From guitar to petrol bombs Testimonies of change

A new wave of radical change is sweeping the campus corridors of West Bengal, in protest against the arrogance of a discredited CPM
Arindam Banerjee Kolkata

It has been three long years since that unusual morning in January 2007, when Nandigram, a nondescript village in West Bengal, woke up in protest against the forceful acquisition of their land. The acquisition was meant for an upcoming industrial hub for the notorious Indonesian multinational giant, Salem, pushed unilaterally by the CPM-led state government. West Bengal was already seething with rage against the brutal images of cops beating up local farmers, women and children in Singur, protesting against a proposed car factory of Tata Motors, with huge subsidies and doles by the state government. The icing on the cake was complete with the disastrous move of the West Bengal government when the police was sent to reclaim the land in Nandigram resulting in a clash which saw the death of 14 people, rapes, torture, mass beating, disappearances and organised barbarism unleashed by the CPM cadre and police.

The first repercussion against the CPM was tangibly felt when the Students Federation of India (SFI), the frontal organisation of CPM, suffered a huge defeat in the student elections at the prestigious Jadavpur University and the elite Presidency College in Kolkata. Already, the CPM-led Left Front was facing its biggest challenge in the public sphere, mostly, among the civil society and intellectuals, many of whom at one time were close to the party. Indeed, after losing its base among the minorities and poor/landless farmers etc., the last territory which they never dreamt of losing was its massive, hegemonic support base among the students in Bengal.

 But as every reaction needs a catalyst to speed it up, similarly, the simmering anger, frustration and hopelessness against the monotonous and autocratic 32-year-rule of the CPM finally exploded with a huge uproar. And that might mark a historical rupture, including in students' politics in Bengal.

If one has to characterise the nature of students' politics in Bengal (and in Kolkata), one can easily see some stagnant and dominant features. Since the late uprising of the 1960s and tumultuous decade of the 1970s, when students' politics was at its zenith with students fighting and dying to change this unequal, pro-rich, oppressive system, the big picture has decisively changed. For most of them, the Naxalite movement became a shattered dream, thought the remains of the day were still alive and restless, refusing to die.

Slowly, the inception of the 1980s and the 1990s saw a status quoist stabilisation in the realm of student politics in Bengal. The SFI, using its big brother party in power, took the upper hand. With the help of local cadres and the zonal committees, it created a 'finite zone of no nonsense' autocracy. For a state and its youth which were rapidly sinking in the sectors of a crumbling education system, unemployment, and basically rudderless and directionless, the only viable, safe and comfortable option was to join the CPM's students' wing which was largely a platform to accommodate those who graduate to the next level in the party and then slowly start reaping the benefits of power and pelf. From the echelons of a communist students' organisation, the SFI became opportunist and authoritarian, often lumpen, a comfort zone which mostly dealt with power and monetary profits.