The ground reality in West Bengal is different from what is being projected by the aggressive campaign of the Trinamool Congress-Maoist combine, some civil rights activists and the corporate media, the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) said.
A booklet, The Truth Behind the Violence in West Bengal, released here on Saturday said the violence in the State was not a spontaneous upsurge or a no-confidence motion by the Adivasi people but the result of an organised “political vendetta” by right wing and reactionary forces. It is the “deliberate and ruthless” attempt to capture the space occupied by those belonging to a particular political dispensation, through direct killings, and by preventing the functioning of democratic institutions, the booklet says.
Dozens of women from the violence-affected regions of the State narrated their experiences at a meeting organised by the AIDWA “in defence of the democratic rights of the people of West Bengal,” to mark the birth anniversary of Susheela Gopalan.
Speaking at the function, Rajya Sabha MP and Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, said the Trinamool Congress-Maoist combine was targeting the ideological heart of the Left movement which had stood by people’s rights and provided an alternative politics to the people of this country. She said the defence of the democratic rights of the people of West Bengal was necessary for strengthening all democratic forces in general and the women’s movement in particular.
AIDWA president Subhashini Ali said the objective of the convention was to highlight the manner in which all democratic norms were ‘being violated’ and an ‘atmosphere of terror’ was being created by ‘these reactionary forces.’ It was to counteract the ‘vicious campaign’ and ‘deliberate distortion’ of facts by a large section of the media and a section of the intellectuals and human rights activists.
The booklet recounts the experiences of the victims of violence, particularly women and children, and suggests that the ‘absolute control’ that the Trinamool Congress-Maoist combine wants to establish, in defiance of the rights of the common citizens, was indicative of their character. “The challenge before the nation and society today is to understand the truth behind what is going on in West Bengal, and to raise their voices in defence of democratic rights and the rule of law. The government in West Bengal and every level of local self governance is legally and democratically constituted to provide articulation and space for every shade of opinion and every section of the people. This cynical disruption of all these institutions and mechanisms in the name of change would only signal the return of the semi-fascist state of the early 70s or worse,” the booklet warns.
