THE time has come to turn around and resist. Padayatras (foot marches) are being organised in every district of West Bengal as part of statewide demonstrations called by state units of AIKS, AIAWU and CITU. The marches are being held across rural areas in each district from November 1. They will reach every booth highlighting the demands of the people of the village. The corruption of the ruling party and government will be the focus of the campaign. The deprivation of the common people along with the specific issues of the people of the area will also be highlighted. 

PEOPLE DEMAND ANSWERS 

TMC government’s   outreach programme, ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at doorstep) is going to resume from November 1. When the administration comes to the doorstep, peasants, agricultural workers, rural labourers would go to the neighbourhoods to wake up the village. They will put forward the very important questions of the people: why is there no money for the 100-day job scheme (MGNREGA); where did our house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme go; why is the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana scheme-based project closed in the village? The people of the village have already gone to the panchayat to ask for an explanation. This time, when the government camp comes to the doorstep, people will go to the administration to know what is what.

"The government has decided to come to the doorsteps in the month of November itself. When the government comes to the doorsteps, then the poor people will go to talk about their problems.  The protests will be held at Duare Sarkar camps. If necessary, there will be sit-in demonstrations in front of the camp," said Amiya Patra, secretary of the West Bengal state committee of the All India Agricultural Workers Union.

“Durga Puja is over; Diwali has gone by. The poor of the village remain in the darkness of dejection. How can the poor survive? It didn't rain well this time. Many lands could not be cultivated. If there is farming, there would be work for the poor. There is no work for 100 days. The prices of things are sky high. Acute crisis has hit the village poor,” he added.

The government will go to people's doorsteps throughout the month. The Mamata Banerjee government has decided not to include the 100-day job scheme in this edition of Duare Sarkar at a time when work is the biggest demand of the village poor. The government will go to the doorsteps with 25 projects. But what is needed in this hour of crisis is not available in the government camps. Three key projects of the central government are running in the entire country, but not in this state. From the chief minister to the heads of the state administration, everyone remains calculatedly silent on this issue.

CORRUPTION UNLIMITED

At the root of the job crisis is corruption perpetrated by leaders of Trinamool Congress. The extent of corruption is such that malpractices in the appointment of teachers have directly affected the lives of agricultural workers. The leaders and ministers of the ruling party have sold jobs through corruption. The teachers recruited illegally have been given appointments to far-off places across the state and subsequently brought back to their place of residence. The result is that primary to secondary schools in remote areas are now without teachers resulting in a huge negative impact on the school education of the children of poor families. Due to the influence of education scams, the education of the poor in the village is now in ruins. The village poor want to change this unbearable situation.

STATE IN SHAMBLES 

In a joint leaflet issued by the three organizations, the state of affairs has been clearly presented. In the last 11 years under the rule of the Trinamool government, anarchy, hooliganism, extortion and corruption in West Bengal have exceeded the tolerance limit of the common people. The ruling party itself is neck-deep in corruption. Leaders and ministers are being nailed daily for being directly involved in misappropriation, looting and extortion. Job opportunities within the state are becoming scarce day-by-day and youth unemployment /underemployment is rampant. Barely survivable wages have resulted in widespread migration of labour to other states. One by one, job sectors are being eliminated. No new factories are being built. It is near-impossible to get any job without bribing the Trinamool leaders in lakhs of rupees. For the common people, every brick in government offices seems to be oozing with corruption. 

Sand-smuggling, soil-cutting, stone-smuggling, forest   destruction are not only parts of the looting spree, they are paving the way to a natural environmental disaster. Big names – a vice-chancellor, a former education minister, former president of the secondary board, former chairman of the primary education council are now in judicial custody after being found involved in the teacher recruitment scam. One after another, the names of Trinamool top brass are getting added to the list of the guilty.  The public exposure of the corruption of political criminals like Partha Chatterjee or Anubrata Mandal, alleged kingpin of trans-border cattle-smuggling racket, has shaken the common people to the core. 

An unholy nexus between police, politicians and the anti-social elements throughout the state has grown to unimaginable proportions resulting in lawlessness almost everywhere. The time has come to raise this question – did we really want such a pernicious government? Can such a government and ruling party that directly patronises and participates in loot and violence be tolerated any longer?

The 100-day job scheme has stopped in the state. Trinamool looted the money allocated for the poor; consequently, lakhs of unemployed rural poor are suffering. The supremo herself has arranged for all the Trinamool leaders, big or small, to earn dishonestly. Not only in the teacher recruitment scam but also in the MGNREGA scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana scheme, and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme, issues of corruption and scams dominate public discourse.

The prices of daily needs are increasing at an unusual rate. In many schools, there are students and a terrible dearth of teachers; in some there are teachers but no students – the school education system is in poor shape. Politics   based on   religion has become predominant. The prime minister is building a Ram temple in Ayodhya and here the chief minister is talking about building a Jagannath temple in Digha, as if these are the priorities of the government now. West Bengal today has a public debt of Rs 5.62 crores. The government cannot afford to give school children an egg in the mid-day meal while Rs 258 crores have been donated from the state exchequer to puja committees. For years, government employees remain deprived of dearness allowances due to them. This government believes that people’s welfare means endless funding   on   countless sources for fun and frolic and not addressing the basic issues that affect people. There is no need for this gleeful government in Bengal anymore.

Sometimes BJP is found entering the fray to take advantage of the opportunity. They are trying to divide the people by various means. A deep similarity between the two parties is that both are running governments at the centre and the state that are seen as protectors of the plunderers and the corrupt.   The people have witnessed that both these parties in the state have left their doors wide open for corrupt politicians to change houses. Therefore, they need to be isolated and overthrown. The padayatras shall connect people far and wide and carry forward the determined spirit of people’s resistance.

DEMANDS

Local demands that are being raised include: a) resumption of 100 days work, payment of arrear wages, and wage hike to Rs 600. b) ration cards must not be annulled (more than                       62,24,000 ration cards have been cancelled in the last three months. The names of many living people have also been omitted.) Rice/wheat should not be stopped in anyone's ration. c) Gram sabhas should be convened, full account of income and expenditure of panchayat and details of work should be given there. Appropriate infrastructure for potable water and stagnant water drainage should be created. d) The list of beneficiaries of government housing scheme should be published. e) Corruption in land department should be stopped. Land records should not be altered without the owner's knowledge. f) Bargadars should not be evicted. The bargadars who have been evicted from their land, should be given back their land. g) Farmers should be paid fair price for their crops. Paddy should be purchased from genuine farmers by removing brokers from government crop buying centres. h) Vacancies of teaching staff in all schools should be filled. The vacant posts should be filled based on the publication of the complete merit list. i) Police brutality should be stopped. Police and Trinamool must stop extortion. j) The politics of division in the name of caste-language-religion should be stopped.

People's pain will reach from one booth to another booth. People’s resentment shall also be transmitted. All this shall culminate in the call to save the panchayat through the collective participation of the poor. This tool of rural development should be brought back to the people from the hands of plunderers. The proper response to all corruption, misappropriation and injustice must be given in the panchayat elections. Village-wise preparations shall start immediately. The padayatras mark the beginning of that struggle.