What Sparked the Violence in Murshidabad and West Bengal?
- Is This Just a Power Struggle Between BJP and TMC?
- A Deeper Truth – Two Worlds: Developed vs Underdeveloped
- Why the West Fears an Industrialized India
- How Internal Conflicts Are Engineered
- Role of Indian Politicians as Puppets of Global Powers
Justice Katju decodes the violence in West Bengal, Murshidabad & beyond—linking it to global power politics and India's struggle to industrialize. Must read!
What is happening in West Bengal?
By Justice Markandey Katju
What is the explanation of the violence in Murshidabad and other parts of West Bengal?
Apparently it is a struggle for power, using all means fair or foul, in West Bengal between Mamata Banerjee's Trinamul Congress party ( TMC ), which has power in West Bengal, and the Bhartiya Janata Party ( BJP ), which is in power in the centre in India.
However, a deeper understanding is called for, since to my mind the above is only a superficial view.
The first thing to understand is that in this globe there are in fact two worlds viz (1) the developed countries of North America, Europe, Japan, Australia and China and (2) the underdeveloped countries of Asia (except China and Japan), Africa and Latin America.
The developed countries have a secret, unwritten rule ( which they will never openly talk about ) viz not to allow underdeveloped countries to become developed, as that would gravely damage them. To understand this one must go into economics, for politics is concentrated economics.
Cost of labour is a big chunk of the total cost of production, and so if cost of labour is less, the cost of production would be less, and then one can sell one’s goods at a cheaper price. There is competition in the market, and one businessman eliminates another not by guns, bombs or swords but by underselling him i.e. selling the same high-quality goods at a cheaper price.
Thus, China, which was a very poor country before 1949 ( about 95% of its people then were poor peasants ), built up a massive industry after its Revolution of 1949. This massive industrial base ( which is still developing ) coupled with the cheap labour available in China, enabled the Chinese to capture much of the markets in the world, because it has much cheaper labour than in western countries. Western supermarkets are packed with Chinese goods, because they often sell at half the price at which western manufacturers can sell them (because of the expensive western labour).
Thus countries which have cheap labour have a distinct advantage over countries having expensive labour ( provided they set up a massive industrial base ).
If India too sets up a massive industry, then with our cheap labour we will undersell the products of western industries, which will then collapse, throwing millions out of employment. Will the developed countries easily permit that? No, they will oppose such transformation of India into a modern industrial giant tooth and nail.
And how do they oppose it? They oppose it by making people in India, fight each other on the basis of religion, race, language, caste, etc., instead of waging a united people's struggle for emancipation from their socio-economic plight. This they do through the local politicians, of all parties, who are all objectively their loyal agents, as they polarise Indian society, and incite hatred among religions and castes ( to get votes ).
Thus there is a direct conflict between the interests of the developed countries, which do not want underdeveloped countries to become developed ones, and the interests of the underdeveloped countries whose enlightened sections realise that unless their country becomes developed it can never hope to escape from abject poverty, massive unemployment, appalling level of child malnutrition, almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, etc.
So people of underdeveloped countries have to launch a mighty united people's struggle ( jan sangharsh ), under patriotic, selfless, modern-minded leaders, a struggle which will be long drawn, and in which tremendous sacrifices will have to be made. This struggle will culminate in a historical people's revolution ( jan kranti ), which sets up a political and social order under which the country rapidly industrialises, and all our people steadily start enjoying a high standard of living and leading decent lives.
Once we keep the above in mind, we will understand what is happening in our country. Behind the violence in West Bengal, Manipur, and many other parts of India one can feel a foreign hand i.e. the hand of some developed country or countries.
No doubt there will be no direct evidence of this, but there is a thing called circumstantial evidence also. We see only the Indian politicians, who are really puppets, but we usually do not see the puppeteer who is hidden behind a screen and is really controlling the puppets with his strings. The whole game is to prevent Indians from being united and launching a powerful united people's struggle to transform India into a modern industrial giant, like China
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman, of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own)
