Trading bullets for the ballot - successfully

 

Born at a critical stage during of the splintering of the Naxalbari movement, the Mazdoor Kranti Parishad has come a long way, having held control of the  Jogeshganj Gram Panchayat in Sundarbans for almost three years. Dipanjan Sinha in conversation with veteran MKP leader  Nagen Baidya. ...

 

 

 

 

Jogeshganj: After the death of Charu Mazumdar in 1972, the Naxalbari movement in West Bengal started disintegrating under state repression and also due to internal dissension. With most leaders killed, arrested or underground, there were debates within on the future course of action and a section of the revolutionary party broke off and decided to concentrate more on mass organisation. These groups    even decided to participate in elections, till the time was ripe for a

revolution. The Mazdoor Kranti Parishad (MKP) was one such party.

According to Nagen Baidya, a leader of the MKP and  Ex-president of Jogeshganj Gram Panchayat,

the party formed its mass front in 1978 and participated in panchayat elections in 1983. They won three gram panchayats and one gram samiti in 24 Parganas (North). Since then the

party has held on to these panchayats with breaks in between. As of now the party has control over the

panchayats of Jogeshganj and Hemnagar.

Baidya recalled the the party’s objectives and reflected on its activities and failures in bringing about social change over the last three decades..

 

Newsline: What prompted you to move out of the revolution?

 

Baidya: In 1971 many leaders were killed as the police went hunting for Naxalite leaders; a few went underground and few survived. At this low point in the revolutionary struggle, some  party workers felt  it was a mistake to plunge into a revolution without creating mass consciousness. Since then, we started giving importance to mass organisation.

 

Newsline: How far have you been successful in implementing your ideology in the villages?

 

Baidya: We have won most of the panchayat elections in Jogeshgang and Gobindakathi, post 1983,

with a few losses in between. Last year Jogeshganj panchayat won the best panchayat award

from the state, for its achievement in implementing sanitation policies. We have been successful in limiting work hours for labourers to eight hours a day. Much of the land in the area has been distributed to the landless peasants. However a lot more needs to be done, because, a panchayat only has limited means.

 

Newsline: What were the forms of struggle used to ensure distribution of land ?

 

Baidya: The movements were usually peaceful with demonstrations and campaigns. The agitations included rasta roko(road block) or gheraos of landlords. However, at times, the landlords used goons to break up the agitations.In these circumstances we had to retreat or fight back which resulted in a period of violence. .

Newsline: What are your prime goals today? How do you interpret the current aspiration of the people?

 

 Baidya: The demands have changed with time. The demands for land and minimum wage have been met with. Almost everybody has some land. Labourers cannot be made to work for more than eight hours in these villages. The most important issue in this region today is the construction of embankments.

 

 

Newsline: A few villagers in the area said that they had worked under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) for five to seven days last year. What is your opinion?

 

Baidya: The scheme has several loopholes in the way it has been implemented. They went for carpet implementation of the scheme throughout the country without looking into the local complexities. . Hardly 25 per cent of the work has been done under the scheme in this area, in terms of constructing roads and embankments.

 

Newsline: This is a village which still does not have electricity. Cows do not provide adequate milk. However branded beverages and mineral water are readily available.

 

Baidya: These are tough times when the leftists have taken a backseat, all over the world. We vehemently oppose globalization and can understand it is the most exploitative form of capitalism. The farmers have suffered a great deal in shifting from subsistence agriculture to extensive agriculture. The fertilizers and genetically modified seeds supplied by Sudha Company decrease the yield and make the land fallow in a few years. We are organising the people against this company and hope to strike back soon..

 

Newsline: The CPM is losing ground, at least in Nandigram, as reflected in the panchayat election results. What would you say to that?

 

Baidya: The fascist nature of the CPMs had been exposed much earlier in Naxalbari firing. Later the same was proven in Alipurduar in 1984 when  the party crushed a lower caste agitation with its goons. They oppose liberalization only on paper. Actually the West Bengal Government pushing forward liberalisation in the state.