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MR C. B. Gupta can well congratulate himself that the number of daysgiven to the unwonder that was his Congress Government in Uttar

Pradesh was twice nine. There the credit, such as it is, ends. OnSaturday Mr Charan Singh and about 17 of his supporters walked outon the Congress and its Government fell with a resounding thud. Thesignificance of the defeat of the Gupta Ministry lies in the fact thatUttar Pradesh often pretended to be the heart of Aryavarta; and a blowto the Congress in the heart of Hindiland is a blow to many other things.\,\Thether Hindu revivalism has also received a blow remains to be seen;but the fact that it is now possible (as suggested by an enterprisingreporter) to take a train at Amritsar and come straight down to Howrahwithout ever touching Congress territory surely stands for somethingaffecting the whole Indian polity.

Just what, it is less easy to say. Mr. Gupta's name had been mudfor many years, before and after the Kamaraj Plan of 1963. Hisnotorious deals with the sugar int~ests cannot have been forgotten;his effort to raise Rs 6'5 lakhs on his sixty-fifth birthday did not whollysucceed but the attempt itself remains a piece of unprecedented politicalimpudence, an unpunished affront to the Congress Party. But ncitherbrought Mr Gupta down. Mr Charan Singh did indeed refer to idealsand principles when explaining his desertion of the Congress; he specifiednone. If jubilation over the ouster of Chandrabhanu Gupta must berestrained by the absence of identifiab.le ideological differences, thecountry must still be grateful for the conclusive exposure of the utterrottenness of the Congress Party in the country's largest State, the Prim ..eMinister's home State. Nehru and Shastri would not have believed itpossible.

Yet if there. were not in Delhi a total drought of political prescience,it would have been seen that factionalism in the U.P. Congress wasreaching dangerous proportions. Party before country soon degeneratedinto faction before party, which in its turn became self before all else;and now all three are down. The incredibility of the Lucknowdenouement, paradoxically, matches its inevitability. A party so bitterlydivided could not possibly help coming apart. Neither Hindi nor Hinduobscurantism could put together such divisive forces. To speculate onthe precise present relations between the Prime Minister and the CongressPresident has long been an exercise in futility; there can, however, belittle doubt that between Mrs Gandhi and Mr Kamaraj they utterly failedto put the U.P. Congress house in order which is now a shambles. Ifthe High Command hardly exists, the State Congress parties are nostronger. The late Shyamaprasad Mookerjee once opened a speech thus:"India that is Bharat that is Uttar Pradesh ... " The late Mr K. M.Pannikar, a member of the States Reorganization Commission, recom-mended break-up of the monster that is U.P. The break-up has nowcome in unexpected ways. •

If no tears need be .~hed over the downfall of so unscrupulous apolitical operator as Mr C. B. Gupta, it is difficult to see much virtuein the manner in which the Ch~ran Singh group ir"\ft their party. If.it is

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On Other Pages

THE PRESSCALCUTTA CLASHES 16

D1fK: AN ALTERNATIVEFOCUS?

M.R. 9

CALCUTTA DIARYJ. MOHAN 10

'J HE OIL BUSINESSSHANTI SEKHAR BOSE 13

PARLIAMENTO-HOUR DITHERS

RUBBER-NECK 8

BOOK REVIEWTHE ROLE OF THEPEASANT

PHILIP G. ALTBACH .. 19

MURDER MOST FOULBy A DRAMA CRITIC .. 20

LETTERS 20

COMMENTS 4

DELHI LETTERTIME FOR A SECONDREPUBLIC

FROM A POLITICALCORRESPONDENT 7

Vol. 3: No. 27:: April 7, 1967

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APRIL 7, I

But let there be no exchange ofcosy congratulations yet, the newfood policy can hardly be judged exante. The quantity ot nce anapaaay the Government is able to pro·cure between now and the end of theseason is the crux of the matter. Thetarget, under the circumstances,must be fixed fairly high; the Food'Corporation, which is to act as agentot the State Government, must aimto purchase at least 4 lakh tons 01rice before the end of May. Sincethe price has been raised by almostone-third, this should not be a diffi·cult target to reach. Given the un·certainties in the attitude of theUnion Government, any lower tar·get will not be a safe enough target.

If we still feei like raising a caveat,it is on account of Dr P. C. Ghosh'sinsistence on the total abolition ofthe producer levy. Those who havemore must surrender their surplusfor the sake of the community, andit makes little sense to argue thaifarmers who have more than 10 acrof cultivable land would be irked bthe imposition of a levy .. One waulhave thought that the very substatial increase in the procuremenprices was to take care of the 'suscep-tibilities' of! those producers whwould otherwise have cavilled at thlevy. To let them off now withoextracting even a token quid pro quis an altogether harmul exercise ipiety, which the United Front Goernment may yet come to rue.

It is precisely here that one mraise a few other queries in regardthe social content of the new £0policy. The Government has a coml'tiDent to the people to nationalithe wholesale and retail trade in riand paddy. Dr Ghosh's statememaintains an e a uen ile .fl!e.!.ter. Obviously, outside the stattory rationed zones of Calcutta, Asasol, Durgapur and Siliguri, privatrade will be allowed, for the psent, to carryon. The statememaintans a similar Ireticence abothe activities of the rice mills. Noing very concrete oj course canaccomplished overnight, but· evendeclaration of intent would have ban anodyne to some of the misgiviwhich Dr Ghosh's cautious meanings are now giving rise to.

Despite the upward shift in pcurement. prices, the State Govement has decided not to pass onburden to the consumers; the currprices of the grains supplied thro

NOW

made up 1.9 lakh tons. Procurementof rice within the State was of theorder of 5.8 lakh tons. If the Con-gress is up to any monkey tricks,and in case Mr Atulya Ghosh has any

\

illUSions that he could pull off a re-verse Haryana in West Bengal, theCentre might then try to cut downdrastically its supply of grains to theState. Mr Ajoy Mukherjee, Mr Basuand Mr Ghosh, during their recentdiscussions in VN ew Delhi, asked foran assurance from Mrs Gandhi andMr ]agjivan Ram that supplies toWest Bengal for the remaining periodof the year must at least be maintain-ed at last year's level. . What theirresponse was is not very clear fromPress reports.

The Centre must be put on notice:any trickery in this respect will notpass. But meanwhile, if the worstcomes to the worst, the State Govern-ment must arrange to procure asmuch as it can, even if the time hasalmost run out, even if the propo-nents of laissez faire would urge apolicy of sitting back and watchingthe grains go by. It is, however, onlyfair that the producers do not feelthat they are being pre-emptedfrom receiving an equitable price fortheir paddy. The deci~ion of theUnited Front Government to raisethe prices of the different varieties ofpaddy by Rs. 5 per maund across-the-board-and to adjust corresponding--ly the procurement price for rice-Istherefore a convincing illustration ofpragmatism as well as fairness. It isequally welcome that the irritation ofinter-district and intra-district cor-dons will be got rid of. This was acantankerous measure that was intro-duced by Mr P. C. Sen, and its only

\

SOcial contribution was to make smug-glers of honest, poor, hardship-ladenpeople. The policy made no eco-nomic sense either, for the deficitareas, which were not being assuredregulal~ supply from the Govern-ment, had to fend for themselves.\Jfthe supplies from the surplus zonesare to be denied entry, the peoplewould have no alternative to starva-tion) On tne same grounds, it is en-tirely right that the cordon aroundCalcutta-where statutory rationingwill be continued-should be vigo-rously enforced, otherwise the high-inc<illle pockets in the city wouldsuck in rice which could otherwisemeet· the needs of the small townsand other deficit zones in the mofus-sils .

4

true, as La Rochefoucauld suggested,that no woman is unfaithful onlyonce, this may. be truer of politicians.Uneasy coalitions now prevail inmany States. Uttar Pradesh may beanother, for the unity displayed inbringing the Congress down may notlast. The many Independents maywell prove an expensive nuisance toMr Charan Singh; many of thistribe are opportunists and no more.The non-Congress parties are short-sighted in tinkering with politicalloyalties. The Congress Party caneasily claim that the party as suchstill enjoys the confidence of thepeople of Uttar Pradesh, that the de-serting Congressmen have been un-true to their electors. Whatever elseMr Gupta's fall may signify, it can-not be seen as a verdict of the people.

From now on, it is a countdownfor the Congress throughout the coun-try; Uttar Pradesh has only impart-ed the process of the disintegrationof the Congress Party a tremendousacceleration. With Madras lost tothe DMK, Kerala to the CPI (M) andits associates and at least seven otherStates to an assortment of non-Con-gress parties, the Congress today isvery much a hollow trunk. Theleaves that still rule in Delhi are notof the country's living. tree.. In seve-ral States the non-Congress groupshave displayed admirable ingenuityand cohesion in forming viable gov-ernments. It is not, true, however,that the country does not need asubstitute for the Congress; it is lesstrue that the country has found onesuch. If we may change the meta-phor, in recent years the ship of theCongress has been full of rats whoare always the first to leave a sinkingship. The ship is visibly sinking;the movement of the rats can be seentoo. What of the ship that is India?Bovril used to be advertised as thecure for "that sinking feeling". Forthe people of this country, criminallymisruled for two decades, no politi-cal Bovril seems yet in sight.

New Food PolicyThe food policy announced by the

State Government is a beginning;but only a beginning. The Centre'sintentions cannot quite be unravelledat this stage. Last year, spilling overin bounty for Mr P. C. Sen, the UnionGovernment had released from itsstocks almost 16 lakh tQ,.ns of food-

. grains, for West Bengal, < which rice

the rations will be maintained. Itwould have been most piquant to de-cideotherwise, for an overwhelminglylarge section of the consumers in therationed areas are near the level ofsubsistence, and could hardly beurged to as ume fresh burdens. Butthe budgetary arithmetic has still tobe matched. Per kilogramme of ricethat, from now on, may be procuredand distributed through the rations,the Government's loss will be 20paise on the average. If total pro-

\

curement reaches 4 lakh tons, thedeficit incurred by the Governmentwould be of the order of Rs. 8 crores.There is no question that, MrMorar-ji Desai or no, this deficit has to bemet in entirety by the Congress Gov-ernment at the Centre. If Mr P. C.Sen had played hookey, somebodyhas to pay for that, and let the Centrebe told that, for a change, it wouldnot be the people of West Bengal.

Besides, even if 4 lakh tons of ricecould in fact be procured, this Statewould still not be out of the wood.Pressure will therefore have to bekept up on the Union Governmentso that the latter does not wriggle outof its moral commitment to send toWest Bengal at least 25,000 tons ofrice every month between now andDecember. There must be no scopefor equivocation here. In case theCentre fails in its commitments itwould be perfectly in order for' MrAjo} Mukherjee and Mr Jyoti Basuto demand the abolition of the single-Statezonal arrangement at this week'smeeting of the Chief Ministers in'ew Delhi. If the Union Govern-

ment would not fulfil its minimumobli?;ations, let the 'inter-State cor-donsbe then off : West Bengal wouldthen have eno.up;h rice flowing infrom Orissa and Andhra.

Baghmari And AfterOn Wednesday March 29 some

people in Calcutta remembered twodates, one of hope, the_other of blackde pair-July 29 and August 16, 1946.That on the former all the commu-nitie~ had taken par"! in a general,massive hartal was hailed cby theleftists as a unique sign of commu-nal solidarity. Little did they realisethat this demonstration itself wouldmake all the reactionary elementsRan?;up and strike that murderousblowon August 16, when communalsolidarity turned out to be a flash inthe pan, after which fire took. ove·r.

What happened in Calcutta barely40 days after the people had votedthe Congress out of power cameas a shock. Of course there could beno comparison between August 16,1946 and March 29 this year in.mag-nitude, human suffering and the con-sequences for the country. But thelesson remains that the hand of re-action is very active, that it is receiv-ing all support from people who areout to unseat the present Governmentby all means. And they will get moredesperate. The flare-up, at a timewhen the post-election euphoria isstill strong, also showed what a mad-ness organised religion is, what partit can play in breaking the solidarityof the breadwinner. Alas, no leftistparty has yet tried to attack the basicsuperstitions of the masses.

The trouble started over passageto a temple within the compound ofa gurdwara in a locality which is in-fested with rough guys who hadthe patronage of a particular partynow licking its wounds. They had thesympathy and connivance of some ofthe local people in the clash with theSikhs, leading to the desecration ofthe Granth Sahib. All sorts ofrumours are current about who werebehind it all, including one statedin the Punjab Assembly; let us leaveit to the judicial enquiry to sortthese out.

Something went wrong with thehard-working Sikh people. Some ofthem-and they are in contact withinfluential members of the last Gov-ernment-are worvied about per-mib, ohtained on payment of fatsums to the Congress on election-eve,for running private buses in Calcutta.They do not know whether the per-mits would be renewed. There havebeen incidents between passengersand Sikh-driven buses in Calcuttaand the suburbs. There have been-and are-deaths on the road. As forthe public, retrenchment and lay-offfor many have created a situationwhich breeds r'esentment against thepresence of non-Bengalis in suchlarge numbers in this city. Economicdistress, in the absence of politicaleducation on a scale that matters,leads to provincialism and commu-nalism. All this, exploited by cons-pirators, led to the March 29 distur-bances. It is a perversity of our lifethat such things could happen so soonafter a breeze of change had begunto stir in the dirty corridors' of thisci~ .

There is no doubt that a good dealof planning was behind the disturb-ances. Rumour has it that beforethe demonstrators came out, they wereassured of support by representativesof a business community. Most eye-witnesses confirm that the policemade themselves conspicuous by theirnon-involvement at the beginning.But did the processionists go berserkwithout any provocation? This wasthe impression created by the even-ing local news-bulletin. The bul-letin might have aroused theanger of the Bengalis, but theChief Minister's broadcast whichcame immediately after was soterse, . non-partisan and businesslikethat no mischief was done. His in-defatigable colleagues did a splendidjob, going with the volatile proces-

. sionists all the way to Baghmariwhere the Granth Sahib was restored.The trouble is they cannot always dothis. It is time the parties of theUnited Front organised their cadresto fight loca] mischief. The humanpotential is there, ready to respond.This was evident from the way peo-ple went about their business so soonafter' the disturbances and from themass maidan rally. By the way, can'tan opportunity be given at such ral-lies to those who want to air theirgrievances? The leaders should notdo all the talking.

Education And PoliticsThe Triguna Sen committee has

mercifully spared us the homily thateducation should remain uncontami-nated by politics. Its suggestion thatpolitical parties should not be allow-ed to interfere with the internalaffairs of universities and colleges isunexceptionable in principle, butcertain realities might be ignored inits application. There may be, asindeed there have often been, situa-tions in which neither the authoritiesof a particular institution nor theGovernment departments concernedseem interested in improving theseaffairs, let alone producing any evi-dence of being able to do so. Heavenknows, most of our educational insti·tutions are in a hopeless mess. In-~ifference, lethargy and incompetenceseem nearly universal; intrigue andcorruption among those who runthese institutions are not very diffi-cult to detect either. In many casesthe resist~nce of vested interests standsfirmly i~ ~h'e way of internal reform;

official action has hitherto been eitherabsent or halting because of extra-academic reasons or ineffective be-cause of timidity and gross misma-nagement. In such situations, a po-litical party may reasonably considerit its duty to demand corrective mea-sures, even to take an active interestin reform and improvement.

It is also to be noted that fears aboutpolitical interference with education-al affairs have been loudly, and vervpiously, expressed only when leftistparties have taken any interest in theproblems -of students and teacher,s.The Congress party's constant med-dling with both administrative andacademic affairs in schools, collegesand universities has hitherto provok-ed little criticism; under the Con-gress monopol of power the party'saims and progammes came to beequated with the national interest asa whole. Even legitimate dissent hasbeen condemned as a form of indisci-pline; expression of leftist views orthe association of students and teach-ers with progressive movements hasattracted the charge of subversion.What is worse is that in a numberof institutions the ruling reaction-aries have not only promoted theirown interests but also permitted andencouraged the operation of insidiousforeign forces. American intrusionsinto India's educational system dur-ing the past few years have been oneof the most sinister developments inthe country's cultural life; how sinis-ter can be seen fI10m the recent dis-closures about the CIA's associa-tion with various educational pro-grammes. Yet none of this has beenopposed by the Governmerit or edu-cational administrators as improperpolitical intervention.

We support the general contentionthat political parties should not in-terfere with the internal affairs 01academic bodies, but the principle canbecome valid when educational insti-tutions are properly manaO"ed andfreed from the influence of ~ll kindsof vested interest. Besides, the prin-ciple should not be used to insulatestudents and teachers from the socio-political current around them. It ismeaningless to say that educationshould have nothing to do with pre-vailing political developments; theseparation would be artificial, incom-plete and undesirable. Students' andteachers cannot afford to ignore thesociety, and its problems, ,in whichthey Iiv\::. They can lJetbm~ .resp'dnsi-

6

NOW

hIe members of this society only ifthey know it closely and are allowedto participate freely in its working.This need not be at the expense oftheir immediate academic tasks.

Politics In Aden"The Americans in Vietnam are

showing us the way," said Spectatoron- February 10, commenting on thelast Defence White Paper. Thesheikhs of the South Arabian Federa-t~on, had they heard this, would havebeen heart-broken. But, sheikhs asthey were, busy roaming in slavemarkets, they did not check on whatthe British were learn,ing from theAmericans and they em barrassedGeorge Thomson, British Minister ofState for Foreign Affairs, when hewent to their capital, Al Ittihad, withall sorts of demands. They want acomprehensive defence treaty withBritain before the British troops arewithdrawn from the crown colonyand the Protectorate; they want theBritish to negotiate the withdrawalof UAR troops from Yemen becausethe terrorists, alias nationalists, ofAden are taking their cue from thatimpossible man Nasser; they do notwant any pre-independence election,UN mission or no UN mission, lestthe nationalists should return themajority; they want Britain to main-tain troops in Aden, after indepen-dence, for peace-keeping.

Not that Britain is unwilling.Duncan Sandys, who in 1963 foistedthe sheikhs on the Federation, a queerconcoction by any standard, wailsthat Britain is leaving too soon.("Too soon, too soon", Churchill alsocried when the date of June 1, 1948was first mentioned in the House ofCommons for quitting India). Hewants to bash the nationalists; hewants to help the sheikhs reorganisethe federal army; he wants to stayon. But the problem of Geoq?;eBrown is, how to be subtle and doit. Here comes Spectator. Main-taining a miliitary base on foreignsoil costs hell of a lot-£28 millionin Arabia; it is politically provoca-tive; it involves vilification in theUN corridors; and what is more, theAmericans don't do it. The Ameri-cans in Vietnam have taught the Bri-tish 210W to create an instant base.They have "to find or make an air-field near some sheltered water in apolitically sterile area-preferably on

an island, to which can be flown andsailed the appropriate logistics tosupport larger forces." Today's useof Aden is two-dimensional and out·dated: the trappings of a base-de·pots, local labour, families with theirschools and hospitals, an air of heavypermanance-do not go with moderntimes. The Americans would haveleft Aden and the Protectorate andmade a competent use of Bahrein,which would make Aden wholly un·necessary, militarily speaking.

That is why George Brown andhis Foreign Office want to get out 01Aden and South Arabia and get oulfast. The nationalists are becominghot. They are barbarians, didn'tthey attempt to kill a British womanthe other day? George Brown hasshed the British fascination with Lawrenee of Arabia and advanced thedate of independence to November67. Everything' was okay if the na·tionalists obliged, if they forgave andforgot that they were hounded outof their country by the sheikhs, if thejoined hands with the sheikhs tmake a new constitution and livehappily ever after. The Foreign Officensured that the sale of British arwas not endangered in Saudi Arabiand liberated Arabia.

To persuade the Adeni nationalisto form a loose federation with thsheikhs of the South Arabian Fedration, to find out the strengththe nationalists and to manoeuvrepre-independence election, a thrnation UN mission will be visitiAden and the Protectorate this weeThe British want all this facadedemocracy; being the father of pliamentary government, it is the'holy duty to pass the clap-trap onSouth Arabia. They can now watheir hands of Aden, because Barein is ready; after that they wiwrite a book on anti-colonialisThe nationalists, it is a pity, are nidiots; they do not accept the gofaith of Britain over the missiondidn't Britain refuse to accept Iproposal that any of the three of tmission should come from a counlthat has been critical of Britishlicy in Aden? As Abdullah al Asnathe exiled leader, and ChairmanFlosy (Front for the LiberationOccupied South Yemen) said,British wound not leave unless Ihwere physically eliminated, andtruck with the sheikhs.

APRIL 7, 1

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The problem of non-eo-operationof the intelligence agencies of theState Government with the agenciesof the Centre (vide Delhi Letter,NoW') March 24) has been solved byNew Delhi by deciding to expand the,

I

••

alignments within the Congress Par-liamentary Party. The intra-partycrisis might be forced by a nationalissue or a national crisis or by fac-tional factors.

A rightist compact in power atthe Centre should necessarily sharpenthe conflict with the States withleftist Governments and the Constitu-tion would come under new strains.The last of the constitutions the Bri-tish gave the ex-colonials has survivedfrom one banal situation to anotherbut the stage has arrived for a se-cond Republic and a Constitutionwhich would define State-Central re-lations and give democracy itscontent.

Svetlana DebateThe debate on the Svetlana affair

in the Lok Sabha found the RightCommunists fretting and fuming andtheir stand in the House which ineffect was one of studied passivitystemmed from certain awkward com-pulsions. To them, it could not havebeen anything more than the issueof the CIA whisking Svetlana offfrom India and their anxiety was toexonerate the Government of Indi~of any charge of complicity. Which,surprisingly does not conform to Mos-cow's own stance, if this report iscorrect: 'The Ambassador, Mr KewalSingh, tried hard to get an appoint-ment with Mr Kosygin to do a bit ofexplaining but {ailed. The nextbest he could do was to meet MrGromyko, with great difficulty again,only to find that the Soviet Govern-ment resented India's role in theepisode and a lot of the plain-speak-ing was meant to be conveyed to MrsGandhi. Whereupon, she wrote along letter to Mr Kosygin. The up-shot of the episode would be a {reeze-back in Indo-Soviet relations and MrKosygin's long-postponed visit to In-dia, scheduled for April-May may beput off indefinitely. And if Mr Kosy-gin visits Pakistan in the near futuredropping India out of his itinerary,the caricature of our non-alignment,which is in effect dual satellitism ofthe United States and the USSR,would be completed by the Svetlanaepisode.

The immediate possibility is thatthe Congress would lose Andhra Pra-desh, M ysore and Assam whileMadhya Pradesh, Gujar'at and Maha-rashtra might last for the Congressfor some time to come. .

Either non-Congress governmentswill come into being in some of theStates Congress would lose in theimmediate future or there would belong spells of President's Rule. Thisis a distortion built into our Consti-tution.

But this should be the time for theLeft to demand a second Republicwith a new Constitution. The Cons-titution, drafted by a ConstituentAssembly riot elected on the basis ofadult franchise, has lost its relevance.A qualitative change is coming overIndian democracy and a unitary Con-stitution of the kind we now haveis obsolete and vicious. The Su-preme Court judgment on funda-mental rights, in the opinion ofmany, impinges on the sovereigntyof Parliament. But instead of wail-ing over the judgment, the parties ofthe Left should demand a new Cons-titution to restore the supremacy ofParliament.

How Long?Speaking of the short-term pros-

pect, how long would the CentralGovernment in its present form last?It is sure to collapse in 15 months. aspredicted by Mr C. Raj agopalach ari.But would that necessarily lead tofresh elections to Parliament? It isguite likely that defections from theCongress in the States would lead tofloor-crossing in the Lok Sabha too.But the Swatantra Party and the JanSangh would do everything to keepthe pre.sent Government in office atthe Centre. Dependence on thesemarginal pressure groups would benecessary for Mrs Gandhi's survivalas Prime Minister. But a challengeto her position could grow from with-in. A revolt in the Congress Parlia-mentary Party could force her resig-nation without the need for any cen-sure or defeat in the Lok Sabha.

Her overthrow need not lead todissolution of the Lok Sabha becausea National Government, which is aeuphemism for a rightist compact,would take the place of the single-party Government at the Cent.e.

More important than the changein Congress strength in the LokSabha due to defections in the Stateswould be the change in the factional

FROM A POLITICALCORRESPONDENT

Time For A SecondRepublic

11 DIAN poverty extends to politi-cal thinking and leadership. The

Communist leadership in the coun-try is over 40 years old but the In-dian left is still an amorphous, un-certain quantity, unprepa'red exceptperhaps in three States, to replacethe disintegrating Congress .

Political scientists from abroad,trafficking in public credulity, havealmost sold us the theory that the dis-integration of the Congress wouldmean the collapse of Indian unityand the death of democracy. Thisfits into the matrix of the "leftfa hionist" thinking in New Delhinow. The theory of single-party do-minance of the Congress with all theothers constituting "marginal pres-sure" groups loses its validity withthe emergence of the Communistsand the SSP as the principal forcesof the Left. Outside these two,every non-Congress party of anyconsequence is a marginal pressure!(roup wh05e strength outside theCongrn depends on the strengt.h ofits lobby inside.

But. with the overthrow of theC. B. Gupta Ministry in Uttar Pra-desh, more than half the country'spopulation has been "liberated"from the Congress and the disinte-gration of the Congress would notwait for an unready Left. At thesame time, with nine of the StatesIo;t to it, a Congress Government atthe Centre becomes an anachronism.

The Constitution becomes an ana-chronism too because it was essen-tiall)' contrived for a situation involv-ing one-party dominance or at best,a clas ical two-party British model:

o single party can replace the Con-gr in all the States and a multi-party polity is emerging now. .A:long-ide. the chances of a rightist com-

f>act,of the Congress, Swatantra andthe .TanSangh is also a distinct possi-bility at the Centre but this compactcannot extend to all the States. Inany case, Congress dominance can-not be replaced by the dominance ofthe rightist compact.

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en) said, theave unless they

ated, and ns.

Morarji Desai over the alleged ex·ploits of Peace Corps volunteers pro-vided a touch of colour to question·hour that day. Mr P. K. VasudevanNair was intrigued by the mysteriousactivities of "a pretty girl", aged 25,by name Miss Joyce Russel, but MrMorarji Desai did not know anythingof the "pretty girl".

But the best was yet to be, whenDr Lohia went lyrical and wound uphis sentimental speech quoting acouplet by an Urdu poet wholonged for six feet of land in herlover's alley, over the Svetlana affair.The diminutive Doctor· reminisced ofhis meetings with Svetlana and Bri-jesh Singh and recalled the days dHitler. I:Ie interpreted Svetlana'sletter to a friend in his own dialec-tical way (after all he is the onlymember in the Home who has readMarx in original German before hewas distorted by his translators) butthe learned former Chief Justice ofthe Bombay High Court had a dif·ferent interpretation. Words couldmean so many different things, aspoor little Alice found.

In the end, the Svetlana mysterygot curiouser and curiouser and DrLohia could have saved Mr M. C.Chagla all the embarrassment if hehad only offered her shelter as hewanted to.

The chill blasts of the languagecold war lashed the House when theChair least expected it. Mr Chapala.kanta Bhattacharya was holding thefort until Mr Khadilkar relieved himuntil he was in turn relieved by theSpeaker himself. The SSP memberfrom Mysore succeeded in speakingin Kannada and one did not quiteknow whose defeat it was--o£the English enthusiasts or theHindi protagonists. And it dawnedon us for once that we are a multi·lingual country and the Press Gallerystalwarts had to pretend that the)knew all the 14 languages hereafter.The DMK member from Madra.swayed on his feet, almost 180 degrees from where he stood as mostmembers did not understand a wordof his speech, a cluster of ornatTam~l phrases on the food situation

But more telling than the speechin Kannada and Tamil was Mr NSreekantan Nair's lone voice of secession. If the Centre treated the peO' ~pIe of Kerala as third-class citizenthey would have to think of theiown sovereignty, the oracle of thRSP declaimed to the stunned Can·

cadives were the only non-Congressmembers. The fifth "division" wasempty and so was the sixth until MrKhadilkar moved in. The PrimeMinister who would not say a wordwhen Mr Masani wanted to know ifshe still stood by her assurance, madea statement which was contradictedby Mr Masani in her presence thenext day. The Congres!, majority inthe House is as thin as the sprinklingin the fourth "division" but theparty's prestige took a nose-dive as theOpposition exodus began that day.

The food debate and the one onthe President's address were listlessbut excitement there was in plenty.The Left Communists stole the showmuch to the discomfiture of the RightCommunists and the SSP. The SSPmade up for it by staging the noisyrow over the MP's right to speak hismother-tongue but the Right Com-munists, plagued by ideologicalspasms, had little to write homeabout. .

Mr A. K. Gopalan could have saida lot more on Lt. Gen. Kaul's book.But the schoolmaster that he oncewas, he wanted to be down-to-earthand his speech never got off theground. "Sir, this is 'The UntoldStory' by Lt. Gen. B. M. Kaul," h~began, holding a copy of the bookto the gaze of those in front of himand annotated every passage hequoted, like a pedagogue. Mr Swa-ran Singh, the Defence Minister, didstill worse. The Government wouldnot take a long time to examine thebook but the House should remem-ber that the passages in the bookwere long, he said, piqued by a Con-gress member's remark that the Min-ister had taken 15 to 20 minutes with-out meeting any of the points rais-ed. The Defence Minister was verymuch on the defensive and quibbledand quibbled, the criminal lawyerfrom ]ullunder that he once was.The Opposition was up against astone wall and was licked.

Mr Gopalan's moment of triumphcame but not over Gen. Kaurs book.A glum-looking V. C. Shukla wasforced to read the unread sentencein his statement and he must havehad the clammy feeling of having toswallow something from the deep-freeze when he qid express regretfor all those allegations of graftagain'bt Mr Gopalan.

"Pretty Girl"The merciless interrogation of Mr

operations of the Central Bureau ofInvestigation. The security checkon candidates or Central Govern-ment jobs would now be made bythe CBl's machinery and not theState intelligence agencies. In fact,Kerala has ended the obnoxious prac-tice of police verification for StateGovernment jobs. In the past, theCentre used to depend on the Stateintelligence services for screening can-didates for junior positions while forsenior jobs, the Centre used to con-duct its own "parallel" investigationin addition. It wouldn't be surpris-ing if the CBI is streamlined by acouple of FBI experts to meet the.new needs I Co-operation betweenthe State and Central intelligenceagencies was identified as one of the'possible "irritants" in Centre-Staterelations but it would remain anirritant still, even after the latestdecision to expand the CBr machi-nery. Alongside the swearing-in ofthe Ajoy Mukherji Ministry in WestBengal, the CBl's Calcutta head-quarters was upgraded with no plau-sible explanation of the need for it.But now it can be told.

April 2, 1967

A many-spintered quantity though,the beefed-up Opposition cer-

tainly did not expect to be taken fora ride by Mrs Indira Nehru Gandhi(as Mr George Fernandes insists oncalling her) over the Deputy Speaker-ship. And what happened wouldcertainly not make for cordial rela-tionship between the Opposition andthe ruling party, platitudes notwith-standing. As Mr R. K. Khadilkartook his new seat (Mr Frank An-thony looked on helpless and therewas not one from the Opposition tolead him to his seat), the row afterrow of empty seats behind him pro-vided a sad commentary on Mrs In-dira Gandhi's leadership acumen.The three "divisions" on the Con-gress side were full and there was asmall spill-over to the fourth, mostof which was empty. Mr Frank An-thony, Mr A. E. T. Barrow (both ofthem nominated members) . and MrMohomed Sayeed from far-away Lac-

RUBBER-NECK

O-Hour Dithers

Parliament

operations of the Central Bureau ofInvestigation. The security checkon candidates or Central Govern-ment jobs would now be made bythe CBl's machinery and not theState intelligence agencies. In fact,Kerala has ended the obnoxious prac-tice of police verification for StateGovernment jobs. In the past, theCentre used to depend on the Stateintelligence services for screening can-didates for junior positions while forsenior jobs, the Centre used to con-duct its own "parallel" investigationin addition. It wouldn't be surpris-ing if the CBI is streamlined by acouple of FBI experts to meet thenew needs I Co-operation betweenthe State and Central intelligenceagencies was identified as one of the'possible "irritants" in Centre-Staterelations but it would remain anirritant still, even after the latestdecision to expand the CBl machi-nery. Alongside the swearing-in ofthe Ajoy Mukherji Ministry in WestBengal, the CBl's Calcutta head-quarters was upgraded with no plau-sible explanation of the need for it.But now it can be told.

April 2, 1967

Parliament

O-Hour DithersRUBBER-NECK

A many-spintered quantity though,the beefed-up Opposition cer-

tainly did not expect to be taken fora ride by Mrs Indira Nehru Gandhi(as Mr George Fernandes insists oncalling her) over the Deputy Speaker-ship. And what happened wouldcertainly not make for cordial rela-tionship between the Opposition andthe ruling party, platitudes notwith-standing. As Mr R. K. Khadilkartook his new seat (Mr Frank An-thony looked on helpless and therewas not one [rom the Opposition tolead him to his seat), the row afterrow of empty seats behind him pro-vided a sad commentary on Mrs In-dira Gandhi's leadership acumen.The three "divisions" on the Con-gress side were fulI and there was asmall spill-over to the fourth, mostof which was empty. Mr Frank An-thony, Mr A. E. T. Barrow (both ofthem nominated members) . and MrMohomed Sayeed from far-away Lac-

cadives were the only non-Congressmembers. The fifth "division" wasempty and so was the sixth until MrKhadilkar moved in. The PrimeMinister who would not say a wordwhen Mr Masani wanted to know ifshe still stood by her assurance, madea statement which was contradictedby Mr Masani in her presence thenext day. The Congres.s majority inthe House is as thin as the sprinklingin the fourth "division" but theparty's prestige took a nose-dive as theOpposition exodus began that day:

The food debate and the one onthe President's address were listlessbut excitement there was in plenty.The Left Communists stole the showmuch to the discomfiture of the RightCommunists and the SSP. The SSPmade up for it by staging the noisyrow over the MP's right to speak hismother-tongue but the Right Com-munists, plagued by ideologicalspasms, had little to write homeabout. .

Mr A. K. Gopalan could have saida lot more on Lt. Gen. Kaul's book.But the schoolmaster that he oncewas, he wanted to be down-to-earthand his speech never got off theground. "Sir, this is 'The UntoldStory' by Lt. Gen. B. M. Kaul," Mbegan, holding a copy of the bookto the gaze of those in front of himand annotated every passage hequoted, like a pedagogue. Mr Swa-ran Singh, the Defence Minister, didstill worse. The Government wouldnot take a long time to examine thebook but the House should remem-ber that the passages in the bookwere long, he said, piqued by a Con-gress member's remark that the Min-ister had taken 15 to 20 minutes with-out meeting any of the points rais-ed. The Defence Minister was verymuch on the defensive and quibbledand quibbled, the criminal lawyerfrom Jullunder that he once was.The Opposition was up against astone wall and was licked.

Mr Gopalan's moment of triumphcame but not over Gen. Kaul's book.A glum-looking V. C. Shukla wasforced to read the unread sentencein his statement and he must havehad the clammy feeling of having toswallow something from the deep-freeze when he qid express regretfor alI those allegations of graftagain~t Mr Gopalan.

"Pretty Girl"The merciless interrogation of Mr

Morarji Desai over the alleged exploits of Peace Corps volunteers pro-vided a touch of colour to question.hour that day. Mr P. K. VasudevanN air was intrigued by the mysteriouactivities of "a pretty girl", aged 25,by name Miss Joyce Russel, but MrMorarji Desai did not know anythingof the "pretty girl".

But the best was yet to be, whenDr Lohia went lyrical and wound uphis sentimental speech quoting acouplet by an Urdu poet wholonged for six feet of land in herlover's alley, over the Svetlana affair,The diminutive Doctor reminisced ofhis meetings with Svetlana and Bri·jesh Singh and recalled the days ofHitler. !:Ie interpreted Svetlana'letter to a friend in his own dialec·tical way (after all he is the onlymember in the Home who has readMarx in original German before hewas distorted by his translators) bulthe learned former Chief Justice ofthe Bombay High Court had a dif·ferent interpretation. Words couldmean so many different things, aspoor little Alice found.

In the end, the Svetlana mysterygot curiouser and curiouser and DrLohia could have saved Mr M. C.Chagla alI the embarrassment if hehad only offefled her shelter as hewanted to.

The chill blasts of the languagecold war lashed the House when theChair least expected it. Mr Chapala-kanta Bhattacharya was holding thefort until Mr Khadilkar relieved himuntil he was in turn relieved by theSpeaker himself. The SSP memberfrom Mysore succeeded in speakingin Kannada and one did not quiteknow whose defeat it wa (the English enthusiasts or theHindi protagonists. And it dawnedon us for once that we are a multi·lingual country and the Press Galler,stalwarts had to pretend that the)knew all the 14 languages hereafter.The DMK member [flam Madraswayed on his feet, almost 180 degrees from where he stood as mo tmembers did not understand a wordof his speech, a cluster of ornatTam~l phrases on the food situation

But more telling than the speecheJin Kannada and Tamil was Mr .Sreekantan Nair's lone voice of seces-sion. If the Centre treated the peo-ple of Kerala as third-class citizenthey would have to think of theirown sovereignty, the oracle of theRSP declaimed to the stunned Con

gressSinha,

Tail', <telI Min thenot m"impelAnd ]\Imarks,

It w;Sinhauch VI

she triand s,leave twhile.

In Isame I

now cland agbut fo!no forl\.fr !,certainmaiderofficialthe L

Dow

L

IN twi

integrabeen vThe Cclose t<quite.Lenin'!nation,Stalin'~serious'" ecessidershiFnation<Hindiundivi<dependWest Iportionmitteeterlandthe tWI

on theay, fifl

vided Fwouldpolicy'tunism.

9

cation, rural electrification and in-dustrialisation had been phenome-nal. But the massive breakthroughof the DMK at the 1962 polls wasproof that the good record of theCongress in a State could be cancel-led out by Central policies. The 1967elections underlined this clearly. Itwas partly a vote against the Centre,the sum Wtal of Central policieswhich amounted to domination overthe South.

The revolt in Madras representsthe Tamil electorate's search for anidentity, for a destiny outside theinfluence of the all-India parties andan attempt to set up an alternativefocus to New Delhi where its in-terests are involved. At the recentmeeting of the right CPI's centralexecutive, some members in their be-lated wisdom went to the extent ofsaying that the DMK movement wasan expression of Tamil nationalism INo all-India party has understood theSouth and the DMK votary shouldbe forgiven if .he feels that every all-India party is an instrument of theNorth in its vile machinations againstthe South. It is not the Southernbackwardness or the alleged NorthIndian exploitation of the South thathas promoted secessionist tendenciesin the South. There is nothing back-ward about the four Southern Stateswhen compared to Orissa, MadhyaPradesh or the Hindi belt. The re-volt is over the basic attitudes. It isa conflict between the people wholook ahead and base their demandson felt needs, as evident from theCochin shipyard agitation, the Vizagand Salem steel plant agitations, andthe Hindi belt which is battling forcow protection.

The Southerner is quick to see thatthose who are making an issue oflcow protection also want Hindihegemony over the whole countrywhich means the North's cultural he-gemony over the South. It is' anaked equation now-Hindi, Hindu-ism, free enterprise and dependenceon the West. In short, it amounts toa total negation of .the secular andsocialist aspirations of the coastalpeople by the backward midlanders.

Character of DMKWhat is the character of the DMK

as a political party and what is its.future after winning power? Tenyears ago,. the DMK was still a sub-communal anachronism, the splinterof a rabicll'y anti-Brahmin movement.

April 1, 1967

Patel got his .:hance but seemed pre·pared to speak on the food problemand nothing else. He treated theHouse to wholesome advice on theneed for 50-feet wide canals to criss-cross the entire country as the prac-tical solution to food problem, whenhe was reminded through a point oforder that automation was the sub-ject under discussion. The membercould not switch from food to auto-mation. He said he opposed all thepoints made in favour of the resolu-tion by Opposition members andwound up as Mr K. Manoharan inthe chair looked relieved.

And so the week ended, with :l

Press verSllS MPs cricket match toround it off. There were exactly 98people to watch as the match begunbut AIR provided a running com·mentary in Hindi and English.

Tailpiece: Speaker Sanjiva Reddyto Dr Lohia: "Please don't add tothe confusion .... "

When regional requirements andsub-national interests go unrelatedto national aspirations, the preoccu-pation with national integrationlooks bizarre. The DMK enthusiast'sargument is that India was never onenation and that what is claimed tobe India was never ruled by a singlePower at any time in history. Indiamight have been a cultural entitybut was never a political entity. Itis difficult to refute this argument· be-cause it is a fact that a sense of na-tionhQod l?as not developed and thereare several essential distortions inthe situation. We never knew wewere Indians until the British camein to unite us and call us Indians.

The total rejection of the Congressby two of the most intelligent elec-torates in the country-in Madrasand Kerala-is something more thanan anti-Congress vote. In Madras,ironically, the Congress had bee do-ing better than in other States as theparty in power. It had had a rela-tively stable, clean and efficient ad-ministration. The progress in edu-

I1 their obsessive preoccupationwith the mystique of national

integration, every all-India party hasbeen wishing sub-nationalisms away.The Communists in the South cameclose to realising this mistake but notquite. Those among them who wokLenin's formulations on the right ofnationalities to self-determination ortalin's definition of a nationality tooriously were promptly branded as

"sece ionists" by their all-India lea-der hip, which like that of any othernational party was dominated by theHindi orth. The mass base of theundivided Communist Party after In-dependence was in the South and

est Bengal, but look at the dispro-portionate number of Central Com-mittee members from the Hindi hin-

rland and Maharashtra I If whatthe two Communist parties now sayon the language issue had been said,

y. fifteen years earlier by the undi-vided party, the fortunes of the DMK

ould have been different. But thelicy was one of unmitigated oppor-nism.

M. R.

Down South

DMI( : An Alternative Focus?

Tarakeshwariinha, ordered to sit down by MrTair,continued to stand defiantly to

tell Mr Chapalakanta Bhattacharyain the chair that she certainly didnot mind Mr Nair's monopoly of"impertinence and bad manners."And Mr Nair did not mind her re-marks, either.

It was ad to see Mrs TarakeshwariSinha repeatedly shouted down bynch veterans as Mr S. M. Joshi when

she tried to make a point of orderand sadder still when she had toleave the House, though for a shortwhile.

In the Rajya Sabha, it was thearne ebullient Mr Bhupesh Gupta,

now clashing with Mr Morarji Desaiand again with some other Minister,but for Mr Raj Narain there wasno forgetting that mink coat. ButIr Manibai Patel of the Lok Sabha

certainl} takes the cake for hismaiden speech. When the non-official resolution on automation inthe LTC was being debated, Mr

ana mysteryuser and DrMr M. C.

;sment if heelter as he

he languageIse when the!vIr Chapala-holding therelieved himieved by theSSP memberin speaking

~d not quiteit was---of

sts or thed it dawnedare a multi.Press Galleryd that the)es hereafter.

I m Madrasost 180 de-

tood as moststand a word:r of ornate)od situation.

the speechewas Mr 1

voice of seces·ated the peo··c1ass citizens,ink of their

racle of thestunned Con·

.0 be, wheni wound upquoting apoet who

md in her:tlana affair.~minisced ofna and Bri-the days -of. Svetlana'sown dialec-is the onlyo has read

n before helslators) butIf Justice oEt had a diE-

ords could. things, as

alleged ex·nteers pro-

.0 question-Vasudevan

: mvsteriousI", ~ged 25,~el, but Mr)w anything

mucomwasa s1:rumattalandwor!moued Jvane

AJaftelbet~mUD

procsuddmaddrovintoAndwhothedecl,

Itenqlmystquesassocof instepshelpminitery

TlfromStateis tilplaceretic,variadit asentthatareIt is'niqUfwithiof thused.indusandtivewhenthe SSimi1;urrol

has ithe rtoralelecti,gand;;woule

APRI

THE United Front Government cabe credited with having pass

its first major test after assumptiof office with honours. It was onto be expected that the forces ofaction would exploit the first 0PPtunity that presented itself to discdit the new Government. These forare after all engendered out ofvery nature of the present socio·enomic structures existing in the cautry. A progressive Government creaa favourable situation for iCarryion the battle to bring about chanin the structure, it cannot, bymere fact of being there, dissolthose forces.

The task at the moment, onceprocess of restoring harmony betwthe two communities involvedbeen completed, is that of identifyithe forces that were behind the delopments that took place between27th and 29th of March. Up to nvague allegations have been made acharges have been levelled agaivarious elements but the "darkces" remain still very much indark.

On Monday night after Ision in the Baghmari area 0

right of passage to a temple, a ming of representatives of the two

J. MOHAN

Calcutta Diary

with a premium on Tamil chauvin·ism. The 5,25,000 repatriates fromCeylon, who would have to be aiJ..sorbed largely in Madras State overthe next 10 years under the Shastri·Sirimavo agreement, would providethe agitation cannon-fodder and evena Shiva Sena-type storm trooperbrigade.

If the DMK fails over the next fiveyears and does not turn left, the dis·enchantment among its followerswould make them look to the LeftCommunists or turn irredentist as asublimation of its "lost glory" ego.If the Left Communists, still a sparsequantity, work out a realistic linethat would relate the regional de·mands and sub-national aspiratiamto the national objectives, the DMKwould move left under the impact 01the Communist movement whichwould provide an alternative to theDMK.

NOW·

party. Its three weeks in office havenot indicated any pattern but thereare signs that it is breaking awayfrom its new-found ally, the Swatan-tra Party. The electorate's verdictis for a radical alternative to theCongress, which at the same timetakes note of the sub-national aspira-tions of the people. Radicalisationof DMK lpolitics is inevitable andthe party has to evolve into some-thing more than a democratic middle-of-the-road party like the Congress.

Mr Annadurai's stance after takingover office betrayed a certain anxietyto prove that the DMK has maturedinto a parliamentary party with theutmost regard for constitutional pro-priety and decorum. He was all tooanxious to assure the Centre that hewas not for a showdown. But theDMK leadership is likely to comeunder pressure Irom its following onseveral issues. Mr Annadurai's stanceon Hindi changed within a bareten days and he said if they failedwith the Centre, his Ministry wouldquit.

In neighbouring Kerala, the Mus-lim League's politics have been un-dergoing a measure of secularisationunder the impact of a powerful LeftCommunist movement in Malabar.In Madras, the leftist movement is soweak that any radicalisation in theDMK's following should cOme as aresult of the pressure {rom its ownfollowing.

Another PossibilityBut there is another possibility,

which might sound wild at this stage.The Congress in Tamilnad has beencommunal and chauvinistic all alongand Mr Kamarqj has had a role inpromoting these tendencies in a bidto outdo the Dravida Kazhagam andthe DMK. The Congress could notcarry these trends to the ultimatepoint because it was an all-Indiaparty. A section o{ the DMK whichbroke off to form the Tamil NationalParty has now merged with the Con-gress. The Dravida Kazhagam, theparent body of the DMK, which hasvirtually been assimilated by theCongress, now provides the cadrestrength for the Congress. The Con-gress carries in it a large separatistelement. So the separatist threatwOl.\.ld come {rom elements in theTamilnad Congress and not from theDMK.

The Congress under Mr Kamarajmight turn irredentist and separatist,

promoted by the British as part of itspolicy of counterpoise. The problemof minorities was created where therewas none. The birth of the sloganfor an independent Dravida N adcoincided with the Muslim Leagueslogan for Pakistan. The JusticeParty from which the Dravidianmovement grew was the product ofthe British policy of counterpoise.The DMK' communal angularitiessoftened over the years and paradoxi-cally, the Brahmins have been theunfaltering supporters of the partysince the 1957 elections. The DMKfed on communalism to begin with,but this coincided with the beginningof the Tamilisation of politics inMadras. Long after the DMK hadshed its anti-Brahminism, the Con-gress in Tamilnad under Mr Kama-raj continued to be a communal andcasteist movement. With the widen-ing of the Tamilian's identity hori-zon, the DMK's secularisation be-gan. It even gave up the secessionistslogan (an act of unmitigated politi-cal opportunism though, becauselegislation against secessionist propa-ganda was coming, in any case).

According to some, the DMK,which is still an uncertain quantityideologically because it has no ideo-logical inhibition whatsoever despitethe vague socialist programme it pro-fesses, has in a way "traditionalised"the political processes in Tamilnad.It is a well-organised party with anextremely manoeuverable machineryand draws its support from the smalltrader, the urban and rural middleclasses, the uncommited working classand the agricultural labourer. Itdid operate in terms of caste identi-fication in the past but its mass baseshould have legitimately belonged tothe Communist movement if only ithad taken note of the Tamilian'ssearch for national identity.

Some others think that the DMKis a populist radical movement butone should not forget the DMK oncewent through a Poujadist phase andhad all the makings of a semi-fascistmovement.

The DMK w~s once revolutionaryin form and reactionary in aim. Butit is still evolving as a political party.Now the DMK has been swept intopower and the process of politicali-sation of the party would be hasten-ed. The aspirations of its followingare the same as those of the follow-ing of any leftist party though theDMK is stilI a middle-of-the-road

APRIL 7, 1967

earlier and is being attempted nowin this State.

Again, attempts might be made toinci te or provoke workers in indus-trial units to resort to adventuristtactics. Such trends have also beennoticed and are already providinggrist to the mill of those who wouldlike nothing better than to provethat the present Government wouldbe disastrous from the point of viewof industrial development and thesmooth working of industry in thisState. Even though instances of thisnature have been fortunately few,the underlying frustration in theworking class faced with threats o£retrenchment, lay-offs, cut in work-ing hours can provide fertile soil for

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PRESSMAN.I<CI- 5

II

ing of' these minorities from WestBengal.

The statements issued by the Uni-ted Front Government have otcourse done much to allay these fearsbut prejudices die hard and theminorities will always be susceptibleto the influence of those who 'wouldlike to widen the breach between themajority community and them.

Another tactic that hostile ele-ments may take was also in evi-dence recently. Inciting people totake forcible possession of vacantland or buildings with a view toforcing the hands of the Govern-ment and precipitating clashes be-tween them and the authorities is adevice that was tried out in Kerala

••There are many lessons to be learnt

from the ordeal through which theState has passed. The first of theseis that there is no scope for com-placency. While it is of course theo-retically realised that attempts 01varioussorts will be made to discre-dit and if possible dislodge the pre-sent Government, the exact formsthat these attempts are likely to takeare perhaps not fully appreciated.It is clear now that the age-old tech-nique of playing upon the divisionswithin the body politic will be oneof the main weapons that will beused. West Bengal, particularly theindustrial belts surrounding Calcuttaand Asansol, are particularly sensi·tive areas and there are pocketswhere the majority community ofthe State is actually in a minority,Similar is the situation in the areaurrounding Siliguri. The Congresshas in the past banked heavily onthe minorities for winning its elec·toral majorities. Even during theelectionsan undercurrent of propa·ganda was there that a left victorywould immediately lead to the oust-

mUllltiesinvolved was held, a peacecommittee was formed and amitywasapparently restored. But withina short time, on the basis of certainrumours, a huge crowd collected andattacked the spot, set fire to vehiclesand did not even spare a place ofworship. Who circulated these ru-mours, organised this raid and incit-ed people to commit these acts ofvandalism?

Again on the morning of the 29thafter an agreement had been reachedbetween the leaders of the Sikh com-munity on bringing out a peacefulprocession,who was the person whosuddenly appeared on the scene,made an inflammatory speech anddrove a se~ti~n of the rrocessio.nistllinto commlttmg acts 0 vandalIsm?And finally who were the personswho made frantic efforts to persuadethe Centre to have President's ruledeclared in West Bengal?

It is to be hoped that the judicialenquiry will lift the curtain on themysteryand find the answers to thesequestions. It is, however, only byassociatingthe people with the taskof investigation and by taking activesteps to ferret out the facts with thehelp of all the resources of the ad-ministrative machinery that the mys,tery can be really unravelled.

lry

rnment canling passedassumptiont was only~rces of re-first oppor·r to discre·'hese forces'out of thet socio-eco-

the coun·ent createsr carryingut changesot, by there, dissolve

after ten·area over

ble, a meet·he two com

t, once thev between~lved hasiden tifyingd the deve-etween theUp to nOW

made anded against"dark for·

uch in the

e next fiveft, the dis-

followersI the Left~ntist as alory" ego..11a sparsellistic linegional de-spirationsthe DMKimpact of

nt which~ve to the

chauvin-ates fromto be ab-tate over

Ie Shastri-d provideI and evenI trooper

the spread of adventurist ideas. Ifthe trade union leadership cannotdevelop a sense of restraint in the faceof this situation and work out cor-rect slogans and tactics it mightagain lead to an ugly situation whichwould be exploited by those who areout to weaken and destroy the ·pre·sent Government.

Finally, it is necessary also to bewatchful of attempts that will bemade to create artificial scarcities offoodstuffs and other essential com·modities. This could create a crisisin the urban areas where only riceand wheat are rationed but otherequally essential commodities, suchas mustard oil, daIs, spices and otherthings are not, as also in the ruralareas where for the current year atleast even modified rationing willnot be in existence.

Perhaps the most important lessonto be learnt from the events that tookplace recently is the need for goingahead with the proposal to formpopular committees all over theState. Much has been said aboutthe need for popular cooperation butthis may degenerate into a platitudeif steps are not taken to build upchannels of communication betweenthe Ministers and the people and ifsuitable instruments are not evolvedthrough which popular initiativemay express itself in an organisedand purposeful manner.

The only form of popular contact .at the moment is the reception thathas become a feature of the post-election scene. This craze for gar-landing is a hangover of the tradi-tional pattern set by the Congress inwhich there are "leaders" at the topand "masses" below and nothing inbetween. That form of organisa.tion could serve a party which onlywanted to utilise the masses whilepreventing the development of ini-tiative at lower levels. No radicalchange in the functioning of theGovernment can take place if thispattern is not changed and if organi-sation at the grass-roots level cannotbe effectively introduced. The exer-cise of democratic rights will onlybecome real in a situation where po-pular committees at the lowest levelhave a chance to share in the tasksof administrtaion.

NOWi available at Students' Corner,

P.O. Kharagpur Technology,Kharagpur, S.E. Railway

This also requires the building upof an active volunteer corrs whichcan function as the arm 0 the po-pular committees. If the currenttalk about minimising the interfer-ence of the police has to be translatedinto reality, it can only be done ifa non-official volunteer corps is thereto see that discipline is maintained,that the decisions of the popular gov·ernment are executed and the ra·tionale of the pOlicies of the newGovernment is explained to thema~ses. In the absence of this, spo-rad.Ic ou!bursts fol~owe.d by policeactIOn WIll become mevItable despiteall the best wishes of the UnitedFront Government.

There might be a feeling that thecadres of the various parties consti-tuting the United Front are alreadythere and could perform these func-tions, but it has to be realised thatthe tasks ahead are enormous andthe cadres of all these parties puttogether are inadequate for the pur-pose. It has also to be realised thata call for building up a United Frontvolunteer corps could at this mo-ment find far greater response thana call for enrolment of membershipof any party constituting the front.The rules of arithmetic do not al.ways apply in poHtics where thewhole is often greater than the sumof the various parts constituting thatwhole.

• • •On April 1, the waiters in the

Indian Coffee House on ChittaranjanAvenue-Waterloo Street looked rathershamefaced, and the faces of manya. customer fell when they paid thebIll. The prices of many items havebeen raised by 50 per cent. Coldcoffee costs (in what is called theHouse of Lords) 60 paise instead of40,. one. fried egg the same, potatow.aIfers IS 10 p~ise more a plate. OnepIece of toast IS 30 p. A wholesomemeal of one fried egg, a slice of plainbread and a glass of cold coffee costs1.35 instead of 90 p. One pays Re 1for potato waifers and cold coffeeinstead of 70 p. '

This is the second time prices havebeen raised within a year. Such asteep rise-reportedly at the instanceof the Central Ministry of Commerce-of course goes well with the dec-lared policy of the Government tohold the price line. If this is to betaken 'as a straw in the wind, heavenhelp us when the regular budget isannounced.

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7.00/08.50/0

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212.9333

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505

tion with Phillips Oil Co. of theUSA) with a capacity of 2.5 milliontonnes. Of the total refinery capa-city, nine million tonnes are in theState sector, and 8.5 million tonnes .(including Assam Oil Company ope-rating a small refinery at Digboi witha capacity of 0.5 million tonnes) arein the hands of foreign oil cartels.But these cartels control about 650/0of .the marketing business, leaving350/0 in the hands of Indian Oil Cor-poration. However, in overall effect,the total volume of business of theforeign oil firms has increased inspite of the State sector. In 1956 thetotal marKeting business of Burmah·Shell, Esso and Caltex together w'!sfive million tonnes, which is nownearly 9.5 million tonnes excludingthe international bunkering. Thisis due to the fact that oil consump-tion in India is increasing very fast.Moreover, the foreign oil firms, thanksto their long standing, have a firmhold on marketing, with the facilitiesat their disposal as indicated in theTable on Page 14.

The loss of monopoly hold overthe petroleum business in India dueto the State sector undertaking un-nerved the foreign oil companiesand they started regrouping theirposition. This has a vital relationwith the pricing formula. Up to.1957 the prices of petroleum pro-

the operations of the foreign oil com-panies in India. A radical changetook place when the USSR and Ru·mania offered to prospect and drillin this country and also to constructrefineries in the State sector. TheState sector undertaking, Indian OilCorporation, came into existence in1960 and started functioning asa marketing company selling oil pro-ducts refined in the State sector re-fineries. At present there are fourrefineries in the State sector, at Gau-hati (with Rumanian help), with acapacity of 1.5 million tonnes, atBarauni (2.5 million tonnes) cons-tructed with Soviet assistance, atKoyali, with a capacity of 2.5 milliontonnes, and at Cochin (in combina-

(Figures in million dollars)1st half ] st half

]965 1966 Increase(Cal-

(Esso

DrainageThe situation changed when the

Government of India !=ould 'hot re-sist demands to restrict the fabulousdrainage of national wealth through

Standard Oil Co. of Californiatex in India)

Texaco (Caltex in India)Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey)

in India)

Trombay with an output of. fourmillion tonnes of petroleum productsevery year. Constructed with a totalcapital investment of Rs 29 croresand 41 lakhs, they earned a net profitof Rs 34 crores and 26 lakhs between1954 and 1964. Esso refinery is alsoat Troinbay; its present capacity i~2.75 million tonnes. Constructedwith a total capital investment ofRs 15 crores and 95 lakhs, they earneda net profit of Rs 121,363,000/- inthe same period. Caltex refinery

THE oil industry in India holds avery strategic position. Both

the private and the public sector existin the industry simultaneously. Butunlike other industries in India therivate sector in oil is full aminat-

e y oreign capital. Of the totalorelgn lllvestment m the private sec-tor in India nearly 250/0 is ownedand controlled by foreign oil com-

)lanies Burmah-Shell, Esso and Cal-tex, these three British and Americanoil cartels have an investmentof Rs. 175 crores (pre-devaluationratc) . ~s agamst this investment they -together rem I e rom n la a totaamount of Rs. 735 crores and 58a s etween an as 1S-

r osed by the Mimster or etroleumand Chemicals in Parliament onMarth 9, 1966 .

urma - hell is a subsidiary com:pany of Royal Dutch Shell group;Esso is fully owned by Standard Oil was started in 1957 at Vizag; asCompany of New Jersey, and Caltex against a total investment of Rs 14is a 50: 50 partnership between Texas crores and 12 lakhs they earned aOil Company und Standard Oil Com- net profit of Rs 42,739,000 up topam' of California. They function 1964. (Details disclosed by the Min-in vertical combination, owning and ister for Petroleum and Chemicals inoperatmg oil wells, refineri~s, pipe- the Lok Sabha on March 9, 1966).liN'S. a hu!!c tanker tleet for tr;Jns· During British rule, Burmah-ShelJport of crude and refined oil pronucts expanded their business taking ad-and marketing organisations. But the vanta/?e of imperial I?refere~c~ a~ddifferent phases of operation and were.m the commandmg posItIOn mfunctioning are regulated under the the l!ldustry. After ,independence,names of different companies owned jAmencan Oil compaDles strengthen-by the same parent company. Profit ed ~h.eir foothold. and improved theirearned by all these holding com- posItIOn very qUIckly. Up to 1959panies is reflected in the balancesheet these three foreign 011 com aniesof the parent company' in the lJSA w r con ro mg '0 0 ten Ian-and the UK. The international oil petroleum business,-Tncluding importtycoons are fabulously rich. A story of crude oil refined in their Indiangoes like this: once two oil magnates refineries and deficit refined productswent in for an excursion in Texas and their sale all over India.and while they we.re in a city, one of Before 1960, whenever the em-the friends wanted to buy the latest ployees in foreign oil firms demand-model Buick, valued at about $35,000. ed higher pay the companies did notThe other friend paid the money, deny their unlimited capacity but5a)'in~"you stand the lunch todav and said that higher pay for oil workersI'll huy the car for you". ' would create wide disparities with

According to the latest information workers in other industries and urravailahle from the Bulletin of Trade set industrial relations all over theUnion International ot ChemIcal, 011 country.an .Jed vVor: ers ct.o er- ovem-er !}Illii, the three major American

Oil companies having business inIndia made profits as indicated inthe table that follows.

Burmah-Shell has a refinery at

.l Gardensotographs,es an ideaLl Gardensnd recrea-places of

y, as sci en·s preservesanimals.

EPUBUC

mBLlC

BlIC

ve and-inIe Aliporeliving. Nofee,OME

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lRDENe of thein colla-presenta-ratic Re-tion held: remainsl67 daily

ON OF TH!: REPUBUCExtension,

'RIL 7, ]967 APRIL 7. 1967

APRIL 7, 1967

and job security. This action of theAmerican oil company has created anational scandal and highlightedsome major questions.

"Can job elimination be permittedin Indian conditions through ration·alisation, reorganisation and automa·tion? Can these foreign companiesbe allowed freedom to function tothe detriment of the workers? Should.national interests be sacrificed to al·low the foreign oil companies to con·tinue their business in India?)

The issues created by rationalisa-tion, reorganisation and automationcannot be solved within the frame-work of the Industrial Disputes Act.Particularly for this reason a ModelAgreement on rationalisation wasagreed upon between the Govern·ment, employers and the workers atthe 15th Indian Tripartite LabourConference in 1957. It was stipulat.ed that such measures "which donot serve the real economic interestin the present conditions of thecountry should be avoided". It was

.also agreed that "there should be noretrenchment or loss of earning ofthe existing employees" and "beforeany such change is effected, the com-pany shall give reasonable noticeranging from 3 weeks to 3 month"to the union (s) of its intention t:Deffect the change". It is also incum-bent upon the employer, underthis Agreement, to furnish in·formation regarding the changeand the unions were assured of"adequate opportunity to studythe new change to enable it to

gauge the workload and the earningsof the employees engaged in the newoperation". Further, it was clearlystipulated that "there should be anequitable sharing of benefits" arisingout of the new measures as betweenthe community, the employer andthe workers. Finally, according tothe Model Agreement, there shouldbe prior agreement with the pnion,and for introduction o~ new machineor technique, it provided for, in theevent of any difference between theUnion and the management, arbitra·tion and adjudication:

The Model Agrement has not beenfollowed either by the Governmentor the private employers, not to speakof foreign oil companies. When theGovernment installed an electroniccomputer in Bombay, it violated thisagreement. Even after the Caltexissue, the State sector undertaking,Indian Oil Corporation, installed 8

324716141585

Retail PumpsAvlation & InlandDepots

50036286

Handbook-19M)

Mode of OperationFor job elimination the foreign

oil firms resorted to drastic rationali-sation, reorganisation and automa-tion. They installed electronic com-puters in Bombay offices, centralisingthe entire accounting work followedby extn:me decentralisation. Themode of operation· has also been sochanged as to affect the workers.During this process of job elimina-tion thousands or workers and clerksbecame idle. They are being forcedto accept premature retirement un·der the so-called Voluntary Retire-ment Scheme. The workmen arekept in a surplus pool ~ithout anywork. While they get tired of sit-ting idle, the companies offer somemoney and make them. leave. Thisis what they call voluntary retire-ment. The most glaring manifesta-tion of this attempt was <H Caltex,Calcutta. To elimmate jobs throughrationalisation, ,reorganisation andautomation, Caltex removed all work,office records, typewriters and eventhe attendance register, from theirCalcutta office on November 20, 1966at night, taking advantage of thePuja holidays. All the 106 employeesare noJV jobless and they are staginga sit-in day and night, inside theoffice, demandi~g restoration of work

8 2613 33 .6 13

(Ref: lndian Petroleum

Installations Sales Office~

Burmah-ShellEssoCaltex

14

ducts sold in India were fixed accord· their· refinery thruput so that theying to the Valued Stock Accounting could bring more crude oil from their(U .S.) formula. Under this formula own sources against dollar and ster-foreign oil companies used to make ling. When this attempt. did nota profit at 100/0 on the total cost in- succeed, they tried for some othercurred by them for storage, distribu- concession in the field of the ferti·tion and marketing; the more the ex- lizer industry. The foreign oil firmspenses incurred, the greater the pro. hold interest in giant internationalfit. The foreign oil companies used fertilizer corporations. But this at-t.o multiply their expenses, taking ad. tempt also proved ineffective inas-vantage of this formula. However," much as the provisional agreementthe major profit was on crude and with. the Betchel Corporation of therefined oil imported by them; this USA for erection of a few fertilizerprofit was included in the invoice- factories fell through.price, i.e., import price. The ac- So the brunt 'of the attack came oncounting method of the foreign oil the workers. From 1960 to 1966 Sep-companies is such that. when they tember Burmah-Shell reduced theirbuy crude and refined products staff strength by 37.6% in the mar·through their parent organisation keting organisation and 22.690/0 inthey treat these as if they are buying refinery; E'sso 26.24% in marketingthem from a third party. But. as and 36.540/0 in refinery; Caltexsoon as the purchase deal is over,' the 29.15% in marketing and 26.770/0 inbulk of the profit (included in the refinery.invoice price) is transferred. On theinsistence of oil workers' the Govern·

ment had to set up an enquiry com-mittee, which recommended restric-tion of the abnormal nature of ex·penses. Subsequently the U.S. for·mula was drastically changed by theDamle Committee (1961), whichnormalised the ratio of expenses andfixed the ceiling selling prices of pe-troleum products, giving a return of12% on capital employed by theforeign oil firms. The Talukdar

Committe submitted its report inAugust 1965 and reiterated the pric-ing formula given by the Damle Com-mittee. The Tariff Commissionwhile fixing the selling prices of im·ported products allowed a 120/0 re-turn and this formla was allowed jn

case of oil products also.But the foreign oil firms started

grumbling as soon as the Govern-ment of India gave effect to theDamle Committee's recommendationsin fixjng the ceiling selling prices ofpetroleum products. They startedsqueezing the workers out in the nameof economy.

The advent of the State sector inthe oil industry, four refineries inthe State sector and revision of thepricing formula made the foreign oilfirms desperate to retain their profits;they wanted substantial increase of

of theeated allighted

:rmittedration·

automa-h1paniesrtion to IShould

d to al· .; to con·

e?) l'lOna Isa-omatione frame-~tes Act.~ Modelon wasGovern-)rkers at

Labourstipulat-;Itich do

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changeured of

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not beenvernmentt to speakWhen theelectroniclated this

he CaltexIdertaking,Installed a

fL 7, 1967

most modern accounting machine(IBM 407) in their Calcutta Officewith the help of the police on Sun-day, January 8, 1967, completely dis·regarding the recognised union.Seven trade union leaders were ar-rested for protesting against themove.

This experience reveals all themore that as employer there is nodifference between the public sectorand the private sector.

While introducing measures of ra-tionalisation, reorganisation and au-tomation, the employers fall back ontheir prerogative as management. Itis difficult to restrict this preroga·tive within the legal limit, becausethe employers always try to take ad-vantage of their fundamental rightto own and operate a property. Butis this compatible with the conceptof a welfare State loudly proclaimedby the Government? Does it notreveal the double-standard of theGovernment who wants the workersto follow an agreement equally bind-ing on them which they themselvesviolate? So long as the present con.cept of proprietary right is defendedby the State, the workers' interestwill be always in jeopardy.

A gift of science is for the benefitof man; but if it increases humansorrow and suffering, science becomesan instrument of oppression in a'capitalistic system of production inwhich profit is the only criterion.Rationalisation, reorganisation andautomation are all labour-saving de·vices and the capitalists use them tostrengthen their own hands to earnmore profit and for concentration ofcapital. In a country like Indiawhere one can quote any figure aboutthe number of unemployed withoutbeing challenged by anybody, howcan working people tolerate job eli-mination measures?

Modern techniques of produc-tion wiII come into use and as longas the social order is not changed,new inventions and techniques ofproduction will be used to earn moreprofit at the cost of workers. There

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is a big movement in the countryagainst labour-saving devices, pani-'cularly automation. But the targetof the attack is not the machine it-self; it is directed against the totaloppression of society where ~o fewdraw most of the benefits at the costof so many. The age of automationhas come to stay but it cannot beutilised to the benefit of the commonman in the capitalistic system of pro-duction. As in the case of industrialrevolution the feudal State orderhad to be transformed into bourge-ois democracy, so in the case ofautomation the new technique ofproduction calls for new productionrelations.

Real MotiveMr P. J. Dickinson, General Ma-

nager IOf Burmah-Shell, said "Afterall, why should we in industry assumethat it requires two men in Indiato do what would be one man's jobelsewhere ?". (Industrial Time, page34, June 15, 1964). This statementreveals the real motive of the foreignoil companies. In 1956 when Bur-mah-SheIl, Esso and Caltex were to-gether doing a business of 5 milliontonnes of petroleum products, thenumber of clerks and workers employ-ed by them was about 23,000; nowwhen the volume of business hasgone up to 9.5 million tonnes, theirnumber has come down to 13,000.Should the foreign oil companies bealowed to flourish at the cost of theIndian workers '? Should the Gov-ernment remain silent when thesemisinterpret the Government's ownpricing formula to squeeze the work-ers out of employment in the nameof Voluntary Retirement?

The oil industry in India has abright future. The cowdung that isburnt for cooking in 5,55,000 vil-1ag~ in India is equivalent to 60million tonnes of petroleum products.Our per capita consumption of oilproducts is only 5 gallons comparedto 600 gallons in the USA, 150 gal.Ions in the UK and 105 gallons inthe USSR. If this natural manure(cow dung) could be used to growmore food, with cheap kerosene meet-ing the requirements of the villagers,India could be free from the clutchesof PL480.

Of the total requirement of petro-leum products 22ro constiC-ute thetrade in kerosene, mainly used forillumination in the villages. Thatapart, oil is an important source of

energy, and industrial developmentof the country depends very much onthis energy source. We are havingshortages in coal and electricity; itis difficult to import coal and in caseof electricity it is beyond question.When the petroleum workers demandnationalisation of fqreign oil com-panies for t~e national economy andtheir own job security, they have inview the entire gamut of the coun·try, industry and workers. Partici-pation of foreign capital in a vitalindustry like oil in India is detrimen-tal to our interests. In the presentinternational oil market there is glutin the supply of crude oil and our reoquirement can be easily met. Inother words, nationalisation of fo-reign oil firms will not hamper are·gulated and cheaper supply of crudeoil.

But, according to its declared po-licy, the Government wants the Statesector, i.e., Indian Oil Corporation,to flourish in competition with theforeign oil firms. This policy neitherhelps the workers in foreign oil firmsin regard to job security nor the In·dian Oil Corporation and the Indianoil industry. The prices of petroleumproducts fixed for Indian markets arein parity with international priceswhich include a component repre-sen ting the expenses for prospectivedrilling and exploration of new oilfields. The foreign oil firms bag hugeamounts of money on this accountfrom Indian buyers but do not spenda copper in India.

Indian Oil Corporation is spend.ing huge sums for building duplicatestorage and marketing facilities whichcould be easily avoided by takingover the foreign oil firms. So far,Indian Oil Corporation has built andprojected 2,523 retail pumps; if thecost of building one retail pump isRs. 50,000, the State sector is alreadycommitted to invest Rs. 12,61,50,000for retail selling of perol and HSDonly. At Cochin the State secto!refinery built a new, railway siding ata cost of Rs. 2.19 crores, while theexisting railway siding in the handsof foreign oil firms remains out of useand the workers involved face re-trenchment. If the Government con-tinues to ignore the demands of thepetroleum workers and fails to safe-guard their jobs, foreign capital willhave "freedom of action" and this willnot b6 confined to the oil industryalone.

15

LAST week's clashes in Calcuttamade lead story in almost all

important newspapers in the coun-try. It seems that even .the sober s~c-tion of the Press overlooked the dIf-ference between governmental vio-lence and communal violence andgave as much prominence to the in~i-dents as it did to the disturbances IIIFebruary-March last year. The head-lines gave an impression that riotswere continuing and Calcutta was inthe grip of utter lawlessness, thoughby the time the reports appeared thecity had returned to normal. 'Whetherthis flamboyant treatment of reportsof communal clashes is connectedwith the earlier flurry in the Pressover the labour situation in the Statemay be a tpatter for interesting spec~-lation. Those who want to discredItthe United Front Ministry will notshy at any opportunity to make it ap-pear that the Ministry is unable toperform its priJIle function of main-taining law and order. Disturbancesof any kind fit into their plan to pre-pare the ground for Central interven-tion. It may be more than a merecoincidence that simultaneously withthe publication of these reports theCongress party has raised an alarmthat there has been a complete break-down of the law and order machineryin the State and that some of theconstituents of the United Front areencouraging lawlessness.The Statesman) which appears to

be the solitary exception in the mat-ter of display, did not lead with theclash story in either of its Ca1cuttaand Delhi editions. Editorially,however, it has suggested that promp-ter and more far-seeing action couldhave been taken by the Government.It says that, prima facie, it would seemthat the incident in Baghmari twodays before would have reasonablybeen expected to receive importantattention in both Lal Bazar andWriters' Building earlier. Once thelooting and firing stage has beenreached, negotiation and conciliationbecome far more difficult, if not im-possible. Inquiry into other originsand responsibilities would c:rltainly

APRIL 7, 1967

should magnify itself so much as tojeopardise the peace of the entire me·tropolis. The situation clearly calledfor the firm action which Authorityhas taken. Appealing to the peopleto cooperate with the Governmentthe paper says that if concerted en·deavours are made by the saner ele-ments to save peace it cannot be'sabotaged by the enemies of society.The Hindustan Times has noted

that the Calcutta incidents were dif-ferent from the pattern of violencethe country had been witnessing inthe recent past. They are not the re-sult of a confrontation with autho-rity in the streets but of two commu-nal groups clashing with each other.Suggesting a study in depth of thetensions that prevail among socialgroups and the way in which theycan be preventecl from taking violentforms the paper says that the inci-dents in Calcutta have their parallelin the developments in other cities.The activities of the Shiv Sena, forexample, have besmirched the fairname of Bombay as a genuinely cos-mopolitan city in which people fromall parts of the country felt perfectlyat home. In big cities there is the alltoo evident economic competitionamong various groups and the feelingthat certain aevenues of livelihoodare being monopolised by "outsiders".The notion of an "outsider" is adangerous one, and at all events theseare problems that should be resolvedby a general improvement in the liv-ing standards and by courageous lead-ership. It is here that there has beenthe most glaring failure. Politicians,who are ready enough in formal con-texts to pay homage to national in-tegration and communal harmony.are far from reluctant to make use ofgroup loyalties for their own pur-poses. It is not surprising that ap-peals made for short-term politicaland electoral purposes later takeforms that threaten civic peace andharmony.

Government BlamedPutting the entire blame for the

incidents on the West Bengal Govern-ment The Indian Express says thatthe United Front Government woulddo well to suppress the communal vio-lence in Calcutta with a severe hand.It is of course commendable that thecivil authority did not hesitate to' askfor the Army's assistance. It wouldhave been more commendable if thepolice itself had managed to deal

do little good now, and perhaps someharm; even in retrospect it may befound murky and controversial. Thesituation must be dealt with as it nowstands: if still possible, by gettingwiser heads together; but, if neces-sary, by knocking more foolish headstogether.

Suggesting that no processionshould have been allowed AmritaBazar Patrika says that the purposeof taking out the procession, when theGovernment is already seized of thematter, is not easily understandable.Refusal to allow it might have dis- .pleased some people. But the possi-bility of a breach of law and ordershould have outweighed all other con-siderations, because any impressionin any section of the people of theGovernment's lack of firmness in deal-ing with lawlessness will have a da-maging effect on the administration.The Government apart, every soberand sensible person, irrespective otcommunity or anythil)g else, shouldrealise the seriousness of the situationand exert his utmost, jointly and in-dividually, to restore peace and har-mony in the city without delay. Cal-cutta is a cosmopolitan city and thepeople of different creeds and Stateslive here SIde by side as brothers:Any disturbances involving people ofdifferent States or communities is notonly ruinous to themselves but sure'to jeopardise gravely the interest otthe entire cO,untry, particularly at thismoment of intensifying internaltroubles and continuing externaldanger.

Describing the city's lapse fromsanity as disquieting and disgracefulHindusthan Standard says 'that- itwill be a fatal blunder to yield to com-placency now and cease to be alert.When much worse than the reputa-tion of a city is at stake one shouldbe rather excessively harsh than un-duly soft. Calcutta is a cosmopolitancity, and every effort should be madeto ensure that it retains that charac-ter occcf'sional troubles notwithstand-ing. The root cause of the troublewould appear to be a trivial one, andit is a pity that a local squabble

COMMENTATOR

Calcutta. Clashes

Hi

The Pre"

COMMENTATOR

The Pren

Calcutta. Clashes

APRIL 7, 1967

Government BlamedPutting the entire blame for the

incidents on the West Bengal Govern-ment The Indian Express says thatthe United Front Government woulddo well to suppress the communal vio-lence in Calcutta with a severe hand.It is of course commenda ble that thecivil authority did not hesitate to' askfor the Army's assistance. It wouldhave been more commendable if thepolice itself had managed to deal

should magnify itself so much as tojeopardise the peace of the entire me·tropolis. The situation clearly calledfor the firm action which Authorityhas taken. Appealing to the peopleto cooperate with the Governmentthe paper says that if concerted en-deavours are made by the saner ele-ments to save peace it cannot besabotaged by the enemies of society.The Hindustan Times has noted

that the Calcutta incidents were dif-ferent from the pattern of violencethe country had been witnessing inthe recent past. They are not the re-sult of a confrontation with autho-rity in the streets but of two commu-nal groups clashing with each other.Suggesting a study in depth of thetensions that prevail among socialgroups and the way in which theycan be preventep from taking violentforms the paper says that the inci-dents in Calcutta have their parallelin the developments in other cities.The activities of the Shiv Sena, forexample, have besmirched the fairname of Bombay as a genuinely cos-mopolitan city in which people fromall parts of the country felt perfectlyat home. In big cities there is the alltoo evident economic competitionamong various groups and the feelingthat certain aevenues of livelihoodare being monopolised by "outsiders".The notion of an ~'outsider" is adangerous one, and at all events theseare problems that should be resolvedby a general improvement in the liv-ing standards and by courageous lead-ership. It 'is here that there has beenthe most glaring failure. Politicians,who are ready enough in formal con-texts to pay homage to national in-tegration and communal harmony.are far from reluctant to make use ofgroup loyalties for their own pur-poses. It is not surprising that ap-peals made for short-term politicaland electoral purposes later takeforms that threaten civic peace andharmony.

do little good now, and perhaps someharm; even in retrospect it may befound murky and controversial. Thesituation must be dealt with as it nowstands: if still possible, by gettingwiser heads together; but, if neces-sary, by knocking more foolish headstogether.

Suggesting that no processionshould have been allowed AmritaBazar Patrika says that the purposeof taking out the procession, when theGovernment is already seized of thematter, is not easily understandable.Refusal to allow it might have dis- .pleased some people. But the possi-bility of a breach of law and ordershould have outweighed all other con-siderations, because any impressionin any section of the people of theGovernment's lack of firmness in deal-ing with lawlessness will have a da-maging effect on the administration.The Government apart, every soberand sensible person, irrespective otcommunity or anythiI)g else, shouldrealise the seriousness of the situationand exert his utmost, jointly and in-dividually, to restore peace and har-mony in the city without delay. Cal-cutta is a cosmopolitan city and thepeople of different creeds and Stateslive here side by side as brothers:Any disturbances involving people ofdifferent States or communities is notonly ruinous to themselves but sure'to jeopardise gravely the interest otthe entire country, particularly at thismoment of intensifying internaltroubles and continuing externaldanger.

Describing the city's lapse fromsanity as disquieting and disgracefulHindusthan Standard says that itwill be a fatal blunder to yield to com-placency now and cease to be alert.When much worse than the reputa-tion of a city is at stake one shouldbe rather excessively harsh than un-duly soft. Calcutta is a cosmopolitancity, and every effort should be madeto ensure that it retains that charac-ter occisional troubles notwithstand-ing. The root cause of the troublewould appear to be a trivial one, andit is a pity that a local squabble

16

LAST week's clashes in Calcuttamade lead story in almost all

important newspapers in the coun-try. It seems that even _the sober s~c-tion of the Press overlooked the dIf-ference between governmental vio-lence and communal violence andgave as much prominence to the inci-dents as it did to the disturbances inFebruary-March last year. The head-lines gave an impression that riotswere continuing and Calcutta was inthe grip of utter lawlessness, thoughby the time the reports appeared thecity had returned to normal. Whetherthis flamboyant treatment of reportsof communal clashes is connectedwith the earlier flurry in the Pressover the labour situation in the Statemay be a matter for interesting specu-lation. Those who want to discreditthe United Front Ministry will notshy at any opportunity to make it ap-pear that the Ministry is unable toperform its prime function of main-taining law and order. Disturbancesof any kind fit into their plan to pre-pare the ground for Central interven-tion. It may be more than a merecoincidence that simultaneously withthe publication of these reports theCongress party has raised an alarmthat there has been a complete break-down of the law and order machineryin the State and that some of theconstituents of the United Front areencouraging lawlessness.The Statesman) which appears to

be the solitary exception in the mat-ter of display, did not lead with theclash story in either of its Ca1cuttaand Delhi editions. Editorially,however, it has suggested that promp-ter and more far-seeing action couldhave been taken by the Government.It says that, prima facie, it would seemthat the incident in Baghmari twodays before would have reasonablybeen expected to receive importantattention in both Lal Bazar andWriters' Building earlier. Once thelooting and firing stage has beenreached, negotiation and conciliationbecome far more difficult, if not im-possible. Inquiry into other originsand responsibilities would c:r\tainly

A friendly tip to the fifth girl:. Use Kolynos and smile, like the otf1ers! ~eel fresh andclean with Kolynos mornil1~ Wld Oig~t. More confideJice in company ... more fun I

•••• :0;>_•.•

with KofldVLOSASP/GM,K·IA

the taste of Kolynosltongue·tlngling, mintythe foam of Kolynoslmakes brushing easler, crea"ses thoroughTythe sweet breath that Kolynos givesJ,(you. and others. will appreciate this)

Gmile willi cOYtfidevtce. _..,gmifeRcgbtercJ user; GE:OFFRE:Y MANNE:RS AND COIV1PANY LIMITE:D ~

for theGovern-~ys that

wouldmal vio-'e hand.that thee to' askt would

if theto deal

as tore me-called

oritypeoplenmented en-er e1e-ot beciety.notede dif-

,olenceing in~he re-autho-mrnu-other.

of thesocial

theyviolente InCl-

>arallelcities.

la, forhe fair~ly cos-e fromerfectlythe all

letitionfeelingelihoodsiders"., is ats theseesolvedthe liv-liS lead-as been'ticians,~al con-nal in-

lrmony •• use ofn pur-at ap-

olitical'r takelce and

7, 1967

effectively with the situation. MrAjoy Mukherjee and his United Frontcolleagues simply cannot afford tocreate the impression that they lackeither the will or the capaClty tomaintain law and order. Unfortuna-tely, they have a past to live do~n.When the parties which ~ow comprIsethe United Front were m the Oppo-sition they buil~ up a r~grettab~e re-putation for tak1l1g all kmds of Is~uesto the streets. They also made It apractice to accuse the police fa: ~singexcessive force whenever the ClvIl au-.thority had to restore law and order.Now that the Government is in thehands of the erstwhile Oppositionparties the police perhaps feel thatthey can take ~ffecti~e actio~ only ~tthe risk of dlspleasmg theIr Mmls-terial superiors. The United FrontGovernment must immediately endthe demoralisation of the police forceif it is to succeed in maintaining lawand order. The Chief Minister shouldmake it clear to all concerned thathis Government is determined to gov-ern and deal sternly with every threatto law and order despite the previousrecord of the parties wh~ch are no>:"in the coalition. This mIght be polI-tically embarrassing, but that cannotbe helped. The United Front. Gov-ernment is on trial. It must wm thepeople's confidence by restoring lawand order speedily.

Congratulating the new ~tVest !3~n-gal Government on the mtrepldltyand speed with wlllch it has ?rou(Shtunder control the tense sItuatIOncreated in Calcutta by a band of mis-chief-makers Patriot says that thereare quite a number of people in Cal-cutta who bear intense ill-will forMr Ajoy Mukherjee's Governmentand will not hesitate to resort to anycourse so that it could be defamedand brought down. It is these peo-ple who have been active in the darkunderworld of Calcutta's politics eversince the new Government came intobeing who are responsible for t~etragic and unnecessary loss of hfeand the suffering of those who havebeen injured. That the people knewthis was apparent from the immediatesuccess registered by the peace movesinitiated by the Government. This

NOW can be had fromDipak Kumar Bhowmick4, Gl1rimahal Road, GorabazarBerhampur,Murshidabad.

18

is not the first il'lstance of politicalstabbing in the back of the West Ben-gal Government has experienced sinceit assumed office. AhilOst before theMinisters took the oath of office, aseries of attacks on the working classby the bloated monopo'lists who most-ly control Calcutta's business life be-gan. The Government has courage-ously accepted this challenge, and thepeople of the State who want it tosucceed will give it every kincl of sup-port in its endeavour to establish atruly democratic and progressiveorder in the State.

"Labour Unrest"In an editorial on "labour unrest"

in West Bengal The Times of Indiahas said that the present predominant-ly Leftist Government in the Stateis not responsible for the unrest. Butministerial pronouncements regardingthe role of the police in dealing withthe so-called "gheraos", a euphemismfor virtual detention of the manage·rial staff for hours, has created theimpression that entrepreneurs cannotdepend on the present Governmentfor protection. The Labour Minis-ter has contended that the policewould intervene if and when demons-trators turn violent. But how canthe State Government seriously arguethat the "gheraos" are a legitimateform of trade union activity? TheChief Minister's insistence that thepolice can be called by the maliJage-ment in anticip~tion of trouble eitherthrough him or the Labour Ministerhas added to the anxiety of employ-ers who rightly point out that it isnot always possible to get in touchwith Ministers. That the formationof a predominantly Leftist Govern-ment in West Bengal would encour-a,ge labour to press its demands withincreased vigour and confidence wasonly to be expected. As it happensthe change of Government has coin-cided withgerteral recession in theeconomy. The Chief Minister real-ises that to expect employers to main-tain status quo in the absence oforders for their products is only todrive them out of the State. But hecannot be expected to take the pure-ly economic view that retrenchmentand lay-offs are unavoidable in thepresent situation. Perhaps he hassome" compromise solution in view.In any case the present uncertaintymust be ended soon if West Bengal's

ceconomic future is not to be seriously.compromised.

Role Of The PeasantSOCIAL ORIGINS OF DICT ATOR-

SHIP AND DEMOCRACYBy Barrington Moore, Jr.Boston: Beacon Press, 1966, pp. 559$10.00

IN this era of academic super specia.lization, scholars seldom attempt

to deal with broad issues of historyor society. Ansi in the age of thegreat consensus, the a priori virtueof moderate liberalism as propound-ed by much of the American academyis accepted as "objective" reality.Barrington Moore's latest book con·clusively proves that it is possible todeal with broad issues of historicaland social development from an in·dependent point of view, and to pre·sent a stimulating and incisive, if notalways convincing, argument for hisapproach. Moore deals with one ofthe most important but to date rela·tively little understood aspects ofmodernization-the historical andsocial roots which are the basis ofthe present era.

His basic thesis is that "the. pro·cess of modernization begins withpeasant revolutions that fail. It cui·minates during the twentieth centur)with peasant revolutions that suc·ceeded." By taking some key histori·cal examples-England, France, andthe United States from the "develop-ed societies" and lapan, China, andIndia from the "developing" areas-he discusses the role of the peasant inthe distinctive developmental pat·terns of these diverse societies. Oneof his key points is that revolution·ary violence is not necessarily detri·mental to democratic and liberal de·velopment, but is in fact a necessaryprerequisite to such development.This notion will probably be ana·thema to the ideologists of the "GreatSociety" but it is persuasivelv pre·sented with a wealth of documenta·tion.

The role of revolutionary changes,generally involving the peasantry, isindicated in Moore's case studies. InEngland, the forced destruction of thefeudal system in the seventeenth cen·tury not only led to civil war and in.ternal violence, but destroyed theabsolute power of the King and pre-pared the way for the developmentof the Industrial Revolution and en.abled both the capitalist svstem andliberal parliamentarianism to take

APRIL 7, 1967

rOI

a Jfelin;wacalca~aubositllitalsjJatiHInmedeledintfarrarlatlCaEnoera

1luteerrevseeeuofIntiOlrecthea Sl

emecouind"fnist"tro]peamal(aninotwhicessalsowarthein ttionwilltria.in t]thesamSUItI

tionof GeverforeSecb

..\PI

sant'ATOR-y

pp. 559

~rspecia-l attemptE historye of theri virtue:opound-academy

reality.ook con-fssible to1istoricaln an In-d to pre-ie, if nott for hisII one oflate rela-pects ofcal andbasis of

'the. pro-ins with. It cul-l centurythat suc-y his tori-nce, and"develop-ina, and" areas-easant inHal pat-ties. One:volution-·ily detri-lberal de-necessary~lopmenl.I be ana-1e "Greatvely pre-lcumenta·

, changes,santry, istudies. Inion of the:enth cen-lr and in-oyed theand pre·

relopmentII and en-1stem and

to take

L 7, 1967

root. fhe french Revolution, alsoa keystru~gle of the peasantry againstfeudal mast(;rs, succeeded in destroy-illR the monarchy and prepared theway for inustrhlization and republi-can goyernment. In neither of thesecases did modernintion come with-Ollt bloodshed or coercion, but inboth the excesses of a revolutionarysituatIOn led to the evolution of moreliberal forms. The United Statesalso presents a somewhat simihrpallern, although the r:ivil '''Tar, ra-ther than destroying a feudal systemin the U.S_, prevented its devdop-ment and speeded the process oE mo-dernization. The Civil "Var cement-ed the alliance of northern capitalistinterests and the wef.tern independentlallllcrs which provided the basis forrapid industrial expansion in thelate nineteenth century. Again, thecoercion of the "robber baron" pe-riod paved the way for a more demo-cratic and stable political order.

In China, where the peasant revo-Inlion came later, in mid-twentiethIClllllry, the eventual outcome of thercroJutionary struggle remflins to be\('('n and the current "ProletarianCultural Revolution" may be a partor this process. China has engagedin an alternative path to modermza-tion-socialism (perhaps more cor-rectly called collectivism) -but itthe Soviet Union is any indication,a similar pattern of development willemerge. While in the industrialisedcountries of the West, coercion wasindirect and under the control 01"free market" capitalism, the "social-ist" countries have attempted to con-trol more directly the coercion of thepeasantry in their effort:; to build amodern industrial economy. Japan(and Germany for that matter) didnot undergo a peasant revolution, andwhile these countries have been suc-cessful in industrializing, they havealso showed a marked tendency to-ward fascism. Moore holds that inthe absence of a peasant revolutionin the early stages of the moderniza-tion process, fascist au thoritarianismwill often be a byproduct of industrialization. The Meiji Restorationin the nineteenth-century Japan brokethe power of the feudal nobles, andsome redistribution of the land re-sulted in addition to the centraliza-tion of political power in the handsof a modernizing elite, but laterevents launched Japan on a series otforeign adventures culminating in theSecond World War and brought fas-

.\PRIL 7, 1967

cism to Japan. Moore argues thatthis "revolution from above" did nothave within it the seeds of democra-tic development.

IndiaOne of the most interesting 'chap-

!?ers in the book is that dealing withIndia, where the issues of moderniza-tion have not been decided. Mooreargues that India has not undergonea peasant revolution, and that a cen-tury of British rule succeeded main-ly in entrenching a feudal social sys-tem on the land and choking off anyimpulse for rural change. India's pre-sent economic stagnation, despite theefforts of, a Western trained elite tospur modernization, may be a resultof the rural status quo. India pre-sents a paradox-it has the accoutre-ments of democracy, a functioningparliamentary system and a free Press-but at the same time it has beenunable to solve its massive economicproblems. If Moore's thesis holds forIndia, then modernization will beimpossible until there is some basictransformation of the rural status quo.And under present circumstances, thisis not an immediate possibility. Theviability of democratic institutionsduring a period of social change isalso in doubt. India, according toMoore, will have to take either thedirection of indirect coercion of thepeasant under the capitalist model,or direct coercion under the socialistmodel. Or, perhaps, Nehru's succes-sors will be able to work out a thirddemocratic alternative. But if oneaccepts the logic of Moore's tflesis,then this latter road to modernizationdoes not seem likely.

Barrington Moore's book is notonly provocative, it is closely rea-soned and in general quite persua-sive. He has proved that compara-tive history on the grand scale canbe useful in supplying insights tospecific events. By approaching histopic without either the dogmas ofMarxist analysis or of "liberal" ideo-logy, he is able to shed fresh light onan important topic. Not only is thereader better able to understand theEnglish Revolution and the Ameri~can Civil War in perspective, butsome of the key issues of moderniza-tion and political development inthe Third World are given new em-phasis and illumination. Moore'splea is to approach the study of so-ciety without dogmatism. He haspresented a case for the constructive

value of revolution in the develop-ment of democracy and in the mod-ernization process. He has pointedout that the agents of revolution arevery often the peasants, and that theleadership can come from diversesources. Whether his thesis holds astrue in the developing areas of Asiaand Africa, where differences in reli-gious values and vastly differing socialsystems have also influenced socialand economic growth is open to ques-tion, but his book is certainly one ofthe more important contributions tothe field of comparative social historyin SOme time.

PHILIP G. ALTBACH

Murder Most FoulBy A DRAMA CRITIC

IMAGINE an aristocratic resort,turned into a Liberty Hall dur-

ing the temporary absence of thelords and the ladies, where the grey-haired valet, the turbanless footman,the pot-bellied steward, the over-fedcook, the lean page-boy and themaidservant with no shape at all areenjoying themselves by mimicking'the airs and ways of their superiors!Or try to visualize a heterogeneousassembly, consisting of barbers, but-chers, tailors, clothiers, drapers, fruit-erers, grocers, frustrated film-extrasand superannuated jatrawaIlas, decid-ing to produce a play.instead of dis-cussing the hot local scandals! If youare interested in sights similar tothese, go to see Nabarupa's Alibabaat the Pratap Memorial Hall.

Having failed to woo the publicwith its abominable modern play,Daag, Nabarupa'this time has takenrefuge in the revival of a time-ho-noured play. What a shock it is tosee Alibaba, dear old Alibaba, muti-lated, mauled and murdered! Weare living in an age when all the pre-cious old things are vanishing fast;orthodox jatra is gone, the SenateHall is gone, the streetside juggleris gone, even, dear old Congress isgone; and here goes another richmyth of the past-Alibaba. WithNabarupa's production of Alibaba, inwhich everything (the voice, the ap-pearance, the acting, the dance, themusic, the costume, the set, the light-ing) is !-lgly, another door to theantique world is shut. No more shaIl

19

20

we enjoy the right to enter a world,peopled by virile men and beautifuldames-in which open sesame couldget us plenty of gold, slaves coulddance and sing and joke, cobblerscould sew a thoroughly chopped man-a world in which virtue inevitablytriumphed 1 This was an unrealworld but. how enchant.ing it was I

Now, thanks to Nabarupa's effron-t.ery, this generation has lost a uto-pia. I shouldn't have taken the risk.I should have remembered that. nos-talgia in this rationalistic world isunwelcome. I went to recapture thefeeling of a vision or a waking dream,I returned with a question: was it ahallucination or a nightmare?

CMPO

APRIL 7, 1967

they must explain to their subordi·nates why they were thrown at themercy of the mob and not allowed touse arms even in self-defence; theymust explain to the Chief Ministerthat they are not unfit for their jobs.

PULAK DECalcutta

With reference to the statementappearing in your issue dated M.arch24, 1967 on Page 4 that the Instituteof Public Administration, New Yorkis supposed to provide advice to theCMPO, I am to state on behalf of theCMPO that the Institute of PublicAdministration, New York have notacted as advisors to the CMPO norare they doing so now, nor are they"supposed" to do so. A few yearsback the Institute had conducted a

. research programme on Calcutta, andpublished a few reports on their owninitiative. But they did not, and donot now act as Consultants or advi-sors to the CMPO.

In the last para of your above re-port, it has been stated that "localtalent, if it were furnished with" ev"enone-twentieth of the funds that wereadvanced to the Americans in theCMPO, would, we have no doubt,have done a much better, more prag·matic, more sensit.ive job of metro·politan planning in Calcutta." Whilewe do not wish to enter into contro"versy on the quality of the Basic De·velopment Plan or other Plans pre-pared by the CMPO (which inci-dentally have been commended fortheir realism and technical qualityby a large number of experts andgeneral observers both in India andabroad), kindly permit us to clarifythe following points:-

(I) No money has been advancedby the Government of WestBengaL to the Ford Founda·tion who have acted as Consul·tants for the Calcutta plan-ning job.

(2) The small number of Ameri·can Consultants attached tothe CMPO have been function·ing merely as technical Consul·tants, and the plans preparedby the CMPO al'e primarilythe work of the inter-discipli-nary team of Indian techni·cians and experts. On the reoverse of Page iii of the BasicDevelopment Plan, you willfind a list which shows the

29

cI810n to increase the tram fare.Third, the blown-up clash between I

Sikhs and Bengalis. It seems that theforces which are bent on thwartingthe UF Ministry are following thestrategy what the ABM experts calla rip"pled attack. These are the firstripples sent to draw out a~d exh~u.stthe capacity of the fledglll1g Mll11S-try; the wave is yet to come.

The credit for restoring peace inCalcutta legitimately goes to peoplewho resisted the temptation to saveBengalis in Bengal and who coaxed,in trying circumstances, the tempes-tuous to pipe down. The cronies arefrustrated, they made a sewer out attheir sweat but could not bathe init. A judicial enquiry has been com-missioned and along with. the Con-gress advocates many other peoplewill be waiting to know how the en-chantment with women in Baghmariwas sublimated (or call it what you"will) into an enchantment with re-

I was an eye-witness to an incident ligion. .which occurred on March 29 on the One question has remained unans-precincts of Calcutta University. wered in spite of the deliberati?nsWhen the situation took a grim turn, in the Assembly. There was nothll1gthe students"of the University gather- wrong in allowing people who goted at the gate facing College Square worked up over religion to make aand raised slogans against the riot and silent march. But how was it thattried to pacify the agitated, asking devout Sikhs with white flowingthem to correctly handle the "con- beards who joined the marcherstradictions among the people". l'hey along with those who tried to flashpointed out that there was an attempt a few rusty swords got mixed up withon the part of the beleagured Con- real crooks who had murder in theirgress party to sabotage the UF Gov- eyes? It was a Sikh who preventedernrnent and vitiate the progressive the mob from surging in on shopsatmosphere in West Bengal. "Sudden- and looting but the same crowd con-ly a few enraged students belonging. tained a few who made a free use ofto a Congress-affiliated students' orga- lathis, rifles and of course those ridi-nisation hurried to the spot and be- culous-Iooking swords. And what didgaB to condemn the efforts of the the Police Commissioner do apartother to restore peace and urged all from keeping company with theto take it out on the Sikhs. They Chief Minister? Not so long ago,manhandled some siudents and tried College Street was choked with po-to create pandemonIUm at the meet- licemen at dead of night to lift a fewing. Fortunately, nobody paid any unarmed student picketers. How washeed to them. it that this time the en tire length

Progressive students should take the of Harrison Road' was free-for-issue of communalism very seriously all for two full hours? Whyand do everything possible to create were a few policemen posteda psychologIcal teeling of oneness there with nothing but batonsamong. the people both inside and to stand there, unarmed, patheticallyoutside their educational compounds. helpless, to be roughened by the mill-,Distribution of handbills is an imme- ing crowds? The police high-upsdiate need. Street meetings in dif- owe three explanations; they mustferent places should be organised by explain to the citizens of Calcuttathe students. why in spite of the reported an-

lJ.,tA STUDENTOF CALCUTTA nouncement that the police had beenf/ • UNIVERSITY ordereu to take strong action in case

rvJ...w.~ ~ violence erupted, there was no arm- .First, it was the scare of iQdustrial ed guards even when everybody knew

unrest. Second, eTC's unilateral de- that Sikhs carried lethal weapons:

Lettersv<March

AP

ItUniBen:to a

(3

WyouforematialwaeyerCM]

APRIL 7, 1967

CMPOWith reference to the statement

appearing in your issue dated M.arch24, 1967 on Page 4 that the Instituteof Public Administration, New Yorkis supposed to provide advice to theCMPO, I am to state on behalf of theCMPO that the Institute of PublicAdminjstration, New York have notacted as advisors to the CMPO norare they doing so now, nor are they"supposed" to do so. A few yearsback the Institute had conducted aresearch programme on Calcutta, andpublished a few reports on their owninitiative. But they did not, and donot now act as Consultants or advi·'lars to the CMPO.

In the last para of your above re-port, it has been stated that "localtalent, if it were furnished with ev,tnone-twentieth of the funds that wereadvanced to the Americans in theCMPO, would, we have no doubt,have done a much better, more prag·matic, more sensitive job of metro-politan planning in Calcutta." Whilewe do not wish to enter into contro·versy on the quality of the Basic De·velopment Plan or other Plans pre-pared by the CMPO (which inci·dentally have been commended fortheir realism and technical qualityby a large number of experts andgeneral observers both in India andabroad), kindly permit us to clarifythe following points:-

(I) No money has been advancedby the Government of WestBengaL to the Ford Founda·tion who have acted as Consul-tants for the Calcutta plan-ning job.

(2) The small number of Ameri-can Consultants attached tothe CMPO have been function-ing merely as technical Consul·tants, and the plans preparedby the CMPO al'e primarilythe work of the inter-discipli.nary team of Indian techni-cians and expert~. On the reoverse of Page iii of the BasicDevelopment Plan, you willfind a list which shows the

they must explain to their subordi-nates why they were thrown at themercy of the mob and not allowed touse arms even in self-defence; theymust explain to the Chief Ministerthat they are not unfit for their jobs.

PULAK DECalcutta

29

20

cllSIOn to increase the tram fare.Third, the blown-up clash between I

Sikhs and Bengalis. It seems that ~heforces which are bent on thwartmgthe UF Ministry are following thestrategy what the ABM experts calla rippled attack. These are the firstripples sent to draw out and exhaustthe capacity of the fledgling Minis-try; the wave is yet to come.

The credit for restoring peace inCalcutta legitimately goes to peoplewho resisted the temptation to saveBengalis in Bengal and who coaxed,in trying circumstances, the tempes-tuous to pipe down. The cronies arefrustrated, they made a sewer out attheir sweat but could not bathe init. A judicial enquiry has 'been com-missioned and along with, the Con-gress advocates many other peoplewill be waiting to know how the en-chantment with women in Baghmariwas sublimated (or call it what you'will) into an enchantment with re-

I was an eye-witness to an incident ligion. .which occurred on March 29 on the One question has remained unans-precincts of Calcutta University. wered in spite of the deliberati?nsWhen the situation took a grim turn, in the Assembly. There was nothmgthe students' of the University gather- wrong in allowing people who goted at the gate facing College Square worked up over religion to make aand raised slogans against the riot and silent march. But how was it thattried to pacify the agitated, asking devout Sikhs with white flowingthem to correctly handle the "con- beards who joined the marcherstradictions among the people". 1;'hey along with those who tried to flashpointed out that there was an attempt a few rusty swords got mixed up withon the part of the beleagured Con- real crooks who had murder in theirgress party to sabotage the UF Gov- eyes? It was a Sikh who preventedernrnent and vitiate the progressive the mob from surging in on shopsatmosphere in West BengaL Sudden- and looting but the same crowd con-ly a few enraged students belonging tained a few who made a free use ofto a Congress-affiliated students' orga- lathis, rifles and of course those ridi-nisation hurried to the spot and be- culous-Iooking swords. And what didgan to condemn the efforts of the the Police Commissioner do apartother to restore peace and urged all from keeping company with the~o take it out on the Sikhs. They Chief Minister? Not so long ago,manhandled some s"fudents and tried College Street was choked with po-to create pandemOnIum at the meet- licemen at dead of night to lift a fewing. Fortunately, nobody paid any unarmed student picketers. How washeed to them. it that this time the entire length

Progressive students should take the of Harrison Road' was free-for-issue of communalism very seriously all for two full hours? Whyand do everything possible to create were a few policemen posteda psychologIcal teeling of oneness there with nothing but batonsamong. the people both inside and to stand there, unarmed, patheticallyoutside their educational compounds. helpless, to be roughened by the mill-.Distribution of handbills is an imme- ing crowds? The police high-upsdiate need. Street meetings in dif- owe three explanations; they mustferent places should be organised by explain to the citizens of Calcuttathe students. why in spite of the reported an-wA STUDENTOF CALCUTTA noun cement that the police had beenf/ • UNIVERSITY orderell to take strong action in caser~~ ~ violence erupted, there was no arm-.

First, it was the scare of iQdustrial ed guards even when everybody knewunrest. Second, eTC's unilateral de- that Sikhs carried lethal weapons;

Lettersv",March

we enjoy the right to enter a world,peopled by virile men and beautifuldames-in which open sesame couldget us plenty of gold, slaves coulddance and sing and joke, cobblerscould sew a thoroughly chopped man-a world in which virtue inevitablytriumphed I This was an unrealworld but how enchanting it was!

Now, thanks to Nabarupa's effron-tery, this generation has lost a uto-pia. I shouldn't have taken the risk.I should have remembered that nos-talgia in this rationalistic world isunwelcome. I went to recapture thefeeling of a vision or a waking dream,I returned with a question: was it ahallucination or a nightmare?

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1967

heavily with idealist political thoughtand theories. The committee wantsthe inclusion of the history of theevolution of materialist science and

• its theories and applications.It wants a balance between Wes-

tern political developments and thehistory of the anti-imperialist strugglesand socialist construction program-mes I of the Afro-Asian and LatinAmerican countries.

The committee points out that. studies of constitutional law are in-

complete without any knowledge ofthe social, political and economicrealities.

The committee protests againstuseless repetitions and unscientificoverlappings in the present syllabus.

KRITYAPRIYA GHOSHl)...Member, De~ocratic Committee,II Political Science, Cal. University

Peace CorpsNews of CIA ,activities in India

are receiving some prominence innewspapers, the immediate factor be-ing the Svetlana affair. Such stories,carrying as they do a romanticflavour, have their chief 'merit' indiverting our attention from areaswhere foreign espionage operatesmore surreptitiously. •

What about the Peace Corps-U.S. boys and girls working in re-mote villages in this country, teach-ing the ignorant folk methods ofpoultry farming and all that? Don'tthese boys and girls collect informa-tion at the village level?

The Peace Corps which was form-ed in 1963 was later integrated withthe In ternational Secretariat for Yo-lunteer Service (ISYS). ISYS has novolunteer corps of its own and actsin cooperation with West Germany,Israel, Holland and the U.S. PeaceCorps. It functions through two re-gional bureaus with headquarters atthe Hague and Buenos Aires which,incidentally, are also the co-ordinat-ing centres of the CIA. On the 29thof this month ISYS began itsannual general session in New Delhi.T.he venue suggests, if not anythingelse, at least the benevolent attitudeof the Government of India to suchorganisations.

Even the neighbouring State, Pa-kistan, which has been generallyknown to be less sensitive to West-ern infiltrations, had to take -actionagainst the Peace Corps when its ac-

NOW

tivities began assuming dangerousproportions.

JAYANTA BHATTACHARYACalcutta

CultureMr Mohim Roodra points Out in

his letter (Now, March 24) that "APolitical and Cultural Weekly" is nota correct description of your journal.He is wrong. He does not perhapsappreciate that like Maoist China youare initiating a "cultural revolution"through suspension of culture andeducation.

I do not, however, quite under-stand how you can accept the patron-age of arch-capitalist advertisers whileconsistently supporting the Chinesebrand of Communism .. Can't you getsome advertisements from revolution-ary and progressive organisations?

A READERCalcutta

DarlingIn your issue of March 17, A Film

Critic writes of Darling: "But some-how the emotional content is lack-ing and' the director is too. muchcarried away by the lure of cmema-tic pokerwork to probe the patholo-gical yearning of the central charac-ter for love and male company".Are love and male company twodifferent things here or do they standtogether for male love? Also, as. Iremember the film, is the yearningof the central character pathological,or is that term more ,properly appli-cable to the morbid state producedin her by character and circums-tances?

The emotional content of the filmis not lacking but is itself a want, theend feeling a deep mortification. Isnot this the very result aimed at,brought about because we have iden-tified ourselves with the central cha-racter?

I never thought about the directionthroughout the film, or about thesuperb technique or the cinematicpokerwork. Only a good directorcan be so unremarkable, and onlyfine actors can help to make him so.

JOHN CARRAUCalcatta

lJ RetrenchmentMr J. Mohan . (Calcutta Diary,

March 24) has made a timely refer-

ence to the general recession in theengineering industry, which calls for,as he suggests, urgent governmentalaction. But I am afraid that in thepresent situation a tripartite meetingwill not yield long-term results be·cause the participants at the propos-ed meeting are neither responsible forthe present recession nor have theyany control over forces which can helprecovery. For some time, a voluntarycut in establishment expenses, mana-gerial remuneration and wages mayserve as an alternative to retrench-ment but obiviously these are no so-lution to the problem. While thebig industries are suffering from lackof demand owing to the absoluteshrinkage in expansion programmes,the small fry are thrown out of themarket thanks to the abnormal risein the cost of production. To add tothis, a large number of skilled andtechnically qualified young men andwomen are joining the vast army ofjob seekers. Since the industrialistsand the workers are in no position toregulate the demand for the finishedgoods and the supply of raw mate-rials, a tripartite conference will besheer waste of time and energy. Atripartite conference may, however,help the industrialists to ward offthis fear about the present govern-ment who may, in turn, have a frankdialogue with the respresentations oflabour and management about itsfuture labour policy.

An export-oriented pragmatic in-dustrial policy backed by a 'viableand practical' programme is thecrying need of the hour which theCentral Government alone canframe.

SAMIRGATI RAYCalcutta

For NOW contactMr Mahadeb Das12, Chandra Sekhar Mukherjee. Road

P. O. KhagraBerhampur

For NOW contactMr Sunil Kumar MohantaKhadimpurP. O. BalurghatWest Dinajpur

APRIL 7, 1967

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