Volume 3, No. 9, September 2002

The Bengali media declared: After three decades, ‘naxalite’ posters have once again appeared in Presidency College. The historic Naxalbari revolt is being reincarnated in the new People’s War upsurge in Midnapore. Also, Siddharth (Shankar Ray) has got reincarnated as the Buddha (Deb Bhattacharya). The repression unleashed by Buddha’s police are reminiscent of the dark days of the 1970’s where the midnight knock meant brutal torture and gruesome murders of some of India’s most dedicated and talented youth.

The arrests and killing of PW activists, sympathisers and ordinary villagers of Midnapore and the recent arrest and brutal torture of a PW leader, some ex-members and a vast cross-section of progressive intellectuals, in and around Calcutta, indicates that the CPI (M) is little different from Naidu’s TDP and the fascist BJP. Their only difference being on the method adopted to maintain the status quo. Yet, when their power and profits are threatened all bare their fascist fangs.

For all their progressive mask, there has been an upsurge of progressive, democratic public opinion against the CPI (M)’s latest clampdown on the PW and those purported to be linked to it. Not only have a vast cross-section of people opposed the CPM’s actions, not only have the major parliamentary parties opposed it, not only have its own left-Front partners opposed it, but even a section from the rank-and-file of the very CPM itself has turned against their leadership. In the face of this opposition, while the Chief Minister, with one face says he will never repeat the Congress terror of the 1970s, with another he openly says there will be no let up in the repression.

Since Sept. last the CPI (M) has brought to Midnapore two crack CRPF companies, which have been trained in counter-insurgency operations in North Telangana. They have unleashed a reign of terror over and above that of the CPI (M) mafia of the region. They have resorted to day and night combings, arrests, tortures etc. They have shot dead a number of PW activists in the region and have been harassing ordinary villagers in the region.

Over 200 villagers have been arrested, of which 26, who they consider as activists, have been booked in far-away Siliguri, in a method similar to that adopted by Sidharth Shankar Ray in the early 1970s. Till today they have not been granted bail. It is feared that once the proposed preventive detention law, POCO, is passed, many will be booked under that.

Then on June 20, State Committee member, Com. Gautam and another, was arrested. This was followed by the arrest of those four who had left the PW a few months back. After 10 days in police custody they finally got jail custody on July 2.

It was from July 4 that the police began their mid-might raids on over 75 intellectuals in and around Calcutta. The arrest and torture of Kaushik Ganguly, professor of Rajabazar Science College, and Abijit Sinha, central excise officer, is an indication of the extent police ruthlessness. It is said that the major police actions took place on the basis of telephone diaries found during the first arrests.

According to family members, Abijit was pulled out of bed, dragged down the stairs and taken to Baguliti Police station. He was humiliated, threatened and intensely interrogated. The shrill cries of several other suspects being tortured in the next room, haunted him for days. He was only released once his wife, Manasi reached the police station along with her father, who himself is a senior police officer — DSP (crime) — in the CID. Traumatized by the experience, on July 7, the 32-year old Abijit, threw himself under a train, committing suicide. Manasi said, "the police are behind my innocent husband’s death". His father-in-law, though a senior police officer, has threatened to take the case to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Professor Ganguly was not only arrested, he was brutally beaten and tortured. He was arrested without any warrant and illegally whisked away. He was taken from police station to police station. A week later his father stated he did not know the whereabouts of his son. It was also reported by the PUCL that Ganguly had cigarette burn marks on his body.

In fact, when the three comrades, Kaushik Ganguly, Tinku Ghosh and Parashar Bhattacharya complained of torture in the courts, the Midnapore court directed top forensic experts from leading medical establishments in Kolkata to examine them and refused to grant further police custody as requested by the police.

Also the father of Parashar Bhattacharya said that, "the way the police barged into our house was quite shameful. Out telephone line was snapped by the police. Till now (July 9) I have no information about my son".

Together with these actions massive raids were launched in the forests of Midnapore and Bankura. Yet they have achieved little. In fact, Additional SP, Anil Srivastava, complained that "We are conducting operations for the last 8 months, but we are yet to achieve any significant success as PW’s support base is strong".

In fact, through this entire process the CPI (M) stands the most discredited, with a mass upsurge of public opinion against it, not only in the villages but also in Kolkata.

Teachers, students, employees have taken to the streets to protest against the wide arrests and torture of Ganguly, Sinha and the others. Human rights organizations, civil liberty groups, ex-naxalite leaders and even the major parliamentary opposition have raised their voice. Besides, the CPI (M) leadership has come under fire from not only its left-front partners, but even from its own rank-and-file.

On July 7, teachers from Calcutta University submitted a letter to the Chief Minister demanding Ganguli’s immediate release. On the same day several college teachers, research scholars and Ganguly’s students camped in Midnapore town, where the professor had been kept in the police lock-up. They protested against the torture of Ganguly and said the police should not misbehave with a brilliant scholar and professor.

An NGO, Liberty for Citizens, threatened to move the state human rights commission against the alleged torture of Ganguly in the name of "interrogation".

When Kaushik, Tinku and Parashar were produced before the CJM’s court amidst unprecedented security, most of the lawyers offered silent support to the defence council, standing beside them all through the court proceeding. Kaushik also had the support of his colleagues camping in the court premises. They distributed copies of a statement by a Senior Chemical Engineering Professor of Calcutta University, Prof. P. Ray. The statement certifies that Ganguly is a very good and popular teacher, an excellent researcher and a very helpful person.

In the city 40 youth Congress workers blocked Bentinck Street-BB Ganguly Street corss-roads, against Kaushik’s arrest and torture—14 members were arrested. The Liberation party organized a protest rally from RSM Square to Lenin Sarani in Kolkata.

The crackdown led to all the small M-L groups uniting under a common umbrella orgainsation, the Bandimukt Prashiti Samiti, which demanded the immediate release of all arrested. It also prepared a list of 300 persons arrested, for their alleged links with the PW, mainly from Midnapore, Bankura and Purnia. The Committee leader, Imanual Haque, alleged that the police planned to book all the 300 under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, once it was enforced.

Former naxalite leader, who recently snapped ties with the Left Front, Asim Chatterjee, condemned the arrests saying, "We don’t support the political beliefs of the PWG, but the way Kaushik Ganguly and other university teachers were arrested reminded me of the frightful seventies. I demand the immediate release of Ganguly and others". Mahadhev Mukherjee stated that the police have remained the same, though governments have changed.

On July 8, 17 teachers of the Calcultta University and 75 teachers of BE College (deemed University), Shibpur, in two separate letters to the Chief Minister demanded Ganguly’s release and punishment of the tortures. The letter stated "the PW has not been banned in West Bengal. Every person in a civilized society is legally and morally free to hold his own opinion and political ideology. These arrests constitute a gross violation of human rights and remind us of the British Raj as well as the Siddharth Shankar Ray regime".

All major teachers unions, except the rabid CPM sponsored West Bengal College and University Teacher’s Association, have come out in protest against Ganguly’s detention. The Jhadavpur University Teachers Association criticized the "brash treatment" by the police of Ganguly. Its general secretary, Tarun Kanti Naskar said, "The manner in which Ganguly was taken from his house and the atrocities he is facing in police custody directly violates the fundamental rights of a citizen. We strongly condemn the illegal arrest of Ganguly and demand that punishment be meted out to the police officers guilty of torturing him". The All Bengal University Teacher’s Association also reacted strongly to Ganguly’s case. Deepak Bannerjee, a senor member of ABUTA said both JUTA and his union members have written a protest letter to the chief Minister.

Writers Mahashweta Devi, Sankho Ghosh, Joy Goswami, and actor Soumitra Chatterjee signed a Public Charter against intimidation and torture in police custody. The APDR (Association for Protection of Democratic Rights) planned to release this on July 15. APDR general secretary, Sujato Bhadra, said, "We have lodged complaints with the NHRC and the Amnesty International. We are organizing a protest march from college street to Rani Rashmoni Road".

On July 9, the APDR also met Hoogly SP and lodged an FIR against the Midnapore (West) Policemen who raided some houses in Uttarpara on the 5th and arrested three youth for their alleged links with the PW. A protest rally was taken out by the APDR in Hoogly against the police action, which was joined by leaders of the Forward Block and CPI.

What has disturbed the CPM most is the protests from within its on ranks, which was most vocal in one of its strongest bastions—Dum Dum. It is here that Ganguly, Tinku Ghosh and Abijit Sinha have their homes. On July 11 the Dum Dum unit of the CPM staged a protest, to force the government to withdraw its repression campaign. The protest was orgainsed by Paltu Dassgupa, a powerful member of the CPM’s North 24 Parganas district secretariat. He has also called for a protest meeting on Sunday, July 13th.

In addition, several CPM leaders questioned the manner in which the police treated Ganguly. It is said that a section are afraid that such "high handed treatment without documentary evidence" would send the wrong signals to party sympathizers in the districts and the teachers ‘bodies’. SFI supporters had joined a protest rally by Rajabazar Science College students demanding the release of their teacher, Kaushik Ganguly.

Voices of Protest also reached the West Bengal State Assmbly, where not only the opposition, but also the Left Front constituents voiced their protest against the arrest and torture of intellectuals, while supporting the government’s repressive campaign against the guerrillas in Midnapore.

On July 11 both the TMC (Trinamool Congress) and the Congress (I) moved a no-confidence motion against the Left Front government and staged a walk-out in protest against the "fascist path chosen by the LF govt., as the arrest of Ganguly and others showed". A section of the CPI, RSP and the SUCI made strongly remarks on the Abijit Affair. The Left Front partners RSP, FB and CPI demand a front meeting to stop the "return of the police raj of the early 70s". FB leaders said, "The police brutality is alarming and should be dealt with firmly at the political level. The PW’s penetration of the tribals and poor in remote areas shows our failure to reach them". Some MLAs demanded a judicial enquiry which was refused by the Chief Minister.

In the face of all this criticism the Chief Minister and CPM state leadership were adamant. He refused a judicial enquiry and the State Committee asked the police to step up the campaign against the PW, terming it an ‘extremist’ organization. They warned their LF partners and their rank-and-file to tone down their criticism. In fact Left Front chairman, Biman Basu, was scathing in his attack on those critical of the repression campaign. The Chief Minister in fact sent crack forces to Midnapore and openly stated that there will be no let-up in these raids and arrests of PW sympathisers.

On July 8, the CPM received its answer. On that afternoon, one of the CPM’s top mafia elements from the Garbetha region of Midnapore was shot dead by the PW guerrillas. His guard too was shot and his revolver seized. The notorious gangster Ajit Ghosh, secretary of the CPM’s Goaltoun Anchalic Samiti and his guard were attacked and killed. Ajit Ghosh was also a police informer whose spying led to the police murder of comrade Subhash Karmakar on June 6. The latest action came 24 hours after the PW distributed a handbill in the region warning the government, to either stop arrests, on risk retaliation. They warned the government to stop the flush-out operations in Midnapore and the raids in Calcutta. With the CRPF being put on full alert and special crack police teams being sent to Goaltore, Salboni, Belpahari and Banshpahari, the CPM is seeking to outdo Siddharth Shankar Ray’s his terror campaign.

But the PW is resisting the attack in spite of the mass arrests of villagers, while the CPM leadership is mad with hatred saying the PW have no policy but violence and the "annihilation line". Even the police have to admit that, those arrested comprise some of the best intellectuals. IGP (Western Range), in charge of Midnapore, hesitantly admitted that "though the arrested persons had brilliant academic backgrounds that were the trend too, during the turbulent 1970’s". In fact, a few months earlier a lecturer of nuclear physics at the ISI (Indian Statistical Institute), Gurupada Kar, was arrested by the Asansol Police for alleged links with the PW.

Lies, falsehoods and a disinformation campaign have always been the staple stock of the CPM against the Maoists, from the very inception. For two-and-half decades after the brutal massacres of the early 1970s the revisionists have ruled West Bengal like a fiefdom. No opposition was allowed to grow and the CPM storm-troopers (backed by the police) would ruthlessly crush any opposition, even that of its own let-front partners. The APDR has, in fact, documented 7,000 cases of political killings in West Bengal since the Left Front came to power, and has demanded of the government to hand over the medical reports of such cases to the Centre for Culture for Care and Torture of Victims.

It is only now that the PW is becoming a match for it. Though it is just at its inception, the CPM fears it as it feared Charu Mazumdar and the earlier founders of the CPI (M-L). They know that it is only the PW. and other revolutionary parties like the MCC that can expose its ideological bankruptcy, its political capitulation, its social degeneration and its fake Marxism. What is more, it is only the PW, MCC like forces that can counter the armed goons of the CPM and build true people’s organization throughout West Bengal.

It was Naxalbari that sounded the clarion call to the oppressed of the entire country. Midnapore signals a new awakening in the revisionist marsh that has swamped West Bengal for three decades, killing the fire and spirit ignited by Naxalbari. With decadence and darkness all around, West Bengal is once again witnessing light on the horizon.

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