Operation Barga A Further Note

Operation Barga : A Further Note Ratan Khasnabis IN an earlier comment [6] on the tenancy reform measures of the Left Front government, we had pointed out that the 'Operation Barga' (OB) as modified following the High Court judgment on the issue, has hardly anything new to contribute to the accentuation of class struggle in the countryside. The modified OB is nothing but a simple Revenue Court measure which had already been there as an element in the land reforms administration of the state. This view has been vehemently criticised by the supporters of the Left Front government. OB, they claim, "has taken the shape of class struggle and a great peasant movement in the rural areas of the state", so much so that it is serving now as "harbingers of fundamental change" 12; p 20531Such social democratic tendency of making much of certain pro-bargadar legislative measures can be best understood by examining the limitations of a state sponsored measure like the OB as an instrument for the development of class-struggle in the countryside. Pre- cisely with that end in view, in the first part of the present note, we consider the implementational aspects of the tenancy reform measures and examine their socio-political implications.