People’s Resistance, People’s Culture!
Fourth State Conference of PBGSP Held in Kolkata on 20-21 January 2007
in the Backdrop of Renewed Peasant Resistance in West Bengal. A Report by Manash Ghosh
Paschimbanga Gana Sanskriti Parishad (PBGSP) held its Fourth State Conference in Kolkata at a historical juncture in the State. In last 2 to 3 months, events at Singur and Nandigram stood out like a beacon not only in the political arena but also in the cultural movement. The voices of protest and resistance raised by the intellectuals which had become faint in last three decades, rang out again and rocked the Government in last few months. The polarisation seems quite clear among the writers, journalists, painters, teachers, musicians and play-writes. A large group stands firm in favour of the peasant resistance and strongly criticises the State Government for undemocratic eviction of peasants and the state repression of voices of resistance.
The two-day Conference of the PBGSP was held at this high point in the people’s movement, on January 20 and 21 this year. On the opening day, an attractive rally of cultural workers from different parts of West Bengal and eastern India was held. About 300 cultural workers with their colourful tableaux, stilts and masks, walked down the city street. The rally started from Rashbehari and ended at Madhusudan Manch where people gathered to participate in an open air cultural programme.
The program was inaugurated by the eminent writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi. Addressing the gathering she said, “The peasant movement of Singur and Nandigram inspires me and brings me here. I have been writing against social injustice and class discrimination in society for long. But we must acknowledge the courage of the resistant peasants of Nadigram and Singur. It is they who have unmasked Buddhadev Bhattacharya’s policy which is anti-people, anti-democracy”.
She strongly condemned the looting of agricultural land by the Government, describing the CPI(M)-led Government as the murderer of Tapasi Malick. She gave a call to cultural and political workers to stand in support of the peasant movement. She wondered, “Why is a section of writers, singers and intellectuals still silent? History will not absolve them”. She expressed the confidence that the struggle would spread to Haripur, Bhangar, Baruipur and other parts of the state, where the Government plans forceful acquisition of agricultural land to feed capitalist development.
Describing her experience of visiting Singur, she said she found a radical change in the politics of the state and she felt that the affected peasants won’t give an inch of land without struggle.
She criticised Buddhadeb who is fond of claiming lineage with revolutionary poet Sukanta Bhattacharya, declaring that “the real revolutionary legacy is with us”. The 82-year-old writer then sang the seminal IPTA. song ‘Obak Prithivi’, written by Sukanta and composed by Salil Chowdhury.
The eminent writer Nabarun Bhattacharya, the Chief Guest of the programme, condemned the unlawful arrest of six CPI(ML) activists who went to Nandigram for investigation. He called upon intellectuals of the state to abandon the bankrupt culture of CPI(M) in order to build a real people’s culture.
Well-known folk singer and Joint Secretary of PBGSP Prabir Baul sang a lyric written by communist poet and composer Dilip Bagchi who had passed away recently. A number of cultural groups from Thakurnagar, Halishahar, Bally, Budge Budge, and Howrah performed song, dance and mime-ballet. Anil Anshuman from Jharkhand, Loknath Goswami and Haren Barthakur from Assam added intensity and depth to the cultural programme and charmed the people.
The Kolkata-based theatre group Souvik, performed their play Atmapaksha which demonstrated the unholy nexus between the ruling party and the exponents of capitalist globalisation. Mokam, a popular progressive singer’s forum, also gave a popular performance.
Protul Mukapadhaya, singer, composer, poet and one of the forerunners of the people’s cultural movement, recited a short poem written in reaction to the Singur incident. He also sang ballads of people’s resistance. Loknath Goswami sang folk ballads of Assam.
On the second day, an indoor conference was held at Somnath Hore Manch, Kamalesh Sen Nagar where delegates from different cultural groups and guests discussed different trends on the changing cultural horizon of West Bengal. One of the guests, Kabir Suman, journalist and popular exponent of the new Bengali song, addressed the delegates. He says “no one, not even a journalist, can be neutral. We have to take sides.” He criticised the ‘silence’ of some intellectuals and artists who are hesitant to side with the peasant movement. He appreciated the women of Singur and Nandigram for their bold and revolutionary participation in the struggle. Paying tribute to our heritage of revolutionary culture, he joined Amit Roy to sing a song composed by Salil Choudhury dedicated to the Tebhaga movement.
Comrade Ramji Rai, editor of Hindi cultural magazine Samkaleen Janmat, addressed the Conference and read out a poem inspired by the struggles of Singur and Nandigram.
The spirit of the Conference was exemplified by the slogan raised by the Paschimbanga Gana Sanskriti Parisad:
Say no to the culture of conformism!
Rally with the culture of protest and people’s resistance!