In their remarkable exposition of historical materialism, Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels proclaim that ultimately ‘The State will wither away’. Alas, for the Indian ‘Marxists’ any semblance of dialectics, the art of investigating or debating the truth of opinions – the process by which the authors of Marxism refined age-old materialistic thoughts into logical ‘dialectical materialism’, of late, seems to be withering!
So it seems from the political line taken by the Tamil Nadu State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the recent times. There were two discordant reports in newspapers about the party on June 7, one that the party organized a rally in Tharangambadi against the proposed thermal plant projects along the coastal areas of Tiruvarur district. The party has decided to announce a blockade and sit-in protests on the very lands ‘bought’ for the project. The Rs.7,200 crore thermal power project proposed to be set up by M/s. Chettinadu Power Corporation Private Ltd., over an area of 750 acres envisages use of imported coal form Indonesia that would also entail a captive jetty 1300 km from the shore. Altogether there are proposals to set up over six thermal power plants each with proposed captive jetties or ports to dock ships with imported coal. The CPI(M) (along with the ADMK) has claimed that the public hearings in connection with these projects have “seen combined opposition from agriculturists, dalits, fisherfolk and environmentalists.” This party has track record of opposing any industrial development project proposed in Tamil Nadu, under the DMK rule, including the Tata Titanium project in Thoothukudi district where it served the illegal mine mafia.
Leaving aside Jayalalitha’s ADMK, can the CPM and CPI, claiming themselves to be pan-India parties, have two different policies and yardsticks for West Bengal and Tamil Nadu? All these noises made by the CPM here were heard earlier in West Bengal during the last 3-4 years, ostensibly claiming to represent ‘the combined opposition from agriculturists, fisherfolk, dalits, minorities and environmentalists’ and dubbed by its leaders from Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury to N.Varadarajan and G.Ramakrishnan, as those of ‘vested political interests in alliance with anti-development extremists and religious fundamentalists.’
The CPM leaders may refresh their memories by reading again the statements made by their leaders, politburo and articles in their party organ ‘People’s Democracy’ wherein they had denounced the opposition to the proposals to set up a chemical hub at Nandigram by Indonesian based Salim Group and the Tata Nano car project at Singur. They used not only very strong epithets such as ‘attempts sought to be made to gain public acceptance’ ‘to stage a political come back’ ‘ground level mobilization by strange bedfellows’ etc.; but also the ruling CPM in West Bengal, it was vividly reported in national media – both print and electronic – armed its cadre to work in tandem with the police force in the beginning and independently later, to let loose violence against protesters and suppress the resistance. All these modes of protests like blockade, sit-in dharnas in the lands now announced by that party in Tamil Nadu were earlier staged by the opposition in West Bengal which were denounced by the CPM and sought to be suppressed by violent means. Unlike in Tamil Nadu where the private companies which propose to set up thermal projects and the Titanium project ‘bought’ lands from landowners, in West Bengal the government ‘acquired’ lands from the farmers (they were also fertile agricultural lands). The CPM-led government in West Bengal did not conduct any public hearing at the places of proposed projects, whereas the DMK government makes it a point to organize such gatherings to elicit the opinions and apprehensions of all sections of people and officials give clarifications and convince them. But the CPM cadre joined hands with ADMK hooligans in creating unruly scenes and pandemonium in such meetings. The DMK government did not resort to any oppressive measures using the police force nor the partymen armed to terrorise protesters, but gave up many futuristic schemes and projects like Satellite city for Chennai, Greenfield airport at Sriperumpudur, Titanium project etc., where it could have a mobilized people in support of such schemes and projects, in its concern for preserving social harmony.
The CPI(M) at the national level, seems to be in dire need of some agitation or the other to keep its ranks intact diverting their attention from their concern for the future of the party after its poor show in the Lok Sabha elections last year and the humiliating rout it faced in the recently held civil polls in West Bengal; and in Tamil Nadu from the mental agony of the cadre following the sudden disappearance and ‘suicide’ of one of its top Trade Union leader in the state and the exposure of the disconcerting missives he had sent to the Central leadership prior to the fatal end.
No development and progress in the society is possible without some discomfiture and dislocation for some people. A government’s sincerity lies in its efforts to minimize such discomforts and ensure resettlement and rehabilitation of the affected people in the larger interests of the State, society and its people as a whole.
The power requirement of the State is well known to all the people – the farmers, workers et al. Within a year after the DMK assumed office, because of its proactive measures the State received proposals for setting up of power projects with 28,725 MW capacity from 15 companies till September 2007. If only all these projects had fructified, the State would have had surplus power. The people who are silently witnessing the protests made by saboteurs of such futuristic projects and grumbling among themselves, will definitely teach lesson to them (the opposition) when their (people’s) turn comes during the Assembly elections in 2011. rv
So it seems from the political line taken by the Tamil Nadu State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the recent times. There were two discordant reports in newspapers about the party on June 7, one that the party organized a rally in Tharangambadi against the proposed thermal plant projects along the coastal areas of Tiruvarur district. The party has decided to announce a blockade and sit-in protests on the very lands ‘bought’ for the project. The Rs.7,200 crore thermal power project proposed to be set up by M/s. Chettinadu Power Corporation Private Ltd., over an area of 750 acres envisages use of imported coal form Indonesia that would also entail a captive jetty 1300 km from the shore. Altogether there are proposals to set up over six thermal power plants each with proposed captive jetties or ports to dock ships with imported coal. The CPI(M) (along with the ADMK) has claimed that the public hearings in connection with these projects have “seen combined opposition from agriculturists, dalits, fisherfolk and environmentalists.” This party has track record of opposing any industrial development project proposed in Tamil Nadu, under the DMK rule, including the Tata Titanium project in Thoothukudi district where it served the illegal mine mafia.
Leaving aside Jayalalitha’s ADMK, can the CPM and CPI, claiming themselves to be pan-India parties, have two different policies and yardsticks for West Bengal and Tamil Nadu? All these noises made by the CPM here were heard earlier in West Bengal during the last 3-4 years, ostensibly claiming to represent ‘the combined opposition from agriculturists, fisherfolk, dalits, minorities and environmentalists’ and dubbed by its leaders from Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury to N.Varadarajan and G.Ramakrishnan, as those of ‘vested political interests in alliance with anti-development extremists and religious fundamentalists.’
The CPM leaders may refresh their memories by reading again the statements made by their leaders, politburo and articles in their party organ ‘People’s Democracy’ wherein they had denounced the opposition to the proposals to set up a chemical hub at Nandigram by Indonesian based Salim Group and the Tata Nano car project at Singur. They used not only very strong epithets such as ‘attempts sought to be made to gain public acceptance’ ‘to stage a political come back’ ‘ground level mobilization by strange bedfellows’ etc.; but also the ruling CPM in West Bengal, it was vividly reported in national media – both print and electronic – armed its cadre to work in tandem with the police force in the beginning and independently later, to let loose violence against protesters and suppress the resistance. All these modes of protests like blockade, sit-in dharnas in the lands now announced by that party in Tamil Nadu were earlier staged by the opposition in West Bengal which were denounced by the CPM and sought to be suppressed by violent means. Unlike in Tamil Nadu where the private companies which propose to set up thermal projects and the Titanium project ‘bought’ lands from landowners, in West Bengal the government ‘acquired’ lands from the farmers (they were also fertile agricultural lands). The CPM-led government in West Bengal did not conduct any public hearing at the places of proposed projects, whereas the DMK government makes it a point to organize such gatherings to elicit the opinions and apprehensions of all sections of people and officials give clarifications and convince them. But the CPM cadre joined hands with ADMK hooligans in creating unruly scenes and pandemonium in such meetings. The DMK government did not resort to any oppressive measures using the police force nor the partymen armed to terrorise protesters, but gave up many futuristic schemes and projects like Satellite city for Chennai, Greenfield airport at Sriperumpudur, Titanium project etc., where it could have a mobilized people in support of such schemes and projects, in its concern for preserving social harmony.
The CPI(M) at the national level, seems to be in dire need of some agitation or the other to keep its ranks intact diverting their attention from their concern for the future of the party after its poor show in the Lok Sabha elections last year and the humiliating rout it faced in the recently held civil polls in West Bengal; and in Tamil Nadu from the mental agony of the cadre following the sudden disappearance and ‘suicide’ of one of its top Trade Union leader in the state and the exposure of the disconcerting missives he had sent to the Central leadership prior to the fatal end.
No development and progress in the society is possible without some discomfiture and dislocation for some people. A government’s sincerity lies in its efforts to minimize such discomforts and ensure resettlement and rehabilitation of the affected people in the larger interests of the State, society and its people as a whole.
The power requirement of the State is well known to all the people – the farmers, workers et al. Within a year after the DMK assumed office, because of its proactive measures the State received proposals for setting up of power projects with 28,725 MW capacity from 15 companies till September 2007. If only all these projects had fructified, the State would have had surplus power. The people who are silently witnessing the protests made by saboteurs of such futuristic projects and grumbling among themselves, will definitely teach lesson to them (the opposition) when their (people’s) turn comes during the Assembly elections in 2011. rv
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