Hungry People

Instead of branding those struggling to make ends meet as terrorists, the government should initiate pro-people development measures

I was born in Farakka, a small island town in Murshidabad in West Bengal in the ’70s. Everybody still talked about Naxalbari in hushed tones. The fire was extinguished but the smoke was still there bringing along with it a whiff of romance of ultra left. I was brought up with the stories of Naxalbari. 

Decades later, nothing much has actually changed. It’s still a struggle of livelihood for many across the country and West Bengal is not an exception. But today West Bengal is in the news for a different reason. It’s Lalgarh. Suddenly Lalgarh is at the epicentre of conversation in India for reasons of oppression and state suppression. 

After a massive security operation, the Lalgarh police station has registered its first, and only, case. And it’s against the group of Kolkata intellectuals who visited the area. This is unfortunate and reflects the shrinking democratic space in the system. 

Today if you are fighting oppression, exploitation and corruption chances are you will be branded as a Maoist or a Naxalite. Even if you just talk about ideologies which allow use of arms in people’s struggle, you will be branded as a naxal sympathiser. Indian government declaring the Maoist faction of the Communist Party of India a terrorist organisation is another step towards making them untouchables, and close any chances of discussions on this. 

But the debate goes much deeper than this. Just sample this: 41.6 per cent Indians live below international poverty line of $1.25 per day, 75.6 per cent of India is living below $2 a day. India’s definition of poverty is different. A villager earning Rs 12 a day may not be considered poor as per the current BPL norms. To the Planning Commission, the poverty line is in terms of per capita income, which is Rs 17 per day for urban areas and Rs 11 for rural areas. Even if one goes by this definition, one fourth of India lives below poverty line. Forget about life with dignity, can we simply ensure two square meals to every Indian?

AFTER SINGUR, IT’S LALGARH

The state-sponsored repression at Lalgarh has resulted in arrest of people on false charges. Tribal women whose husbands were arrested have been raped and medicines, healthcare denied to patients. 

Politicians are not speaking about the long due development in the affected zone. In fact, all of them repeat our prime minister’s view that ‘naxals are the biggest threat to this country.’ Is anyone really interested in solving the root cause of this problem? Superficially suppressing the rebels with larger violence may leave behind a few seeds of radical leftist insurgents. Hundreds of innocents may die and the state will end up creating many more future war zones if brutal power is used now. 

As less than 20 per cent of the population owns cultivable land, most people in Lalgarh block — with a literacy rate of around 42 per cent — depend on physical labour for sustenance. A lot of people from Lalgarh used to go to Jhargram or Midnapore to work as day labourers. Hunger can be soul destroying and it’s actually. The more the gap between the poor and rich widens, the more dangerous the situation will be. 

The only way for the government to tackle the ultra-left movement which has tremendous support at the grass roots in the region is taking people into confidence by drastic pro people development measures