Campaign On Alternative Politics Ends With Mock Hanging Of Traitors

The Osongothito Khetra Shramik Sangrami Mancha and Right to Food and Work Campaign- West Bengal jointly organized a mass gathering in Plassey in Nadia on October 9 at the end of their campaign that started on  September 26. The purpose of the campaign was to raise their voice in support of an alternative politics which makes the empowerment of the working class and their demands the moving force of politics and governance.

The campaign focuses on people’s rights and democracy. It calls for the unity of working people above caste, creed and religion. It aims to stop the rule of goons and demands the right to a life of dignity, which includes a universal guarantee for food, health, education, housing and work. A state-wide campaign program,e including motor cycle rallies, street corners, padayatras and mass contact programmes, along with distributing leaflets and posters, took place in different parts of Bengal, starting from September 26.

The participants began motorcycle rallies from the Assam border, Orissa border, Bangladesh border and Jharkhand border from October 1 and made their way to Krishnanagar after facing ruling party hooligans in Keshpur and police harassment in Baruipur on  October 8 .In the process, the campaign covered almost all 19 districts in West Bengal and travelled 1,300-1,400 km in the State.

On the following day, about 2,000 people, including 180 people who had been on the campaign trial, reached Plassey to identify the modern day Mir Jafars. Mir Jafar was originally responsible for India’s defeat at the hand of British at Plassey and is considered one of the great traitors in Indian history. For a symbolic protest, they gathered in a field near Plassey station and took part in a mock trial to penalise the modern day Mir Jafars.

Before the trial started, the leaders of the Mancha addressed the gathering. The Mancha consists of about 20 unions of unorganized sector, which is the largest and most deprived working sector of the country involving 94% of workers. Bela Adak President of PBKMS (Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity) and Jagganath Das, General Secretary of Shramajivi Samanvay Committee spoke about the terror and discrimination faced by unorganised sector workers in their work place as well as homes. 

Anuradha Talwar, leader of PBKMS and Somnath Ghosh, leader of Hosiery Workers’ Union and convenor of the Manch, pointed out the success of the week-long campaign that took place in North Bengal in Doars where the tea garden owners had bowed to the demand of the workers for 20% bonus.

They also spoke of the success with which the participants in the rally had stood against ruling party terror at various places. Sanjay Poria, President and leader of West Bengal Civic Police Association, talked about their plight in not being appointed to the job which they rightfully deserved and the discriminatory behavior on the part of the police department. Sanjay has been under surveillance of the police and intelligence department for his organised protest against the injustice of the government to the civic volunteers. 

The civic volunteers are a huge number of unemployed  youth who have been provided with low wages and face dismissal and police brutality at the slightest attempt to protest about their terrible working conditions. On this day, following his speech, two police vans full of force reached the spot and there was tension that he might be arrested.

Following the speeches which ended with a great round of applause, the assembly participated in the mock trial to identify the modern traitors in politics. As the notion of alternative politics advocates for the right of people to dislodge the elected representatives from power if they are proved to be inefficient in working for the welfare of the people and to keep the elected representative under continuous monitoring, the assembly passed judgment on the basis of popular unanimity that the political leaders, administrators, bureaucrats, police and all the administrative officials had behaved treacherously with them.

Some of them played the role of political leaders, elected representatives, capitalists, bureaucrats and police while some were the people’s judges. The gathering agreed that these people had failed to perform their duty and they hade let the people down, therefore they deserved highest penalty. 

They also expressed their unanimous opinion to hang these modern day Mir Jafars and an act of mock death penalty was performed by hanging a straw effigy. The meeting ended with a pledge to fight these modern day Mir Jafars and to strengthen the unity of the working people.