[L-I] [ INDIA ] ML Update, Vol.6 , No. 43 , 22 - 28 - October 2003

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.6 , No.  43 , 22-28  October  2003


AYODHYA REVISITED:
OLD SLOGANS AND THE WRITING ON THE WALL


Yet another Vishwa Hindu Parishad attempt to bring the Ayodhya cauldron to
the boil has just ended in a fiasco.

For the VHP and other Sangh affiliates, the timing of the latest Ayodhya
campaign could not be more perfect. They had just successfully effected a
change of government in Uttar Pradesh. And Mulayam Singh is now singing a
much softer tune on the whole issue of Ayodhya. Far from issuing a fresh
notification for the trial of Advani and others for the demolition of Babri
Masjid, he openly welcomed the Rae Bareli verdict 'exonerating' Advani and
refrained from going in appeal against this patently skewed sentence. The
Togadias and Singhals pulled out all the stops and the claim went out that
on October 17 the country would get to see an unprecedented demonstration of
the depth of the VHP's devotion and determination.

Yet on the D-Day, everything just fizzled out. The VHP tried to blame it on
the 'atrocities' committed by the UP police. But actually, the UP police
were as 'mulayam' (soft) as they were in December 1992. With not a single
shot fired and the people arrested being treated with such surprising
hospitality, the charge of police atrocity could hardly cut any ice with the
people. A 'Bharat bandh' called in protest against the so-called police
intervention had to be promptly scaled down to a 'Sankalp Sabha' or just a
protest meeting. And there was little protest or public presence to be seen
in these meetings either.

Mulayam Singh Yadav has predictably thanked the Centre for the peaceful
manner in which the VHP's Ayodhya campaign has passed off. Ever since the
VHP had begun its preparations Mulayam was busy pleading with the BJP top
brass to keep the VHP flock in check. The BJP high command on the other hand
advised restraint to the UP government and Vajpayee asked the country to
trust the VHP. Incidentally, the VHP has on a number of occasions proclaimed
its total lack of trust in Vajpayee!

The setting this time was thus little different from that of December 1992.
At that time too, Kalyan Singh and the VHP leadership had apparently
'assured' the Union Government and the Supreme Court that nothing would be
done or allowed to be done to the 'disputed structure' and Narsimha Rao had
dutifully conveyed that assurance to the nation and gone off to meditate and
sleep. Except for the changes in the composition of the governments in New
Delhi and Lucknow, the game of words and exchange of assurances sounded
ominously similar.

The crucial difference between December 1992 and October 2003 lay in the
evident lack of public response. The lack of response and enthusiasm in the
saffron brigade's own ranks became quite evident when a Shiv Sena
mobilisation just a few days before the VHP show turned out to be a damp
squib. The Delhi rally of the VHP preceding the 'final assault' also ended
on a very tame note. And despite weeks and months of nationwide campaigning
and mobilisation attempts from every corner of the country, the people
reaching Uttar Pradesh from outside the state hardly crossed a few
thousands. And inside the state, the response was even more muted.

Angry with the periodic siege laid to their twin towns, the people of
Faizabad and Ayodhya held meetings and called for frustrating the Sangh's
attempts to whip up a new round of frenzy over the temple issue. And in
Lucknow, the state capital, more than five thousand men and women marched in
scorching heat at the call of the CPI(ML) on October 16 pledging to defeat
the fascist design underlying the BJP's temple politics. Instead, the Jan
Adhikar Rally, urged the people to rise on the basic issues affecting the
livelihood of the masses and the future of the country. The rally called for
saving secularism, democracy and national independence from the VHP's
trident and challenging the BJP's fascist agenda with the real agenda of the
people.

The contrast between the flop show at Ayodhya and the resonant resolve from
Lucknow is pregnant with great possibilities for the future of the Indian
people and their democracy. Let us make a determined attempt to transform
these growing possibilities into India's defining reality.


Save Democracy -  Save India Campaign:
------------------------------------------------

PEOPLES' RIGHTS RALLY IN UTTAR PRADESH

Thousands of people from remote corners of Uttar Pradesh assembled at the
Rifah-e-Aam Hall grounds in Lucknow on 16 October to thwart the Sangh
Pariwar's communal campaign on the Mandir issue. The rally was aimed at
countering the Sangh Parivar's march to Ayodhya with the broadest possible
mobilisation of peasants and labourers - the only forces that can defeat
communal fascism. Issues like exposure of the Sangh Parivar's Mandir
Abhiyan, education and employment, development of the state, confiscation of
the black money amassed by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, BPL cards
for the poor as well as issues related to the lives of peasants and workers
including the demand for central legislation for agricultural workers and
minimum wages were raised at the rally.

The rallyists coming from Western UP (Moradabad and Bareilly) were stopped
by the administration at Barielly, and at several other points too they were
disturbed. However, around seven thousand participants managed to reach
Lucknow to attend the rally. Those detained at Bareilly also, on being
released, took out a procession in Bareilly city chanting slogans against
Sangh Parivar's hate campaign.

The mass meeting started with paying tribute to the martyrs of Bhavanipur
massacre and the Party comrades as well as innocent people martyred in
violence perpetrated by the feudal forces and the state machinery. The rally
was addressed by CPI(ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya and
State Secretary Akhilendra Pratap Singh. The other speakers at the rally
were - MK Sherwani, President of the All India Muslim Forum, Ismail
Siddiqui, President of the Momin Conference, Dr. Krisnawtar Pandey,
President of the PUHR, Daniram Panther, Dalit Panther leader, Dr. Brij
Bihari, Editor of Dalit Asia Today, and Rajendra Vanvasi, Convenor of
Adivasi-Vanvasi Sangh and leaders of various mass organisations affiliated
with the Party. The meeting was presided over by veteran CPI (ML) leader and
freedom fighter RN Upadhyaya. The mass meeting was conducted by State
Standing Committee member Lal Sahib.

Addressing the rally Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya said: The days of fanning
frenzy on the Mandir issue are gone. People are now demanding from NDA govt.
at the centre to account for their five-year rule. Elections are round the
corner and they have nothing to offer to the people. Thus, Mandir is a
movement of worn-out fellows. They claim to mobilise lakhs but in fact find
it hard to bring in people in thousands. Today's Jan Adhikar Rally is a
meaningful initiative because the common people demand that politics should
centre around issues. There should be talk on issues of rights of toiling
people, of peasants, women, adivasis, of fields and factories, schools and
colleges. People ask us: Is Ayodhya not an issue to you? Yes, Ayodhya is
definitely an issue for us. In 1992 those who demolished Babri Masjid gave
false assurance to the people and killed the spirit of the constitution and
the law, as well as democracy. To bring these killers of democracy to book
is the issue of Ayodhya. Therefore we have launched a "Save Democracy, Save
India" campaign throughout the country.

Exposing Mulayam's opportunist politics he said: Now Mulayam Singh is saying
that if BJP gives up Ram Mandir, Art. 370 and Common Civil Code, he can get
closer to BJP. Everybody knows that it is on these very conditions that NDA
had been forged, but BJP gave up none of these issues. Whom is Mulayam Singh
duping? If he wishes to forge relationship with BJP, why does he not spell
it clearly?

Comrade Dipankar warned: If Ayodhya gave the first signal, genocide in
Gujarat gave the second one. These signals point to the elimination
democracy and national unity. Whereas we want Parliament to pass the laws in
favour of agrarian labourers, for ensuring reservation to women, to include
Right to work in the Constitution, they demand laws on Mandir construction
and banning cow-slaughter. The world they live in is different from ours.
Our way is not only different from theirs, it is just opposite.

Speaking after him, Comrade Akhilendra Pratap Singh said: This rally asks
Mulayam, why he is hesitating from filing a review petition in the High
Court against Advani's acquittal by the Rae Bareli court? Rajnath Singh and
Mayawati had their compulsions, but what is there holding Mulayam from doing
so? Mulayam's democracy must not get confined to the release of Raja Bhaiya.
If he is so fond of democracy, he must file a case against Rajnath Singh for
Bhavanipur massacre.  And if he wants to safeguard dignity of women, he must
not side with killers like Amarmani Tripathi for power equations and punish
the guilty, whosoever he may be.

 The rally demanded that atrocious state repression on ML activists and
rural poor in Sonebhadra, Mirzapur and Chandauli in the name of containing
Naxalism be stopped immediately. The rally also demanded that the State
Cabinet must pass a proposal to award status of Scheduled Tribes to Kols,
Korwas, Musahars etc. and send the same to the Central Govt for apporval.


CITIZENS' CONVENTION AGAINST COMMUNALISM

A Convention against communalism was organised on Oct 20 in Arrah, the city
which otherwise is known for it's glorious legacy of revolutionary peasant
movements but witnessed an incident of communal frenzy and violence by Sangh
and Shiv Sena hoodlums during last Dussehra celebrations. Convention
condemned Laloo-Rabri regime's policy of appeasing the  Sangh Parivar and
BJP and appealed to the people to intensify the struggles on people's basic
issues to defeat communal fascist intentions of BJP and Sangh Parivar.

Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya spoke at the Convention as the main speaker
where he said "in a situation when Sangh and VHP are trying once again to
fan communal passions by raising the Mandir issue when five states are going
to polls in December, Bihar govt.'s policy of appeasing the communal BJP has
definitely put glorious legacy, traditions, amity and distinct political
identity of Arrah and the Bhojpur region in danger and this needs to be
resisted and opposed at all costs". He also warned the communal forces and
said that CPI(ML) will never let divisive forces succeed in Arrah for any
repetition of what they had perpetrated in cities like Meerut, Surat, Bombay
or Ahmedabad in the past.

He condemned RJD govt. of Bihar for not agreeing to the CPI(ML)'s demand of
holding DM and SSP responsible in cases of communal or castiest violence and
said that Laloo is reaping political gains by maintaining social tension.
While movement of poor peasants and agricultural labourers is routinely
facing repression by police and administration and bitter memories of
massacres like Bathe and Bathani are still afresh in the minds of the
people, Laloo's police implicates students, under charges of sedition, who
opposed Advani and his fascist politics in Darbhanga. He also reiterated
CPI(ML)'s resolve to bring the guilty of 1992 Babri Masjid demolition to the
book.

The well attended convention was also addressed by Rameshwar Prasad and a
number of eminent citizens and prominent intellectuals of the region.
Veteran party leader and cultural personality Comrade Ramakant Dwivedi
'Ramta' was also present on the occasion.

The Convention demanded to arrest those responsible for the violence of Oct
5 in Arrah and an strong action against the District Magistrate as well as
proper compensation to the families of those killed and whose shops were
burnt during violence.

The Convention appealed to make CPI(ML)'s "Save Democracy - Save India"
campaign and the forthcoming All India Agri. Labourers' National Conference
to be held in Arrah a great success.


NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ALL INDIA
AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS' ASSOCIATION

The All India Agricultural Labourers' Association (Khet Mazdoor Sabha) will
hold it's first national conference in Arrah (Bhojpur) of Bihar on November
14-15. The preparations to the conference are going at full throttle and,
besides various programmes being taken up throughout the country, an
extensive propaganda campaign along with various other programmes is being
undertaken in and around Bhojpur. A programme to erect memorials of martyrs
has also been taken up from 26 Oct to 5 Nov and a total of 32 martyrs
memorials, including those of comrades Jagdish, Sheela Chatterji and
Rameshwar (in Ekbari village), Butan Mushhar (Baruna village), Jiut and
Sahato (Kunai village) and Agni (Sandesh village), will be erected during
this campaign.

A massive Mazdoor-Kisan Ekta Rally (Worker-Peasant Solidarity Rally) will be
held before the Conference on Nov 14 at Ramana ground in Arrah while the
Conference will be held in stadium ground in the city.

Large gates have been erected in almost all the villages where struggles of
agrarian labourers are going on and intensive wall-writings and installation
of hoardings is being done by the local committees of Khet Mazdoor Sabha to
welcome the delegates. Pamphlets, handbills, flags and other propaganda
materials are being distributed in the villages and mass-contact and
fund-collection campaigns are being conducted as part of preparations for
the Conference. Cycle rallies, torchlight processions and prabhat pheries
are also being organised at different places in the region.

In the meanwhile, the central coordination committee of AIALA concluded its
meeting on Oct. 18 in Patna and reviewed the preparations going on for the
Conference. The coordination committee has appealed to double the efforts
and sharpen the propaganda to make the Conference historic. The coordination
committee has also appealed to elect maximum number of women delegates to
the Conference. Around one thousand delegates, observers and guests are
expected to attend the Conference from all over the country. A document is
being finalised to be presented in the Conference after detailed discussions
with leading activists at all state, district and block levels.
Representatives of fraternal and friendly organisations have been invited to
the Conference of which CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya will
be the chief guest.

DHARNA IN BHOPAL

CPI(ML) organised a dharna against Digvijay Singh govt. of Madhya Pradesh
for it's failure to contain corruption, rising unemployment, police-criminal
nexus and atrocities on dalits,  minorities and women. Various other issues
such as privatisation of education, deteriorating public health system,
roads and transport, power supply and water crisis were also raised through
this dharna held on October 17. Speakers at the dharna, which was led by
Party's Central Committee member Prabhat Kumar Choudhary, appealed to
intensify struggle against deceitful regime as well as communal fascist
forces and criticised Digvijay Singh's surendering attitude towards hindutva
fascist forces in the name of containing the latter while, at the same time,
general plight of deprived sections of society has further worsened. Dalits
in MP are still living under the tyranny of feudal forces while a hype is
being created of distribution of land-pattas to the dalits though many are
unable to get possession over the land they possess.

A number of peasants, workers, youth and women from Bhind, Gwalior, Datia
and Shivpuri attended the dharna. The dharna demanded to give possession
over the land which has been distributed to the dalits, reopening of closed
industrial units, including Jaycee Mills, in the state, an stop to
capitation fees and privatisation of education, unemployment allowance of
Rs. 1000 per month, waiver of electricity bills to the poor and BPL cards to
all those living under extreme conditions of poverty.

CADRE CONVENTION IN DELHI

Delhi unit of Party organised a state level cadre convention on Oct 14 in
view of forthcoming assembly elections in the state. Party General Secretary
Dipankar Bhattacharya addressed the Convention  and said "as both Congress
and BJP are trying to divert the basic issues during these elections, it
becomes the primary responsibility of all left and democratic forces to
bring these issues and impact of anti-people policies of liberalisation and
globalisation which is adversely affecting the lives of the common people in
the capital to the forefront." The Convention was attended by nearly 60
activists and leaders from various parts of Delhi.

Cadre workshops were also organised in Narela, Patparganj, Mandawali and
Rohtas Nagar assembly constituencies from where Party is to contest
elections, and a detailed programme was chalked out and election campaign
committees were elected. These workshops were addressed by Swapan Mukherjee,
Prabhat Choudhary and Rajendra Pratholi as the main speakers.

CPI(ML) has also highlighted various issues specifically related to
livelihood of industrial workers, jhuggi dwellers, and urban poor and women
to be raised in the forthcoming elections in Delhi.

AICCTU CONFERENCE IN BIHAR

AICCTU's Bihar unit held its two day state conference on Oct 18 in Hajipur
where it resolved to defeat anti-worker policies of liberalisation and
globalisation along with the politics of communal fascism and imperialist
intervention and condemned Bihar's RJD govt. for fanning social tensions for
vested political interests. The conference was inaugurated by AICCTU
National President and veteran trade union leader Comrade Yogeshwar Gope. A
massive demonstration was also held in the city before the conference which
was started after flag hoisting ceremony and paying homage to the martyrs.
The open session of the conference was also addressed by AITUC's General
Secretary of Bihar Chakradhar Singh and Secretary Narayan Purve, Editor of
Shramik Solidarity Pradip Jha and General Secretary of Bihar State
Non-gazetted Employee's Association (Gope group) Rambali Prasad.

The Conference passed resolutions condemning communal fascist forces,
prevailing domination of feudal elements in the state's polity and
oppression of dalits and poor and resolved to expand the organisation. It
also appealed to make the forthcoming agricultural labourers' National
Conference in Arrah a grand success. Conference elected a 31 member State
Council, 21 member State Executive and 11 office bearers.


ARE WOMEN SAFE IN ADVAN'S RAMRAJYA?

In the recent past there has been an alarming increase in the number of
cases of violence on women. This is specially true in the national capital
of Delhi. The violence is not incidental and random. It reflects a certain
mindset and is conducted with impunity as well as a conscious element of
brutality and defiance. In September it was an incident relating to a nurse
who was raped by an employee of the Shanti Mukund Hospital. There has been
no action on the part of the Health Ministry so far. Another shocking
incident took place in the beginning of October. This time it was a student
of Jesus and Mary College who had gone to a park with her friend. She was
accosted by none other than four armymen of the president's cavalry guard. A
student of class III of the Sarvodaya Vidyalaya was raped by a young teacher
in the school premises during school hours!

But on the 17th of this month, people of Delhi were jolted out of their wits
when they read the news of a Swiss national working as an employee in the
Swiss Embassy raped in the parking lot of the Siri Fort Auditorium. Soon
after, a documentary film maker was attacked in a similar manner.

Going back into Delhi's past one can see that some of the most heinous
crimes against women have gone without any exemplary punishment. Moreover,
it is quite evident that the mindset of those who control the affairs of the
state remains patriarchal, feudal and totally insensitive.

 The other important reason for these brazen acts is that Politicians,
bureaucrats, industrialists and the powerful and their kith and kin are
immune to any law. Despite the fact that people like Pramod Mahajan or
Amarmani Tripathi are directly involved in murder cases, they continue to
head important Ministries. A Chief Minister like Mulayam Singh Proudly
declares to the press - Amarmani has helped me and the state in a time of
crisis, I will protect him. The President of India, instead of expressing
regret in the DU student rape case, quickly has a communiqué sent to the
press that the armymen were not part of his security, rather only "low level
functionaries deputed on ceremonial duties". The BJP's propaganda offensive
relegates women to the position of slaves in their homes or outside. Can
women remain safe without fighting against this and challenging the
retrogressive and patriarchal forces that are trying to intimidate women to
the point of pushing them back into the four walls of their homes? While the
Home Minister LK Advani remains unaccountable for the safety of women in the
Capital, he is busy realising his dream of a RAM RAJYA  with Ram Mandirs ad
infinitum. We are seeing a small glimpse - a trailer of Advani's Ram Rajya?

A delegation of AIPWA, led by it's General Secretary Kumudini Pati,  has met
the Joint Police Commissioner in New Delhi on Oct 21 and demanded arrest of
the criminals in a time-bound frame.


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SAVE DEMOCRACY!                       SAVE  INDIA!!



March Ahead to Intensify Movement of Agricultural Labourers !

Put an End to Starvation Deaths
and Growing Unemployment !!

Enact Central Legislation
for Agricultural Labourers !!!



For  Comprehensive Land Reforms,
Development and Democracy!

Against  Communal- Feudal Forces
and Corrupt - Criminal Regime

Make

All India Conference

and

Rally

of

All India Agricultural
Labourers' Association

a  Grand  Success.

14-15 November, 2003

Arrah (Bhojpur), Bihar.


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[email protected]
www.copiml.org

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CPI(ML) U-90, Shakarpur,  Delhi - 110092

Ph: 91 11 22521067   Fax: 91 11 22518248
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