To Read Now, March 3, 1967 [PDF, English, 6
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at the dis- • > shameless ~ctions, the ds, electri- mey gaina' • 0 lon of the 1 comfort. e in the CE 30 PAiSE s victory, )0. And dishear- be over- lts is a the up- ead of nd the Jsequent ave been other f the :Lllgla ther ims, ress. the 1.an lbi- his ~ir 'n d o f Rulers In In West Bengal? The New The Casu" NoW More Regional AutonomY? Centre An States Confrontations With The Intettigentsia The CIA And The e wo bullocks not e 1" -rfie Congress has List , xp Olted to draw even a tion Analysis THEY HAVE DONE IT Vol. 3: No. 22:: March 3, 1967 THE people have done it. Despite the massive resources at the dis- posal of the Congress Government, despite the most shameless On Other Pages attempt to bribe and seduce the voter on the eve of the elections, the verdict has gone against the old gang. Tubewells, pucca roads, electri- COMMENTS 4 city, gratuitous relief-all the familiar baits-and the bags of money going DELHI LETTER round in villages at midnight, all failed to sway the determination of the AND Now THE DEAD- CENTRE people to kick the potbellied out of their garden of leisure and comfort. FROM A POLITICAL And let us be grateful, for once, for the fact that most people in the CORRESPONDENT 7 countryside do not read newspapers. These predicted a Congress victory, THE DEBACLE IN BIHAR did all they could to spread confusion, defeatism and frustration. And RAMESH UPADHYAYA 8 thank God, the villagers do not read this weekly, which was so dishear- CALCUTTA DIARY .. CHARAN GUPTA 10 tened by left disunity that it did not think the Congress could be over- A BRIEF ANALYSIS whelmed. By POLLSTERS 11 1 That the people have done it despite this disunity over seats is a THE CIA A D THE IN- measure of their maturity. The ground for this was prepared by the up- TELLIGENTSIA-I surges of last year during which the Left CPI became the spearhead of ROBI CHAKRAVORTI 12 THE CIA AND THE IN- the opposition attack. The unity achieved during mass act.ion and the TELLIGENTSIA-II anti-Congress sentiment proved stronger than the effects of the subsequent PHILIP C. ALTBACH .. 14 electoral maladjustment. Of course, the Congress defeat would have been THAILAND-A MILITARY spectacular, as in Kerala Or Madras, had there been no split. On the other SPRINGBOARD hand, this division would perhaps have meant a Congress victory if the SHANKER GHOSH 15 CHINA AND OUR ruling party itself had not been weakened by the emergence of BangIa MA DARINS Congress, which has done far better than the cyni~al expected. Another REVERSION To BARBARISM? key factor in this election was that for the first time most of the Muslims, -II in 24-Parganas at least, decided to have no truck with the Congress. MONITOR 17 They shed their nagging fear of the ruling party and decided to join the THE PRESS RETRIBUTION IN STATES 21 . main stream against the Congress, a process which had started more than MRINAL SEN'S LATEST a year ago in 24-Parganas. Nurul Islam has not. died in vain. In mobi- KIRONMOY RAHA 24 lising the Muslim voter against the Congress, in asking him to hold his NATANATYAM'S SANKAR head high and fear no one, Mr Humayun Kabir, his brother and their By A DRAMA CRITIC .. 25 co-workers and the left parties played a major role, much to the chagrin LETTERS 26 of Mr Atulya Ghosh. ( EDITOR: SAMAR SEN. PRINTED BY Strange, it is not even a week, but, like Hamlet.'s mother, we had HIM AT MODERN INDIA PRESS, almost forgotten Mr Atulya Ghosh, the evil genius of West Bengal who 7 RAJA SUBODH MULLICK SQUARE, thought he had become an all-India colossus. And what about the Chief CALCUTTA-13 AND PUBLISHED BY HIM FOR NATION TRUST FROM 54 GANESH Minister, who moved that infamous resolution against Mr Ajoy Mukherjee CHUNDER AVENUE, CALCUTTA-13. in the WBPCC meeting, a resolution in 'Which not a single charge ·was TELEPHONE: 24-5713. made against the then West Bengal Congress President? Mr Sen, let us Subscription hope, is ruminating on poetic justice after his defeat at Arambagh. (INLAND) Yearly .. Rs. 15.00 All is not sunshine, however. That Calcutta has returned so many Half-Yearly Rs. 7.50 Congress candidates including some of the worst. opportunists, is a shame. Let us not be accused of leaning towards Lin Piao if we say that the FOREIGN MAIL RATES countryside, 24-Parganas particularly, has set an example to a sizable sec- By Air Mail tion in this city and in some towns. Let us, for once, be narodniks, prais- Europe Rs. 104 or 13 dollars Asia Rs. 72 or 9 dollars ing the peasants who trekked to the polling booth to exercise their once-in- America Rs. 152 or 19 dollars five-years sovereignty. The hour of rejoicing, however, should be over. The Congress has By Surface Mail left behind a dirty mess. The two bullocks, not exploited to draw even a All countries: Rs. 32 or 4 dollars NOW creaking cart or till the field, have lett elation must be tempered with tantra or the Jan Sangh, separately ra ~so huge a dung-heap tha~ it is difficult the realisation that some of the forces or together, cannot be a better alter- ti to breathe. And tlle Congress is thrown up by the election are no less native than the Congress; for all one not dead yet. It is a wounded snake retrograde than what they replace. knows it may be worse. Now that which will try to bite the unwary. In Madras the DMK has secured an the immediate objective of overthrow- The bureaucracy will try to sabotage absolute majority, a distinction de- ing the Congress in as many States as any far-reaching change. A. relent- nied to any other party in the non- possible has been achieved, the left less drive should now begin in Congress States, Kerala not excluded. parties will have to turn their atten- town and village against the bureau- In Orissa the Swatantra party is on tion to the menace of right reaction cracy, against entrenched interests top, and ~ Gujarat and Rajasthan it which has emerged out of the general which thrive on high prices, corrup- has become the second biggest party election. Congress leaders will not tion, starvation and the black market. in the State assembly, though in the allow any scruples to come in the In the difficult days ahead, food will former the Congress has an absolute way of converting their humiliation not be bountiful. It is time to set majority. In the Delhi Territorial at the polls into a tactical victory up all-party committees in villages to Council the Jan Sangh has secured against the left with which alone, watch the hoarders so that there an absolute majority, and in the two they know, the Congress cannot co- might be equitable distribution even Hindi-speaking States of Uttar Pra- exist. For the left a harder battle at this late hour. There is not the desh and Madhya Pradesh it is se- is ahead. slightest doubt that the vast majority cond only to the Congress. In Pun- of the people will further tighten jab, another State where the Congress The Federal Structure their belts and put up with a regime has failed to get an absolute majo- of austerity, based on equality of rity, the Akali Dal of Sant Fateh Thirty years ago the Congress suffering, if the right call comes from Singh dominates as the principal party took office in seven provinces the right men. If an appeal is made constituent of a united front. In under the Act of 1935 which pro- to their sehse of honour and dignity, Bihar, which is also lost to the Con- vided for a limited measure of pro- the people will go all out to achieve gress, the strength of the Jan Sangh vincial ,autonomy; 20 years ago it self-sufficiency. It will all depend on in the assembly is not inconsiderable, formed a Government at the Centre how the non-Congress government though the second party is the SSP. as well. The change brought about functions. It will have the good A different picture is presented by in 1967 will revive, though in a wishes and co-operation of all those Kerala and West Bengal alone where different form and under vastly al- who have shown a new sense of res- the left is superior to the right para- tered circumstances, some of the ponsibility in the elections. Though ding under any name, though in the fundamental issues involved in the they. have high hopes, they will not latter the Swatantra and the Tan scheme which took shape in 1937. demand manna overnight if the men Sangh have made their first depior- The most obvious difference derives now coming to power can create in able infiltration. from what happened in 1947, but it them a feeling of participation in the In their present predicament the is ,remarkable that even that major difficulties of decision-making. Congress leaders will be eager to seek change has not resolved the most im- the support of their rightist allies in portant problem that was sought to Tempered Rejoicings States where their party is in a mino- be tackled in 1937. Twenty years rity. This will hardly require any of Congress rule in independent In- The general election has worked 'ideological or programmatic compro- dia have not unified the nation.