The general secretary of the CPI(ML)-Liberation, which is part of the Mahagathbandan (grand alliance) in Bihar, Dipankar Bhattacharya spoke to The Hindu about the yearning for change in the State and how the Opposition needed to capitalise on it by focussing on livelihood concerns.
One of the key achievements touted by the Nitish Kumar-led government now is the cash transfer of ₹10,000 to 25 lakh women (over and above the cash transfer by the Centre). What is your take on this?
The Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had promised ₹2 lakh to 94 lakh households who earn below ₹6,000 per month but he didn’t fulfill his promise even though we (the CPI(ML)-L and other parties) led so many agitations for it. Instead, he has now announced a token amount of ₹10,000 to women in the name of jobs. This is money provided to women in a State where they are highly indebted, according to a survey by the Bihar government. It clearly reflected that these households have to take debt even for their daily expenses. There is huge pressure from microfinance companies to pay back their debt.
While cash transfer has been a popular demand from women, this token gesture doesn’t address the real issues we’ve been fighting for. We had focused on women workers – ASHA, Anganwadi, and Jeevika workers; ASHA workers in Bihar used to get only ₹1,500-1,600 a month for ten months – one of the lowest in India. In the agitations we led for them, the women had wanted it to be recognised as salary, and the amount increased. But that did not sustain.
Similar with Jeevika workers. In fact, one of the biggest agitations against this government was the Jeevika strike last September-October. We had extensive negotiations. For the vulnerable, for the self-help groups, for better remuneration – we managed to get our agenda acknowledged because of struggles.
As a left party that has focused on land reform issues, how has this been perceived both by your alliance partners in the Mahagathbandhan and the government?
In the common minimum programme for our alliance, there is the demand for residential plot distribution – five decimals in urban areas and three decimals in rural areas for housing.
We will also come up with a supplementary manifesto from our party. In rural areas, especially among agricultural landowners, this land survey issue (recently conducted by the ruling government) is becoming significant. The land survey is basically creating land insecurity. Land records are in complete chaos. Second is land acquisition – that’s also quite major. A lot of people whose land is being acquired are being told by the government that the land is not theirs.
This relates to the Land Reform Commission report that Mr. Kumar had commissioned in his first tenure but had later been dumped. In that report, there was a component of land redistribution – land for the landless. There were proposals for redistribution: 40 decimals for cultivation, 10 decimals for housing. The second component was registration of sharecroppers’ rights and tenancy security. This didn’t happen. Our party is committed to implementing them.
We are also demanding the restoration of APMCs, securing procurement and the Minimum Selling Price, especially for major agricultural products like maize, vegetables etc, for whom there is no proper pricing, limited processing facilities and minimal organised procurement beyond market dependence.
Recently you had raised concerns about land acquisition by the Adani group in Pirpainti?
I had visited Pirpainti recently and it helped us get a proper sense of the real cost of this proposed Adani power plant. The land in question – 1,050 acres complete with close to eighty houses and lakhs of mango, litchi and other trees – was acquired by the Bihar government some ten years ago disregarding local people’s objections.
What’s shocking is that the government paid no heed to the people’s proposal for an alternative site which would have entailed no displacement or agricultural land destruction. When people went to the Patna High Court, the court dismissed the writ petition in October 2017, asserting that “it is the State which decides the site for acquisition and affected persons cannot compel the state to choose any alternative site.”
The irony is bitter – this verdict came four years after the 2013 Land Acquisition Act had emphasised the centrality of consent of land-losers. That’s a completely wrong interpretation of the law. The compensation awarded has been inadequate and disparate – different individuals getting different rates for similar patterns of land. The area is dotted with mango and other trees, but the values of these trees have not been factored in while calculating loss and compensation. The 2013 Act awards compensation to livelihood-losers too and mandates return of land to owners if it remains idle for five years after acquisition. Both these aspects stand brazenly violated in Pirpainti.
At the time of acquisition, this site was meant for an NTPC power plant. After remaining idle all these years, this land is now being handed over to the Adani group for a token annual lease amount of just ₹1 for thirty-three years. Now, in order to silence the people of Pirpainti who have been fighting for fair compensation and proper rehabilitation since this forcible and fraudulent acquisition, the administration and the BJP are trying to coerce people into submission. They’re sending eviction notices and jailing local panchayat representatives and anti-acquisition movement activists. But the aggrieved people of Pirpainti are determined to fight on for justice. The local organisations of CPI(ML), CPI(M), CPI and RJD are all united in this battle.
What about migrant workers’ rights – isn’t this also a critical issue?
The migrant worker issue is indeed significant. Many migrant workers from Bihar work in other States – Tamil Nadu, for instance. In Delhi, there was this whole anti-Bihari, anti-UP rhetoric during elections. All that is not happening as intensely now because governments are being more careful. But the right to vote for migrant workers remains contentious.
How do you see the BJP’s role in Bihar politics?
The BJP is trying to penetrate Bihar in dangerous ways. But I think our challenge is more fundamental – we need better organisation and clearer political vision. In Bengal, we saw how the situation deteriorated. The persecution narrative, the way the BJP plays communal politics – it’s all calculated.
But I think the real issue is: do we have the organisation, the clarity, the timing to respond effectively? That’s what determines success. In Bihar, if the government has been discredited for 20 years, this is the election for us to win. But we need organised campaigns, not just reactive politics.
What are your expectations for this election?
Our party is looking at contesting around 30-40 seats. We’re trying to widen our base beyond our 19 constituencies that we contested in 2020. The strike rate was good, especially in the south of Bihar. In the north, it wasn’t as strong.
If, as the Opposition alliance, we organised better campaigns, despite all the freebies and disruptions by the government, it is still possible to make bigger electoral gains as there is a yearning for change. Time is running out now. This is a crucial election, and we need to make the opposition to the government count.
