After the Euphoria

Vol. 4: No. 10 JUNE 19, 1971 0" Other Page! AFTER THE EUPHORIA COMMENTS 2 T ROUBLE is endemic in the Assam region-a somewhat different kind; of trouble than what is prevalent in West Benga<l. With the heavy intl A PITILESS PATTERN of evacuees a new point of friction has developed there, especially in KAJAL SEN 3 hill areas. At the root af the perpetual unrest in Assam lies the mutu distrust of the hills and the plains people. The fear of the hill pea Bihar that they may lase their distinctive persanality if they are not vigilant based an history. The reaction of the plains people has notaUayed DEFECTORS' PARADISE fear but added to it. With streams of plains people from East Be N. K. SINGH 4 pouring into the hill areas for the last two months, the local people afraid that they may be autnumbered soon. This fear he,s found expr ON THE PARIS COMMUNE-illI sion through stray attacks on evacuees and acts of intimidation; th PARESH CHATIOPADHYAY 5 want the evacuees to be penned up in relief camps, and it is report that in some areas they are hunting out evacuees putting up with the SPOTLIGHT ON PAKISTAN relatives, and friends. Resentment is naturally more acute in Meghala N. K. CHANDRA 8 2nd Shillong has witnessed a bandh called by tribal youths on this issue. During her recent visit to Assam and Meghalaya the Prime Minis HMV AND INDIAN MUSIC sought to explain this hostility of the hill people to the evacuees as H. CHAKRABARTY 13 unavoidable consequence af poverty. Official spokesmen in New De have, however, thought up the easiest way out; they have stautly deni the existence of any hostility. Neither the Prime Minister's explanati HEARTS AND FLOWERS nOr the official deni~,l will enable the Government to dadge the probl MRIGANKA SEKHAR RAY 15 In earning months, not only will the problem be more acute in Ass but it may rear its head, maybe in a samewhat different form, in oth Clippings Strtes alsa. The people of West Bengal need have no fear that they THE TORTURED I[) be outnumbered by the evacuees; yet they may not put up for long wi the mounting pressure of the influx an the State's economy. Tb LETTERS 16 Centre's promise ta bear all expenditure on evacuee relief relieves State Government alone; it does not take off the common man's ba the additional load cast an him by the inevitable rise in prices as '8, res Editor : Samar Sen of the sudden bulge in population. In West Bengal also, there hl8i PRINTED AT MODERN INDIA PRESS, been some "incidents", though, mercifully, not on the same scale as 7, RAJA SUBODH MUUICK SQUARE, Meghalaya. There is na doubt that the situation will boil over if press CALCUTTA-13 AND PUBLISHED WEEKLY FOR GERMINAL PUBLICATIONS (P) LTD. of the influx on the local economy persists. Any smugness over t BY SAMAR SEN FROM 61, MOTr LANE, limited nature af the "incidents" is premature. CALCU'ITA-13 TELEPHONE: 243202 Few people in this country share the Prime Minister's hope tio m ere Benga w1)idh will enable the eva- All Of a sudden, however, these sto- ouees to return to their homeland- ries almost vanished from the papers. 'within six months. It is difficult to A public outcry fOr hot pursuit of Prices, like snowball, go out of disentangle the fact of the situation the intruders would have been very control once they start going up: so ftom the maze of propaganda and embarrassing for the Government, for goes the bromide. A mild dOse of exaggerations over East Bengal, in- the Government knows what is ac- price rise is not harmful; in fact it is dulged obviously by both sides. It is tuaHy happening on and across the conducive to growth. But the trouble 'clear, however, that the military !ad- borders. Newspapers now are there- is that it often assumes runaway pro- ministration has been able to tighten fore concerned with international and portions and threatens to undermine its stranglehold and is not in a pre- local relief, of the endless stream of the growth effect. The state of dicament which makes an early set- refugees, of cholera deaths in camps affairs in our economy largely COn- tlement of the issue imperative. India and on the roadside, of suppUes pil- firms this warning by economic seers. is pinning its hope on international ing up at airports and other places Though there was a marginal pressure, on the annoyance of the while people are dying. In this tem- drop in year-to-year differential in. aid-givers over the wastage of laid on porary transition from warlike mili- the last year, the price rise, over the purposes for which it was not meant. tancy to humanitarianism, very little year as a whole, averages about 5.6 If international pressure is at all space is given to the Mukti Fouz per cent. Then ,again any readings brought to bea,r on Pakistan, it is un- these days, in prices must be taken in the long likely to be exerted at India's con- Though it is not being aired open- and here the situation is all the blea- venience. The aid-givers wiII take ly, the feeling is growing that a settle- ker as certain dark forces are visible their own time. In the mean time, ment of the East Bengal tragedy in the crucial sectors which, after a many of the evacuees wiII opt for would not come by force of arms in certain period, are bound to have settlement in India ; a few la,khs may the hands of the freedom fighters, their impact felt. go back, but the bulk of them wiII i.e., the Frontier Rifles and eJements be here. This is the reason why of the Bengal Regiment backed by, No doubt food production has' other States are refusing to accom- screened volunteers. It is clear that gone up substantially and has de- modate these "temporary" guests. there was very little politicisation of finitely made the Government's dis- The States bordering on East Bengal the va5t masses by the Awami Lea- tributive task a good deal lighter. But have no choice in the matter, but the gue or, for that matter, any other thanks to the entrenched interest~ people are restive over the prospect party. The intense Bengali nationa- within the economy, it could hardly of further impoverishment. lism of the people carried within it- relieve pressures On prices and its self seeds Of discord-for ex- wholesome effect has remained con- ample, the hostility towa,rds non- tfined to a few kulaks and influential No Clear Skies Bengalis. And now, in conditions of clans who used the situation to fatten near-famine and anarchY,,-some peo- their walJet. (Food prices have gone Newspaper headlines and stories ple other than the Army or their camp down a trifle, but its offsetting effect since March in this country have been followers, are also turning on more on the general price index has been interesting, if not profitable, reading. hapless people and forcing them to negligible). The real danger for the The papers, as was natural, were full leave in a bid for living space. Many future lies in the fall in the produc. Of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and factors are getting mixed up in East tion of cotton, coal and steel. All :tris famous civil disobedience Bengal. the ballyhooing about the 'green re- movement and, after the March It is no wonder, therefore, that volution' and the technical break- 25 military crackdown, of suc- politicians and newspapers would through that it is supposed to bring cesful battles and the imminent speculate more about interna,tional in, has failed to affect cotton produc- victory of the Mukti Fouz. When pressure on Islamabad than On arm- tion which still depends on such pro- the victory did not come off, details ed action by indigenous elements. vidential forces as rain for its growth. began to appear of the atrocities of Meanwhile, the guns ,at times boom And owing to the :ailure of timely lbe Pakistan army. When the Gov- so loud and clear on the borders that rain the crop prospect this yea'r is ernment of India did not recognise it is not possible not to wake up. said to be much lower, which has the Bangladesh Government, our at- Villagers vacate their homes. On top posed a serious threat to the textile otion was diverted to the wrangling of all the misfortune, there are floods industry. On the other hand steel er the diplomatic missions in Cal- impending. The ideological situation production has been the victim of 13 ;a.nd Dacca. Then came the is also confusing. A debate is go- poor planning and inept organisation. gees. For a while there were ing on about the implications of East These failures, whether heavenly or also reports of Pakistani intrusions Bengal. The Chinese stand has man-made, will definitely show up OntoIndian territory, of vicious border clouded the skies that were clear in on the price front through their im- clashes in which both combatants Ma,rch. pact on the cost and prices Of the JUNE 19, 1971 products which use them as raw makrials. A Pitiless Pattern Failure to keep prices within bounds can undo much of the feat of KAJAL SEN Indian exports and sap even the never failing zest of Mr L. N. Mishra, THE Bangladesh episode seems to struggle across the border.

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