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.

At another level, frustrated with the prevailing scenario, students were moving out of the state for higher studies and those left behind felt it safer to stay under the unilateral umbrella of the ruling party. Till 2006, it was strange to hear of any college in any small town in Bengal which didn't have SFI leading its students' union, as was the case in villages and districts where the extra-constitutional apparatus of the CPM called the shots. Leaving aside some corridors in North Bengal which had Chattra Porishod (CP), the students' wing of the Congress, as a dominant factor, there was hardly any representation of the 'other' in colleges and universities. Even if there were any possibility of protest or expressed resentment against the ruling junta, it was nipped in the bud due to lack of support - so omnipresent was this localised CPM terror.

Indeed, ultra Leftist ideology, romantic/radical ideas have always fascinated Bengal's intelligentsia and students were
no exception. Thus, when both the daughter-activists of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Anil Biswas left Presidency College after graduation, the SFI lost its footing. This led to the formation of a non-party Independent Consolidation (IC) with radical Left lineage, comprising ex-SFI rebels and others, and not affiliated to any political party. This was an independent-Left alliance which broke stereotypical structures of politics and culture, and created a new language of resistance.

In June 2005, another big mistake marked by repression by the police and administration, saw the birth of another independent organisation in Jadavpur University: Forum for Arts Students (FAS). Formed as a reaction to the brutal midnight lathicharge on fasting students, the FAS quickly found its base among students. When in March, 2007, it won the students union elections, defeating SFI, it was big news in West Bengal; this was precisely because Jadavpur is the legislative constituency of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.

In the current scenario, the politician (discredited in the past due to her melodramatic antics and dubious alliances with communal forces) who found her foot again was Mamata Banerjee. After the humiliating defeat in the 2006 state legislative elections, the Singur and Nandigram people's movement gave a fresh lease of oxygen to her and Trinamool Congress. As the anger against the CPM began to rise, she used that strategically and thus her students' organisation, Trinamool Chhatra Porishod (TMCP), started making forays into areas which were still considered breeding camps of SFI.

The tide had begun to turn. Relentless errors by an arrogant and myopic CPM-led government and its party organisation led to the slow degradation of its students' body with young people desperately looking for change.

As Avishek Ghosh, active member of TMCP, says, "For 32 years, there has been no improvement in the education scenario. No computer education, no English education, politicisation at the school level and constant corruption in the school, college and university level linked to appointments and jobs has led to the situation that SFI is facing today. Students want change and the Lok Sabha elections of 2009 has seen that change. We are hopeful that by 2011, we will be able to rub off SFI from the entire students' fraternity."

Although the SFI leadership does not agree, they have faced huge setbacks. In the last one year, there has been elections in 215 colleges of which SFI has won in 135 and TMCP and others in 70. The districts of Burdwan, Birbhum and the rural hinterland have strongly disappointed the SFI. As Ricksundar Banerjee, president of the SFI unit, Jadavpur University, says, "There has been a severe lack on our part in many areas. We need people who are more committed to the cause. This phase is only momentary and although TMCP is winning, this is a mirage which will soon get destroyed. We have decided to rectify our mistakes and be careful in implementing certain decisions."

It is not as simple as it sounds; these winds of change have been largely followed by escalated violence and killings. Over the last two months, several college elections in Kolkata have seen violence unleashed: bombs, pipe guns, revolvers flashed off in broad daylight. As the air is hot and tense, sensing the end of the authoritarian SFI-CPM era, the power struggle is inherent in the bylanes and campus corridors. There are local criminals and goons who are taking advantage of this situation and moving into business. Loyalties are shifting. Thus, there is more bloodshed and macho violence linked with college elections across the state. And this does not seem to be stopping so easily, unless the big picture changes in the 2011 state elections.

Strangely, although the government of West Bengal is riddled with the issue of 'Leftwing extremism' across Jangalmahal/Lalgarh and beyond Bengal and Jharkhand border, there is no significant presence of Maoist sympathisers in the students' fraternity. Except in the elite and intellectual corridors of Jadavpur University or Presidency College, which has always been a hotbed of radical, non-conformist Left ideologies, there is hardly any support for Maoists elsewhere. However, as the saying goes, 'In any power struggle no space remains empty' - and considering that political violence is spreading in most parts of the state, the nature of politics might decisively shift.

Says Sourodeep Ghosh, convenor, FAS, "The violence is just another angle in a larger story. Earlier, there was the monopoly of only the CPM's red flag during bandhs, dharnas and demonstrations. Now the colour has changed to green (Trinamool's flag). This is a crisis situation in Bengal now and everyone is trying to fish in this muddy water."

Only time will tell if Bengal reverts to the power of the 'establishment red' (in contrast to the underground 'Maoist red' holding limited jungle 'turfs'), or accepts the 'greenery' that is greedily lurking outside the corridors of power. Till then, for ordinary students, it might be another day of uncanny anticipation. Between the guitar and the music of the petrol bomb or police terror, between post Nandigram renaissance and the fickle leadership of Mamata Banerjee, the options are few and limited. Like a resurrected slogan, waiting to find its synthesis, searching for a new melody beyond the clichéd, jarring note.

The writer is a student at the Centre for Media and Culture Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai