Stem the blood-letting

Quite obviously, the loud invocations of Article 356 in West Bengal are a strategic component of Mamata Banerjee’s campaign for the approaching elections in the state. It is also apparent that George Fernandes’ one man-mission to Midnapore and his hastily pronounced dire conclusions are a helpful Centre’s way of proving Didi’s worst posturing right. Certainly, much partisan politics is afoot in the state and at the Centre on the situation in West Bengal. But it would be unfortunate indeed if the political grandstanding and brinkmanship were to distract attention from the real issue. The fact is that many parts of West Bengal continue to be convulsed by violence. And the bottomline is that it is the ruling Left Front government which must own up the responsibility for failing to stem the loss of life and property in the Bengal countryside.

It did not require much foresight to predict that the political confrontation in West Bengal may take a violent turn. For the first time since it assumed power, the Left Front’s awesome grip on political power in the state is seriously threatened. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has mounted an energetic challenge to the Marxists’ uninterrupted rule for 24 long years; from Calcutta, she has carried the battle into the heart of rural Bengal. But there are no indications whatsoever that the LF government took any steps to prevent tensions and, more specifically, keep its cadres from hurtling out of control. Reports from the strife-torn areas have described an administration that has remained an inert bystander, when it is not being an active colluder. As heavily armed Marxist cadres "liberate" and "recapture" its erstwhile strongholds that are suspected to have switched allegiance to the Trinamool Congress, and as entire villages are emptied overnight, the local police is said to look away or participatein the political cleansing. Of course, the pitched battles have not all been one-sided. The Trinamool Congress cannot be absolved from its share of the blame for the violence; it has a vested interest, in fact, in keeping the pot boiling in the run up to the Assembly polls. But, as the party in power, the ruling CPM can ill afford to shift the blame by pointing fingers at Mamata Banerjee’s party or screaming about Central conspiracy. As the government, responsibility to maintain law and order falls on the Left Front; the growing numbers of dead, wounded and homeless in the state are gruesome testimony to its failure.

The CPM must know that terror tactics have only a limited utility in holding on to a slipping fief. As elections approach, it must also acknowledge that its own record, and not the Trinamool, is its worst enemy. There is evidence of a deep popular disenchantment with Left rule, with a project that has exhausted itself of its vigour. While industry has dwindled, employment has ground to a halt, and public services are in a mess in the urban areas, the much-touted process of land reform has plateaued, if not stalled, in the countryside. Here, basic subsistence has been achieved but literacy and health remain inadequate. In the last instance, the warring cadres in the state’s rural backyard cannot take away from the fact that the battle for Bengal will really be fought at the hustings next May.