Title: Government of
the comrade
Author:
Publication: BJP Today
Date: April 16-30, 2000
Loud protests were made
over the Gujarat government's decision to lift the ban on government employees
joining the RSS. The proceedings of parliament have been stalled for days
together. Rallies and demonstrations have been organised by the different
political parties. The loudest voice of protest belonged to Congress-men.
It is however understandable because the word RSS is anathema to them.
The chorus against the BJP government was joined by the CPM and other Left
Parties with all the power in their lungs.
The main contentions
of their protest: one, RSS is a political organisation: two, Gujarat government's
move goes against the decades old convention on that government employees
should not join any political Party: and lastly, it is the BJP's attempt
to politicise the administration and fill official agencies with RSS people.
Whether the RSS is a
political organisation or not may be debated indefinitely. The RSS and
the BJP claim that it is a socio-cultural organisation having nothing to
do with politics. The crux of the entire protestation is that: though in
a democracy, a government is formed by one or a group of political parties,
the government machinery should be scrupulously neutral and all citizens
should be treated as equal. It is generally accepted that if the government
employees are associated with a political party the state's impartiality
is diluted. Hence, in mature democracies, all government employees are
expected to dissociate themselves from any political party. Although the
communists allege the BJP of infiltrating the administration, they sound
like thieves who accuse the citizens of stealing.
The CPM bosses and its
octogenarian Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu often accuse the BJP of destroying
the impartiality of the government machinery. That BJP has a hidden agenda
and they are covertly and overtly encouraging the concept of Hindutva and
planning to convert India in to a Hindu Rashtra gradually. Hence, they
have as their pious duty to whip BJP as an "uncivilized party". But what
do the communists believe and do while and where they are in power? The
communists believe in one party rule. Their choicest slogan is the dictatorship
of the proletariats which basically means the dictatorship of the communist
party. In a Marxist ethos there is no scope for any other political party.
In erstwhile Soviet Union and the other former communist countries the
words of the rulers were final. The philosophy of the communists, the truth
has not changed in China, Vietnam or Cuba where the communists are still
at the helm of affairs. It is the apparatus, every nut or bolt of the administration
serves to fulfil the Marxist ideology and carry out its programmes and
policies.
If we look closer in
our country the picture is same. The communists are in power in West Bengal,
Kerala and Tripura. What the big boss CPM is doing there? Are they running
the governments in those states liberally, impartially, democratically
and ethically? Are the CPM treating every citizen as equal in their own
regimes? Does the administration function on impartially in West Bengal?
Are the government employees neutral there? Is it not a fact that the majority
of the government employees in West Bengal are directly and indirectly
associated with the CPM and carry out the party dictates and whips even
in the daily routine of administration? The CPM is possibly the only Stalinist
party in the world now. It believes not in any form of liberalism, but
is firmly committed to democratic centralism wherein the party bosses run
the government administration They believe in using the government machinery
to spread their party's empire. Appointments in all categories beginning
from the Group D to the topmost administrative positions, selection of
vice chancellors, pro-vice-chancellors of universities, the selection of
college and school teachers up to the primary level, nomination of officers
to constable in Calcutta police and West Bengal police, posting and transfers
of BDO's, SDO's, SP's, DSP's and DM's/ADM's, making the list of enumerators
for revision of electoral rolls, appointments of election officers and
presiding officers for the polling booths. The CPM's first priority in
all these and other matters concerns whether the incumbents belong to their
party or not.
The government in West
Bengal is run not from its secretariat at Writers' Building but from the
CPM's party office at Alimuddin Street in Calcutta. What is the coordination
committee? It is nothing but the mask of the CPM. It functions like a frontal
organisation of the Marxist party. Some 70 percent of the government employees
in West Bengal are members of the Co-ordination committee which practically
controls the administration functioning at every level from the Writer's
Building to the taluka level. Few files move without its concurrence: all
postings; transfers and new appointments are dictated by the co-ordination
committee which in turn is controlled by the CPM.
The co-ordination committee
meticulously prepares the list of presiding and polling officers for the
65000 odd polling booths. Much care is taken by the CPM in preparing the
counting personnel. Officers opposed to the co-ordination are by- passed.
The CPM has thus politicised the administration over the last two decades.
The CPM does not believe in the neutrality of the police which is used
as an instrument to spread its hegemony, to keep the opposition at bay
and help the party during elections. The Non-Gazetted Police Association,
an outfit of the CPM, speaks the last word so far as Calcutta and West
Bengal police are concerned. All appointments, postings, transfers are
guided by it. Even IPS officers are not allowed to have their say. The
Home (police) Department is virtually run by this Association. The CPM
regards the education system as an instrument to spread its ideology. Opening
of new institutions from the primary to the university level, appointments,
preparing the syllabus, monitoring test books and making the panels of
teachers are controlled by the CPM-sponsored association like All Bengal
Teachers' Association (AB TA), West Bengal College & University Teachers'
Association (WBCUTA). The selection of Vice-Chancellors and other important
officials is made at Alimuddin Street. Hence, Dr. Surabhi Banerjee, a small-time
biographer of Jyoti Basu, is rewarded with the plum post of pro-vice-chancellor
of Calcutta University bypassing many senior and more competent professors.
The Vice Chancellor of all the seven universities in West Bengal were hand
picked by Anil Biswas (CPM General Secretary) and Biman Bose, a polit-bureau
member. Shubhankar Chakraborty, a second class MA, without any teaching
or administrative experience at the university level was made the Vice-Chancellor
of Rabindra Bharati University. He is a CPM Party member and writes regularly
in Ganashakti (the CPM daily). He contested the parliamentary election
as a CPM candidate against Mamata Banerjee without resigning from his office.
Tapan Sikdar of the BJP faced another CPM functionary at Dum Dum, who was
the president of College Teacher's Association. The College Service Commission
and the School Service Commission are also controlled by the CPM and the
registers of teachers of seven Universities, 350 colleges and several thousand
schools in the state are filled with CPM cadres whose job is to protect
the interest of CPM.
