KOLKATA: Maoist frontal organisation, Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), has called a 12-hour bandh in Purulia and two other districts of Jangalmahal on Monday, demanding the release of it’s founder and convenor Chhatradhar Mahato.
An Open Letter to Chhatradhar Mahato: There is no night without a dawn –
By Sabyasachi Goswami
[This is a translation from the
original Bengali article, which can be found below – Ed]
I have never met you Chhatradhar. I
was in jail on sedition charges during the turbulent time of Lalgarh
movement. The police had arrested you on UAPA before I was released.
We were incarcerated in separate prisons. There was no opportunity
to get acquainted. Yet a sadness came over me when I heard of the
life sentence awarded to you, your friends and comrades. Is this
because of the fraternal feeling between people who are waging a
common battle?
This is a curious coincidence. On the
one hand, there is Salman Khan who did not have to go to jail after
he run over five people. He was out on bail when the trial dragged
on, which declared him guilty after thirteen years. Jayaa Amma was
declared free of corruption charges. On the other hand, you and your
friends are waiting to spend life terms in dark dungeons. The
government of Paribartan (change) has completed the circle of false
cases initiated by the Left Front government. The fact of the matter
is, it is the British penal codes under which you stand convicted.
This, in spite of the several hostile witnesses. Many a time the
judges have changed. The judge did not care a damn for the various
interpretations and amendments made by the Supreme Court,
post-British rule.
You carry the legacy of Sidhu Kanhu
and Birsa Munda. I am sure you are aware that this Brahminist State
does not accede to demands raised by the Adivasi people. They are in
fact taught an unforgettable lesson. An ominous example is set. So
that the future generations of the Adivasi Mulvasis fall in line.
So, perhaps you were anticipating a punishment of this magnitude all
this while.
What have been the reactions to your
sentence in this state? The ruling party has maintained a tactical
silence. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had his trip of smug
self-validation. The media looked the other way. Pro-Paribartan
intellectuals pretended dumbness. Rights activists brought out
strident processions. All this is setting my heart astir. A thousand
questions are coming to my mind.
In the recent past, the impact of the
movements of Singur-Nandigram-Lalgarh brought the curtains down on
Left Front rule. Just like the palatial house of Anuj Pande, the 34
years old iron fort of Left Front was demolished by the people.
Another ruling party, the Trinamul Congress, rode to power
piggybacking on the movement by the people. Right from the day of
assuming office, right from the time of their victory rally, they
tried to construct and propagate an idea: that this Paribartan is
owed to their supreme leader. This was the beginning of an attempt
to wipe out the name of the people from the pages of history, to
replace it with that of their leader. Perhaps the blue print to rot
you in jail was drawn on that very day?
After you were arrested, the police
chief informed us of your property worth crores of rupees, of your
palatial mansions. There is no mention of these in your seizure
list, though. Today, yours and your comrades’ close relative,
wives, mothers, children live in penury. Who cares for them? Not for
once does the democratic conscience of West Bengal demand that the
truth of the police chief’s statement be brought out! I want to
know, those intellectuals, the keepers of people’s conscience, who
went to Lalgarh to meet you, why are they maintaining golden
silence?
Lalgarh was not just one of the
radical earthshaking peoples’ movements which changed the
government of West Bengal. It was perhaps the most unique of them
all. You and yours convicted comrades were the face of that
movement. The irony is that now the Paribartan government want to
rot you all in jail! Did the ruling class saw something dangerous
behind your movement? It cannot be denied that in the history of
peoples’ movement Lalgarh movement was unprecedented. For eight
months boycott of the police continued, and the movement went on
peacefully during the period. The movement made all other political
parties redundant. In the words of Tagore, it was as if Z was trying
to get ahead of A. Every so called mainstream politics was rendered
a sideshow by the politics of the marginal people.
How many other movements are there in
the history of this country which went on for so long? And how many
other movements saw such high percentage of participation by women?
Most important of all, instead of supplicating the government you
started walking on your own path of alternative development. You
tried to live differently, you wanted to seek your own meaning of
life. Was this your crime? Is this why you were judged as the
enemies of the State?
You dug irrigation canals. You built
hospitals. You made granaries. You constructed schools. This
alternative vision of development which is self-sufficient was not
taken kindly by the ruling classes of this country. As a result,
right from the beginning of the launch of joint operations by the
state police and central forces, those schools and hospitals which
you were running on your own were demolished. The new stream of
development was dubbed ‘anti-development’. No room was given for
debate, discussion on this matter. As a matter of fact, this
alternative model of development was the most dangerous message to
the vendors of development which globalization has to offer. Which
is why you were rewarded with measly prison meals, and pigeon-coop
like cells inside high jailwalls.
In fact, these days, if anyone dares
to stand in the diametrical opposite point of globalized development
and walk on the path of alternative development, which is a path of
self-dependence – an alternative to dependence on foreign capital,
it is customary to brand him as an enemy of the State. If anyone
protests, she is slapped with seditious acts, TADA, POCA, MOCA, UAPA
etc. You protested. Moreover, you dared to go on an alternative
development route. It is hardly surprising that you were declared
anti-State by the ruling classes of all hues of this country. But
although you are the enemy of the State, we are not the enemy of the
country: State and country are not the same thing. A country is not
a State, or its political leaders or its administration. A country
is…its people, the people of the country. The unvanquished people,
whose sweat and blood made this civilization. The people, whose
energy light up of this civilization but who live in darkness. The
people, who go without two square meals a day. Who are the first to
be sacrificed on the altar of development. Those who become the
first batch of refugees when big dams, power plants, chemical hubs
are constructed are the primary, foundational people of this
country. Their development is country’s development. Love for them
is love for the country. So, enemy of the State and enemy of the
country are often opposite words. It was not for any personal gain,
but to protect the dignity and rights of the primary people that you
and your comrades are on jail term. In no way are you traitors. The
courts of the State can punish you. But can anyone take your place
in the hearts of the people, especially in the hearts of the people
of Lalgarh and Jangalmahal?
There are times when a movement ebbs.
These are the times when the real face of the tyrant ruler exposes
itself from the carefully-maintained mask. Perhaps today is such a
time. It is an unfortunate time when the protesting voices are not
being heard. A strange darkness is enveloping all. Artists, poets,
writers are busy accepting awards. Intellectuals are silent. Civil
society dares not speak openly. Perhaps it is hesitant, too. But I
know that there is no night which does not herald a dawn. Perhaps
the strident rallies of rights activists demanding your
unconditional release are a signal of that dawn.
————–
- See more at:
http://sanhati.com/articles/13585/#sthash.7IO8dOXD.dpuf
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