Author: Debaki Nandan Mandal
Publication: The Statesman
Date: May 7, 2003
Democrats wedded to liberal ideas
may be shocked by the almost 20,000 uncontested wins in the West Bengal
panchayat elections - voting for which is scheduled for 11 May. But one
must visit Garbeta in West Midnapore district for an interesting micro-study
of CPI-M's one- party democracy at the grassroots level.
In 1998, the BJP-Trinamul Congress
combine contested 106 gram panchayat and 21 panchayat samiti seats and
won 58 and 11 of them. They controlled four of the 21 anchals (zones) -
3, 4, 5 and 11 - in Garbeta-I block, winning 38 out of 48 seats.
But this year, even before a single
ballot has been cast, the CPI-M has won all the panchayat seats (163 gram
panchayats, 28 panchayat samitis and 2 zilla parishads) uncontested. In
the last elections, its unopposed tally was 55 in three anchals - 7, 8
and 9.
Since 1998, Garbeta has been a ''liberated
zone'' for the ruling CPI-M. After its defeat in the Panskura Lok Sabha
bypoll, the cleansing process began with a vengeance. To the existing threat
of physical attack on Opposition party supporters and their families, was
added social boycott by barbers, washermen, bargadars, domestic helps,
etc. thus making life miserable for them. Psychological terror too is not
uncommon. Between 12 June and 26 June 2002, thousands of people in the
four BJP-Trinamul controlled anchals and neighbouring villages of Garbeta
Block-I were uprooted. These hapless people were forced to take shelter
in Garbeta and Midnapore towns.
The gruesome murders in Chhoto Angaria
on 3 January 2001 were a stern reminder to those who had wished to regroup
against the CPI-M. The CBI inquiry into the violence is not yet complete.
But the driver of the vehicle in which allegedly dead bodies were carried
is still roaming freely. The local police station reportedly has not cooperated
with the investigators, a fact not unknown to the authorities at Writers'
Buildings.
In the May 2001 Assembly elections,
polling agents of the main Opposition party could be seen only in about
34 of the 184 booths in Garbeta (East) constituency. The Central Reserve
Police Force was sterilised at the town's High School and it never showed
up at any of the sensitive booths to ensure the promised free and fair
polls. No wonder, the CPI-M candidate won by a record margin of more than
75,000 votes.
The CPI-M, since then, has not appeared
to be content without uncontested wins in all elections. In the constitution
of Uma Devi Girls' High School's management committee it encountered no
opposition. Two Trinamul candidates who filed their nomination for the
posts of office-bearers of the Land Development Bank were forced to withdraw
in the first week of April. Manohar Biswas (not his real name) dared to
contest the panchayat poll as a Trinamul candidate for one of the anchal
11 seats. But he was brutally assaulted and forced to retract on 4 April
when the district collector was holding an all-party meeting (not attended
by CPI-M) in Midnapore.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's
intention behind asking cadres to allow Opposition candidates to file nomination
papers "in the interest of democracy" has never been in doubt. But the
advice seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Otherwise, how does one explain
that in presence of his ministerial colleagues in CPI-M office the comrades
are reportedly encouraged to adopt strong-arm-tactics to foil any such
opposition-attempt?
The obliging administration is always
there to ensure that the wishes of their masters are met, and in return
they get the crumbs. The BJP representative in the all-party meeting was
not possibly wide off the mark when he told the chair that the latter was
privileged to conduct two successive panchayat polls in the district (a
rare feat indeed considering the normal tenure of three years) and that
he would be too glad to know whether they would pitch a tent in front of
his sprawling bungalow much before 11 May for to house the families uprooted
three years ago. The alleged gift of three Tata Sumos to three police officers
after the last Assembly polls has added grist to the rumour-mill. No prize
for guessing who gifted the vehicles and why.
So what is the moral of the case-study?
It does not intend to say that only those acquainted with John Stuart Mill
should exercise power at the grassroots level. But how can it be a good
idea to give absolute power to men who use it to enforce cruel, ignorant,
and intolerant attitudes?
(The author is a freelance contributor.)