HU Jintao, the supreme leader, presided over the Congress of Chinese Communist Party in Beijing Great Hall of the People from October 15, 2007 attended by 2217 delegates officially chosen by rigged elections from the party members. Such delegates said nothing to point that Hu did naught for ?greater democracy within the Party? which he and his politburo members had repeatedly promised since 2002 party Congress. Delegates, meekly submissive to the party, were wise enough to know the communist party dictums-promise to the people in abundance, do whatever required to keep people under iron grip.
China now claims of a booming economy leading to be a super-power. The claim is substantial to an extent only. Hu has identified two major points of concern, as that were done in earlier Congress too; the expending gap between mostly rural poor and typically urban rich and the ?absence of internal democracy in the party?. The Party Congress, addressed neither of the two points, rather accentuated both to be more acute. Chinese people do not vote, no system as that exists in China, nor 1.3 billion people have any role in the conclaves that mean for the party Congress. 700 million of poor peasants in rural China are treated, in the economy, as left-over. China'sfast developing economy is a pervert kind of fast growing, highly imbalanced and repressive. It has multitude of problems; majors are, rampant corruption, want of independent judicial courts to uphold the rule of law, feeble banking system, and devastating pollution. The slogan get rich quick? coined in 1980s China, flowing till date has divided the country between urban people of upward affluent mobility and vast number of rural people, peasants arrested in near economic stagnation. The gap is widening gradually.
The income disparity between China'sgrowing rich people who have meanwhile already become a distinct capitalist class and millions of poor is so overwhelming that even the modern capitalists will fell shy to accept it. Chinese Communist Party agreed to let the people have property right in a very limited sphere having policy departure from Mao'scommune days, but that too affected lopsidedly in favour of the city dwellers, rich and growing affluent middle classes as they had the sell-buy-earn-invest scopes and the millions of slum living people and peasants had little benefit as they have no right on their land, they are only something like the lessee, who cannot put land as collateral security for loan even. The new property policy further encouraged the land grabbing by developers who hunt land driving out the peasants. Deng Xiaoping initiated reforms in China before thirty years, the poor people and peasants are witnessing since then their city compatriots have been amassing riches in short time and the nation seems to have been divided in two economic social divides. The Tiananmen Square happened in 1989 because disgruntled workers joined students crying for democracy. Well, it will take a long way to narrate what have been happening in deep and down China by last decades.
The CPM was begotten in 1964 by those hard liners who believed in Stalinism and Maoism as well. The abnormal chemistry of Stalinism and Maoism of opposite matrices let Naxalites grow from within the party just by three years (1967). The CPM, along with other comrade-parties, sprang to land grabbing bedlams in the name of distribution of Zotedars-Zaminder'sland and Khas land to landless peasants. The landgrabbings of 1967-69 period and, then, since 1977 onwards under the Barga-patta schemes caused the rise of small and marginal peasants in West Bengal who have some similarities with the conditions of Chinese peasants so far the right, title of land are concerned. The Chinese peasants, in general, and the Barga-patta marginal peasants in West Bengal are only able to lease out their land as they have not the right of ownership titles. In this way, resourceful peasants in West Bengal have been wiped out, instead a new class of weak peasants encircled by Bargadars and controlled by CPM Panchayets constitute the bulk of West Bengal peasants. Adding salt to injuries, about eighty lakh people of majority community of Bangladesh have massively infiltrated in West Bengal by last decades and that further have complicated the nature of rural/urban population in West Bengal. The central report estimates such infiltration to be of 1.5 crore, 70-80 lacs of which have dispersed in other states in India.
The CPM has ruined industrial enterprises in West Bengal since 1970s. More then sixty thousand small, medium, large factories got closed by 1990-95
Marxist vandalism, courtesy CITU trade unionism, just as Mao'sChina did under Mao'seconomic policies. Naxalites and the CPM followed a line to devastate existing academic system in West Bengal since 1969-70 following cultural revolution of Maoist China. West Bengal is a state in India, hence, the CPM couldn'tmove here as much as they wanted following big-brother China. Jyoti Basu, for this cause, insidiously used to argue for a Kendra Virodhi Andolan?anti-centre movement-by a routine way till 1990s. Marxists advocated for very loose federalism in India for this purpose, though they, as if the magician that brings out a cat from a handkerchief, applause for highly unitary government without democracy in China.( as it is their own creed.)
Singur?Nandigram?Dinhata are the results, not the causes, of CPM'sendeavour to follow economic model pursued in China.
The same policy of creating an urban rich floating class who ?get rich quick?, licensing and participating in real estate booming, shopping malls, expensive dance-bars, high fee westernised schooling (neglecting the well spread existing academic institutes), offering vast lands to high capitalists and FDIs driving away the peasants, rogue like insistence for dubious company'schemical hub discarded in developed countries, attempt to handover interior agri-markets to monopoly?all those and many more are but big brother foot steps followed by the tiny revolutionaries who end their ?revolution? in worst types of opportunism. While millions of peasants in China under totalitarian party?state machinery have to submit abjectly to repressive governance, West Bengal peasants can rally protesting the government actions as it is a democratic country.
Buddhadev could not understand it, here he failed to repress the people.
60 per cent of China's1.3 billion people still reside in rural china, but the contribution to GDP from agriculture has fallen to less than 12 per cent while in 1990 it was more than 25 per cent. Central government spending on Agriculture and rural welfare too has fallen by 3 per cent by last years. China'sbudgets are increasing phenomenally, but outlays in health care and education are decreasing proportionately than those that had been even before a decade. The West Bengal Budgets also has been reflecting the same trends though Dr. Asim Dasgupta, the finance minister has the expertise to put distasteful facts in budget cupboards.
People, however, are not worried with what fate waits for CPM V.S. Achyutanandan and P. Vijayan groups are in loggerhead in Kerala centering the same ?get rich quick? adventure and landgrabbing operations. One knows well this feuds will end following dislodgement of Marxists from the governance in Kerala.
The Chinese economic model followed by the CPM in West Bengal is certain to face a doom. Yet, no one may remain supercilious noting China still has an eye on Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal borders Nepal and also Bangladesh that lavishly offers hospitality to ISI, Huji and other terrorists.
(The writer is a senior journalist and thinker and can be contacted at 59/B, Kankulia Road, Kolkata-700029.)
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