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Journalism of Courage
The CPIM takes note of the way in which 8220;the big business media has tended to dismiss8221; the new version of the UPA government8217;s 8216;Garibi Hatao8217;, saying that the criticism stems from their 8220;class bias8221;. But the party itself doesn8217;t say much about the Congress8217;s decision to focus on the old-new programme, only saying it is a 8220;faint signal8221; that the Congress is 8220;aware of the situation8221;.
A front page editorial in People8217;s Democracy warns that a conscious promotion of big business interests would take away from the aims of the Garibi Hatao programme. It points to what it believes is a 8220;built-in contradiction8221; of the new programme for not recognising the importance of land reforms which find no mention in the new programme as against the original 20-point programme. 8220;When addressing the issue of rural poverty, the basic issue of land reforms cannot be evaded. Outside the three Left-ruled states, the agenda of land reforms has been more or less abandoned,8221; says the editorial. The CPIM weekly refers to another 8220;omission8221; in the programme: employment generation. The UPA, it says, has not effectively tackled the agrarian crisis and unemployment.
Land politics
Against the backdrop of continuing opposition to the acquisition of agricultural land in Singur, West Bengal, for the Tatas8217; small car project, state Industries Minister Nirupam Sen draws out a lengthy defence of the project and squarely blames the opposition Congress and Trinamool Congress for their 8220;conspiracy to disturb the new environment of development in West Bengal8221;. The minister believes that Trinamool is upset because the state has been able to create a favourable climate for industrial development,
drawing both Indian and foreign investors, with the investments creating job opportunities.
Turning to the Congress, he says it is impossible for the state government to accept the Congress8217;s demand to keep the Singur project in abeyance till a comprehensive land use plan had been prepared, since the Tatas had made it clear that financial viability would depend on starting production by 2008. Sen says official records between November 2005 and July 2006 show 527 sale deeds had been signed involving more than 150 acres of land in the five moujas where land has been identified for the Tata unit. Many buyers were neither residents of the area nor involved in agricultural activities and had evidently not bought the land for agricultural purposes. 8220;Small and medium manufacturing units, petrol pumps, dhabas etc have come up on these lands,8221; says the state industries minister and suggests the Opposition has ulterior motives because it did not 8220;raise a hue and cry8221; at the time.
Mangalore, like Gujarat
Writer Nalini Taneja believes the communal violence in Mangalore earlier this month was preceded by 8220;hundreds of minor provocative actions8221; in the state since the demolition of the Babri Masjid. 8220;In actual fact, Mangalore has been on a slow boil for some time now,8221; says Taneja and points to the fact that the district had played an important part in the growth of the BJP. This was clear from the 2004 polls in the state. Taneja claims the Bajrang Dal and Hindu Sena were running a parallel police system of their own 8212;- with their campaign focused against cow slaughter and conversions. Punishment included killings and stabbings, social boycott and closing down business establishments. 8220;The State has to be recognised as complicit in this, as its institutional structures, the administration, the police, and local leaderships of the BJP, and sometimes the Congress, act in unison rather than contrary to the will of the rioters,8221; says Taneja.
The writer blames the Centre for not doing enough to punish those guilty, and drawing a parallel with Gujarat, asks whether the UPA government should not be asked why it could not act against the Hindutva forces just as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani were asked to explain the Centre8217;s lack of action after the Gujarat riots.
Compiled by Ananda Majumdar
