পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৯৫৯

এই পাতাটির মুদ্রণ সংশোধন করা প্রয়োজন।

927 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড The Prime Minister began by saying that every time she addressed a public rally in Calcutta, she felt that the crowd could not be bigger. Yet every time she was surprised to see how vast the gathering was. But she said the welcome accorded by the crowd was not "to one person but to the new programme we have taken up." After the mid-term elections, "we thought that the road was now clear for us to start implementing our socialistic programmes". But a new crisis developed on the borders and the country was faced with a massive influx of people free from the terror unleashed by the Pakistani Army. "Initially, we thought that the problem would last only a few days and that with help from foreign countries we would be able to tide over the difficulties." But this did not happen. In the first place not much aid was received and in the second, the aid-giving countries did not go to the root of the problems to find out why the refugees were coming away from their homeland in such large number. To cure a disease the Prime Minister said, one must go to the root of the problem." Referring to the Congress (R) election pledges, she said what the party was trying to achieve nothing new. This was the original programme of the party, which could not be implemented because of opposition from some of its members. The Congress (R) was not against the "maharajahs or millionaires as such" but it was against the system under which a minority prospered while the rest of the population remained steeped in poverty. There was much poverty and unemployment in West Bengal, she said, because of frequent bands and other disruptions. No attempt was made to solve these problems by those parties which considered themselves revolutionary. These parties enticed the poor peasants to grab land but this did not solve the problem of land hunger. To give long lasting benefits to the poor peasantry, there was need for enacting laws such as the 25th Amendment to the Constitution under which property might be taken over in national interest. Mrs. Gandhi said that the Swatantra party often alleged that nationalization or taking over of property would not help judging from the performance of public sector industries which were running at a loss. She agreed that this was sometimes true but referred to the closure of textile mills in Ahmedabad because of the failure of the mill owners to plough back their profits for the benefit of the industry. Mrs. Gandhi commended the efforts of the Yuva Congress and the Chhatra Parishad to root out the politics of murder and violence in West Bengal but said that a lot still remained to be done. Peace was all the more essential in West Bengal today because of the threat to our borders. She urged the people to ensure normal life in the cities and to check the activities of hoarders and profiteers not by attacking shop owners but through peaceful means. Calcutta had an unfortunate reputation for being a dirty city she said. The fault was probably the Corporation's but the citizens had also a responsibility in this matter. The city should be kept clean during such an emergency to prevent the outbreak of an epidemic.