SUMANTA BANERJEE

conceivable earthly Ithing, the conti-nous chatter of women and children,punctured with the feeble cries of thedying babies clinging to their mo-thers' breasts-all these and manyother things, the byproducts of suchan existence, make the whole place ahell.

Do-NothingTo live hoping l8,gainsthope is one

thing but to live sine die with hopeslikely to be fulfilled but nob<ip.yknows when and in the meantime tolanguish in utter confusion and miseryis quite different. The viciousnessof a do-nothing life has torn theirspiritu'al life asundjer. Their droop-ing morale is a result of the growingrealisation that the prospects of goingback to their OWn country and ofgetting back what they have left be-hind are very bleak, despite the pro-paganda to the contrary. Unwantedthere ,and undesirable here, these peo-ple belong to nowhere. To be la-bouring under such a sense of vacuumis awful. So the resultant frustra-tions. Meanwhile, the sense of one-ness, once so magnificently displayedby the people on this side, has mar-kedly subsided and the ugly realities,so long concealed under the influenceof an emotional upheaval, have cometo the surface. Human nature wouldnot be what it is if ,such a revers,aI offeeling had not taken place. Veryfew nowadays display the warmth offeeling they had shown earlier; onthe contrary, a positive disgust andindifference seem to be the orderof the day.

This comes from the growingawareness that,' the fresh burden ofevacuees will cripple the prospects ofeconomic revival in which everyonehas a stake, and that in the long runthis will set ablaze the whole Statealready reeling under 18,host of diffi-cult socio-economic problems. Leav-ing aside the indigenous population,even the refugees Of the sixties andearly seventies I2T~ not fa"9ourablydisposed. towards the new arrivals.Though they belonged to the samecountry only a few years ego, theynow seem to be living in a different

NOVEMBER 20, 1971

pole and talking from an elevatedposition. The eadier Pakistanis-nowevery inch Indian-do not like the landof their adoption to be encroachedupon by the evacuees. Free rationsand other daily necessities suppliedby the government to the refugeesare not gracefully accepted by thelocal people j hard-hit by rising pricesand acute unemployment, they feel-deprived. ibis resentment is neitherunjustified nor unexpedted. Freeride in trains and other public trans-port, making a mess of the wholesystem already on the verge of totalcollapse, the insanitary habits, thehu-ddling tog~ther at railway stationsand public places making them almostunusable and, last but not the least,the free-lance wading in small thingsby the evacuees creating in the processa cut-throat co!llpetition between

CPI(ML) At

THE fears of the friendly criticsof the CPI (ML) movement of

West Bengal have come true. Forthe time being at least, it has suffer-ed a severe setback. .

When sympathizers of the partyexpressed their misgivings about thewisdom of ,actions like indiscriminateindividua,l annihilations, recruitment ofthe lumpen-proletariat, destruction ofstatues of national leaders' and ablind worship of the Chinese Party,they were promptly denounced as"class enemies." Often such ques-tions were voiced. within the partyalso, ,and those who dared to askthem were hounded out. Finally,matters came to a head with a sharpdivision within the party betweenMr Charu Mazum-dar and Mr AshimChatterjee, on these very issues. Asconfusion gripped the young ranks,the enemy struck. Infiltrators hadalready found their way into influen-tial positions in different localities.Hideouts were spotted out one byone. Party functionaries were eitherjailed or killed. Ashim Chatterjee,

On the other hand,. the evacUeQa:appear to be convinced that theyhave '81right to the hospitality notonly of the government but also ofthe people as well, because they are:here at the invitation of the govern-ment. Nobody knows who in"itedthem, when and how. The picturethat emerges out of the juxtapositioof suffering and politics, SO carefully:,camouflaged by high-sounding moralland ethical principles, is so confusiDg"that no one can tell how the.issue will be settled. There are smany ifs that no straightforwanswer is possible.

Cressroads

who eluded the polige all these yeand, was planning to restore the rurbase of the party was arrested.

This brief summary of the receDtdevelopments leading to the .array ()f the CPI(ML) is familiato observers in West Bengal. Sypathizers who have been warning thparty of the possible outcome of ).wrong actions, are not now gloat'over the correctness of their preditions. They rather expect an ana.;!lysis of the mistakes and a suggestionofi the next move to help whatever re;.mains of the movement to ~athe-lmomentum and steer a more scient"course.

But unfortunately, neither of thetwo existing factions in the CPI(ML-the Charu Mazumdar faction athe Ashim Chatterjee faction-in~cate in their documents any integratscientific ,approach to the revolutioary possibilities in West Bengal,though each acknowledges somethe mistakes of the past.

Thus, Ashim Chatterjee's do-cument, issued some monthS

NOVEMBER 20, 1971

that when party warfare replaces po-litioal action, it provides a powerfulreinforcement to Right reaction. Thedissipation of the militancy of bothCPI(M) and CPI(ML) ranks inmutual war£a.fe, thanks to the personaland political rivalries of the leadersof the two parties, has helped nonebut the repressive machinery of theState. In many localities Of Cal-cutta, often disregarding the directivesof the leaders, the ranks of the twoparties, in the face of police andCongress (R) persecu tion, are comingtogether. This process might lead tothe emergence of some form of work-able agreement mainly based onself-defence.

The main advantage of such an,agreement would be the gradualchange in the mood of both the CPI(M) and CPI(ML) ranks. Theformer might realize the futility ofcontinuing parliamentary politics asrcommended by their leaders, whilethe latter might shed their sectarian-ism and think of winning over the mi-litant cadres of other parties to theirprogramme.

But, to lift a pragmatic agreementto the level of ideological unity, theCPI(ML) will have to modify itsprogramme and practice. One of theprimary needs is to assume an inde-pendent character. It should be re-membered that the Chinese party it-self only succeeded when itmanaged to set itself free from theSoviQb4dominat~ Comintern control.Mao Tse-tung had the courage to ig-nore Stalin's advice and set a newcourse fgr the Chinese revolution.An independent Indian communistpasty capable of charting its ownprogramme of action can be the besttribute that the Indian Marxist revo-lutionaries can pay to Mao Tse-tung.

Secondly, the policy of recruitingthe lumpen-proletaria,t to ,do the "dirtywork," should be given up. Speakingof this "social scum;' Marx f9undthem "at their youthful age-thorou-ghly malleable, as capabl~ Of the mostheroic deeds and the most exaltedsacr~fices as of the barest banditry andthe foulest corruption." (Class Strug-gles in France, 1848-50). if the

zumdar takes a sober line on the Ban-gladesh issue, more in tune with thepopuLar anti-colonial mood of theBangladesh freedom fighters.

Although the fear of being brandedanti-Chinese prevents Charu Mazum-dar frolJl supporting the freedom mo-vement, he pOints out the reaction-ary nature Of Yahya Khan and refersto his banning the Coml!!unist Partyin Pakistan and to his dependence onthe landlord class.

Thus, both the documents leavemuch to be desired, although signsof a, sober attitude to some of theissues are W'elcome.

Will the two factions be able to re-concile their respective political lines?The reported expulsion of Cham Ma-zumdar makes it unlikely. But theleaders and the ranks of both thefactions are undergoing a process ofheart-searching, in jails and in theunderground. Lack of coordinationand information has increased theconfusion ,and disintegration.

But among the ranks, those whoare outside and are being hounded bythe police, a realization is growing

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ajo by the Bengal-Bihar-Orissa Bor-der Regional Committe, rea-lizes the mistakes of ignor-mg mass organizations and mass mo-vements, of appealing to the lumpen-

roletariat with the main stress onannihilations ,and admits that theparty had to some extent lost touchwith the peasantry.

While stressing the need for streng-thening the mass base and participa-tion in mass movements along withguerilla actions, within the country,Ashim Chatterjee's document takes ,afOmpletely sectarian and dangerou~line on the Bang~a,desh issue. Itstates that since China suppottsYahya Khan, the' Indian revolutiona·ries also should do the same. Heoes to the extent of putting Yahya

Khan and Norodom Sihanouk ofCambodia in the same group of anti-U.S. imperialists.

Cham Mazumdar's reply to Ashim.Chatterjee's document fails to ans-

er the latter's criticisms about thesectarian condemnation of mass or.-ganizations and opportunistic alliancewith the lumpen-proletariat. But Ma-

Communists fail to politicise them,they may well turn mercenaries inthe service of right reaction, as pos-sibly happened in Calcutta in therecent months.

The CPI(ML) movement, it mustbe admitted, has been forced to re-treat for some time at least. It shouldawait another spel1 of political andeconomic crisis in the country, whichmight not be very far away, to emergein a new form l3lld under a newleadership.

Operation Visva-Bharati

SATCHIDANANDA GUHA

THE President of India is the Vi-sitor of Visva-Bharati and the

Prime Minister its Acharyal• That thePrime Minister-Acharya leads thisinstitution with the help of her secre-tariat is its greatest pride, particular-ly because Rabindranath, the firstAcharya, was not 'fortunate enough tohave such a rich and wise army ofsecretaries to execute his scheme ofeducation and research. That was ofcourse the reason why in his lifetimehe had to build up a sort of collectivemachinery comprising teachers, stu-dents and others in order to take po-licy decisions.

The modern Acharya of Visva Bha-rati enjoys the privilege o'f not havingto hear lower species like the Upa-charya Or the Registrar, not to speakof the lowest species like teachers,students and non-teaching staff. Thevisionary secretaries of the Prime Mi-nister have been doing the job prettywell. Unfortunately RabincLranathdid not live long to see the wisdomof these secretaries or the Acharya.Rabindranath also lacked very serious-ly any knowledge of the role of lawand order in streamlining the educa-tional system in this country. On thecontrary, he was a bit harsh about itsrole in the days of colonial rule. Dur-ing the British regime Rabindranathdid not allow the Latsaheb to enter

NOVEMBER 20,1971

the prodncts of the institution even Bharati. .. There were cases' of arswith a few police acting as bodyguard. stabbing and indiscipline in the uni.•The aheb had even to keep his car versity resulting in heavy damage tooutside the campus. But now those equipment, property, 'fittings and fur-primitive conventions are .<11 matter of niture Of the various buildings and;a deplorable past. . The chariot of the death of ,an office superintendent 01Indir'llJGandhi now drives straight on the university ... Apart from the inc·to the field near the convocation dents of violence, the university alsdpanda,l and the jawans and CRP per- faced serious difficulties in its day-to .•.sonnel <,reate a symphony Of creaking day working on account of the nega-boots and clanging rifles and other tive attitude adopted by certain perinstruments of murder. sons ... After examination of reports of

Simultaneously with this cultural disturbance, the Government then;foreupgrading of Visva-Bharati, we see a came to tbe conclusion that it wkind of technological improvement in necessary to bring about an imm~ate:the art of administration. Rabindra- change in tbe administrative bodies otn~th stayed on the campus. In fact tbe university and that it was neces-his idea of an institution like Visva- sary to provide for nominated univer-Bhamti needed almost his constant sity bodies in place of the electedphysical presence so that he could ones."grasp tbe problems and solve them The authoritative bodies which haveby personal intervention. Now the been subjected to 'immediate change~Acharya intervenes from New Delhi did not have any elected representa-and such intervention does not requirf' lives of teachers, students and others,any personal hearing on her part of except in the case of the Academithe problems. The secretaries are Council where only 7 out of tJIe tothere to understand their nature land I of 47 members were elected by thmeasure their deptb. Why not, in teachers of the university. Two othean age of automation? bodies, namely the Court (Gove~

Nothwithstanding these cultural and ing Body) and the Executive Coutechnological improvements, teachers, -:-responsible for ..rlay-to-day workinnon-teaching workers .and students of the institution---'C!id not have anmake many "unreasonable demands" elected representatives of employlike representation on the cliff- or students,aHhough the Ex-studentserent authoritative bodies, election of Association, commonly known as thprincipals by teachers, improvement Alumni Association, could send iof the salary scales of the lowest cate- elected representatives to the two bOwgories of staff, impersonal observance dies. The Alumni Association by noof the rules of appoint!l1ent, promotion stretch of imagination had any politi-etc. Associations like Adhyapaka cal foHowing of Marxist or NaxaliteSabha and Karmi-SabhllJ bave been variety; in fact it incll!ded many ac-formed. Of course the demands are tive Congress(R)hembers, alongbeing pressed only by some motivated with sentimental Tagoreans and somepersons of 'Marxist' or 'Naxalite, lean- liberals. It never sent ~ny represen-ings. Extremists from outside are tative who could be labelled commu..suspected to be in collusion with nist. The Academic Council consist-campus-residents of a left cha,racter. ing of 40 heads of academic depart-

As a result, the entire problem of ments land 7 elected representativesVisva-Bharati is reduced to one of of ter.hers was basicalfy a policy"law land order. Hence the promulga- making body exclusively and was ne-tion of an ordinance on November 3. ver empowered by the ParliamentaryThe Presidential declaration is prefa- Act XXIX of 1951 to look after theced by the following Press Note from administration of the university. TheRashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi: executive prerogative of administering

"Of late disquieting reports have diay-to-day affairs lay with the Exe-been received about the activities ()f cutive Council ; which among its 15extremists on the campus of Visva- members had only two elected repre-