People's Democracy

WEST BENGAL

  LF Seeks To Further Accelerate Rural Development: Anil Biswas

B Prashant

ON April 19 afternoon, CPI(M) state secretary Anil Biswas answered a wide range of questions on the forthcoming panchayat elections in Bengal at a 'Meet the Press' programme held at the Press Club in Kolkata. Biswas said  the process of rural development greatly dependens on the three-tier panchayat system, and that it would be the aim of the Left Front to accelerate the pace of rural development and ensure a greater level of mass participation in the running of the panchayats.

Biswas said there are three alliances in the fray this year for the panchayat polls. These are: the Left Front; the Pradesh Congress and its allies; and the Trinamul Congress-BJP alliance. In its election manifesto, the Pradesh Congress has spoken against any 'grand alliance' (mahajot) with the Trinamul Congress. However, the Pradesh Congress leadership, including the state president Pranab Mukherjee, has freely admitted elsewhere how such an alliance has already come into existence in a great many panchayat areas. On the other hand, the Trinamul Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee has spoken about a mahajot with the Pradesh Congress in about a dozen places while the joint manifesto of the BJP and the Trinamul Congress would not officially mention the possibility of such an occurrence. The CPI(M) leader expressed hope that the electorate would carefully scrutinise the election manifestoes of the three contesting fronts, listen to whatever they have to say, and finally cast their votes on the basis of their experiences at the ground level.

About the political background of the panchayat elections, Biswas said Bengal has been one of the very few states where the panchayat elections have been held in time, ever since the Left Front government assumed office back in 1977. The panchayat polls have always been a political struggle for us. In 1978, the slogan of the Left Front for the rural polls was: “Do away with vested interests in the villages.” In 1983, the slogan was: “Ensure that the vested interests do not re-emerge, extend democratic rights further, and accelerate the pace of development.” In 1988, the slogan was: “Consolidate and strengthen the grass-roots level democracy in the rural areas.” In 1998, with the formation of an alliance of the Congress, the BJP and the Jharkhand party, the slogan was: “Defeat the forces of communalism and reaction and consolidate the positive changes in the countryside.” The Left Front seeks a coordinated development of the panchayat system this time around. The CPI(M) state secretary said the people would judge us on the basis of their own experience. He had no doubt that the Left Front would do even better than it had done back in 1998.

On the opposition parties’ complaints  about the pre-poll scenario, Biswas said the opposition Pradesh Congress, Trinamul Congress and the BJP have not been able to put up candidates in many places. In fact, in most of these instances, the opposition combines find it next to impossible to find men and women who are willing to be put up as candidates. To take but a single case, those who ran on the Trinamul Congress ticket for the Panchayat Samity and Gram Panchayat seats in Khanakul have turned extremely reluctant to do so this time. Kashinath Mishra, the Trinamul Congress leader from Bankura district, has gone on record saying that no one appeared to be keen this year to be put up as a candidate for the Trinamul Congress, and that there was no case of coercion involved at any stage.

Biswas said the CPI(M) fully believes in the dignity of the opposition in a democratic system. However, we can hardly be blamed if the opposition is not able to put up candidates for the rural polls. When the opposition speak of ‘terror,’ one really should recall that hitherto it has been the Left Front that has suffered and no less than six of its workers have been murdered. The parties of the opposition should also pause and think about the kind of political terror that exists in the states where they are in office. In Bengal, the law and order situation is much better than that prevailing in the country in general. Biswas had no doubt that the workers of the Left movement would continue to make sacrifices to ensure that the democratic environment of the state is never disturbed.

The correlation of class forces changes constantly in a class-divided society, Biswas said. In a situation where political development is uneven, there is no comprehensive change in the correlation of class forces. Over the past 25 years, the democratic rights and the dignity of the mass of the common people in urban and rural areas have been established on a firm basis. In the villages, the people themselves participate in the decision-making process in order to choose their own developmental programmes. The struggle to change the correlation of class forces in favour of social progress goes on relentlessly.

As for corruption in the panchayats, the corrupting influence of power is a real problem.  However, Biswas reminded, the political character of a party depends on how far it is able and willing to carry on a strident struggle against corruption. The CPI(M) in the state has expelled no less than 309 party members on various charges including those of corruption.  The list includes elected members at the level of the Zilla Parishad. The party never compromised in the task of fighting corruption. The people of the state know it very well that one or two workers of the CPI(M) or the Left Front might have strayed, but that our programme does not support corruption and that we never brook any compromises while carrying on our fight against all corrupt ways.  (INN)