commentary the People’s Committee against Police Is Lalgarh Showing the Way? Atrocities (PCAPA) to form the people’s mi- litia; and (5) from the formation of the Sidhu-Kanu Gana Militia on 27 October Amit Bhattacharyya 2009 till date. Each of these phases has its distinctive features. If one studies the The Maoists have been at the he ongoing struggle in Lalgarh, movement, one will see that it was not just helm of the movement in Lalgarh nay, Jangal Mahal has already com- a movement against land grab or just for right from its inception. Even as Tpleted one year in early November the assertion of the rights of the 2009. This struggle is totally different or against humiliation suffered by the they organised the resistance from any other recent movement in our tribal people; it was more than that. And to state repression, they put in country. If Singur faced the initial experi- that broader aspect gradually unfolded as place, at a rudimentary level, ence of defeat, could take movement rolled on. One of the major as- an alternative programme pride in having tasted victory in the course pects of the movement is the PCAPA’s advo- of a long bloody battle against the Left cacy of a pro-people new model of devel- of development based on the Front (LF) government and the terror per- opment – a model that shows the imprint people’s initiative and their petrated by the “hermads” backed by the of the Maoist party. This aspect of the voluntary labour. But when the Communist Party of India (Marxist) movement hardly received any attention joint forces of the central and [CPI(M)]. The struggles waged in both Sin- from the urban intellectuals. gur and Nandigram were directed against state governments moved into the land-grab movement resorted to by New Model of Development the area, the organisation of domestic big comprador capital and for- The model of development the Indian rul- a people’s militia became an eign imperialist capital. In both Singur ing classes and their political representa- imperative. There is a need to and Nandigram, the parliamentary par- tives have adopted ever since they came to ties played some role, and in the case of power in 1947 was the policy of depend- trace the roots of the armed the latter, the Maoist party also inter- ence on foreign capital and technology, resistance. The grudging Bengali vened. In the case of the Lalgarh move- which led to the selling out of our country’s urban literati need to understand ment, on the other hand, the parliamen- economy, water, land and vast natural re- that questions as to who is to lead tary parties were rejected by the people sources to foreign imperialist capital and and the Maoist party played a major role. domestic comprador big capital. It was the and guide the movement and The Lalgarh movement began in a dif- Naxalbari movement and the Communist the form it should take are to be ferent context. It started as a response Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) led by decided by the sons of the soil against the brutality perpetrated by the Charu Mazumdar that first raised the themselves, and not by those who police on 5 November 2008. It was, at the demand for radical land reforms, opposi- same time, a fight against age-old depri- tion to and confiscation of imperialist keep a safe distance from it. vation and humiliation and for the asser- capital, and, at the same time, formulated tion of dignity and the rights of the people. the blueprint for an alternative model of However, the landmine attack on the development. That programme could not chief minister on 2 Novem- be implemented by the communist revolu- ber 2008 as a mark of protest against the tionaries of the first phase of the struggle Jindal special economic zone (SEZ) at for reasons we need not get into at present. Shalboni also possibly acted as a catalyst At a later period, the Maoists put into prac- that initiated a snowballing process. In tice an alternative development programme that sense, it also resembled those in in the Dandakaranya area covering some Singur and Nandigram. mineral-rich states. The main elements of The Lalgarh movement can be divided this programme are self-reliance, equitable into five phases: (1) from 5 November 2008 distribution of resources and property to the day the dates for parliamentary among the people, distribution of land to elections were announced; (2) from the the tiller, all-round development in the following day to 16 May 2009 when the countryside based on people’s initiative election results were declared throughout and voluntary labour, and the weeding the country; (3) from 17 May to 17 June, out of foreign influence and control over the day before Operation Lalgarh began; our economy, society, culture and politics. Amit Bhattacharyya (amit_bh200405@yahoo. (4) from 18 June 2009, when the joint As in Dandakaranya, such attempts com) is with the Department of History, forces started moving into Lalgarh, to 26 are being made at the rudimentary Jadavpur University, Kolkata. October, when decisions were taken by level even in the Jangal Mahal area of

Economic & Political Weekly EPW january 9, 2010 vol xlv no 2 17 commentary West Bengal. This is evident from the direction, as is reported by different sources. and vegetables there for at least two sea- following newspaper report captioned Let us state some of the features. sons before it becomes fit, hopefully, once “Welcome to India’s Newest Secret State” again, for paddy cultivation. Side by side, by Snigdhendu Bhattacharya (Hindustan Agriculture and Land Distribution: Any- it was also decided that the lands of the Times, 10 June 2009): one going to Jangal Mahal would be able “new landlords” such as those of the

Here across a 1,000 sq km area bordering to realise that the much trumpeted land CPI(M) leaders like Anuj Pandey, Bimal Orissa in West Medinipur district, the Mao- reform programme of the LF government Pandey or Dalim Pandey – the rural boss- ists over the last 8 months have quietly un- does not have any presence there. In areas es-rogues-cum-moneylenders who had leashed new weapons in their battle against where trees have been cut to introduce amassed millions by expropriating the the Indian state: drinking water, irriga- land reforms, nothing has been done and wealth and land of the poor peasants, as tion, roads and health centres…carefully shielded from the public eye, the Hindustan vast tracts have been allowed to be con- also by swindling money from govern- Times found India’s second ‘liberated zone’, verted into wastelands. Although the West mental projects, would be confiscated and a Maoist-run state where development for Bengal government, through an Act of distributed among the real owners. more than two lakh people is unfolding at 2004, vowed to distribute these lands a pace not seen in 30 years of ‘Left Front’ among the landless adivasis, nothing has, Irrigation: In the dry Jangal Mahal belt, rule. Apart from taking over the organs of the state and most notably the executive and as yet, been done. On the contrary, the LF where rainfall is scanty, special attention the judiciary, the Maoists here have built at government and the CPI(M) that leads it is needed. However, one cannot see any- least 50 km of gravel paths, dug tube-wells had decided to hand over thousands of thing of the sort. The government has and tanks, rebuilt irrigation canals and are acres of those lands for the setting up of an built a huge canal that runs from Mayurb- running health centres, with the help of SEZ to the corporate house of the Jindals. hanj in to Midnapur town so as local villagers. Faced with such government apathy and to provide water to the fields when the Another daily (The Telegraph, 24 June deprivation, it was quite natural for the rainy season is over. However, because of 2009) reported under the caption “Lalgarh people of Jangal Mahal to organise under faulty construction, the canal remains dry Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme the banner of the PCAPA to initiate a genu- throughout the year and the pipes that (Maoist): Rise and Rot of a Rebel ‘State’” ine land reform programme. open to the fields remain completely that the People’s Committee-Maoists began The Committee initiated a programme choked. The PCAPA, in response to this the following schemes: Jobs for landless – to ensure full rights of the adivasis over governmental mal-development, started work in development projects in lieu of forest land to the landless with adequate building small check dams and lock gates Rs 60-80 per day; building kutcha roads, facilities for irrigation. Opposing the govern­ that would store the water during the culverts and water reservoirs and digging ment policy of welcoming multinational monsoon and preserve water flowing deep tube wells; bringing medical teams seed companies, the PCAPA opted to form down from natural streams. Such a check from Kolkata; lending money to repair and seed cooperatives through the promotion dam was in the process of construction at build cheap houses. of organic fertilisers prepared with either Bohardanga village when the DSU team The first attempts were made by the forest ash or cow-dung. visited the place. PCAPA soon after it was born. It set up vil- Another important step is land distribu- lage committees each of which consisted tion. The village committee decided to en- Construction of Roads: If one goes to the of five men and five women, where deci- sure one bigha of land for the landless and Lalgarh villages, one will be struck by the sions were taken on the basis of mutual 15 kathas for peasants with less land and absence of roads worth the name. During discussion. That was followed by the for- no land for those having five bighas or more. the monsoon the roads are muddy and mation of women’s wings and youth wings The JNU student team visited Banshberia water-logged and virtually impossible to of the committee. These were democratic village and were witness to a land distri- walk on. Transferring patients, pregnant bodies some of which bear the imprint of the bution meeting. However, one problem was women or dead bodies become difficult old society and some, particularly that land was not in an arable condition tasks. The villagers of Adharmari com- the women’s wing, are new and signify due to the senseless plantation of eucaly­ plain that the transportation facilities are the true empowerment of women. ptus trees by the state government as part pathetic and during the monsoon, the vil- In June 2009, before the deployment of of its “social forestry” project that was lage gets totally cut off from the world the joint forces in Operation Lalgarh, a promoted by the World Bank. The planta- outside. The same is true for many other team comprising students affiliated to the tion of eucalyptus trees was aimed at dry- villages as well. The PCAPA took up this is- Democratic Students’ Union (DSU), Jawa- ing up the land so as to facilitate future sue and constructed roads with red-stone harlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, extraction of mineral resources from the chips, which are locally available at an af- and journalists visited Lalgarh and adjoin- region. It is a nefarious anti-people con- fordable cost. The construction was done ing areas for an on-the-spot investigation. spiracy deliberately hatched by corporate through voluntary labour, as in the Dan- That report throws some light, even if at a foreign and domestic capital with the dakaranya region. It is an example of par- rudimentary level, on the development backing of both the central and state gov- ticipatory development where human re- programme initiated by the people. Since ernments. In order to undo the damage to sources are mobilised for developmental then, many new steps were taken in this the soil, the people decided to grow fruits work for the people.

18 january 9, 2010 vol xlv no 2 EPW Economic & Political Weekly commentary During the Yenan phase (1937-45) of the result of globalisation and the domination faced by the students of Bikash Bharati Chinese revolution, this principle of Mao of one language over another, thousands School, located close to the factory. The car- Zedong was applied in many regions and of indigenous languages had already gone bon dust makes their white uniforms black helped in unleashing the creativity of the into oblivion all over the world. These every day. The water in the ponds turns masses. In villages such as Korengapara, developments take place before our very black too. Acute respiratory tract infection Shaldanga, Bahardanga, Papuria, Darigera, eyes, but we hardly pay any attention to and asthma among people are common etc, it was the villagers themselves who them. In fact, the Lalgarh struggle has put complaints. So severe is the pollution that took part. This was unlike the earlier forward the demand for the restoration of it imperils human beings and other crea- government projects where they helplessly the near extinct languages of the people. tures. And saal leaves, which are collected witnessed from a distance their develop- The reality is that in areas where people’s and sold in the market, become black, de- ment funds being siphoned off by the struggles are very strong, the possibility of priving the people of an important source corrupt CPI(M) members and government the regeneration of local languages is a re- of livelihood. Yet, the State Pollution Con- officials. According to Chhatradhar Mahato, ality, and the local artists, writers and trol Board did not order the closure of the the spokesperson of the PCAPA, unlike the singers make their mark in their respective factory. There was a mammoth gathering state which builds a km of road spending fields of activity. In this way, near-extinct of more than 12,000 people on 7 June last Rs 15,000, the Committee could build languages are revived. Dandakaranya has year at Lodhashuli village near 20 kms spending only Rs 47,000. had the same experience. town where decisions for the boycott of Traditional weapons comprise an inte- this unit and two other such factories Water, Shelter and Health Facilities: A gral part of the adivasi culture. Thus, if were taken. On 19 December, when all dry and arid region that Jangal Mahal is, any restrictions are imposed on the display other avenues failed, this sponge-iron it is difficult to get drinking and irrigation of such weapons by the government, the factory was burnt down by the people water. The committee took the initiative adivasi people would treat it as an in- (“PCB stirs after Blaze of Wrath”, HT to set up mini tube wells and install sub- fringement on their traditional culture. Kolkata Plus, 20 December 2009). mersible pumps. The people also extended On 5 June last year, the Kolkata police It is clear that the PCAPA had integrated their voluntary labour to facilitate irriga- put a restriction on the display of such local day to day issues with the broad tion. The PCAPA took steps to ensure that weapons at a proposed rally to be organ- struggle against state repression. Needless government projects like the Indira Avaash ised jointly by the Committee against to say, this would not have been possible Yojana reached those who needed it most. Violence on Women, an all-India women’s without the active participation of the There was hardly any medical facility organisation, and the women’s wing of the Maoists. This has been an entirely new in the whole zone. The committee took PCAPA. The women’s wing has also initiated experience in the history of West Bengal. the initiative to set up health centres at campaigns against the consumption of It did not happen in the first phase of the Kantapahari, Belpahari and Chakadoba liquor, superstition, pornography and Naxalbari struggle. with an ambulance van and a team of domestic violence. The Matangini Mahila doctors from Kolkata. Nearly 1,500 persons Samiti had earlier taken steps in this Intellectual Reaction visited the centres everyday for treatment. direction in Nandigram. The intellectual response to the Lalgarh These health centres are now under the struggle is basically different from what occupation of the joint forces and have People’s Court: The system of justice that we had seen during the Singur and Nandi- been converted into paramilitary camps. prevails in our country is, needless to say, gram struggles. Those who came forward meant to serve the ruling classes. In Lalgarh, at the early stage later retracted and Education, Culture and Social Aware- the people set up their own court – the kept mum. Meanwhile, the tide was blow- ness: In the charter of demands placed by People’s Court. Here decisions are taken ing for a “change”; the isolation of the the Adivasi Moolbasi Janasadharaner by the people and punishment, if any, is CPI(M) got reflected in the elections, and Committee and published from , meted out. There was much criticism from one section among the intellectuals found the adivasi people demanded promotion some quarters (civil rights activists and it more attractive to keep closer to and spread of the Santhali and Kurmali others) against such a system of justice. the prospective winner – the Trinamool languages and alchiki script. In fact, a Congress – in the approaching elections large number of indigenous languages has Fight against Environmental Pollution: and receive bouquets and cushy jobs as gone into oblivion due to the domination The PCAPA has also taken up the issue of biddwajjans (learned personalities). We of one or two languages. Quite naturally, environmental pollution. The people of would like to discuss the response of the demands have been raised for the recogni- had long been airing their griev- urban literati towards the Maoists in the tion of the Santhali language. The 21st of ances against pollution caused by a sponge Lalgarh struggle. February – observed as Language Day in iron factory run by a branded cement According to a section of the intelli- both West Bengal and Bangladesh – was group. Apart from damaging crops, plan- gentsia, the people of Jangal Mahal had observed as a Black Day. It was an expres- tation and vegetation in surrounding areas, been continuing their movement quite sion of protest against the cultural domi- the amount of carbon pollution generated well until the Maoists entered the scene nation by the . In fact, as a by it can be gauged from the predicament from outside and derailed the movement.

Economic & Political Weekly EPW january 9, 2010 vol xlv no 2 19 commentary In their view, it is the violent activities of time and again from within human rights then that “terrorism” definitely is of a the Maoists that brought joint forces into organisations and “civil society” whenever different character. the scene. The result is that the people are armed resistance developed or revolution- The Lalgarh struggle has posed a seri- now said to be being “sandwiched” be- ary armed struggle gained in strength. ous problem to a section of civil rights ac- tween state terror and gun-toting Maoists According to some intellectuals, the demo­ tivists and urban intellectuals. When the or “non-state” actors. The most bitter cratic struggle should be peaceful, and masses were attacked and tortured, the attack, however, came from the two Delhi- when it takes a violent turn and the city-bred intellectuals stood by their side, based historians – Sumit Sarkar and people get armed, then it loses its demo- as in Singur and Nandigram. But the Lal- Tanika Sarkar. They wrote (EPW, 27 June – cratic character. To them, “democracy” is garh story was entirely different. Here the 10 July 2009): identified with order and peace, and if urban literati are confronted with the there is disorder and violence, then it emergence of the resisting warrior masses Maoists have done incalculable harm to the movement. Their activities and intentions becomes un-democratic. Needless to say, and, in their presence, are at a loss as to are shrouded in mystery, their secret terror such ideas have been very carefully and what position to take. operations express total indifference to hu- successfully planted by the state propa- On 16 September last year, an English man lives, their arms deals lead them…into ganda machinery. daily organised a discussion in Kolkata shady financial transactions with rich and History, however, proves otherwise. It with the caption “Surely the Maoist is not corrupt power brokers…They come into an already strong and open mass movement, is not the people but the state which is one of us”. Most of the speakers sought the they engage in a killing spree discrediting armed to the teeth, and it is the state genesis of the Maoist movement in the the movement, and then they leave after giv- again which uses all conceivable methods “failure of the system to deliver”. Let us ing the state authorities a splendid excuse of violence to keep people under subjuga- quote a few lines from the report (The for crushing it. tion. Peace-loving people are thereby Statesman, 17 September 2009): In the opinion of this section of the forced by the state to raise the banner of When a landlord takes away a villager’s wife, intelligentsia, it is the Maoists who have armed resistance, as the real perpetrators keeps her in his house to sexually abuse her derailed the movement towards a violent of violence leave behind for them no and orders the husband to go away when he and undemocratic path. option other than that. History is replete pleads with him for returning his wife to him with many such examples. The slave revolt and his two children, what is he supposed to do? Mouth platitudes about non-violence Maoist Presence under Spartacus in 73 BC, the peasant and peace? Or take up arms against a sea of The reality, of course, is that the Maoists rebellion in Germany under Thomas troubles and by opposing end them? In one did not fall from the sky; the Maoist Com- Munzer in the 1520s, the Taiping peasant such case a youth in went munist Centre and the CPI(M-L) People’s rebellion in the mid-19th century China straight into the jungle, organised a group of War had been active there from the 1980s (1851-64), the Great Revolt of 1857 or about 25,000 people, killed the landlord and ended by being Maoists. and 1990s and fought over day to day those by Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen and issues by the people’s side, and suffered others. All these armed rebellions repre- This is part of the speech delivered by persecution, molestation and incarcera- sented the genuine interests and aspira- G Hargopal of the University of Hydera- tion for years together. Their social roots tions of the people and were just and bad, which only corroborates the view lie in the soil of Jangal Mahal, however democratic in character. that it is the oppressive state that breeds disturbing it might sound to these historians In the class society of today, class con- armed resistance and sections of “learned personalities”. tradictions, conflicts and sometimes, class The struggle in Jangal Mahal is not a Thus the statement that the Maoists are wars are inevitable. The ruling classes had spontaneous movement; it has been a politi- external to the movement, that they have always exploited the majority, killed and cally conscious movement, as is clear from entered the scene all on a sudden and maimed them, perpetrated terror and, in its very unfolding. By now, it is obvious that taken control of it, does not have any this way, extracted the sole right, the the Maoists have been playing a major part factual basis at all. legitimacy to perpetrate terror against the in it. Without their active role, the move- As to the “sandwich” theory, the advo- people whom they pretend to serve. The ment would not have taken such a shape and cates of this theory have actually been “Greyhounds”, “Cobras”, and many other spread to newer areas. This constitutes its portraying the masses in a way that these state-trained police-butchers only betray “ignorant” people are devoid of any initia- the violent character of the Indian state. Style Sheet for Authors tive of their own, that they are like un- Whenever, in response, the oppressed While preparing their articles for submission, thinking, unfeeling robots, which can only people themselves take up arms, break contributors are requested to follow e p w ’s follow, but cannot lead. that state monopoly over the means of style sheet. violence and “legitimacy” enjoyed by the The style sheet is posted on e p w ’s web site at What Breeds Armed Resistance? state to control the masses, the ruling http://epw.in/epw/user/styletocontributors.jsp The Lalgarh movement has given rise to classes raise the bogey of law and order and It will help immensely for faster processing and debates that are old in states such as utilise that legitimacy to drown people’s error-free editing if writers follow the guidelines Andhra Pradesh, but new in states such as movements in pools of blood. If anybody in style sheet, especially with regard to citation and preparation of references. West Bengal. Such issues had come up calls the resistance struggle “terrorism”,

20 january 9, 2010 vol xlv no 2 EPW Economic & Political Weekly commentary main strength. The urban literati should but what many of us do feel is that how we It is high time that we raise our collec- not grudge it, because who is to lead and live today is far removed from how we tive voice against this unjust war waged by guide the movement, what form that ought to live, that the present system has the central and state governments against movement would take is to be decided by already outlived its utility, has been fail- our own people, demand complete demo- the sons of the soil themselves, and not by ing to deliver and that some fundamental bilisation of the paramilitary forces and those who keep a safe distance from it. change is necessary in the interests of the reallocation of resources from the means Many of us still do not know who to look majority of the people. Is Lalgarh showing of destruction to the tasks of creating a forward to for guidance and leadership; the way? new society fit for human living.

conjuncture as an iteration of the more State Power, State Patronage general theme of post-war political possi- bility. Some went so far as to claim that and Elections in Sri Lanka the Sinhala people had accepted president Rajapaksa as king and his heirs as a new family dynasty. Such analyses typically Ahilan Kadirgamar exhibit a contempt for subaltern classes and, with their fixation on the personal duel The call for early presidential lections in Sri Lanka have always between the president and the general, elections, the Rajapaksa regime’s been moments of dynamism. In- fall some way short of even attempting decisions vis-a-vis the post-war Ecumbent regimes are shaken if not to understand the current conjuncture. thrown out and new, unlikely political co- This, in turn, reflects the qualitative situation and the announcement alitions emerge; politicians cash in on deterio­ration of journalism, political of ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka’s their patronage networks and the people analysis and research, a trend that has candidacy have opened up some voice their opposition and dissent. Despite paralleled the period of the war and avenues for political dissent in the limitations of electoral democracy, na- its long cycles of authoritarianism and tional elections in Sri Lanka – a country militarisation as well as the decades of Sri Lanka. But given a weak which has never had a successful military donor-funded western-oriented research bourgeoisie, uneven development coup – provide a moment for the political and scholarship. Intellectual work on state and the lack of a progressive third expression of the masses. The upcoming and society has lost the political edge of force, the elections, which are presidential elections are no different, as the 1970s and 1980s, and superficial elec- the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime’s fear of tion analyses and debates instance this bound to witness the use of state the candidacy of general Sarath Fonseka incapacity, in their failure to foresee the patronage, would not mean much indicates. But it is also important to note opening of political space and analyse for the minorities or for the that the election dynamic more than any its implications. Contemporary liberal economically marginalised other form of pressure, international or political commentaries lack a sense of local, has led to major changes over the historical context and rarely extend be- sections of Sri Lankan society. It is last month. The 3,00,000 interned inter- yond a rudimentary theorisation of state in this context that issues such as nally displaced persons (IDP) have finally and crisis, and are geared instead towards the devolution of power, the been given freedom of movement, curfew the immediate end of mobilising the representation of minorities and in Jaffna has been lifted after years, the “international community” with repeated A9 road to Jaffna has been opened for and ahistorical invocations of human demilitarisation need to be raised civilian traffic and the press is writing rights crises requiring intervention. by progressive sections in the critically about the government. The To take a cue from historical scholarship, run-up to the elections. opening of political space which would Newton Gunasinghe, one of Sri Lanka’s have been welcome soon after the end of finest social scientists, wrote in the 1980s the war has now arrived as a consequence about the legacy of Prime Minister of the election dynamic and the current S W R D Bandaranaike’s emergence on the political conjuncture. platform of “Sinhala only”. That essay titled “A Sociological Comment on the Political This article benefited from discussions with Poverty of Analyses Transformations in Sri Lanka in 1956 and Thushara Hewage and B Skanthakumar. Before addressing the implications of the the Resultant Socio-Political Processes” Ahilan Kadirgamar (ahilan.kadirgamar@ upcoming elections and the current politi- continues to be of relevance today: gmail.com) is an activist with the Sri Lanka cal moment, one must first address why so In a social structure which generates an ideol- Democracy Forum and is based in New York, many local and international political ogy that religion does not relate to one’s per- USA. analyses have failed to grasp the current sonal beliefs but to one’s family antecedents,

Economic & Political Weekly EPW january 9, 2010 vol xlv no 2 21