ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Dipankar BhattacharyaSubscribe to Dipankar Bhattacharya

Ranvir Sena Revisited

Commentators looking at Bihar through the prism of "caste" have analysed the ups and downs of caste equations. But the oppressed rural poor of Bihar have huge achievements to their credit in terms of their battle for dignity and rights, even in the face of fi erce feudal-kulak violence and state repression. It is this battle which has been the key motive force in pushing Bihar forward. A political analysis of the state, against the backdrop of the acquittal order of the Bathani Tola massacre convicts and the murder of Brahmeshwar Singh, the man who founded and led the Ranvir Sena for nearly two decades.

Bathani-Tola II - Miscarriage of Justice

Bihar is now ruled by a government which claims to be delivering “development with justice”. The massacres have apparently stopped and in May 2010, the district court in Ara convicted 23 people for the massacre in Bathani Tola, awarding death penalty to three and life sentence to the rest.

For a Left Resurgence

One needs to go beyond Prabhat Patnaik's analysis ("The Left in Decline", EPW, 16 July 2011) to understand the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s ignominious exit from power in West Bengal in 2011. What are the reasons for the Party's loss of credibility and legitimacy vis-à-vis the basic classes? What led it to abandon the Left's core agenda of democracy, land and rural welfare? What about the Party's self-proclaimed anti-imperialist credentials? Was not its parliamentary practice bereft of the spirit and vision of transcending capitalism?

Planned Military Offensive

We are deeply concerned by the Indian government’s plans for launching an unprecedented military offensive by army and paramilitary forces in the adivasi (indigenous people)-populated regions of the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal.

Trail Blazed by Naxalbari Uprising

The Naxalite movement has evolved in two clearly different directions. One is the course taken by the CPI(ML)(Liberation), which has made the necessary tactical changes in keeping with the changing situation; the other is the path of the CPI(Maoist), which is that of "anarcho-militarism".

Bihar after Bifurcation

The bifurcation of Bihar has understandably added to the already widespread concern and anxiety over the future of the state. Bifurcation may provide a convenient news peg on which one can hang the whole question of Bihar's future, but an informed discussion on the challenges and prospects of Bihar's development need not be unduly predicated on the reality of Jharkhand's separation from Bihar.

Political Economy of Reforms in India

Economic reforms are drawing a new dividing line in the society - between small groups of beneficiaries and vast sections of casualties. The political economy of reforms designed for and by affluent India can only be resisted with a political economy of radical transformation in favour of working people's welfare.

Between Siwan and JNU-Crossing the Barriers

Chandrashekhar, who was assassinated together with a political colleague on March 31 in the north Bihar district town of Siwan, was a former president of the JNU Students 'Union and son of the very soil of Siwan. He had returned to his home district only a few months ago to dedicate himself as a full-time activist to the cause of the party, people and revolution. 

Datta Samant A Tribute

Dipankar Bhattacharya By gunning down Datta Samant, the enemies of the working class have succeeded in getting rid of a leader who, with all his limitations and inhibitions, could still dare to fight for workers' rights in these dark days of the Hong Kongisation of Mumbai IT is a sign of our times in more senses than one.

Of Moral Authority and Political Bankruptcy

Of Moral Authority and Political Bankruptcy Dipankar Bhattacharya PARTICIPATION in bourgeois governments has historically been a matter of great debate in the international communist movement. In India, this is perhaps the most manifest programmatic difference that remains till date between the CPI and CPI(M). While the CPI has followed an extremely liberal policy on this question (given an opportunity it has joined all sorts of coalition governments since 1967), the CPI (M) stands for joining only such governments in which it has a decisive presence and say. After the recent assembly elections, the CPI, for instance, has joined the AGP-led government in Assam with merely three members in an assembly of 126 while the CPI(M), with two members, has stayed out.

Karbi Anglong Revisited

Dipankar Bhattacharya The restoration of the autonomous council of the hill district of Karbi Anglong has accorded renewed recognition to the autonomy movement in the region, led by die Autonomous State Demand Committee the only tribal autonomy movement in the country spearheaded by communists and waged with a consistent revolutionary-democratic orientation.

New Challenges for Bengal Left-Panchayat Poll Pointers

Panchayat Poll Pointers Dipankar Bhattacharya THE three-tier panchayat system of West Bengal went through another round of elections on May 30. In West Bengal, the panchayats are known as pillars of the CPl(M) s power-base and the fourth panchayat poll under Left Front rule, held on the eve of the Left Front government's 16th anniversary, was not expected to throw up anything unsettling in Bengal's settled polity. In fact, with the Congress lying discredited and thoroughly disorganised and the BJP threatening further cuts into the thinning Congress support base, the Left Front, particularly the CPI(M), had hoped to romp home with a still larger majority.

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