Where Death Looked Down

Down through the ages, pestilence and poverty have made death an all too frequent visitor to Calcutta. Last week politics was the cause. For two days, rival political and labor factions rioted in Calcutta with spears, swords, clubs and daggers. By the time order was restored by local police, stiffened by 1,000 special officers, 34 lay dead.

The disorders had been building up for 13 months. In early 1969, a shaky coalition government took power in West Bengal, the most turbulent of India's 17 states and the one in which Calcutta lies. Since then, against a backdrop of bitter political strife stirred up by the coalition's strong Communist faction, unrest, violence and crime have been increasing. In the past year, the state has had 584 murders, one-fourth of them in Calcutta. Never the safest place on earth, the teeming metropolis of 8,000,000 has become a city of fear. Aside from the 200,000 ragged Calcuttans who sleep on the sidewalks every night, the once-thronged streets are virtually abandoned after dark.

Murder and Molestation. Last week West Bengal's Chief Minister, Ajoy Mukherji, leader of the Bangla Congress Party, made an extraordinary broadcast detailing the sad condition of his state and its 48 million people. "A disastrous situation has developed," he said. "Violence is rampant, with riots, looting, arson, destruction of life and property, murder, and molestation of women." The next day Mukherji resigned, and the 14-party United Front that had been ruling West Bengal collapsed.

Most distressed by the coalition's fall was its largest member, the militant Communist Party of India (Marxist). In a show of muscle intended to reinforce their claim to a dominant role in any future government, the Marxists called a 24-hour general strike that paralyzed industry and brought bloodshed to the streets. Toward week's end India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi invoked emergency provisions for direct control from New Delhi of the torn state.

It was the second time in two years that New Delhi had had to intervene in troubled West Bengal. Both times the troublemakers were the Marxists,* who hold 104 of the 280 seats in the Assembly. Controlling four key United Front ministries (Police, Land Policy, Education and Labor), the Marxists did much to expand their power base.

Blood All Over. In the countryside, Marxist agitators stirred discontent among landless peasants. In Calcutta, they won big pay increases for 1,000,000 tea, jute, textile and engineering workers. To make sure that no one interfered with the Marxists' tough tactics, Party Boss Jyoti Basu saw to it that Bengali police were deeply infiltrated by the party faithful. The political shenanigans soon led to a breakdown of law and order throughout the state.

Socialist Indira Gandhi, who has no great love for the Marxists, suspended rather than dissolved the Assembly. That tactic rules out quick elections, which the Marxists had hoped to win. Instead, other parties will have a chance to try to form a new government.

Basu last week warned darkly that if his Marxists are not included, "there will be bloodshed all over the state." No one doubts Basu's potential for mayhem—or the grim appropriateness of Rudyard Kipling's description of Calcutta, written nearly a century ago: