Politics and Violence

Recently, the much-awaited verdict on Suchpur Incident(July, 2000) have been given convicting 44 CPI(M) workers, much to the delight of Trinomool Congress. Lets look further into it……..

The opposition has been saying that 11 landless farmers, who were also Trinomool Congress Supporters, were brutally hacked to death by CPI(M) ‘gundas’.

The CPI(M) has been saying that The people killed are nothing but Hired ‘gundas’ of the Jotdar whose 111 acre of land was turned into ‘Khas Jomi’ and were distributed among landless farmers.

The verdict, however, seems to support the opposition’s view. But, like several times in the past, a given verdict completely changes when the judge, jury and court changes (Of course, I am referring to Suhreed Dutta case and Chhoto Aangaria case). So, we should wait till it’s finally over.

Politics, in its Bengali meaning, involves the word, ‘neeti’, which can be translated back to the English word, Strategy. Violence becomes a part of politics if it is used to claim ground……and I mean it literally. The various battles we read about in history were planned by Politics and executed by violence simply to capture more Land. In these days, also, violence is used in Politics to capture areas that will increase a partie’s political importance in a given State. It is quite evident.

I live in a city where the dominance of the left is quite unmistakable. However, we almost never heard of any political fights. But in the recent past, after the ‘reappearance’ of Trinomool Congress, there has been quite a few occasions where CPI(M) supporters got beaten up by Trinomool Congress workers. Even a few days ago in Burdwan, there was a massive amount of violence during Trinomool Congress leader Madan Ghose’s rally. Madan Ghosh was caught on tape the previous day saying, ”chhere kotha bolbo na”.

The new form of violence involves the participation of Maoists. Involving Maoists in a given ‘action’ gives a party the opportunity to wash its hands from that very incident. Maoists are proclaimed terrorists. So, they are absolutely not bothered about violence. This is what happened in Nandigram, Singur and now happening in Jangalmahal.

An act of violence can be called a crime if it involves hurting or killing innocent people. Politics doesn’t disqualify a person from his innocence. On the other hand, it doesn’t make a person eligible to indulge in violence just to claim superiority. Some people (who gave birth to Pashkura Line), however, doesn’t seem to believe that. Those people must be condemned.

Lastly, I urge the people of my State to listen to everything, and then judge. Of course, violence is used by both sides on several occasions, but you have to decide who have committed ‘crime’ more than the other.

HARMAD.M SAYS….LAAL SELAM.