Tumi Maharaj Sadhu hole Aaj! - Real estate land-acquisition in HindMotors
Leaflet from Gana Udyog
B.L.R.O. Srirampore: I won’t commit this to paper. However, there is one set of rules for common people, another for the Birlas. I can’t do much from my chair. We are servants who obey government directives. Decisions come from much higher up.
(1) Land-acquisition in HindMotors for real-estate: A Timeline
(2) Background
Nandigram during the Panchayat Elections 2008: an SSC leaflet
Click here to read leaflet [Bengali, PDF] »
Click here to read English version of leaflet »
Bondimukti Committee members arrested for protesting political arrests
Bondimukti Committee members protesting against political arrests were attacked by police and have been fasting at College Square, Kolkata, from May 6 2008 in protest.
Panchayat Poll ’08: A Preliminary Discussion on Strategies
Nothing can remain the same all through. The masses of rural toilers were summing-up the past experiences on their own and has been feeling betrayed by the party that once the masses themselves enthroned. The feeling of despair was giving rise to wrath. The first sparks of rural spontaneous outbursts were seen in only four or five villages in 2004, and in 2007 it surfaced again more widely in various districts of West Bengal apparently against the corruption of party–govt (including panchayat)–rural bigwigs. Also we saw the Singur-Bhangar-Haripur-Nandigram during 2006 and 2007, where the villagers united to fight govt-party-police-admin nexus attempted to grab land for foreign and native capitalists. In many of these struggles we saw the almost same trend (albeit weakly) that is being witnessed among the workers, i.e., unity of the rural masses irrespective of or cutting across their former party affiliation or adherence, their dissociation from old established parties spontaneously unsettling the power equation of the villages, doing things and achieving feats which they themselves would have thought to be ‘impossible’ few days before, taking the rein of their own fight and organisation themselves, rebelling against the agonising life, etc. This is an important phenomenon that must be kept in mind before thinking of the tasks ahead of the rural toiling masses in the ensuing panchayat polls.
Click here to read Krishak Committee leaflet [PDF, English, 10 KB] »
Leaflet from Shramik Sangram Committee: The right to struggle and organise is under attack
May 3, 2008 rally
This leaflet from the Shramik Sangram Committee and the Krishak Committee is an appeal to protest, on May 3, 2008, against the attack on the right to struggle and organise in West Bengal. This comes at a time of concerted attacks on civil liberties and cultural activities. In particular, it speaks of the arrest of Mithu Ghosh on the pretext of Maoist connections.
Click here to read leaflet from SSC and KC for May 3 2008 rally [PDF, Bengali] »
The Panchayat elections and self-empowerment of the rural poor
This is a translated version of a leaflet from the Krishak Committee (KC), written and distributed at the advent of Panchayat elections in West Bengal. The Sharamik Sangram Committee (SSC), a small fraternal organisation of the Krishak Commitee, leads the union at Hindustan Lever.
POSCO booklet, leaflet, map from Kolkata rally - February 2008
An analytical booklet on POSCO [PDF, Bengali, 262 KB]
Leaflet of anti-POSCO rally in Kolkata, February 2008
Anti-POSCO rally and program in Kolkata
February 13, 2008. Kolkata: A rally from College Square to Utkal Bhavan (an office of the Orissa govornment) took place and was followed by a mass-deputation in Utkal Bhavan against the proposed POSCO project in Jagatsingpur district, Orissa. The program was organised by 18 organizations. After a demonstration in front of Utkal Bhavan the protesters conveyed their solidarity to the POSCO movement in the form of a memorandum to the government of Orissa. The authorities at Utkal Bhavan received the memorandum on behalf of the government of Orissa. Afterwards, anti-POSCO activists including Biswajit Roy shared their experiences with political organisations and human rights activists at the Indian Radical Humanist Associations Hall in a discussion called Posco Ebong Tar Protirodh. Activists involved in the protest movement against illegal and extensive stone quarrying in Asansol and Birbhum were also present to express their solidarity to the people of Orissa and speak about the conditions in the regions where they work.
The 18 organisations which organised the program were: APDR, Chhatra-Chhatri Sanhati Mancha, Little Magazine Samannay Mancha, Lok Seba Sangh, Nandigram Ganahatya Birodhi Prochar Udyog, Sahanagarikder Jukta Mancha, Hawker Sangram Committee, TASAM, USDF, NAPM, Sanhati Udyog, PaschimBanga Khetmazoor Samiti, Ganamukti Parishad, Janasangharsha Samiti, West Bengal Gandhi Peace Foundation, Bondi Mukti Committee, West Bengal Government Employees Union, and National Fishworkers Federation.
Leaflet from Maitree, a women’s rights network, on Nandigram
Maitree had taken the responsibility of campaigning for a day, on Friday, 7th December, 2007, at the temporary structure being called Dharna Mancha (in the Metro Channel, Kolkata). The following leaflet was distributed there. Several Maitree members took part in a 24 Hour fast, including Madhuchchanda Karlekar, Anuradha Kapoor, Swapna Banerjee, Saraswatidi, and Saswati Ghosh. There was also a mass collection of signatures condemning the violence, on a canvas. Other programmes of various kinds were also organized. A candlelight vigil was held in the evening. Cultural programmes and speeches were interspersed throughout the day.
Paid back in the same coin: A montage of posters of the historic rally on the 14th November
14th March was the turning point of Nandigram struggle. Remembering that bloody day, a historic rally was organised on 14th November at Kolkata from College Square. No organizational banner was there. The central theme of the rally was “Stretch your hand to the attacked people of Nandigram”. Common people registered their hate and anger for the autocratic rulling party of West Bengal. They overflowed the city streets with thousands of militant yet silent protests.
Some Posters:
Pictures of the rally (courtesy: Nagarik Mancha)
click here for more.
Pictures from those who were a part of history that Kolkata witnessed that day:
Picture courtesy Indranil Ghosh Dastidar:
Picture courtesy Maroona Murmu:
Picture courtesy Kunal Chattopadhyay:
ghare phirechhilo jaaraa - posters on Nandigram
“ghare phera” “hiroshimaa nay, nandigram.”
Saviors of the world
Poster - National Anti-SEZ Convention: Oct 1 2007, Mahajati Sadan. Arranged by MKP
Click here to view poster with program details [JPG, Bengali, 60KB]
Self Help for Slow Learners : A True Story
Leaflet from Bandi Mukti Committee - calling for unconditional release of Binayak Sen, Sumit Sarkar, Amitava Bhattacharya, and other Hindmotors Workers
The government of West Bengal is, of course, no exception. From 2000, several thousand people have been arrested on political grounds - among them are Sushil Ray, Patit Paban Haldar, Probodh Purokayastha, Tom Adhikary, Milton Barman, Harsha Bardhan Das, Bansi Badan Barman, and others. In North Bengal, numerous Kamtapuri and Great Cooch Bihar activists have been jailed on false charges. 29 members of SUCI and 11 people charged with Maoist connections are currently serving life in prison. Recently, the State arrested a number of activists associated with the Hindmotors movement. Swooping down late at night, the police arrested SSKU leaders Amitava Bhattacharya, Subhendu Biswas, and six others as they continued their hunger-strike. Sumit Sarkar was arrested simply for participating in the resistance, and sent to Midnapur Jail. In this context, we should remember that Sumit Sarkar had been arrested a few years ago, with his wife and newborn baby. He was kept in jail for over an year.
Click here for Bengali Leaflet page 1[PDF, .6 MB]
Click here for Bengali Leaflet page 2[PDF, .6 MB
Below for English:
Leaflet from IFTU, AICCTU, Amco Sanhati Committee, National Tannery Bachao Committee, IndoJapan Steel Employees Union, etc.
Wages to survive on, work for workers, factories on industrial land - That is what we demand.
After IndoJapan Steel closed down, workers of the factory tried all through the 1990s to get the Minister to agree to a workers cooperative. They walked down countless michhils, sent many appeals. They didn’t want money - they simply wanted legal assistance from the government. These workers, who aspired to build an examplary workers intiative were converted into vagabonds. Their attempt at surviving with dignity, having control over their lives died a death in the hands of government apathy, and today the machinery has been dismantled, sold off in auction, under the protection of police. Workers have not received their 16 crore rupees in dues.
Click here to read page 1 in Bengali [PDF, 1.4 MB]
Click here to read page 2 in Bengali [PDF, 1.4 MB]
Below for English:
Petition from Little Magazine Somonnoy (group of more than 150 little magazines from Bengal)
This is to share our concern with you over the developments happening in this state in the name of industrialization, resulting in massive land-grabbing and eviction of farmers from the fertile lands. Especially, the murders at Singur and the genocide at Nandigram have broken our hearts and made us panic-stricken. We vehemently condemn these incidents and demand for severe punishment of the culprits. We would request you to intervene at your capacity, at the most, to book these murderers so that such incidents never occur in future.
Assorted leaflets from Sanhati Mancha, graffiti from Jadavpur University - following Nandigram massacre
This is the story of that night. The night of 14th March. The CPIM call a local 12-hour bandh after the end of “Operation Nandigram” during the day. In this remote area, where people don’t come out after dark anyway, why would they call a bandh? During the day, as we had watched the police attack unfurl in all its fury, shivered in terror as we heard that perhaps sixty people had been killed, we could never have imagined that the most horrifying episodes, the most brutal events had yet to unfold.
Read the leaflet - page 1 [JPG] »
Read the leaflet - page 2 [JPG] »
Read the leaflet - page 3 [JPG] »
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And now? After 14th March, after this massacre, do we not understand what Narendra Modi did in Gujarat? Have we not seen world (bank) capital, flowing out of constricted first world markets and jumping hungrily into the third world, with its allure of “industrialisation” - have we not seen what it translates to?
Sanhati Mancha Leaflet [JPG] »
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Even after the massacre of Nandigram - those of you who have chosen not to choose sides - I leave behind a rifle. Kill yourself if you can.
Graffiti in Jadavpur University [JPG] »
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Medical Team report in Bengali, Poster from MCDSA
Report of Team of Doctor’s visit to Nandigram
On March 18, 2007, a group consisting of Sramajibi Swathya Udyog, Dr. Bhaskar Rao Janaswasthya Committee, Peoples Health, Janaswasthya Adhikar Mancha, Peoples Right to Health, and MCDSA (represented by six doctors, three junior doctors, three nurses and two health workers), visited Nandigram, Sonachura and Gokulnagar to treat people injured in the police firing of March 14th.
Click here to read latest report in English
Read their Report in Bengali- Page 1 [JPG] »
Read their Report in Bengali- Page 2 [JPG] »
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Poster from MCDSA: Singur to Nandigram, Bangla will be Vietnam
Friend,
Nandigram is bleeding again. After 7th January, 14th March. The so-called “peasant-workers loving” Left Front snuffed out more than a hundred lives with their murderous police force and army of cadres. Their crime - they protested, they protested against the government’s advertisement of “development and progress”. Not for petty electoral games - they protested to save their land, their homes, their food, clothes, and the fundamental right to live.
Click here to read poster [JPG] »
![Click here to read poster [JPG] »](http://sanhati.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/mcdsa1.jpg){kind=link}
Then Came the End of Beliefs - Pamphlet from students in JNU
Source : Anandaroop, Anil, Banojyotsna, Bodhisattva, Jeet, Kaustubhmani, Oeendrila, Sanjukta, Sukanya, Upal
Then came the end of beliefs. In our half-reached, quarter-dreamt, woken-in-between, little-believed and broadly accepted CPI (M) parenthetic lives. Development in Nandigram is now measured as the investor-friendly space between the legs of nine year old girls.
14th March. Nandigram. 100 people mowed down. Firing squads replicated.
Poster of Sanhati Mancha (announcing Mahamichhil), 2 posters of PDSF
In Protest of Nandigram Massacre - unite for Mahamichhil on
24th March, 1:30 p.m. , Deshbandhu Park. We invite people from every
stratum of society, and every social organisation to join us in solidarity.
Chhatra Chhatri Sanhati Mancha
Click here to see poster 1 [JPG] »
Click here to see poster of PDSF 1 [JPG] »
Click here to see poster of PDSF 2 [JPG] »
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Leaflet from Chhatra Chhatri Sanhati Mancha, December 18th, 2006
The following is a leaflet announcing the first convention of the Chhatra Chhatri Sanhati Mancha, December 18th, 2006. Around 300 students from more than a dozen organisations attended the convention in Students Hall, near College Square. Speakers included Subhendu Dasgupta, Srijan Sen, representatives from all participating groups, and a number of other intellectuals. This was also the day Tapasi Malik was murdered in Singur. After the convention, hundreds of students organized into a spontaneous march down College Street, thundering slogans against the State.
Click here to read page 1 [JPG] »
Click here to read page 2 [JPG] »
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Leaflet from Chhatra Chhatri Sanhati Mancha, December 28th, 2006
A leaflet from the Chhatra Chhatri Sanhati Mancha, December 28th, 2006. Around 250 students marched down Central and Southern Calcutta, carrying posters, shouting slogans, distributing leaflets. 84 were arrested near Hazra crossing. Spirits remained high, with arrested students shouting slogans from within prison vans.
![Click here to read [JPG] »](http://sanhati.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/leaflet_ccsm_d28.jpg){kind=link}
Leaflet from Paramanu Chulli Birodhi Committee, Haripur.
A leaflet from the Paramanu Chulli Birodhi Committee, published by Sukumar Bhuyia, from Haripur - the site of the proposed nuclear power plant. Points discussed include the real cost of power plants (fighting State propaganda that it is cheap), the fact that power plants are expensive to keep functional (combating the myth that long-term costs are low), the real amount of coal reserves as quoted by the Geological Survey of India (fighting the popular myth that coal reserves are low and dwindling), the hazards of nuclear power (against the propaganda that it is actually safe), etc.
The leaflet ends with a passionate call to join the struggle against nuclear power in Bengal, India, and all over the world.
Click here to read page 1 [JPG] »
Click here to read page 2 [JPG] »
![Click here to read page 1 [JPG] »](http://sanhati.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/leaflet_pcbc_1.jpg){kind=link}
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Leaflet from Teachers and Scientists Opposed to Mal-development
A leaflet from the Teachers and Scientists Opposed to Mal-development, published by Prof. Meher Engineer. Among various points, this leaflet busts the myth that the Tatas are a responsible corporation and their company would contribute to local development. It argues that land acquisition by large corporations is a brutal process and the only index is the profit of the company.
Click here to read page 1 [JPG] »
Click here to read page 2 [JPG] »
Click here to read page 3 [JPG] »
Click here to read page 4 [JPG] »
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Appeal from MASUM (human rights organisation) on police violence, Feb 4, 2007
On 4 th of February 2007 nearly 150 villagers of Beraberi and adjoining villages under Singur Police Station assembled near the fences erected by the administration as acquired for Tata motors. The protest was a peaceful one and led by Krishi Jami Rakha Committee. When the protestors assembled at the fence at about 10.30 AM to lodge their protest and shouted slogans, a large number of police bodily resisted them.
Among many protesters, Amitabha Bhattacharya, Sudip Sarkar, Partha Chakraborty, Ajoy Das, Becharam Manna, Ganga Das, Kabita Bag, and Mamata Manna were beaten, some with serious head injuries. Anuradha Talwar of the Right to Food Network was arrested.