http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=373120&catid=72
‘Maoists moving away from rural masses’ 14 June 2011 shyam sundar roy MIDNAPORE, 14 JUNE: The Maoist movement in West Bengal, which thrives on the ideology of “class war” and “class annihilation”, seems to have fallen far short of the ground realities being encountered by the underprivileged classes of rural Bengal, says Dr Abhijit Guha, senior reader in the department of anthropology, Vidyasagar University, in his forthcoming paper to be published by the Tribhuban University, Nepal. The paper was presented by Dr Guha in an internal research seminar, organised jointly by the Tribhuban University and Japan's Hiroshima University, in Nepal recently as part of a partnership project for peace building and capacity development in South Asia. In his paper, Dr Guha observed that the Maoist movement in Bengal arose riding the crest of peasant resistance against large-scale land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram in the forest-covered region of the state. But, neither the movement was spearheaded against the acquisition of fertile land by the Left Front government nor did the Maoist ever propose any alternative pro-peasant rehabilitation package for the displaced small farmers, share-croppers, agricultural labourers and other under-privileged classes of the rural society who were encountering the onslaught of globalisation and the new economic order. The Maoists are, however, vocal against globalisation. They are also silent on the role of the panchayats in land acquisition. It is interesting to note that all the political parties in West Bengal and in India are in favour of land acquisition by the willing-buyer-willing-seller principle championed by the capitalist economy and they are pushing their agenda in Parliament. It is surprising that a political party (CPI-Maoist) which propagates revolutionary ideology has no say on the ground realities of colonial land acquisition and the post-colonial legislation empowering local self-government, Dr Guha added. The other guest speaker in the seminar Prof. Abhijit Dasgupta of Delhi School of Economics narrated the history of Naxalite and Maoist movement in West Bengal by pointing out the failures of the Naxalites in assessing the changes that have taken place in the rural caste and class composition under the influence of market economy and improved transport and communication system. Another participant, Miss Manjeshwari Singh of Nepal and a research consultant of Hiroshima University's Peace Building Project, presented case studies of Nepal which showed that a large section of Maoist supporters are now moving away from the violent path pursed by the outfit a few years ago. The seminar was convened by Dr Masahiko Togawa, a noted scholar on sociology and religion of rural Bengal and a Professor of Hiroshima University. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
