BALANCE OF PAYMENTS-Uneasy Portents

feudal oppression, but also the cadres of the CPI and the CPI(M) (who are allies of the Janata Dal government in Bihar) whenever they have sought to occupy land held in excess of the ceiling by big landlords, and tried to distribute it among the landless or carry out other forms of democratic struggles. Since 1990, during Laloo Yadav's reign, according to CPI(M)'s official figures, about 30 of its cadres have been killed in Purnea, Darbhanga, Bhagalpur, Kisanganj and other districts. The CPI also has lost a number of its followers in Palamau, Purnea and other places during this period. In the face of this growing threat to the Left from feudal-fascist forces under Laloo Yadav's regime, it is about time that the Left parties in Bihar ranging from the CPI and CPI(M)ontheone hand to the various militant CPI(ML) groups on the other closed ranks to fight the menace of corruption and criminality and work towards an alternative strategy to replace Laloo Yadav's government. These Leftist forces, their differences notwithstanding, do have bases and pockets of influence among the poor and small peasants, dalit agricultural labourers, tribal communities and workers in the industrial belt of Bihar all who constitute the majority of the state's population. If they can be brought together on a platform with the common objective of resisting corruption and crime, and a strategy of land reform to fight Bihar's perpetual agrarian poverty (insteadof Laloo Yadav's strategy of offering sops like saris and dhoties to the poor during his rallies), Bihar may look forward to a better future.