Bengal Fishers Call for ‘Strong Movement’ Against Centre, State Policy 'Favouring Big Corporates'

Daspur West Medinipur: The Paschimbanga Rajya Matshajibi Samity, the West Bengal unit of the All-India Fishers and Fishery Workers Federation (AIFFWF), has called for building strong, protracted movement against anti-fisher policy of the Central and state government. The call was given in the recently concluded 16th conference of the PRMS, attended nearly 200 delegates from 17 districts of the state.  

The conference also called for making a “grand success” of the July 9 national strike call given by central trade unions sans, barring the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. 

According to estimates, over 44 lakh persons are engaged in the fish trade in the state and along with their dependents, over 2 crore persons are intrinsically related to the trade.

Addressing the delegates, Pulluvila Stanley, AIFFWF national general secretary, said on July 9, the organisation would take all steps to ensure that fish trade comes to a halt in the state in support of the demands of the fishing community.

He said a cohesive movement of fishers against monopoly capitalists was the need of the hour.

Stanley criticised the BJP-led Central government for “trying to divide the people of the country in the name of religion. He reminded West Bengal had a rich tradition of diversity and notable achievements, such as Nobel laureates poet Rabindranath Tagore and economists Amartya Sen and Abhijit Banerjee, as also Mother Teresa.

“They (the Union government) have taken measures to promote deep sea mining, which is having a devastating impact on the climate of the country,” he said, calling upon the delegates to take initiatives to expand the organisation in West Bengal, which boasts of huge inland fisheries along with Tripura, and become “the number one state in the country, overtaking Kerala.”

Inaugurating the conference, Amal Halder, state secretary of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), called for an immediate end to war-mongering in the world and in the country. “This is hampering the interest of the agrarian and fishing population of the country who are reeling under the effect of price rise and the escalation of inputs costs, such as pisciculture instruments like fishing nets.”

Placing the secretarial report in the conference , AIFFWF outgoing Secretary Debasish Barman described war-mongering as a “crisis of capitalism”, adding that the ongoing wars was a result of US imperialism’s interference in world affairs.  

On the situation in West Bengal, he criticised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government’s ponds policy that was “hurting the interests of the fishers and other sections of the fishing -dependent population of the state.” 

He said the 2004 Act of the United Progressive Alliance government had been sent to the cold storage by the Narendra Modi government, which, after coming to power in 2014, has taken up a string of huge projects in the name pf “blue economy”, such as the Sagar Mala project, ousting many fishers from households in the name of acquiring land for these projects.

Barman demanded cancellation of projects, like the Junput missile testing centre in East Medinipur and the building of a harbour “ousting” many fishing harbours in the district.

“Deep sea mining is also hurting the interests of fishers and ruining the environment,” he said, adding that the fishing sector was gradually being handed over to big capitalists.

He also alleged that the Sundarbans was being destroyed by the Union government as a sea vessels route was being started through the region, as also a deepsea port was being planned in Hingalgunj. About 45 lakh people live in Sundarbans and due to the vessel route, traditional fisher might lose their livelohoods. “People from the Sundarbans are already moving to other states as migrant workers and are living in precarious conditions,” he added.

About 15 delegates from 17 districts of the state spoke on the worsening condition of pisculturalists during the regime of the present state government, which has taken a policy decision to dismantle the cooperative system of pisciculture and give inland water fisheries to the highest bidder, thereby “bringing in mafia and big capital”.

“The traditional fishermen's income has depleted to the farthest extent. Even fishers who fish in the rivers are facing losses due to environmental damage. The creeks and rivers are dying and fish is not available. An average fisher finds it difficult to earn even Rs 50 a day.  The fish markers and arats (where fish bidding is held) are now being controlled by the TMC strongmen who extort money from fish sellers and aratdars alike,” alleged one of the delegates.

Delegates also decried the ‘Moyna model’ of fish cultivation being pursued by the state government, whereby excessive medicines, pesticides and growth hormones are used for fish cultivation. They alleged that this had led to fish contamination with “about 126 persons were affected by cancer after eating fish cultivated under the Moyna model”.

Sunil Adhikary, former MLA from Daspur, highlighted the “fighting tradition” of the people of Daspur and their role during the freedom struggle and producing many martyrs. “This is also the birthplace of M.N Roy, the first secretary of the Indian communist party at Tashkent,” he said.

Sudhan Das, AIFFWF vice-president, lauded the “zeal” of fishers against the “torturous state government and ruling party”. He said in his state, Tripura, too, “a fascist force (BJP) has come to power, and here (in Bengal) the B team of BJP (the TMC) is in power,” which should be “ousted from power” in the Assembly elections next year.

Former AIFFWF president Tushar Ghosh also called for wide participation of fishers in the July 9 national strike call.