October
4: Number of rallies increase to three
October 5:
Rally attacked by ruling party goons at Keshpur
October 6:
Mass meeting in Baruipur, South 24 Parganas
October 7:
Rally from South 24 Parganas broken up by police
October
7: Agreement signed on Rally’s demand for 20% bonus for tea garden workers
- Closed
gardens owned by Duncans visited
- Deputations
to District Magistrates in Purulia, Midnapore, Bankura and North 24 Parganas
On
October 4, while the rally in North Bengal that had started its journey from
the Assam border continued its campaigning in the tea gardens of the Doars,
another rally started from the Orissa border with 20 motorcycles, a pick up van
with microphone set and a jeep. There were about 75 people in this rally.
This
rally was attacked at Keshpur block on October 5 by goons of the Trinamool
Congress (TMC) late in the evening. We received reports from the morning of TMC
goons gathering at various places to stop the rally, and we were also told by
the villagers who were hosting us, that they had been warned against keeping us
in their village for the night. Despite this, after successfully campaigning in
Keshpur town, the villagers insisted that the rally come to their areas..
The
rally had a police escort with it from the time it entered Keshpur. It headed
for Bibekpur village in the neighbouring Anandapur PS At Gameria, a village
from which the rally turned off the main road for Bibekpur village, a mob of
150 people, shouting slogans eulogising the TMC and Mamata Banerjee attacked
the rally with an improvised bomb. The rally broke into two parts and one
motorcycle with three riders was taken off the route by the mob. These three
people were told to leave the area immediately by the mob. One of the – an old
man of about 55 years – was also slapped. The police helped the rest of the
rally bikes and the two vehicles to cross the area. Later the mob on about
25-30 motorcycles chased the rally till it reached Bibekpur village . Entry
into the village was blocked by the police jeep and our jeep.
An hour
of slogan shouting, calling us “Harmads” ( a word commonly used for CPM goons),
followed. An inflammatory speech by a local TMC leader, Tanoy Dandpat, followed
, with slogans of “Go Back”. The rallyists began informing the press and senior
party leaders of the TMC. They contacted the DM also. Later, the Home Secretary
was contacted by friends from Delhi. Within an hour or so, things calmed down.
The
villagers who had disappeared into their houses during the terror slowly came
out of their houses, brought lights for their guests and made arrangements for
their stay. The primary school where the rallyists were to stay was locked up
by the goons. Villagers were told that if anyone allowed the rallyists to sleep
on their verandahs or in their houses , their houses would be looted the next
day.A good dinner which was being cooked all the time the trouble was going on
was served and we were helped to our beds. The next day, the villagers kept
expressing fear about reprisals after we left. Three to four families from
Keshpur reported that their shops had been forcibly shut down because of their
involvement with the rally. We therefore went and lodged complaints with OCs of
both police stations before leaving the area.
The
rally covered an excruciating distance of almost 150 km from Bibekpur in
Paschim Midnapore to Purba Khanpur Bamanpara. The roads were terrible, and the
motorcyclists , many of whom have never travelled long distance found it
exhausting. The journey seemed never-ending especially as a large part of it
had to be covered in the dark.
An extra
bonus was a tea stop at a village in Burdwan, where the local people began
talking to the rallyists. Many were sympathetic and though it was almost 9
o’clock at night, a crowd gathered around. We managed to sell a number of the
small booklets we had printed for the campaign
The
North Bengal rally travelled through the closed Duncans gardens of Hantapara,
Gairganda, Dumchipara, Tulsipara and Lankapara, expressing its solidarity with
the starving people of the closed gardens on the 4th. They held a
meeting with men and women from Lankapara tea garden, where they were hosted by
the local unit of Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, with the local Panchayat
from GJM, Dumbar Tamang in the lead.
The rally was received at
Birpara by Sunil, Secretary of the Birpara Taxi Union, who also organised
snacks for the rallyists. In Chowpati, Birapara there was a street corner
meeting. The idea of alternative politics and the demands of tea garden workers
were explained in this meeting. After this meeting, the rally travelled through
different tea gardens in Birpara, and Dhupguri and reached Champaguri bazar in
the evening, where rallyists were again received by the local people and a
meeting were organised by the local activists. Nearly 150 people were present
in the meeting. Then, in the night, the rally headed for Neyaselli tea garden
for the night stay. On October 5, the North Bengal rally covered Chalsa. Here
in a public meeting Kiran Kalindi from PPWU and Sushovon Dhar from Osongohito
Shromik Songrami Manch explained the demands of the campaign and the idea of
alternative politics.
After this, the rally campaigned in Batabari then Nowera
Nudy Tea Gardens, both owned by the Tatas. The latter garden has recently been
the site for a clash between workers belonging to the PPWU and some goons from
the TMC. The clash was instigated by management to avoid discussion on the
workers’ charter of demands the next day. Sixteen people from PPWU have a false
case against them at the moment . The rally participants addressed this issue.
The rally went around the tea garden and addressed a public meeting in the
market. With this public meeting they ended their long journey of about 275
kilometres.
The
rally from Orissa border had started from Ainkula in Dantan 1 block at 11:40
a.m. on October 4. On this day the rally campaigned through different blocks
like Mohanpur, Dantan-1 and Dantan-2 and addressed public meeting on their way
to Kharagpur. The campaign and speeches at Kharagpur evoked much interest. At
Kharagpur , they visited seven villages in the area surrounding Changaul.
On October 4, a third rally
where the motorcycles had started from the Jharkhand border joined the
campaign. The next day, they gave a deputation to the District Magistrate
Purulia, and then proceeded towards Bankura, staying the night at
Chhatna. On October 6, they joined rallyists in Bankura to meet the District
Magistrate Bankura, while a cultural team performed outside the DM’s office.
This rally travelled through extensive areas of Purulia, Bankura and Burdwan
districts on October 4,5 and 6. They were pleased to find that people listened
to their ideas of alternative politics and people’s rights. Our campaign on the
non-implementation of National Food Security Act and NREGA was also well received.
They finally met up with the rally from the Orissa border in a small village in
Burdwan. The rally was now almost a kilometre long
Ironically despite all the
attacks by party goons and the antipathy shown by TMC supporters to the red
flags of the rally, the rally on October 6 was hosted at the house and village
of the Food Minister Jyotipriya Mullick. His elder brother, Dr. Debopriyo
Mullick made all the arrangements and also ensured our security.
On October 7, this huge rally
met members of Udayani Social Action Forum at Masagram in Burdwan . A day-long
campaign with members of the self-help groups in this area followed. Heavy rain
and counting for the by-elections at the BDO office meant they could not make a
deputation to the BDO at Pandua as planned earlier.
On October 7, the rally met with resistance from the
police who broke up our state-wide campaign at Baruipur. The motorcycle rally
was stopped early in the morning by police from the Baruipur Police Station,
when they were about to proceed from the place where they had stayed on the
night of October 5 at Sashan after a successful day of campaigning at Baruipur.
Motorcycles and the jeep which had the microphone that
were being used for the campaign were not even allowed to get on to the
road. The excuse given by the police has been that the motorcycle rally
did not have “permission”. As far as we know, no such law exists banning motor
cycle or other rallies or processions in South 24 Parganas district.
The police threatened to take away the papers of all the
motorcycles and the pick-up with microphone that was with the rally. Police
also insisted that banners be taken off and that the microphone be removed. All
this is illegal and much beyond the powers that the police have.
It should be mentioned that the police, including DGP
Police, and all concerned SPs from all districts through which the rally is
passing were informed about the route of the rally, number of participants on
motor cycles, stoppages, chief places of campaigning and major programmes on September
29, 2015. No information or feedback has been received from the police till
date about the illegality of the programme. Also, the programme has been going
on for six days without any such information.
On October 6, a rally also started from the Bangladesh
border near Hasnabad in North 24 Parganas and travelled to Badu while
campaigning on the way. The rally campaigned in Barasat the district
headquarters the next day and gave a deputation to the District Magistrate.
It however did not enter the city of Kolkata as previously
planned as there was fear that the police would seize their motorcycles as they
had done at Baruipur that morning.
Today – on October 8- we are now
proceeding towards Krishnanagar in Naida, where all rallies will meet to
proceed to Plassey tomorrow for the culmination of the rally.
There
has been good news in the meantime. Tea garden workers after completing the
rally in their area came for negotiations to Kolkata on October 6 and 7 for
their yearly bonus. This was the third round of negotiations. Progressive
Plantation Workers Union and the United Tea Workers Front managed to fight
along with other unions for a 20% bonus and late at night the bonus agreement
was signed.
