23 years. The marauders of the TMC, BJP and the CPI (M) are now ruthlessly falling on village after village, burning houses, looting, killing and raping freely in many areas. Garbeta and Keshpur in particular.

In the late ’80s, a small revolutionary group started organising people in partial struggles in some pockets of Garbeta, Goaltore, Ramgarh and in some areas of Midnapore and Bankura districts. Social fascists let loose attacks first in Jayarambati in Bankura in 1989 and then in Nalpa - Kasthagura villages of Garbeta in 1993 where Com. Bhajan Chakraborty was murdered and many were maimed, houses demolished, forcing many others to leave their areas. Finally the group joined the CPI (ML) [PW] in 1995 and started to organise people to put up resistance against the oppressors. However, the serious work for armed resistance commenced from the year 1999.

By the year 1997 itself the BJP and then the TMC combined to unleash a series of attacks on the CPI (M) dominated villages keeping a covetous eye on the ensuing Panchayat and parliamentary elections in 1998. Garbeta soon became the centre of this power struggle between the two fascist groups, the CPI (M) being at the receiving end. The BJP-TMC combine mobilised a large number of dacoits and anti-socials and relentlessly carried on loot, arson, rape of women, killing people and torching village after village particularly in 1,2,3 Panchayat areas of Garbeta adjacent to Hoogly and Bankura districts.

Most of the villages could not face the atrocities and surrendered to the marauding gangs while the CPI (M) leaders took flight to safer places in the towns. However, it is noteworthy that a section of the dissident CPI (M) leaders were instrumental in inviting the BJP-TMC gang in those areas. A section of the erstwhile CPI (M) hooligans also readily cast their lot with this gang. It was the common people who bore the brunt of this rivalry, paying taxes, losing properties and many a time the chastity of their womenfolk and even having to succumb to the armed pressure of the BJP-TMC gang for joining the hordes of attackers on the remaining CPI (M) dominated villages. It was enough for breaking the morale of the CPI (M) influenced villagers.

The rich people of Garbeta, mainly a section of landlords, rich peasants and big businessmen patronised and financed the emerging BJP-TMC gangsters while the police looked the other way. An unscrupulous businessman cum smuggler of Garbeta town Rama Tewari who was earlier with the CPI(M) became the chief leader of the BJP gang and personally led many of such fascist attacks. Now he has donned the crown of presidentship of the BJP’s Midnapore district unit. The CPI (M) also gathered some dacoit forces but they were no match for the well-armed opponents.

Against this background, the Midnapore Divisional Committee of the PW sent one organiser to Garbeta by the end of ’98. In early ’99 an open seminar was organised in Garbeta town, demanding remunerative prices for Potato facing all odds, women activists were humiliated by the BJP gang. The PW then began to build up armed squad as the situation demanded and a 3-member regular squad was formed. While the rural poor of Garbeta, the supporters of Red Flag, welcomed it, it put a scare in the BJP-TMC camp. And the situation began to change. The police too swung into action. On one occasion the village women snatched one squad member arrested by the police on the tip-off by the BJP-TMC leaders. It boosted the morale of the people. Soon after that a notorious BJP-RSS leader Swarup Sarkar, looter and rapist, was punished by the guerrillas on 9 September. 1999. Immediately the BJP-TMC gang mobilised all their murderers under the direct supervision of Rama Tewari and murdered Corn. Anath Sarkar, a PW sympathiser. The very next day they savagaely killed two relatives of the Sarkar family who had come from Hoogly to attend funeral of martyred Com. Anath, and seriously injured another by firing repeatedly in his head and spoiling his two eyes. They even murdered a 10-year old nephew of Com. Anath. All this happened in presence of the police.

After this incident, though a large number of police and pra-military camps came to arrest the PW squad to check its possible retaliation the leaders of the BJP-TMC gang were busy launching barbarous attacks on the newer areas bordering Midnapore - Hoogly - Bankura districts.

The Sheelabati river divides Garbeta block in two parts — 7 Panchayat areas on one side and 5 on the other. PW started its work initially in No.2 Panchayat area and tried to extend to No. 2, 3 and 4. But due to stiff resistance and control of BJP and TMC in this area and intensified police patrolling, expansion to new areas was slow. While the PW squad moved on the other side of the Sheelabati, i.e.. 10 and 12 No. Panchayat areas, it had to face CPM threat and attacks as this side was dominated by the social fascists all along. Thus two sides of the Sheelabati was occupied by the two fascist forces both having their own killer gangs and threatening the people not to give food and shelter to the PW squad. But braving their threats of dire consequences, people prepared themselves to secretly work under the CPI (ML) [PW]’s guidance. The squad moved in the whole area defying the fascist terror and adopted guerrilla tactics to hit she enemy at opportune moments. The enemy camp became more and more demoralised and people got more and more confidence on the PW’s squad. The squad had to face attacks from three sides, i.e., CPM, BJP-TMC and the police. On every occasion people participated, co-operated and saved the squad and the squad existed there as a thorn on the Raj Singhasans, i.e., thrones of the great empires of both the CPM and the BJP-TMC combine.

People witnessed two types of armed activities side by side. While the CPM and BJP-TMC armed gangs were totally anti-people and brutal in nature, and engaged in looting, extorting, killing, raping at their will, the PW squad maintained good relations with the people, and tried to organise them in resistance and educate them in revolutionary politics risking their own lives to save the people from fascist attacks. While the fascist parties always made the common people their target of attack, the PW squad differentiated between the leaders and the led of the fascist parties and always targeted the main leaders, the main culprits, the main anti-people elements and organised attacks on them. The ruling class parties used terror as their weapon to bring people on their sides while PW used politics and politics only to win over the people on its side. Consequently people could draw a clear demarcation line between the fascists and the revolutionaries and slowly began to get organised even under the worst fascist terror of these parties.

By end of 1999, the BJP tried to attack some villages on No. 10 Panchayat area and the CPM leaders became panicky. Then the PW squad led the people and successfully resisted big BJP mob, killing 2 and wounding several of them. The news of this resistance spread like a wild fire in the whole area. People got more confidence and began to polarise around revolutionary politics. But, their urgent issue was saving their lives and properties from the clutches of the marauder gags. That was the immediate need. Polarisation was going on this issue, hence, political consolidation and imparting class consciousness in the downtrodden masses remained the most important task while resisting the fascist forces. But, people mainly learn through their own experience and on this aspect, the developments of Garbeta was actually an eye-opener to the local people to realise in practice the difference between the revolutionary politics and the reactionary politics of different hues. People definitely became more mature and more conscious through the practice and politics of the CPI (ML) [PW].

Thus with the help of people, PW squad continued its activities on both sides of the Sheelabati, but mainly concentrated on the northern side, i.e., the border areas of Midnapore, Hoogly and Bankura. Attempts were taken to punish notorious BJP leaders like Bhola Mallik, once the right-hand of the CPM leader Mukunda Patra who was murdered by BJP gang in 1998. With his murder BJP got upper hand in the area and could spread its empire ousting the CPM from the area. But persons like Bhola, the henchman of the CPM leader, became the henchmen of BJP-TMC combine.

Anyhow, Bhola saved himself narrowly. But the attack sent a chilly terror down the spines of the BJP leaders. Bhola immediately became inactive from politics and some other BJP stalwarts fled the area. But till that time the BJP was not a declining force. Moreover it was gathering more and more criminals from all around and was preparing to launch a final offensive on the CPI (ML) [PWI and the villages that till then did not surrender to them. They were panicked to face the PW squad as they came to know that people from differrent villages were contacting CPI (ML) [PW] squad in increasing numbers. Even, PW squad was moving in many BJP-dominated villages also and organising people at night. They knew that any new attack will obviously invite resistance from people under the leadership of the CPI (ML) [PW].

By April 2000, BJP-TMC gathered a big gang of criminals from different districts along with hundreds of arms. The notorious Manu dacoit of Kotalpur of Bankura, a contract killer, was brought to Garbeta. 500-1000 men and around 250-300 guns were gathered in Hoogly-Midnapore border to attack some villages there which were out of their control and remained as islands of opposition in their expanding empire. Further the BJP-TMC forces gathered a lot of number-plateless new motor cycles and they formed one motor cycle bahini which began to make sudden raids on villages with gun fires and hurrah sounds to terrorise the villages on their appearance itself. They took such ghastly preparation for a final offensive to wipe out any trace of resistance from the area. But to their misfortune, the battle turned against them and the leadership fled from the area. The goons and their henchmen later, joined in CPM.

The final battle started in the Hoogly villages bordering Midnapore. The BJP leadership boastfully declared that they would wipe out the CPI (ML) [PW] totally as they had destroyed the Sarkar family of Sandhipur. They got some initial success when on 7th May Manikbandhi village fell to their attack.

The Manikbandhi villagers were so panicky that most of them left the village even before the attack. So effective resistance could not be put up here though the fascist gang lost one of their member and one villager was also killed in the battle. This negative experience of Manikbandhi was turned into a positive lesson in the adjacent Selampore and Bheute villages of Hoogly district where almost the whole villagers were organised by the CPI (ML) [PW] squad to put up resistance against the fascist attack. The village youth were trained in guerrilla fighting to build up tough resistance. A series of attacks look place over two months of May and June 2000 on these villages. But they could not penetrate an inch into these villages. Further they suffered a lot of casualities in the long-drawn battle. Some 10/12 BJP-TMC attackers might have lost their lives. One among them was the local TMC leader Nitai Senapati, the death of whom attracted Mamata from Calcutta to condole his family.

This long battle slowly demoralised the fascist gangs. Panic set in their camp. Slowly the hired goons from outside began to disappear and finally they fled the scene. Another incident of mass resistance must be mentioned here which put the last nail on the fascist attacker’s coffin.

As we already noted, Rama Tewari is the BJP president of Midnapore district and the main organiser of the fascist bahini since its initial stage. He was a businessman from West, an offshoot of a comprador family who nourished the dream to be the new Zamindar. Rama first joined the CPM and was long patronised by the CPM. Then with the rising of the BJP he switched over to the BJP. He personally led the fascist gang in the Sandhipur massacre which was published in the CPM’s state mouthpiece ‘Ganashakti’ in a big way to discredit the BJP, but never did the ruling party file a case against Tewari for his heinous murders, let alone, take him to custody. So it was the duty of the people and the revolutionaries to punish him. Further he was instrumental in sending police forces repeatedly to arrest the PW squad. So he became the most hated target of the people and revolutionaries.

Bansda is a village in Garbeta which has remained a long time stronghold of the communist movement. Here three villagers laid down their lives while fighting police forces during the great Tebhaga movement in 1949. Till now that village carries the communist tradition of standing against all oppressors. Earlier this village was with the CPI. Then after ’77 it became a bastion for the CPM. But finally it became one of the villages that stood firmly with the CPI (ML) [PW] politics and facing all the odds, became a stronghold of revolutionaries.

In the last week of June, Rama personally planned to destroy this communist stronghold. For that purpose on the one hand he mobilised a large gang on one side of the village and he personally led one large police force from another side first to flush out the PW squad from the village and then to attack and loot the village by his gang.

But anticipating his plan. the PW squad mobilised the village women in large numbers and gheraoed the police party at the entrance of the village itself. While the police was being beaten by the village women with broom sticks, Rama began to retreat hurriedly in his car to a safe distance and became isolated both from the protector police and from his gang. At this opportune moment the PW squad attacked on the car of Rama. The car was badly damaged and Rama could escape narrowly with his gang. But this incident spread great panic among the BJP-TMC camp and the fascist leader never again dared to enter the GB village. These incidents of resistance that we have mentioned earlier were all published in the press as fighting between the BJP-TMC and the CPM forces is a white lie.

This attack along with the defeat and losses in the Selampur battle broke the morale of the fascist gangs totally. They lost all their initiative and fled away and vacated the whole area.

After the fall of BJP-TMC domination in Garbeta and adjacent Goghat villages by the resistance organised by the PW, CPM leaders came out of their safe-havens and began to organise their own gangs to chase away the fleeing BJP-TMC forces and once again capture the vacant areas left over by BJP-TMC and impose its own domination. So the defeat of the BJP-TMC combine in Garbeta oave some boost up in the sagging morale of the CPM and demoralised the BJP-TMC camp totally. The CPM is cunning enough to utilise this situation and conduct one after another attacks on the demoralised BJP-TMC forces first in Goghat in Hoogly, then in Keshpur in Midnapore and then in Sihar - Gopinathpore areas of Bankura districts. Just like the BJP-TMC marauder gangs, CPM also organised criminals, anti-socials and a section of the people and formed 1000-1500-strong armed gangs to attack BJP-TMC dominated villages one after another — burning, looting, killing, beating, and imposing taxes, etc., what the communal fascists were doing till yesterday. Only in PW squad’s operating area, the criminal activities of CPM gangs were checked to a great extent by the people’s resistance.

Now as the BJP-TMC forces were vacating all the areas under their domination without minimum resistance. CPM quickly took control of the areas as PW has no adequate party structure or subjective force to cover such a vast area. But whatever may be the ruling class propaganda, people in the vast area of Garbeta, Goghat, Keshpur, Shalboni and other adjacent blocks are well aware about the actual picture of the anti-fascist struggle of Garbeta-Goghat areas and got a lot of confidence in revolutionary politics. So numberless contacts and invitations are coming up from the common suffering people of the whole area asking the PW to form organisatilon in their respective areas.

In this situation what are the conditions of the Garbeta area where the PW is working? Here the PW has to farce renewed threats from the CPM who are dreaming to wipe out the PW with the help of the police. So the stage is being set for another round of struggle, this time around with the more cunning social fascists. Most of the rich and landlords who were patronising the BJP-TMC forces till the other day now changed their coats to become patrons of the CPM. Similarly many of the criminals and killer gangs that were operating under the banner of the BJP-TMC till yesterday suddenly became their comrades and are being utilised by the CPM in the same way as was done by the BJP-TMC. The CPM also organised one motorcycle gang to terrorise the common people in the area and particularly threatening the people not to support the PW programme or help them. So the so-called pro-people image of the social fascists is quickly sloughing off before the people. People are seeing their real face and realising from the bitter experience that all the ruling parties are fascists and anti-people in nature and there is no difference between them in character.

Up to June last there was no scope to mobilise people in mass programmes as there was no democracy for the people to freely organise on their issues. The only issue was to restore peace by defeating the terror tactics of the BJP-TMC. Now after their fall people got some breathing space and planned sonic programme of mass mobilisations.

The first programme taken in this period was to hold the peasants’ district conference in May last. This conference was organised in the CPM domain of No. 10 Panchayat area. So the social fascists tried their level best to disrupt the programme and even made false propaganda that police had banned the conference and whoever would attend would be arrested. But defying this CPM threats, the conference became a success and since then peasant organisation units were built up in some 20 villages and one Area Committee of MKSS (Majdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti) has also been functioning.

On 12 July the people of Bansda and nearby villages were mobilised in a mass meeting to remember the martyrs Bhabataran, Sudhir and Prabati of Tebhaga movement. More than one thousand people were mobilised in the meeting. The CPM also organised a parallel meeting and impose its domination and mobilised thousands of people from different areas of Midnapore-Hoogly and Bankura. But very few Bansda people attended their programme. The social fascists are precariously isolated from their earlier stronghold.

On July 28th - Aug. 3rd the Martyrs’ Week was observed in different Garbeta villages. Some 2000 people were mobilised in Sandhipur village in the school ground where Com. Anath was brutally killed less than a year ago. Police tried to disrupt the meeting by raiding several villages having strong sympathy for revolutionary activities asking the villagers to name the village unit members of the MKSS. This move to create panic among the masses continued on 27th and 28th July. But large number of people rallied in procession from villages like Raikha, Sitanagar, Selampur, Bansda, Bheute, etc. In Raikha and Bansda two separate rallies were held during the Martyrs’ Week.

The wage struggle was taken up during the sowing season and wage could be increased from Rs. 40 and 11/2 kg. rice to Rs. 45 and 11/2 kg. rice per day. The wage struggle was initiated from Bansda and spread to the whole Garbeta block. Almost all the villages implemented the new rate.

Jayanta Ghosh of Mohanpur village is a landlord and was a patron of the BJP. People’s guerrillas raided his house, imposed certain levy on him and seized his DBBL gun. Being panicked the jotedar fled away from his village.

In Bechhua village also one DBBL gun was seized from one jotedar Piyush Ghose to arm the people’s forces. The PW has already built up some Village Defence Squads (VDS) in some villages to counter future fascist attacks. Many more are to be formed to organise the people’s resistance. Similarly more MO units are to be formed to utilise the revolutionary potentials of the people and mould them in revolutionary politics. The PW is now concentrating to consolidate its forces and unleash class struggles on a big scale.

Garbeta struggle gave many a good lesson for the people and revolutionaries. Firstly it was amply proved that all the fascist forces are, actually paper tigers. Whatever may be their strength and weapons, if people can dare to face them and build up people’s forces to resist them, their forts will fall like a house of cards.

Secondly, people can never rely on a ruling class party while fighting the other. People should be educated to oppose all the fascist forces, be it in power or opposition, and be prepared with the politics of seizure of political power.

‘Thirdly, the bitter power struggle between the CPM and the BJP-TMC will be intensified in the coming days as the assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in the first or second quarter of 2001. The bloody struggle to occupy each other’s area will race to newer and newer areas and could engulf the whole of Bengal. So the people should unite in defence of their right to live in peace and for political freedom. People should not be allowed to be divided on bourgeois political line. Rather they should be polarised on class issues and on class lines.

It should be kept in mind that every ruling class party always try to utilise the dissatisfaction of the downtrodden people with aim of capturing governmental power defeating the other one. In the course of development of this power-struggle the ruling class parties unleash terror and resort to fascist activities. Some times these downtrodden people are also involved in these fascist activities. It is one of the important task of the revolutionaries to win over them through painstacking political and organisational activities.

So, in Garbeta and elsewhere the revolutionaries have to take up people’s issues on a big scale to unite them in the grass roots and defeat the nefarious designs of the ruling class parties to divide and rule the people besides preparing the people to face greater offensive from the fascist forces by developing the people’s armed forces and people’s resistance to higher planes.

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