By Prakash Karat
THE birth centenary of an outstanding
Communist leader like Jyoti Basu should be an occasion to make an appraisal of
the significant contributions made through the life and work of the leader and
to draw up a balance sheet of the lessons and achievements of his political
career. It must then be used to educate
the new generation of Communists and progressives, so that it helps them in
their ongoing endeavour for a social transformation.
Jyoti Basu became a legend as a Communist
leader in his life time. No other leader
of the Communist movement was known and respected by the people all over the
country as much as Jyoti Basu. How did this come about?
Jyoti Basu’s name was synonymous with all the
major currents of Left politics and the basic class movements. Throughout his life as a Communist, he was
associated with the working class movement.
After he came back from Britain, he joined the Communist Party and
straight away began work in the railway workers trade union. Till his last
years, he remained a leader of the CITU.
He became a symbol of the peasant movement
when he utilised the United Front government of 1967-70 to unleash the land
struggles and when he, as chief minister of the Left Front government,
undertook the extreme land reform measures.
So his political activity involved both the worker and peasant movements.
One of the distinctive contributions of Jyoti
Basu was the way he integrated work in
the legislature with the people's movements
and workers struggles outside.
Jyoti Basu was elected to the Bengal legislature from a railway
constituency in 1946 before independence.
From then onwards, for more than five decades, he effectively utilised
his presence in the legislature for developing and strengthening the Party's
influence and movements outside. When the Tebhaga movement of the peasantry
began in 1947, Jyoti Basu extensively toured the districts where the movement
was taking place for a first hand report and raised the issue effectively in
the assembly.
In 1953, he became the secretary of the
Provincial Committee of the CPI and continued in this post till 1961. During these eight years, big movements took
place such as the food movement of 1959 in which 80 people were killed in
police firing and lathicharges. Jyoti Basu,
as secretary of the Party, was in the forefront of this movement while relentlessly
raising the demands of the people on food inside the assembly.
Earlier, when the school teachers' strike
took place in February 1954, many leaders of the school teachers association
and the Party were arrested. There was a
warrant for the arrest of Jyoti Basu and the police kept a vigil outside the
assembly on the opening day of the session to arrest him. Jyoti Basu managed to enter the assembly and
stayed for around a week inside the premises
where the police could not
enter. He was able to raise the
issue of the teachers strike inside the assembly and came out to attend the
teachers rally and got arrested. Here
was a striking example of how Jyoti Basu, as a legislator, utilised the
assembly to champion the cause of the working people.
Jyoti Basu was a man of great personal
courage. In July 1969, when he was the
home minister, a mob of policeman invaded the assembly building, having been
instigated to do so after a policeman was killed in a clash. They smashed up furniture inside the assembly
and entered Jyoti Basu's room. Jyoti Basu calmly faced the rampaging policemen
and firmly told them to stop such behaviour.
Taken aback by his composure, the
policemen quietly left his room.
It was Jyoti Basu who showed how Communist
participation in the state government should be utilised to strengthen the
democratic movement. During the two
stints of the United Front government between 1967-1970, as the home minister,
he did not allow the police to intervene in the struggles of the workers and
the peasants. During the land struggle
which swept West Bengal, Jyoti Basu declared that the government would not obstruct the
peasants who were identifying the benami lands and taking them over. It is this
experience which helped the CPI(M) to formulate its approach and tactics while
working in the state governments.
The biggest contribution of Jyoti Basu came
with the formation of the Left Front government in 1977, of which he became the
chief minister. The remarkable record of
the Left Front government for over three decades owes a lot to Jyoti Basu's leadership of the government for an unbroken 23 years.
It was under his stewardship that the road map for land reforms was chalked out
and implemented. These path-breaking
reforms led to 1.1 million acres of land being
distributed to 2.5 million landless and marginal farmers and 1.53
million bargadars (sharecroppers) being registered and provided security of tenure.
Side by side with the land reforms, the
three-tier panchayat system revitalised by decentralisation of powers was
instituted. Much before the 73rd and 74th
constitutional amendments, West Bengal showed the way in democratising
the panchayat system.
An achievement which is taken for granted
today is the establishment of a secular atmosphere in the state. Bengal, before independence, witnessed the
rise of communal politics and partition saw large-scale communal violence. But
the advance of the Left movement and the establishment of the Left Front
government laid the basis for a major transformation. Jyoti Basu symbolised the firm adherence to
secularism not only in West Bengal but the entire country. All minorities felt protected and lived free
from communal attacks. The whole country
praised the firm stand of Jyoti Basu which prevented any attack on the Sikh
minority in West Bengal after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
Semi-fascist terror was unleashed in West
Bengal during the 1970s. More than 1200 comrades were killed during this period
and thousands were forced to leave their homes.
Repression by the class enemies have to be faced by the Communist
movement at various times. How successfully such repression and violence is
faced determines the future of the movement.
Under the leadership of Jyoti Basu and Promode Dasgupta, the Party
withstood this severe attack and did not get isolated from the people. Today, when the Party and the Left Front is
again facing severe attacks in West Bengal, the example of Jyoti Basu’s mature
leadership at such a juncture should be a guiding light.
For seven decades, Jyoti Basu as a Communist
saw various ups and downs in the international Communist movement. But his commitment to Marxism never
wavered. Till the end he believed that
socialism is the only alternative for humanity.
In the practice and development of the
Communist movement in India, Jyoti Basu played a key role in many aspects. On
how Communists should work in
legislatures; in implementing land reforms; in decentralising power through the
panchayati raj system; in defending secularism and democracy. Few leaders in independent India can claim to
have contributed to defending the rights
of the working people, deepening
democracy and strengthening the secular principle as much as Jyoti Basu has
done.
The year long birth centenary celebrations
should commemorate this glorious life and work.
No comments:
Post a Comment