During the Bihar Assembly’s Budget Session, a massive convention was held at Gate Public Library in Patna under the banner of the Khetihar Gramin Mazdoor Sabha (KHEGRAMAS), focusing on pressing issues such as bulldozer demolitions, land rights, rising violence against girls in Bihar, the employment crisis, and discrimination in educational institutions. Hundreds of poor families affected by bulldozer actions from different parts of the state participated in the convention.
Addressing the gathering as the chief speaker, CPI(ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya launched a scathing attack on the policies of the Central and State governments and called for a decisive people’s movement. He said that over the past two decades, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had drifted away from fundamental issues like land reforms and embraced the “politics of bulldozers.” He warned that the slogan of “bulldozers against the mafia” popularised in Uttar Pradesh was being projected nationwide as a dangerous model, whereas the country is governed by the Constitution and the rule of law, not by bulldozers.
Bhattacharya alleged that bulldozers were being used to target the poor, the landless and particularly Muslims. He said that wherever bulldozer terror was unleashed, the red flag had led resistance against it. Many activists had gone to jail, but the struggle had only intensified and would not be halted.
Accusing the authorities of targeting the poor in the name of removing “infiltrators” from voter lists and “encroachers” from land, he said that in reality land and resources were being handed over to corporate houses like Adani and Ambani. Poor people who were earlier forced to migrate due to lack of employment were now being displaced in the name of development and jobs, and then branded as enemies of development.
Speaking on MGNREGA, Bhattacharya said the scheme was launched in the name of Mahatma Gandhi, who believed that the true test of any policy was the well-being of the poorest. He noted that attacks on both the 2013 Land Acquisition Act and MGNREGA began soon after the BJP came to power. In the name of “Viksit Bharat” (Developed India), a conspiracy was underway to virtually dismantle MGNREGA. “How can India become developed without jobs?” he asked.
Referring to the rape and murder of a NEET aspirant, Bhattacharya said that on the one hand there were bulldozers, and on the other an alarming rise in violence against women and girls—this had become the hallmark of BJP rule. On discrimination in higher education, he criticised the dilution of UGC regulations, calling it dangerous for the protection of students from marginalised sections.
The convention was also addressed by MLA Sandeep Saurabh, AIPWA leader Meena Tiwari, AICCTU leader R.N. Thakur, Kisan Mahasabha leader Umesh Singh, Asarfi Sada, former MLA Manju Prakash, MLC Shashi Yadav, Manoj Manzil, Birendra Gupta, Mehboob Alam, Satyadev Ram and Dhirendra Jha, among others. The conference was chaired by Asha Devi, Satya Narayan Prasad and Shanichari Devi, while Shatrughan Sahni conducted the proceedings.
Resolutions adopted at the convention demanded an immediate halt to bulldozer actions; a physical survey of Dalit and poor settlements; issuance of Basgit Parcha/land pattas; strengthening MGNREGA with 200 days of employment and a daily wage of Rs 700; withdrawal of the four labour codes; making the nationwide workers’ strike on February 12 a success; and a review of land acquisition and displacement policies.
The convention resolved to intensify a statewide people’s movement on all these issues and pledged to secure a decisive victory in this “bulldozer versus land rights” struggle.
