There is absolutely no administration visible in the ‘Aila’ storm-hit areas of West Bengal. The Chief Minister of the state Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, when he visited Hingalgunj, one of the Aila storm-hit areas of South 24-Parganas district, he was greeted with filthiest language of abuse as the suffering people were agitated for not getting sufficient relief. They said: ‘You are the Chief Minister of burglars, goons and corrupt people’ ‘you are a worthless Chief Minister’, ‘you should be greeted with garland of shoes’, ‘how come that you have remembered us after 32 years’, ‘write down the names of your junior party leaders who have minted money through unauthorised way’ etc. At this stage DM of South 24 Parganas came forward and took up the responsibility of writing down the names. Buddhadeb stood like a statue. Police and government officials kept mum. For the last ten years of his Chief Ministership he never came across such a situation. CM’s security squad had to undergo a tough time.
“In 1978, when there was flood in Moyna under Midnapore district and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as a young minister (Information and Cultural Minister) in the newly formed Left Front ministry went to oversee the relief work there, he was manhandled by the flood-hit people because of insufficient relief material and partisan distribution of them. At that time Buddhadeb kept his cool and remained there to see that the relief material is properly distributed and assured the aggrieved persons that he would personally look after the whole thing. The people who initially manhandled him came to beg apology”. This particular incident has been mentioned by Roopkumar Basu in daily Bartaman (05. 06. 2009). He further mentioned that “when Diamond Harbour (South 24 Parganas district) was badly-affected by flood in September, 2000, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu was enjoying his holidays there. The district officials and CPM party leaders approached Jyoti Basu to visit the flood-affected areas. But Jyoti Babu tersely said to them, ‘What do you think, if I go there flood water will recede?’ He did not visit the flood-affected areas. Instead he advised the officials and party workers to do their work.” So in course of time they have adopted this communist culture. Now they are being punished by the people for this extremely inhuman attitude.
No doubt this was the reason for the ill treatment of the MLA Gopal Gayen on the same day and at the same venue as Buddhadeb faced by the same irritated and aggrieved people. On May 31, Gopal Gayen had passed through that area in his own motorcycle. Even after repeated requests by the flood-hit people he did not come down from his motorcycle let alone listen to their grievances. But on June 2, when Chief Minister was to visit that place, Gayen was duty-bound to come there. Now people did not spare him. They not only manhandled him, they released him after taking away his clothes and leaving him in his underwear. Only a few days ago i.e. before the results of the Lok Sabha poll were declared the fright-stricken people of West Bengal could not even dream of it. Whether the treatment meted out to the Chief Minister and MLA is unethical is not the question. The question is who created this situation? In this connection one cannot but remember the great utterance of Anthony in Julius Caesar drama by William Shakespeare, “Mischief thou art afoot, take which course thou wilt”/ Or another journalist friend of mine was mentioning the Newton’s third law where it is said: “Every action has got its equal and opposite reaction”. After 32 years of misrule, torture, extortion, rampant corruption and what-not, they are simply bound to face this music. No one can help it. Any retaliation from their side will mean more violence and may be more-violence will sway the situation.
The only way to combat this situation is to do the relief work sincerely, honestly and devotedly. The “Aila” fury has damaged and destroyed life and properties of people of West Bengal especially in the southern parts of the state including Kolkata. This fury has taken 133 lives; 26,349 villages have been ruthlessly battered by the flood fury; 67 lakh 53 thousands plus people were severely affected; In total 986 river embankments were washed away and out of them only 351 embankments could be reestablished. Even today many places remain untouched by relief workers for the simple reason that those places are still unapproachable.
Relief work is being done by many organisations. But one curious situation cannot escape the notice of any person that while the government and ruling party relief workers are being heckled by the flood affected people, the non governmental relief workers are being welcomed the same people everywhere. The furious storm named “Aila” hit Bengal on May 25. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had started from the very next day i.e. May 26. Initially they had started distributing dry foods to 67 villages of North 24 Parganas district. The areas of their relief work are escalating every day. They are now concentrating their relief work in providing materials for rebuilding their huts and houses. RSS has chanalised its relief through Bastuhara Sahayata Samiti. Rashtra Sevika Samiti is also in the field with dry food and clothes. They are providing these relief materials in Basirhat (North 24 Parganas district). BJP has concentrated its relief in Gosaba, Sonakhali, Basanti, and other adjacent areas of South 24 Parganas district.
As a party, it is said that CPM is very organised. But after being routed in Lok Sabha polls they are already in for trouble. Over and above, the Aila storm and its accompanying flood fury have disarrayed all their strategies to revamp the organisational set up of the party. A responsible minister of their party Mr. Rezzak Molla (Land Revenue Minister) in an interview said that “if CPM is not going to mend their ways of bossing, they are going to be defeated in the 2011 State Assembly election”. It is unfortunate that their leaders are still not in a mood to accept the ground reality. This is a known symptom of dictatorship. So it is almost sure that CPM and its allies are going to lose the municipal election scheduled next year.
