Shankar Guha Niyogi

Shankar (his original name is not Shankar, but Dhiresh) was born in a middle-class family. His father's name was Heramba Kumar and mother's name Kalyani. He received his primary education at the village of Jamunamukh of the Naogaon district of Assam, and the beautiful natural scenario of Assam made him a lover of nature. He received his high-school education when he was living with his uncle in the Sanktoria coalfield area near Asansol. Looking closely at the lives of the coal-miners, he began to understand how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. While studying the Intermediate Science Course in Jalpaiguri, he got involved in student movement and became a devoted worker of Students' Federation. The wave of the food movement all over Bengal in 1959 swept him away. He got the membership of the undivided Communist Party of India as a skilful student organizer. As he was intensely involved in student politics, his results in the examination were not good. Yet he was allotted a seat for studying engineering in Jalpaiguri on the strength of family recommendation. But he considered it an undue privilege and deserted his home.

It was the year 196I, when it was not difficult to find an employment in the BSP. I heard from Niyogi that the recruiting officer of the plant used to sit before a table at the Durg railway station, the purpose being to recruit for the plant those who had come from outside to seek employment. Dhiresh's age was then a few months less than eighteen, which was the minimum age for employment. So he had to wait for some time. Then he underwent a training course, after which he was employed as a skilled worker at the coke-oven department of the plant. He had nursed a desire for higher education, and hence began to study the BSc and AMIH courses at Durg's science college as a private student. Dhiresh gave leadership to the student movement of that college. Sweepers of the Durg municipality, informed of this skilful leader, came to him, and realized their demands after a successful strike under his leadership. The recognized union of the steel plant was affiliated to the INTUC. The next largest union was that of the AITUC. Niyogi, while remaining with the AITUC, went on organizing the workers independently for the solution of their various problems.

In 1964, the CPI split into two, and Dhiresh joined the CPI (M). At that time, he studied classical Marxism–Leninism under the guidance of Dr B S Yadu, a veteran communist physician. The . Naxalbari uprising of 1967 created a stir in Madhya Pradesh too, and almost all the CPI (M) activists of this province were influenced by it. Dhiresh came in contact with the All-India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries. After the formation of the CPI (ML) on 22 April 1969, he was associated with it for some time. But failure to adapt his own activities to the party line of boycott of mass organizations and mass lines led to his expulsion from the party. (It may be mentioned that the decision to expel Niyogi was taken in the presence of an elderly central leader and subsequently, that leader too opposed the party line on the same question.) Meanwhile, some events had taken place. Dhiresh lost his job after leading the first successful strike in the BSP. On the other hand, the police, having branded him a Naxalite, was looking for him. At that time, he went underground and began to take his thoughts to the ordinary workers by means of a Hindi weekly. Inspired by Lenin's Iskra, he named the weekly Sphulinga (Spark). Side by side, he began preparations for going to the villages. During this period, he came to the realization that for the victory of the working class movement, it was essential to form a bond between this class and the exploited Chhattisgarhi nationality. He wrote a booklet on the nationality problem of Chhattisgarh, which was proscribed by the police when it was coming to Chhattisgarh after getting printed in Maharashtra.

In order to know Chhattisgarh and its people, in order to be integrated with them, he, from 1968, went on passing his days incognito in the villages. Sometimes he assumed the identity of a seller of goats, buying goats in the villages and selling them in Durg and Bhilai. He could in this way maintain his contacts with his comrades there. Sometimes he was a peddler, sometimes a fisherman or a PWD labourer. Alongside, he continued the work of organizing the people through movements, e.g. movement for the construction of the Daihan dam, movement of the peasants of Balod for irrigation water, movement of the adivasis against the construction of the Mongra dam.

In 1971, he got employment as a contract labourer in Danitola Quartzite mine of the BSP; the skilled worker of coke-oven was now grinding stones, wearing shorts. This is the period when he assumed the name Shankar by which he became famous. Here he made his acquaintance with his future wife Asha, daughter of his co-labourer Siyaram. The first miners' union organized by him was also located in Danitola, although under the banner of the AITUC. Before his arrest under the MISA during the Emergency in 1975, Niyogi's organizational activities were in Danitola. The largest iron ore mines of the BSP were situated in Dalli-Rajhara. When Niyogi was imprisoned in Raipur Jail, contract miners of Dalli-Rajhara were vigorously engaged in a spontaneous movement. The leadership of the INTUC and the AITUC entered into an unjust agreement with the BSP management, according to which, permanent workers and contract labourers were to receive Rs 308 and Rs 70 per head respectively, although both categories of workers did the same type of work. Workers came out of the two unions in protest against this unjust agreement. It was the last phase of the Emergency. On 3 March, workers stopped work and started an indefinite dharna in the Lal Maidan. They were looking for an able commander who could lead them. Seeing the militant attitude of the workers, no union leader belonging to the CITU, HMS or BMS-—dared to face them. A few days later, as the Emergency came to an end, Shankar was released from prison. The distance between Dalli-Rajhara and Danitola is only 22 kilometres. Some workers, who had come out of the AITUC, knew Niyogi as an honest, lighting leader. Hence a team of representatives of Dalli-Rajhara workers went to Danitola in order to request him to give leadership to their movement. Niyogi, at their invitation, came to Dalli-Rajhara, and the independent organization of contract miners, Chhattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh (CMSS) was formed. The flag of the new union was red-green, red standing for workers' self-sacrifice and green for the peasantry.

The first struggle of miners under Shankar Guha Niyogi's leadership was a struggle for dignity; they would not obey the agreement signed by the leaders who were lackeys of the management. They accepted financial losses and took Rs 50 each, instead of Rs 70, as bonus from the management and contractors of the steel plant.

In May 1977, began the movement for idle wage (the wage that a worker is entitled to, when the employer cannot provide him with work) and for Rs I00 as house repairing allowance. The pressure of the movement compelled the management and contractors to yield to these two demands in presence of the officers of the labour department. But on 1 June, when the workers went to take payment of the repairing allowance, the contractors refused to pay it. The workers again went on strike.

At the night of 2 June, the next day, two jeeploads of policemen came to arrest Niyogi. They arrested Niyogi from the hovel of the union, and a jeep sped away with Niyogi. Before the other jeep started, workers, awakened from their sleep, surrounded the remaining policemen, demanding the release of their leader. In order to break the encirclement, the police opened fire, killing seven persons, including Anasuya Bai, a woman worker, and Sudama, a boy. But this did not prove enough for them to get out of the encirclement. Finally, on 3 June, a large police contingent arrived from Durg, killed four more workers and rescued the encircled policemen. But police atrocity failed to put down the workers' movement. After a continuous strike of as many as 18 days, the mine management and the contractors again agreed to the demands of the workers. Niyogi was released from prison.

The enthusiasm generated by this victory led to the formation of branches of the CMSS in other captive mines of the BSP—Danitola, Nandini, Hirri. All the branches together launched another wave of movement with further victories.

Dalli-Rajhara falls within the district of Durg, and a neighbouring district was Bastar. The authorities took the initiative of full mechanization of the Bailadila iron-ore mines of Bastar, the inevitable consequence of which would be retrenchment of workers. On 5 April 1978 the police of the Janata Government opened fire on the workers struggling under the leadership of the AITUC to resist mechanization. Workers of Dalli-Rajhara stood by these struggling fellows. Side by side, Niyogi made Dalli-Rajhara workers aware of the impending danger of mechanization. The workers started the movement against mechanization, and compelled the management to accept the proposal of semi-mechanization, which would raise the quantity and quality of output without retrenching workers. They resisted mechanization till 1994. (In 1994, one section of the leadership behaved treacherously with the workers and handed over the Dalli mines to the management for full mechanization.)

Successive victories of the union in economic movements led to large increases in the daily wages of the workers of Dalli-Rajhara. But that scarcely had any impact on their standards of living. Rather the adivasi workers increased their expenditure on alcohol. Niyogi asked, "Should the blood of martyrs then go down the drain of the wine shop?" The union initiated a novel sharab bandi (anti-liquor) movement, which freed about one hundred thousands of persons from this intoxicating habit. However, while continuing this movement, he had to be imprisoned under the National Security Act.

Niyogi gave the trade union movement a new dimension. So long, no established trade union did anything except demanding higher pay or bonus or replying to charge-sheets. In other words, trade union activities covered only those subjects that were related with the work places of the workers. Niyogi held that a trade union's activity should not be confined to eight hours' (work time's) issues; it has to deal with twenty four hours' issues. With this idea, the new union launched many new experiments in Dalli-Rajhara.

Mohalla Committees were set up in order to improve the housing conditions of the workers. In the schools run by the BSP, there was no provision for education of the children of contract labourers. Six primary schools were set up for these children under the leadership of the union, and an adult education programme for illiterate workers was undertaken. The pressure of the movement for education compelled the management to set up a number of primary, secondary and higher secondary schools. The health movement started in the form of cleansing (safai) movement. On 26 January 1982, the Shaheed Dispensary started functioning. On the Shaheed Divas (martyr's day) of 1983, the Shaheed Hospital was inaugurated. For the pastime of the workers and for the expansion of a healthy culture, naya anjor (morning sunshine) cultural troupe was set up. The Shaheed Sudama Football Club and the Red-Green Athletic Club were formed for the cultivation of health. The Mahila Mukti Morcha was formed for women's liberation movement. The CMM was built up with the aim of freeing Chhattisgarh from exploitation and for setting up the worker-peasant raj in Chhattisgarh. A model afforestation programme was implemented behind the union premises as a challenge to the anti-people forest policy of the government.

Departments of the Chhattisgarh Mines Sramik Sangha, formed in 1978: I. Trade Union Department 2. Department for work on arrear and fallback wages 3. Peasants' department (transformed into CMM in 1979) 4. Education Department 5. Savings Department 6. Department of Health 7. Sports Department 8. Department for Protection from Alcohol 9. Department of Culture I0. Department for Development of Workers' Slums II. Department for Women—named Mahila Mukti Morcha in 1980 I2. The Department of Mess (The Kitchen of the Union) I3. Department of Construction I4. Legal Department I5. Library Department I6. Propaganda Department I7. Department of Volunteers I8. Department of Environment was formed in 1984

Women played an important role in the movement of the CMM. In the Mukhia meetings of the workers' organization, they participated in significant numbers, although they were somewhat less than 50%. The reason is that contract labourers in the mines used to do two types of work, raising (grinding stones) and transporting (loading trucks). The former type of work was done by both men and women, while the latter only by men. From every raising area, men and women were elected in equal numbers, and from a transporting area, only men. From a mohalla, women and men were elected in equal numbers. Consequently, the number of female participants in Mukhia meetings was taken as a whole, somewhat less than that of males. Women workers played important roles in the workers' organization, and in the Mahila Mukti Morcha. Women workers organized other women [Vide : Chandana Mitra, Sangharsh O Nirman (Struggle and Creation), Anustup Prakashan, Kolkata]. Attracted by the novel leadership of Niyogi, people inhabiting the vast stretches of Chhattisgarh began to take up the red–green flag. In those days Chhattisgarh comprised seven of Madhya Pradesh. In five among them, namely Durg, Bastar, Rajnandgaon, Raipur and Bilaspur, the organization and movement of the Mukti Morcha spread rapidly. Among those who fought under the banner of the Morcha were the workers of Bengal-Nagpur Cotton Mill of Rajnandgaon, the oldest factory of Chhattisgarh. On 12 September 1984, the police fired on them to put down their movement. Four workers courted martyrdom, but the movement was victorious. The last struggle fought under Niyogi's leadership was the Bhilai workers' struggle. Bhilai was the centre of exploitation of workers in Chhattisgarh. The struggle started from there, and it drove the factory owners into panic. Yet the demands were apparently very ordinary-living wages (salaries for minimum livelihood), permanent jobs in permanent industries, right to be organized in unions. Chhattisgarh, which is rich in mineral, forest and water resources, was also the supplier of cheap labour. The upshot of acceptance of such demands was hence far-reaching and dreadful to the owners. So, the police, the administration and almost all the political parties joined hands to crush the movement. The police and ruffians were employed to attack. Niyogi was kept in prison from 4 February 1991 to 3 April 1991 on the strength of various old warrants. Attempts were made to extern him from the five districts. But nothing could crush the movement. In order to mobilize public opinion in support of the movement, a large band of workers, led by Niyogi, went to Delhi and gave a deputation to the President and the Prime Minister. A fortnight later, on 28 September, secret assassins hired by the owners murdered Niyogi.

Niyogi was founder of Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, a political party for his vision towards labour of Rajhara Mines. Now this party is working for development of Rajhara Town as well.

Niyogi was shot and killed while asleep on 28 September 1991. The trial of his murder suspects generated tremendous controversy, as a lower court awarded strict punishments to all suspects, but higher courts later convicted just one suspect, and let off two industrialists.[1]

• "Niyogi - His Work & Thinking"