What are Marxists Afraid of?

(From Indian Express)

THIRTY years is a long enough time to go without a leader. It is also a long time for a leaderless movement to survive. So, when the Kamtapur agitation makes headlines today with acts of violence, it is as much a 35-year-old cry for statehood, as it is a desperate upsurge in the search for a leader. The community in question here are the Rajbanshis, the sons of the soil of the north Bengal districts of Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur and Malda. Rajbanshis comprise 31 per cent of the 12 million population of these districts. Their grievances of deprivation date back to the late '60s, but the Kamtapur People's Party (KPP) - the political front of the present movement - has not been able to capitalise on the popular discontent. Today, the movement has been virtually hijacked by KPP's armed underground wing, the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO). While not many buy the KLO's promise of a separate state of Kamtapur, the violence is less easy to ignore. The gun culture that has invaded the once-peaceful Dooars - the KLO is believed to be getting training and support from the ULFA and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland in camps in Bhutan, on the Assam-Bengal border - has alienated a large section of Rajbanshi intellectuals and academics from the movement. The CPI(M) takes out a procession with the bodies of those killed in the attack on the Dhupguri party officeAccording to sources, the KLO has several hit squads of six people or less. They move through corridors in the dense forests and clusters, which are used for cover, shelter and food during operations. Apart from hit squads, there are wings for fund-collection and intelligence-gathering. A large number of young girls are believed to act as couriers for the KLO. Even as fears of bloodshed follow the KLO attack on the Dhupguri party office of the CPI(M) earlier this month, in which five people were killed, parallels are being inevitably drawn between the Kamtapur agitation and the Gorkhaland movement a decade ago. The geo-physical proximity is one reason for this, but sociologists, politicians and senior government officials find more dissimilarities than similarities between the two. Most glaringly, of course, the Rajbanshis have no Subhash Ghising among them. Nor is there any dispute about the Rajbanshis being the original inhabitants of the area. Also, unlike the Gorkhas, the Rajbanshis are scattered all over the region, heavily interspersed by Bangladeshi refugees, Nepalis and tribals working in the tea plantations. KLO STRIKES

* 20-odd CPI(M) leaders warned and then killed in rural Jalpaiguri, sometimes in broad daylight, with AK-46 * Half-a-dozen tea garden owners, officers kidnapped. A couple released after six months on payment of ransom. * CRPF convoy attacked with remote-controlled explosive deviceAs may be expected, it is the settlers - the largest numbers of whom are Bangladeshi refugees - who are the bone of contention. Says Ananda Gopal Bose, a reader in History at the North Bengal University, ''This region has seen several waves of Bangladeshi refugees before and after Independence and during the 1964 and 1971 wars. Each ...