घिसिङ-विमल दुवै अप्ठ्यारोमा ... लेप्चा समुदायले भोट हाल्ने... ‘Union territory’ call by Cong

घिसिङ-विमल दुवै अप्ठ्यारोमा

मनोज वोगटी, कालिमन्युज,कालेबुङ,12 अप्रेल । एक समयका एउटै दलका नेताहरू सुवास घिसिङ अनि विमल गुरूङ अहिले ठीक विपरित कट्टर विरोधीकोरूपमा रहेका छन्‌। दुवै नै मत बटुल्न जनसभामा जुटेका छन्‌ अनि दुवै नै आफ्नै बोलीको कारण अप्ठ्यारोमा परेका छन्‌। विमल गुरूङ छैटौं अनुसूचीका विरोधी हुन्‌। तिनी अहिले छुट्टैराज्य गोर्खाल्याण्ड नै चुनावी मुद्दा बनाएर जनसभा गरिरहेका छन्‌। आफ्नो नेता सुवास घिसिङले जनतालाई छलेर जात विभाजन गर्ने र जातगोष्टीको लड़ाईको आखड़ बनाउने छैटौं अनुसूचीको माग गर्दा जनतामा घोका हुने देखेर गोरामुमोको विरूद्ध गोजमुमो गठन गरेका थिए। गोजमुमोका कार्यकर्ताहरूले गोरामुमोका नेताहरूलाई पहाड़बाट लखेटेपछि गोजमुमोको निम्ति गोर्खाल्याण्डको आन्दोलन गर्ने मार्ग सफा भएको थियो।

11 पल्ट वार्ता गरेर पनि एकैपल्टमा गोर्खाल्याण्ड नहुने र अन्य व्यवस्था भएर नै गोर्खाल्याण्ड पुग्न सकिने कुरा बुझेपछि अनि यसैको निम्ति राजनैतिक कसरत गर्नथालेपछि ठीक विधानसभा चुनाउलाई ताक पारेर खेदाइएका गोरामुमोका नेताहरू पहाड़ चढ्नु मात्र होइन छैटौं अनुसूचीको निम्ति जनमत तयार गर्न उत्रिएपछि मोर्चा रिस्ले चुर भएको छ। घिसिङ अनि विमलले मिरिकबाट एकार्कालाई जनतामा स्पष्ट पार्ने क्रममा असुविधामा परे। घिसिङले राजनैतिक जीवनकालभरिमा एकैपल्ट पनि गोर्खाल्याण्ड नमागेको मात्र होइन गोर्खाल्याण्ड कोलकाता र दिल्लीमा नरहेर आफ्नो गोजीमा रहेको बताएर अप्ठ्यारोमा परे भने विमल गुरूङ चुनावी आचार संहिता लागू भइरहेको बेला घिसिङलाई चारपॉंच लाख जनतालाई घिसिङको घर घेराउ गर्न उस्काएकोले अप्ठ्यारोमा परेका छन्‌।

गोर्खाल्याण्ड राज्य हुँदै नहुने बरू अरू नै व्यवस्था नै दार्जीलिङ जिल्लाको तीनवटो महकुमाको निम्ति उपयुक्त हुने बताउँदै घिसिङले आफू पनि गोर्खाल्याण्डको पक्षमा कहिल्यै नरहेको स्पष्ट पारेर गोर्खाल्याण्ड पन्थी गोरामुमो समर्थकहरूको नजरमा मात्र होइन गोर्खाल्याण्ड चहाने दलहरूको दृष्टिबाट फेरि एकपल्ट तल झरेका छन्‌। तिनी अहिले अलोचनाका शिकार भइरहेका छन्‌ भने घिसिङलाई अब पक्का नै बुढेसकाल लागेको अनि तिनी राजनीतिको निम्ति सुयोग्य नरहेको ठहर भएको आलोचकहरूले जनाइरहेका छन्‌। घिसिङलाई अहिले पनि बङ्गालपन्थी रहेको देखिएको अनि तिनी जनकांक्षालाई लिएर गम्भीर नरहेको आरोपको सामना अहिले घिसिङले गरिरहेका छन्‌।

उता तिनैले सुरक्षा दिएर पहाड़बाट तराई स्थान्तर गरिदिएका गोरामुमो नेता सुवास घिसिङले फेरि छैटौं अनुसूची कै वकालती गर्दा मोर्चा प्रमुख विमल गुरूङलाई सहि नसक्नु भएको तिनको घिसिङप्रतिको वयानले स्पष्ट पारेको छ। तिनले घिसिङको भीसा सकिएको अनि तिनको भीसा 19 अप्रेलसम्म रहेको अथवा तिनलाई फेरि पहाड़बाट खेदिने किसिमको चेतवनी पूर्ण तर अस्पष्टरूपले दिएको बयान आचार संहिताको विरूद्ध रहेकोले हुनसम्मको अप्ठ्‌यारोमा परिरहेका छन्‌। तिनको वयानलाई चुनाउ आयोगले छानबीन गर्ने भएको छ भने दोषी पाए दण्ड दिइने कुरा अहिले चलिरहेको छ। पर्यवेक्षकहरूले विमल गुरूङको वयान चुनाउ आचार संहिताको विरूद्धमा रहेको पाइए तिनलाई केही दिन चुनावी कार्यक्रम गर्नमा बन्देज गर्न सकिने अनुमानहरू लगाइरहेका छन्‌। यता बल्लबल्ल पहाड़ पस्न पाएका घिसिङलाई तिनको बयानको कारण जनताले नै छानबीन गर्ने सम्भावना रहेको छ। जनताले छानबीनमा तिनलाई गलत फेला पारे अब तिनको राजनैतिक जीवन नै समाप्त हुन सक्ने अनुमान पनि पर्यवेक्षकहरूको रहेको छ।
लेप्चा समुदायले भोट हाल्ने
आरोहण, कालिमन्युज, कालेबुङ, 12 अप्रेल। यसपालीको विधानसभा चुनाउलाई एक राजनैतिक सङ्गठन क्रान्तिकारी मार्क्सवादी कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी अनि अर्को जातीय सङ्गठन इण्डिजेनस लेप्चा ट्राइबल एसोसिएसनले बहिष्कार गरिदिएको छ। क्रामाकपाले दलीय अनेकताको कारण विभिन्न मुद्दामा मत विभाजनको परिस्थिति बनेको जो, गोर्खाल्याण्डको निम्ति हानिकारक रहेको बताउँदै भोट नहाल्ने निर्णय गरेको छ भने अर्कोतिर लेप्चा समुदायलाई सरकारीरूपले सहुलियतहरू प्रदान नगरिएको अनि अनेकौं पल्ट भोट दिएर जिताएर पठाइए पनि कुनै विधायक, सांसदहरूले लेप्चाहरूको समस्यालाई सम्बोधन नै नगरेको भन्दै भोट बहिष्कारको घोषणा गरेको छ। क्रामाकपाले त गोर्खाल्याण्ड चहाने कसैले पनि भोट नहालिदिने अपील गर्ने कार्यलाई तीब्र राखेको छ तर इण्डिजेनस लेप्चा ट्राइबल एशोसिएसनले भने भोट हाल्नसक्ने सम्भावना बढ़ेर गएको छ।
सात सुत्रि माग गर्दै लेप्चा समुदायले यसपालीको विधानसभा चुनाउमा भोट नहाल्ने निर्णय गरेको थियो। पहाड़का भूमिपुत्र समुदाय रहेको भए पनि सरकारले यस समुदायको संरक्षण, भाषा, संस्कृति अनि सामाजिक क्षेत्रको विकासमा धेरै अपील गर्दा पनि कुनै चासो नदेखाएपछि यो समुदायले सिलगढ़ीमा जनसमावेशको आयोजना गरेर भोट नहाल्ने घोषणा गरेको थियो। लेप्चा समुदायले भोट बहिष्कार गरेको घोषणा हुने वित्तिकै गोर्खा जनमुक्ति मोर्चाका अध्यक्ष विमल गुरूङले लेप्चाहरूको सङ्गठन इल्टा (इण्डिजेनस लेप्चा ट्राइबल एशोसिएसन)का अध्यक्ष ल्याङसोङ तामसाङसित गोप्य बैठक गरेका थिए। बैठकमा कस्ता निर्णयहरू गरिए, त्यो खुलासा नभए पनि सोही दिन विमल गुरूङले जिल्लाभरिका लेप्चा समुदायसित भेटघाट गरेपछि भोट नहाल्ने कुरा चुड़ान्त नरहेको एशोसिएसनद्वारा नै बताइएको थियो। अहिलेसम्म पनि लेप्चा समुदायले भोट हाल्ने हो वा होइन कुनै पक्का निर्णय गरिएको छैन। तर एक विश्वस्त सूत्रद्वारा पाइएको जानकारी अनुसार यो एसोसिएसनसित सम्बद्ध लेप्चा गाउँ समितिहरूले गाउँगाउँमा नै भोट हाल्ने पक्षमा प्रस्तावहरू पारित गरिरहेका छन्‌।
बङ्गाल सरकार अनि केन्द्र सरकारलाई आफ्नो मुद्दाबारे प्रभावकारीरूपले दाबी गर्नको निम्ति चुनाउ नै उपयुक्त रहेकोले एसोसिएसनले यसपालीको विधानसभा चुनाउलाई बहिष्कार गरेको बताइएको थियो। तर यता विमल गुरूङले छुट्टै राज्यको निम्ति आन्दोलन भइरहेको अनि छुट्टै राज्य भए एसोसिएसनले दाबी गरेका सबै मागहरू स्वतस्फूर्त पूर्ण हुने बताएपछि भोट बहिष्कारको कुरा चुड़ान्त नरहेको बताइयो। यता बहिष्कारको घोषणा भइसकेकोले लेप्चाहरूमा सन्देश पुगिसकेको अनि सॉंच्ची नै भोट हाल्ने नहाल्ने कुरामा अब एसोसिएसनले बैठक गरेर नै निर्णय गर्ने पनि बताइएको छ। एसोसिएसनले अहिलेसम्म कुनै निर्णय त गरेको छैन तर 22,23 अनि24 न. समष्टीका मोठ 15 वटा लेप्चा गाउँ समितिहरूले भोट हाल्ने नै भनेर प्रस्ताव लिइसकेको विश्वस्त सूत्रले जानकारी गराएको छ। भोट हाल्ने पक्षमा गाउँ समितिहरूले प्रस्ताव लिने क्रम जारी रहेको सूत्रले बताए अनुसार लेप्चा समुदायले बहिष्कारको घोषणापछि पनि भोट हाल्ने निर्णय आन्तरिकरूपले लिइसकेको छनक पाइएको छ।
‘Union territory’ call by Cong

Bharati Tamang at a news conference with a lighted candle (her election symbol) in Darjeeling on Tuesday. Picture by Suman Tamang

TT, Darjeeling, April 12: The Darjeeling Congress, too, seems to be finding it difficult to steer clear of people’s “sentiments” in this election season and has called for the Union territory status for the hills.

“We are not in favour of the Sixth Schedule status (as demanded by the GNLF) as the hill people have already rejected it. We have to go with the sentiments of the people and are in favour of Union territory status for the hills,” said K.B. Chhetri, the president of the Darjeeling Congress (hill) district committee.

Chhetri said the hill Congress had already passed a resolution to this effect and was in the process of convincing the state pradesh committee and the AICC of the need to grant the Union territory status to the hills.

“We have passed a resolution, but it is up to the high command to take a final call on the issue,” said Chhetri. He added that even former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had been open to the idea of Union territory status for the hills.

B.K. Jha alias Anish Jha, the Congress’s observer for the hills, said: “I am not aware of the details of the demand. But the Congress is a pan-India party and it has a tradition of honouring the sentiments of the local people, keeping in mind the interest of the nation.”

He said the Congress had always loved the hill people, right from the days of Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi.

The observer said he would apprise Shakeel Ahmed, who is in charge of the Congress’s Bengal affairs, about the developments in Darjeeling hills.

ABGL protest

The ABGL today strongly condemned Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung’s statement that the GNLF president Subash Ghisingh’s “visa to the hills” would expire on April 18.

“The ABGL had opposed Subash Ghisingh and had coined the slogan, Ghisingh ‘hatao, pahar bachao (remove Ghisingh and save the hills)’. But we had never said he should leave the hills. Every party has the right to face the elections with its own slogan in a democratic country,” said Bharati Tamang, the president of the ABGL.

Bharati said Gurung’s statement was “undemocratic” and had drawn the attention of the Election Commission.

She said Ghisingh’s statement that he had never demanded Gorkhaland was nothing new. “ABGL leader Madan Tamang had made it clear 20 years ago that Ghisingh had never demanded Gorkhaland,” said Bharati.

Mamata parades Left rebels before rivals -

 Two former LF MPs share dais with Trinamul chief

Joachim Buxla in Barobisha on Tuesday. (Anirban Choudhury)

Arnab Ganguly, TT, Kumargram/Falakata, April 12: Mamata Banerjee is banking on Left dissidents in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar to take on the ruling front. Flanked by two of three such candidates who had links with the Left and whom she has fielded in the two north Bengal districts, the Trinamul chief today claimed that her party had become the natural choice of “Leftists” disgruntled with the Left Front.

Of the three, two are former Left MPs — Joachim Buxla and Hiten Barman — while the third, Arghya Roy Pradhan, is the son of Amar Roy Pradhan, a former Forward Bloc MP.

“Trinamul is the main political power in the state today. Those who were with the Left parties are now with Trinamul. Aamraai mul, baki sab bhul (We are the only ones, rest are wrong),” Mamata said today at Jalpaiguri’s Barobisha, a part of Kumargram Assembly constituency. On stage with her were Buxla and Arghya.

Mamata has fielded Buxla, a former RSP MP, against Dasarath Tirkey, an RSP minister, in Kumargram— also in Jalpaiguri district. Arghya is the Trinamul candidate for neighbouring Tufangunj constituency in Cooch Behar, where the CPM nominee is Dhananjoy Rava.

During her campaign in north Bengal that started on Sunday, Mamata has asked the people not to vote for any Left candidate. “Whether you vote for the CPM or the RSP or the CPI or the Forward Bloc, it is all the same. Don’t give your vote to the Left Front,” Mamata said in her public meetings in the four north Bengal districts that she has covered so far.

Mamata, who has fielded candidates against many veteran state ministers in the region, is going all out to ensure their defeat. She has campaigned in North Dinajpur’s Itahar (against CPI minister Srikumar Mukherjee) and at Balurghat (against RSP minister Biswanath Chowdhury).

Trinamul insiders feel that placing Left rebels in the fray against their own parties has given Mamata an edge. “These people were with the Left Front for a long time and are well-known in their areas. In her campaigns she is attacking the Left parties for their corruption and people like Buxla and Barman can come in handy to expose their former party men,” a senior leader said.

Mamata had experimented with former Left candidates in the past too. She had fielded expelled CPM MP Radhika Ranjan Pramanik for the 2004 Lok Sabha polls without success.

Buxla had revolted against the RSP leadership after being denied a ticket during the 2009 Lok Sabha election. He contested as an Independent from the Alipurduar seat— Kumargram is part of the Alipurduar parliamentary constituency — and lost to Manohar Tirkey. Similarly, Forward Bloc’s Hiten Barman was upset after not being re-nominated from the Cooch Behar parliamentary seat. Barman, too, had contested, as an Independent but couldn’t make it.

This time, Barman is contesting from Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi. Arghya’s father Amar Roy Pradhan too had fallen out with his party though he never joined Trinamul. Arghya had contested the 2009 Lok Sabha poll on a Trinamul ticket in the Cooch Behar parliamentary seat and lost.

At the Barobisha rally, Mamata said Buxla was thrown out from the RSP as he had protested against misdeeds of his former party. “He has a major role to play in the coming days,” Mamata told the supporters.

The Trinamul chief also addressed rallies at Falakata, Kalchini, Dhupguri and Moynaguri — all in Jalpaiguri district — where she slammed the Left Front for the lack of infrastructure in Jalpaiguri. In one of the rallies she warned against fanning divisive forces.

“I want to move forward with all,” she said.

GNLF alleges intimidation by GJM
Amitava Banerjee,HT,Darjeeling:The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) on Monday lodged a formal complaint regarding alleged intimidation by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). In the complaint the GNLF have stated that in a GJM election campaign in Mirik on April 10, the GJM president Bimal Gurung in his speech had threatened to break the legs of GNLF party supporters and actively encouraged his party supporters to do the same stating that the model code of conduct is only for candidates and not for him (Gurung) or party supporters.
The GNLF also complained about the Gurung’s threat to throw out GNLF from the Hills using lakhs of people. This is being to create a fear psychosis to prevent the public from voting for the GNLF, read  the  complaint Ghisingh’s outfit.
“Our party has viewed these threats seriously and we would protect our party president and the party with our lives, come what may. We would sincerely like the esteemed institution to intervene so that blood will not be spilled pre-and post-election,” said the complaint.
“We want the Election Commission to initiate necessary action. They have assured free and fair elections and intimidation of voters is a major offence. It is time the Election Commission lives up to its assurances,” said Palden Dorji, GNLF leader from Kurseong.
Mohan Gandhi, district magistrate, Darjeeling, who is also the district election officer, said, “We have received a complaint and are probing the matter.” The model code of conduct is in place till the announcement of poll results. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had demanded the immediate arrest of Bimal Gurung. “The GJM propped by the Congress-Trinamool is issuing direct threats to other political parties in the Hills. Bimal Gurung is out on bail in a cognizance offence. How can he issue such intimidating threats? We demand that the EC do its duty and immediately arrest Gurung,” said Jibesh Sarkar, CPI(M) leader of North Bengal.
“We are investigating the matter. It is a cognizable offence under Section 171C of the IPC,” said DP Singh, Superintendent of Police (SP), Darjeeling.
“We would be getting 72 companies of central paramilitary forces to beef up security during elections. They will be arriving on April 14,” said the Darjeeling SP.

BASOR COMMUNITY CELEBRATES RAMNAVAMI AT KALIMPONG

DR. B.R. AMBEDKAR AND BUDDHISM

Tarit Mukherjee*

Dr. B R Ambedkar,popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar,was theArchitect of the Indian Constitution. Born on 14 April 1891 in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh,Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was the fourteenth child of his parents, Bhimabai Sakpaland Ramji. “Sakpal” was the surname of Bhimrao and “Ambavade” was the name of his native village. To avoid the socio-economic discrimination and the ill-treatment of the higher classes of the society, Bhimrao changed his surname from “Sakpal” to “Ambedkar” by the help of a Brahmin teacher, who had great faith in him. Since then,Bhimrao and his family used the title, Ambavedkar.

He was a well-known politician and an eminent jurist. Ambedkar’s efforts to eradicate the social evils like untouchablity and caste restrictions were remarkable. Dr. B.R.Ambedkar a great scholar, Lawyer and freedom fighter along with hundreds of thousands of Mahar’s an untouchable caste, converted to Buddhism and changed the face of Buddhism in India. Dr. Ambedkar’s conversion was a symbolic protest to the oppressions of caste inequality.

Bhimrao Ambedkar experienced caste discrimination right from the childhood. After his retirement from the Indian Army, Bhimrao’s father settled in Satara Maharashtra.Bhimrao was enrolled in the local school. Here, he had to sit on the floor in one corner in the classroom and the teachers would not touch his notebooks. In spite of these hardships, Bhimrao continued his studies and passed his Matriculation examination from Bombay University with flying colours in 1908. Bhim Rao Ambedkar joined theElphinstone College for further education. In 1912, he graduated in Political Science and Economics from Bombay University and got a job in Baroda. In 1913, BhimraoAmbedkar lost his father. In the same year Maharaja of Baroda awarded scholarship toBhim Rao Ambedkar and sent him to America for further studies. Bhimrao reached New York in July 1913. He immersed himself in the studies and attained a degree in Master of Arts and a Doctorate in Philosophy from Columbia University in 1916 for his thesis “National Dividend for India: A Historical and Analytical Study.” From America,Dr.Ambedkar proceeded to London to study economics and political science. The Maharaja also convened many meetings and conferences of the “untouchables” whichBhimrao addressed. In September 1920, after accumulating sufficient funds,Ambedkar went back to London to complete his studies. He became a barrister and got a Doctorate in science.

In 1947, when India became Independent, the first Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, invited Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, who had been elected as a Member of the Constituent Assembly from Bengal, to join his Cabinet as a Law Minister. The Constituent Assembly entrusted the job of drafting the Constitution to a committee and Dr. Ambedkar was elected as Chairman of this Drafting Committee. In February 1948, Dr. Ambedkar presented the Draft Constitution before the people of India; it was adopted on November 26, 1949. In 1950, Ambedkar traveled to Sri Lanka to attend a convention of Buddhist scholars and monks. After his return he decided to write a book on Buddhism and soon, converted himself to Buddhism. Ambedkar founded theBharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha In 1955. His book “The Buddha and His Dhamma” was published posthumously.

On May 24, 1956, on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti, he declared in Bombay, that he would adopt Buddhism. On 0ctober 14, 1956 he embraced Buddhism along with many of his followers. On October 14, 1956 Ambedkar organized a public ceremony to convert around five lakh of his supporters into Buddhism. In his speech on the Eve of the great conversion at Nagpur Dr. Ambedkar said that Buddhism can serve not only this country, India, but the whole World at this juncture in the world affairs; Buddhism is indispensable for world peace you must pledge today that you, the followers of Buddha, will not only work to liberate yourself, but will try to elevate your country and the world in general.

Ambedkar traveled to Kathmandu to attend the Fourth World Buddhist Conference. He completed his final manuscript, “The Buddha or Karl Marx” on December 2, 1956. Dr. Ambedkar dedicated himself to the propagation of the Buddhist faith in India. He wrote a book on Buddhism titled “Buddha and His Dhamma” explaining its tenets in simple language to the common man. His another book is “Revolution and Counter Revolution in India”. He made the provision for the study of Pali in the Indian Constitution.

Ambedkar’s whole life and mission was a practical contribution to humanistic Buddhist education in India and not just intellectual and philosophical. Though he was not a Buddhist by birth but by practice and at heart he was a Buddhist. (PIB Features)

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of PIB.

‘I have no doubt about Miss Banerjee’s sincerity & commitment’

SNS, April 11: Veteran parliamentarian and BJP leader Mr Jaswant Singh had been camping in Darjeeling over the past week meeting Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) leaders and chalking out campaign schedules in the Hills which, though, had to be curtailed due to his ill-health. In a conversation with Anjan Chakraborty, the BJP MP from Darjeeling talks about his assessment of the Assembly election 2011 in West Bengal. Excerpts:
Q: Your visit to Darjeeling this time is entirely because of the Assembly election in West Bengal. Where all are you going to campaign?
A: I would have gone to other areas but for sudden illness. My programmes have been curtailed. It all depends on my doctor...
Q: In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls you were backed by the GJMM and your principal electoral opponents were the CPI-M and the Congress. This time around, in the Hills, the Subhas Ghisingh-led GNLF and Bharati Tamang-led AIGL are also in the fray...
A: They have full right to contest. They are also citizens of the country and they view the situation in a matter that encourages them to contest this election. It is their right.
Q: The Morcha has extended unconditional support to the Trinamul Congress-Congress alliance in the three seats of Darjeeling and few other seats in Jalpaiguri where they are not contesting. In these seats, the BJP has nominees as well. How difficult is it for you to campaign for the Morcha in the Hills when they are supporting your electoral opponents in the other seats of Darjeeling?
A: It is not difficult as long as the viewpoint is clear and the approach is not muddled. The Morcha has lent its support to the combine of the Congress and the Trinamul Congress in a larger context, which is the context of the post-election scenario in West Bengal. As far as some seats are concerned in the Dooars and Terai region, the Morcha has lent support to the BJP in Madarihat as well. I do not see in these any sense of principle dissonance. It is a tactical adjustment of the political situation prevailing in the state by them.
Q: What is your assessment of the BJP's prospects in West Bengal?
A: We are contesting a large number of seats in the state. The BJP would certainly make its presence felt as it has done in the past also by winning seats. I think that the political situation as it is developing in the state you seem to be seeing the end of the three decade-long dominance of the Marxists  and the emergence of an alternative. In the emergence of that alternative, the BJP shall also find a mention, which would perhaps not be significant to form a government in West Bengal but certainly to put its footprint in state politics.
Q: The Left Front is facing its toughest electoral challenge in over three decades in West Bengal. Do you agree the Trinamul is riding on a wave of anti-establishment mood in the state?
A: I can only speculate and based on the viewpoints expressed and the sentiment that I can sense, I think the Trinamul-Congress combine should be able to form the next government with the Left Front sitting on the sidelines after three decades.
Q: Miss Mamata Banerjee had been a railway minister in the BJP-led NDA government and she is now at the helm of the same ministry in the Congress-led UPA-II regime. How did you rate her then and how do you rate her now?
A:  She has been my Cabinet colleague earlier. It is not for me to rate Cabinet colleagues in terms of school examinations. I see her as a colleague whose companionship and cooperation I have valued earlier and I continue to value that. I am an admirer of her dedication and the spirit with which she takes up her cause. It is an admirable quality.
Q: Would Mamata Banerjee make a good chief minister?
A: I have no doubt that she would apply herself with total sincerity and be committed for the welfare of the state of West Bengal.
Q: Coming back to the Hills, you have always supported the Morcha's demand for a separate state. Is that an alliance compulsion?
A: No. Why is it an alliance compulsion? Not at all. It is a decision taken on its own, asserting the BJP's stand for smaller states. It is that kind of principle. I think Gorkhaland is a very legitimate demand. If we are able to separate ourselves from the sentiment of it in every possible way and think from the perspective of national security, social harmony, economic benefit, administrative convenience and all of that, we will find that it is a legitimate demand.
Q: Once the elections are over, the tripartite negotiations are going to start again. Do you think that the Centre and the state government have been dragging their feet over the issue?
A: I have no doubt that the Left Front government and its attitude to the establishment in meeting the aspirations of the people of the Hill state was a laggard. It is really regrettable. Even, for example, the cyclone Aila that hit West Bengal caused so much damage to the Hills, but the state government did not pay sufficient attention.
The Threat Of Internet Censorship In India
12 April, 2011, countercurrents.org: LIBERATION? AMAZING, the extent to which criminal instincts persist in human nature. I use the word ‘criminal,’ deliberately. Freedom and crime are linked as indivisibly as….well as the motion of the aero and its speed. When its speed equals zero, it does not move; when a man’s freedom equals zero, he commits no crimes. That is clear. The only means of ridding man of crime is ridding him of freedom.”(‘We’-Yevgeny Zamyatin)
“You don’t need to watch everyone if everyone believes they’re being watched, Nash explained, “Punishment isn’t necessary, but the inevitability of punishment has to be programmed into the brain…Privacy has become a convenient fiction…A few libertarians objected to this intrusion, so the government transferred control of the program to the Terrorism Information Awareness system. Once the word “: Total,” was replaced by the word “Terrorism,” all the criticism stopped…I will be watched too. Everyone will be watched. It’s a very democratic system. That’s the cleverness of the Panopticon. It’s designed so as that you can never see the face of your guard or hear him moving about…the prisoner must assume that he is being watched all the time. After a while, that realization becomes part of the prisoner’s consciousness... besides they rarely recognize the prison. There’s always some distraction. A war in the Middle East. A scandal involving celebrities. The World Cup or the Super Bowl. Drugs…Advertisements. A novelty song. A change of fashion… Fear will get people into our Virtual Panopticon and then we’ll keep them happy. People will be free to take antidepressant drugs, go into debt and stare at their television sets. Society might seem disorganized, but it will be very stable. Every few years we’ll pick up a different mannequin to give speeches from the White House Rose Garden.(John Twelve Hawks - The Traveller)
From Zamyatin’s famous dystopian novel ‘We’ to George Orwell’s ‘1984,’ to Philip K Dick’s short novels, to William Golding’s , ‘ Lord of the Flies,’ to John Twelve Hawks ‘The Traveller,’ the disturbing theme of thought control and quashing of freedom of thinking has come out from the realm of fiction.
The fiction is now a socio-political reality, out staring every human being. Like Toynbee’s “Dominant Minority,” the power elite wants to snuff out and quell every thought it feels threatened with.
The corporate-run Indian State, a face for the power elite running the country as a real estate and hypermarket, is all set to implement the banning of thought, expression and critical consciousness by proposing to carry out amendments in the Information Technology Act (2000.)
Of course, on the surface level it does seems that it is more of a knee-jerk reaction to the sudden emergence of internet activism and more specifically to Wikileaks which to some extent ripped off the masks from the ruling class propaganda and also rustled up people’s consciousness at a subliminal level.
The proposed amendments have already come under criticism in scores of incisive articles on internet, but ironically, the corporate establishment media- except for a handful of them- has not come out openly against the proposed ‘internet censorship, ‘ hidden in legalese veils.

The proposed censorship which intends to strait-jacket the editors of websites and bloggers or “intermediaries,” as it terms them is nothing but an attempt to weave an atmosphere of fear where everyone has to keep a watch over everybody.

The State is all out to create a society where everybody should distrust everybody. A society, where paranoia will be all-pervasive; and a Hobbesian political space where ideas can and will be monitored, and tuned, as per the diktats of the corporate-run State.

Already, the government is steaming ahead in full force implementing the much reviled and discarded world over, UID Aadhar- an intangible instrument to monitor the movements of people and manipulate them as per the wishes of corporate interests.

Now, a new set of nails are being hammered into the coffins prepared by the State--the proposal to circumscribe thoughts and ideas floating in cyberspace. Since both print as well as television media already in control of the new dictators of the world-the corporate bodies; internet as a medium for expression of ideas had come as a boon to people refusing to get deafened by the cacophony of corporate ideology.

In its earlier days, print media had been a tool for raising uncomfortable questions and in provoking people to think and sometimes even exhorting them to act. The ruling class soon realized the power of the medium and clamped down on it by controlling the processes of the ideas through which they flowed.

The visual medium also fared the same fate. Now it is the turn of the internet. However, unlike the print or the television medium requiring a substantial amount of physical machinery for its processing and thus a necessity of a certain amount of initial capital, the internet on the other hand was more intangible, requiring minimal amount of capital.

Though yet to realize its optimum latent potentiality, the impact of the ideas floating through this medium has certainly not been less forceful than the other conventional forms of medium, despite its manipulation and control and monitoring being relatively more easy, simple and total.

It is precisely because of this probable anarchic nature of medium that world over specially countries influenced by Thatcherism and wallowing in control of corporate ideology, a clampdown on internet activism has become a top priority. The tightening of noose on the internet is being carried out exactly in the manner working class unions were once strangulated. India is certainly not the country which would like to be left behind in this race.

Thus, such a proposal. The maxim of which in simple words is: You should read and see what we want you to read and see; and think, what we want you to think. And there is no better way to achieve this sinister aim, than by controlling the very medium where every electrical pulsation of thoughts coursing through neurons, gets filtered though synapses monitored and manipulated by the gatekeepers put up by the State.

India has a long history of draconian laws like MISA, TADA, POTA, etc. The proposed IT Act amendment is no different. Like the so-called TADA, POTA and other similar acts which were usually used to quell the rebels and shackle those who dared to raise their voices against authorities, the proposed IT Act amendment is to ensure that the sporadic questioning voices be muffled effectively.

The “intermediaries,” can be hauled up if the State finds the ideas or the analysis projected on their web site or blog ‘objectionable. The web site editors will not only have to report and keep a diary specifying ‘the details about their contributors, but even the onus of publishing a so-called ‘objectionable,’ material will be on them. The same will be the case with the bloggers who will have to keep a track on their respondents.

In other words, only calcified approved ideas henceforth will be allowed in cyberspace. The print and visual medium like the State machineries, had long, long time ago fallen into the manipulating hands of the corporate world.

In other words what the State wants is that the internet medium should also go the way corporate establishment media functions and carry out ‘propaganda,’ by twisting ideas, images and words. In a perceptive study of contemporary mass media, Prof. Richard Hoggart observes, “In the mass society one of the main channels through which the medium of communication work is, perhaps surprisingly, words… The paradox is that words today are both neglected in principle and hugely paid court to in fact. They are daily despoiled but secretly admired; they cannot be left alone by the whole congregation of advertising and P.R people and their related cohorts.” (Hoggart: Mass Media in a Mass Society (Myth and Reality); pp 141; 2005: Continuum, London.)

Citing examples of the manipulation of language by the corporate media, for twisting social realities and creating a make-believe social world, Richard Hoggart points out, “Shortly after the battles of in Kosovo began someone…a Cabinet Minister, introduced the word, ‘humanitarian.’ That was a proper epithet for the action he was justifying. The word proved …enormously attractive and was repeatedly adopted. From then it occurred in virtually every report from that theatre, over-used and as often, as not ill-used…it was a catch-all word for almost any aspect though often a dreadful one, of a war situation. One even spoke of mass murders in a village as a ‘humanitarian assault’. It was certainly human not humane…frequently misused in Afghanistan. Most often it was applied to assaults by those attacking the Taliban. They were ‘humanitarian assaults’….they were assaults in the pursuit of victor in battle and neither humanitarian nor humane. They were inevitably bloody and awful. (Ibid: pp146.)

Further, Hoggart points out that in the logical progression of the corporate media, “various simulacra will be offered and each hailed as the one and only true form of democracy. But it will be both diluted with the honest, gritty character of genuine democracy. It will not offer its citizens real freedom of choice-even to go to hell or much more day to day, to consistently blow the gaff on the powers that be-both of which must inhere in a democracy. Instead, its Gods will be: money, celebrity, power and all of us equal before the ‘hegemony’ of the balance-sheets. It will offer day after day what the persuaders have decided is good for their audiences in the pursuit of profit or of a docile citizenship (the two are naturally intimately related). It will offer at any given moment just what will be absorbed but not cause revulsion: soft porn today, but no doubt hard-core porn tomorrow, violent sex-and-violence dramas on television today but perhaps public executions tomorrow.” (Ibid: pp 170.)

The corporate establishment media in India is certainly doing this job dutifully. And if the Indian state is gleefully rubbing its hands in joy, it is because the corporate establishment media faithfully recycles myths churned out from propaganda services departments run by the State and corporate P.R. firms. The myths are glibly presented in the drawing rooms via newspapers and telly screens—be it the drilling of the American gospel of greed-never to stop needing more, or be it the glorification of freedom to cheat, to con, or be it the need to chuck villagers into a dust-bin for the so-called development, or be it the omnipresent spies from neighbouring countries training insurgents in Assam, or LTTE (now defunct but once a favourite bogey of intelligence agencies,) training Maoists.

Of course, some talks by harlequins in the media theatre, which seemingly are annoying but not harmful to the rulers are always allowed, the way C-grade film hero’s raving and ranting’ against corruption is allowed on the silver screens. After all the Indian corporate media rarely talks of the traumatic dirty diaspora of tribals, poor peasants or retrenched workers seeking refuge in the suppurating, festering and never closing wounds of dark dead streets snaking in the corners of ‘world-class,’ cities.

Nor do they ever state that Salwa Judum the so-called civilian para-military force, indulging in ‘counter-terror,’ is nothing but a sophisticated way to describe murder of adivasis or landless peasants. None of the corporate-run newspapers or news channels, ever reports the anger and helplessness of adivasis or tribals or peasants on being thrown out from their homelands. None of the them ever reports that security forces raping adivasi girls in mineral-rich forests of Odisha or Jharkhand, or women in north-east, or castrating children in an area coveted by corporates, is a part of the cold-blooded military strategy to subjugate people in the region to the wishes and diktats of the State.

Instead what they parrot is what they are told to parrot by corporates and its interest implementing department-the State. The corporate through its meta-reality concept called, ‘market,’ run countries as well as the State machinery. It is the new oppressor with a mask of democracy, pillaging and plundering country after country in the manner reminiscent of colonialism.

‘Market,’ is the miasmic lifeline, which corporate uses, to entwine every region wherever it smells profits and like a killing creeper it sees that the tree helping it reach sunlight remains on a firm ground with inhabitants providing it nourishment till they run dry. And till it leaches out the last drop of profit, it continues its stranglehold over the tree and branches, controlling its every sway and quivering of leaves.

Noted developmental sociologist Wolfgang Sachs states, “The world market, once brandished as a weapon against political tyranny, has itself become a closet dictator under dominion both rich and poor countries tremble...There is scarcely any country today which seems able to control its destiny; in this respect the differences between countries are only relative.” (Sachs: The Archaeology of the Development Idea; pp 37; 2008-Earthcare Books; Kolkatta.)

And in this scenario, “…the future appears grim and the South (read: Third World) is seen as the breeding ground of all crises…All kinds of dangers are to be found there...violence keeps exploding, the mafia is in command, epidemics are spreading, deserts are advancing, ideologies are rampant and everywhere the demographic bomb is looming…the more the threatening dangers strike fear into people’s minds, the more the image of ‘The Other’ takes on a different colouring. During the centuries it has been identified with the pagan, then with the savage, then with the indigenous and finally with the poor, which today embodies the ‘risk factor’.

“In these circumstances, the ‘development’ concept loses its reassuring connotations for the future; slowly it is being substituted by the concept of ‘security’—from the North’s viewpoint naturally,” and thus, “ Global security is beginning to justify anything—just as it united the international community against the dictator of Baghdad. Rich countries are now increasing their diplomatic charity and military instruments for risk prevention. But where there is no justice, there cannot be peace. Security has replaced development as the global guiding light-another tragic consequence of the continuing arrogance of power.” (Ibid pp 41-44.)

And it is this arrogance of power deeply laced with a desperation, to continue with the mirage of ‘market,’ and ‘development,’ the corporate paradigm that reduces every living being to a statistical abstraction on the scales of profit and loss, carries on with its exploitation and oppression under the guise of democratic security, by trying to annul every thought which it feels threatened with.

The corporate totalitarian system very survival lies in the control of people and communication of ideas and literature. Literature which is “harmful and anti-entropic,” in words of Zamyatin, does not need “dogs who “sit up” in expectation of a handout or because they fear the whip. Nor does it need trainers of such dogs. It needs writers who fear nothing…And it does not matter if this echo is individual…if a writer ignores such-and-such paragraph adopted at such-and-such conference. What matters is that his work be sincere, that I lead the reader forward…disturb the reader rather than reassure and lull his mind. “(Zamyatin: The Goal; quoted in Introduction to We translated by Mirra Ginsburg.)

Disconcerting wisdom is different from the inert information saturating the corporate controlled media. George Orwell in ‘Road to Wigan Pier,’ mentions that workers living in tattered trailers on being asked as to when they first came to know about their housing problems, answered, something like: When we were first told about it.

It is this realization of a possible awakening of an organic knowledge of exploitation and oppression, and consciousness of one’s fundamental rights, is what the ruling class fears. And so the censorship and banning of thoughts.

And thus the axe on Internet warriors who want to, like the heroine of ‘We,’ “… break down the Wall-all walls-to let the green wind blow free from end to end-across the earth.”