[L-I] [ INDIA ] ML Update , Vol. 6 No. 48 26 Nov - 2 Dec 2003

ML Update
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol.  6 No. 48    26 Nov - 2 Dec 2003


POLITICS OF DIVIDE-AND-RULE,
ECONOMICS OF DESTROY-AND-LOOT

As we go to press, more than 50 Hindi-speaking  people, almost all of them
from poor and migrant Bihari labourer families, have been killed in Assam.
In spite of curfew, the death toll continues to rise. The feeling of
insecurity now runs deep among the Hindi-speaking people in the North-East,
especially Biharis in Assam. After years and decades of hard toil, in the
course of which many had virtually made Assam their home, the threat of
forcible eviction now suddenly stares them in the face. Fear has become
their constant companion.

Regional or ethnic violence has become a recurrent feature of politics in
Assam. In the late 1970s and 1980s, deportation of 'foreigners' was the
central demand of the Assam movement. Ironically, in the name of deporting
illegal Bangladeshi immigrants important ULFA leaders themselves took refuge
in Bangladesh. Now Biharis find themselves at the receiving end of this
parochial 'xenophobic' frenzy. Earlier, one could also see a powerful
anti-Centre trend in the Assam movement. But the present spate of
ULFA-sponsored violence is directed against the most vulnerable sections of
any society, migrant labourers.

One can sympathise with the widespread feelings of frustration among the
unemployed Assamese youth, but such feelings are patently being manipulated
to criminal reactionary ends by self-styled forces of Assamese nationalism.
This anti-worker anti-people violence can only weaken Assam in every
possible way. The forces of democracy and development in Assam must
therefore categorically condemn and reject this parochial politics. The
social texture of Assam is particularly delicate, and the state has
historically been one of the worst victims of the colonial politics of
divide-and-rule. It is therefore essential that the Assamese working class
and new generation youth, who have much closer interaction with the rest of
the country than previous generations, nip this nefarious design in the bud.
It is of course not sufficient to blame the ULFA alone. Almost all the
parochial regional forces in the North-East are now playing into the hands
of the BJP. In Assam, the BJP now takes the lead in spearheading the
anti-minority campaign. In Bihar, the same BJP was busy instigating
anti-social and lumpen elements into attacking passengers from the
North-East and molesting women. In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena orchestrates a
violent campaign against migrant labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The
same Shiv Sena has also been spotted leading the mob violence in Bihar.

Divide in the name of region and religion, and then rule in the name of the
'nation'. The hypocrisy of the BJP-Shiv Sena variety of nationalism has been
thoroughly exposed by the turn of events in Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra.
And the RSS wants to hide this monumental mischief by raising accusing
fingers at all our neighbouring countries. According to RSS propagandists,
the anti-Bihari violence in Assam is a sinister admixture of three foreign
components - infiltration from Bangladesh, training from Pakistan and arms
from China. While the Centre turned a Nelson's eye to the deteriorating
situation in Assam, the Union Minister in charge of the North-East Mr. CP
Thakur went to Assam only to discover the alleged hand of Bangladesh behind
the killing spree in Assam.

It has taken the railways minister Nitish Kumar such enormous amount of
bloodshed to announce that examinations for Group D recruitments in the
railways would be held at divisional level and local applicants would be
given preference. As railway minister for the last four years, he has
acquired enough experience in 'managing' accidents that kill a few hundred
passengers every few months. One cannot perhaps expect any greater
sensitivity from a seasoned manager of human calamity. But he still wants to
keep our attention away from the real source of trouble.

No matter where the examinations are held and what kind of preference system
is introduced, the proportion between vacancies and applicants is 1:370 (74
lakh applicants for 20,000 posts). And for every new recruitment, the
railway ministry is abolishing several jobs. The workforce in this biggest
service industry has been curtailed drastically over the last two decades
and the government is desperate to reduce it by another 25% over the next
few years, pruning it down from 1.6 million to 1.2 million. The fascist
politics of 'burn, kill and rule' is a concentrated expression of the
anti-people economics of 'downsize, destroy and loot'.

Reinforcing the solidarity of the people and redirecting the entire
resentment against this nexus of fascist politics and anti-people economics
is the need of the hour.


BOURGEOIS LIMITATIONS OF THE JUDICIARY

The judicial activism of the Supreme Court reached its waterloo at
Jayalalitha's doorsteps. According to Jayalalitha, "It's entirely God's
 will". While the Hon'ble judges could emphatically pronounce the judgement
that government employees had no right to strike, implying that strikes do
infringe the law of our democratic republic; in TANSI scam, however, they
couldn't but exonerate Jayalalitha, because they found no violation of the
law of the land on her part in the deal. Yet in the same vein they also held
her an offender of 'moral code of conduct'. According to the verdict, her
conduct was "opposed to the spirit of the Code of Conduct if not its
 letter." But that statement is toothless. According to the law of the land,
moral codes are not penal codes, not enforceable by law. "In law, there must
be a specific provision prohibiting an act to make it illegal," they said.
Thus a prime minister, chief minister, home minister or any other "public
servant" can, at the same time, be legally innocent and morally criminal.

In October 2000, a special court in Chennai had convicted Jayalalitha and
others in two cases related to the land of Tamil Nadu Small Industries
Corporation (TANSI) Foundry and the TANSI Enamel Wire unit, which was bought
in 1992 by Jaya Publications and Sasi Enterprises, two firms held by
Jayalalitha and her close associate Sasikala. Jayalalitha was found guilty
of criminal conspiracy under section 120-B of the IPC and sentenced for 3
years and 2 years rigorous imprisonment in two cases.

It was because of this verdict that even after being sworn in, she had to
resign from the post of chief minister. Then, the grapevine has it that she
cast a net of her unfathomable treasure wide, and got a judge of her own
choice appointed as the chief justice of Tamil Nadu High Court, where her
appeal against the above conviction was pending to be decided. The legal
machine worked assiduously and the High Court acquitted her of the charges,
making it possible for her to assume the chair of chief minister once again.
The present case in the Supreme Court was challenging that judgement.

Remember, it is the same Supreme Court which has transferred the trial of
another case, that of possession of wealth disproportionate to her income,
to Karnataka, only because her administration was coming in the way of fair
trial within Tamil Nadu. But why were its hand so bound in this case?

Because, the Court says, the sale of TANSI land was in the public interest,
and therefore, purchasing it not below the market value could only be in
public interest! The accused did not act dishonestly, because there was no
wrongful gain or wrongful loss. Bourgeois transactions are really strange.
Sale and purchase of public property are undertaken in "public" interest.
And neither the buyer nor the seller can be called gainer or loser. This is
the touchstone of equality in capitalism.

The court has also held that land belonging to a company held by the
government (such as TANSI) is not a government property "though the
government may have control over the corporation". Therefore, Section 169 of
the IPC, which barred public servants from bidding for Government
properties, is not applicable here. Above all, even if the TANSI land is
taken to be government property, the apex court held that Jayalalitha did
not commit any illegality because the code of conduct is not enforceable.

However, still somewhere there is a moral crime! Now the only way left
before the mighty Supreme Court was to appeal to Jayalalitha's conscience:
"She must atone for the same by answering her conscience in the light of
what we have stated not only by returning the property to TANSI
unconditionally but also ponder over whether she had done the right thing in
breaching the spirit of the Code of Conduct and giving rise to suspicion
that rules and procedures were bent to acquire the property for personal
benefit."

Bourgeois judicial system is not only meant to protect bourgeois property,
it is also meant to protect the bourgeois market. Because Market is the God
of capitalism. Wherever Market doesn't reach, people remain pagan or
infidel. However mighty our Supreme Court may be, could it defy the law of
Market?


STOP THIS FRATRICAL VIOLENCE

Even as the regional violence in Assam and Bihar has been fanned up into an
anti-Bihari pogrom, the RSS-BJP are blaming it on the "foreign hand" of
"anti-national" infiltrators. But they stand exposed by the fact that their
own NDA ally, Shiv Sena is assaulting job-seekers from  Bihar and UP in
Mumbai! CPI(ML) held protests at various places in the country against
failure of the governments in centre and in both the states to contain
violence and expressed shock and concern at the tragic trail of anti-Bihari
violence in Assam and accused the BJP-Samata and the ULFA-Shiv Sena of
stoking the fire of this ugly regionalism and sectarian violence.

Party has called upon the students and unemployed youth of Assam and Bihar
to stop fratricidal violence and direct their anger and agitation against
the NDA govt. at the centre and the state govt. of Assam and Bihar for their
policies causing unemployment.

Meanwhile, a campaign was conducted by the the All India Students'
Association in Delhi and a  memorandum is sent to the Prime Minister with
around five hundred signatures of students from Jawaharlal Nehru University,
Delhi University and Jamia Millia University, including those from the
North-Eastern states studying in Delhi, on Nov 22. Memorandum demands that
the NDA govt. put an end to the policies that cause unemployment, a major
cause of despair among youth. It demands that the Union Home Ministry must
take immediate steps to punish the perpetrators of regional violence and
ensure the safety of both Bihari migrants and job-seekers as well as the
people from the North-East.  "Why is the Central govt. and Union Home
Ministry not taking any steps to ensure the security and safety of Bihari
people and passengers from the north-east, as terrorist outfits like ULFA,
Shiv Sena and Ranvir Sena whip up regional hatred and violence?" asks the
memorandum.

"NDA govt.'s policies of liberalisation have created alarmingly high
unemployment. When a few thousand jobs, opened up after three years, are
held out to appease the desperate young people, it creates an explosive
situation. We ask you (Prime Minister) - why have you broken your promise of
generating one crore jobs a year? Instead, your government prefers to allow
terrorist outfits to use unemployed youth as fodder for regional, ethnic and
communal violence. In cities like Delhi, your own party, the BJP, spearheads
the hatred for migrant workers from Bihar and Bengal, with your demand for
I-cards for Delhi residents", says the memorandum and further states that,
"Students and youth of Bihar and the North-Eastern states have a glorious
history of democratic struggle against repression and authoritarianism. We
are confident they will unite to isolate the hate-mongers, end the madness
of regional violence and join hands to struggle against unemployment."

In Bihar, CPI(ML) and AISA-RYA held several demonstrations on Nov 20 at
District Headquarters in all parts of the state, organised protest meetings
and burnt the effigy of the Union Home Minister L K Advani for his failure
to contain regional violence and demanded his resignation. Hundreds of
students and youth came out on the streets in cities including Patna,
Jehanabad, Ara, Arwal, Mujaffarpur and Bhagalpur in these protests.

Rejecting such chauvinism  and resisting all expressions of sectarian
violence and defending the basic democratic rights of the people of Assam
and Bihar, citizens rallied in Guwahati for unity and peace. Left and
Democratic parties namely CPI(ML), CPI, CPI(M), SUCI, RSP, JD(S) and
Samajwadi Party brought out a peace march in Guwahati on 21 November
opposing violence and appealing to the people to maintain the time-tested
peace and harmony in Assam. Coming as a reaction of the attack on passengers
of Assam and other north-eastern states at some railway stations of Bihar,
the violence on the people migrated from Bihar has taken an ugly turn and
so-called militant outfits have become involved in the name of avenging
Assamese. The violence is continuing in different places of the state, which
has aggravated the situation and curfew was imposed in a number of towns
particularly in Upper Assam. People led by various left and democratic
parties gathered at Judges Field, Guwahati and started a Peace and Amity
March, passing through main areas of the city including Panbazar, Fanchy
bazaar and Paltanbazar and ended at Judges Field. The marchers shouted
slogans to maintain peace and amity, to come out to resist violence, to
maintain unity among Assamese and Biharis. While the Govt. has failed to
control the situation, cross-sections of the people in different towns are
taking peace initiatives on their own part.


STATEWIDE PROTESTS BY AIPWA IN BIHAR

AIPWA organised week-long protest programmes against the murder of Party's
leader in Jehanabad and AIPWA district President, Comrade Manju, by the
Ranvir Sena. A large number of women came to streets to protest this killing
and held road-blockades and dharnas at many places in Bihar. Pledge-taking
meetings to avenge this killing and to pay tributes  were also organised
throughout the state.

A march and road blokade was held in Patna on Nov 17 and a memorandum was
submitted to the Chief Minister Rabri Devi to press upon the demand to
arrest the killers of comrade Manju. Large number of women participated in a
dharna in Bhagalpur on Nov 20. While a pledge-taking meeting was held on the
same day in Darbhanga and a dharna was also held in Samastipur. A dharna was
held in Gaya on Nov 15.


JHARKHAND EMPLOYEES' CONFERENCE

The second conference of Jharkhand Non-Gazetted Employees' Cofederation was
held on November 22-23 at Ranchi. The Conference called upon the workers and
employees in Jharkhand to forge a militant unity with the struggling forces
in the state to defeat the BJP-led government's offensive against the people
in the state. It also resolved to prepare for a day-long nationwide strike,
as proposed by the Central Trade Union Centres, against the Supreme Court
judgement against strikes, continued attacks on Pensions, Provident Fund,
jobs and livelihood of employees and workers.

The Conference was inaugurated by AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee
while CPI(ML) MLA in Jharkhand Mahendra Singh was the Chief Guest. Jharkhand
State Secretary of CITU, Mihir Chaudhary, and other TU leaders also greeted
the conference.


AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS PROTEST IN ROHTAS

A large number of agriculture labourers and poor peasants held a protest
dharna in front of Dehri block office to demand BPL cards, occupation over
the land allotted to them and to stop the anomalies and corruption in the
matters of maintaining land-records. It was also demanded to open an
agriculture development centre in the area. The dharna was held on Nov 24.
Bihar Pradesh Khet Mazdoor Sabha and CPI(ML) units of Rohtas have already
complained of the corruption prevalent in the Dehri block office holding BDO
responsible who acts only on behalf of and in favour of the powerful kulak
lobby subjugating the basic rights of the poor peasantry. The BPKMS unit in
Dehri block has warned of massive mass action and indefinite gherao if their
demands were not fulfilled. The dharna was led by Dehri block secretary of
CPI(ML), Ashok.


MHADHARNA BY LEFT PARTIES IN RANCHI

A Mahadharna was held jointly by left parties namely CPI(ML), CPI(M), CPI
and MCC led by A.K.Roy on Nov 15 at Birsa Chowk in Ranchi. Thousands
participated in that Mahadharna, which was organised as a parallel event
against the govt.  sponsored  State Foundation Day ceremony and,
simultaneously,  to protest the state govt.'s policies which undermine
people's rights particularly in the scheduled areas of Jharkhand. It may be
recalled that the tribal population of Jharkhand is becoming restive against
the Jharkhand Panchayati Raj Act passed by the state assembly. This Act
encroaches the traditional rights of tribals and gives a provision for
governance on the lines of gramsabhas as in "Panchayat Raj" system which is
totally incomprehensible in scheduled areas. The Jharkhand govt. is also
trying to amend the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act (CNT Act) and Santhal-Pargana
Tenancy Act (SPT Act) to eliminate the protection given by these Acts to the
tribal population vis-à-vis transferability of tribal land.

The dharna also raised the demand of immediate relief to starving people of
Lesliganj in Palamu,  Katkamsandi in Hazaribagh and Nala in Jamtara district
and opposed the continuous police repression over democratic movements and
their activists in the state.

A rally was  taken out from Ranchi Railway Station to Birsa Chowk before the
Dharna. The leaders of participating parties paid homage to Birsa Munda by
garlanding his statue, as the day was birth anniversary of this legendary
hero. Homage was also paid to Com. Ranen Sen, one of the founder members of
CPI, who departed recently.

The Dharana was conducted by A P Gupta, state committee member of CPI(ML).
Mahendra Singh, J.P.Minz andTridib Ghosh of CPI(ML), Nali Soren and S K Baxi
of CPI(M), Mithilesh and Deochand Mahto of MCC, Mustaq Ansari and Amitabh
Chatterjee of CPI addressed the dharna.


AN OUTBURST OF MASS ANGER AGAINST DOWRY KILLING IN GIRIDIH

In Jharkhand, where incidents of violence against women in various forms
ranging from dowry to witchcraft to rapes are not very uncommon, an incident
of outburst of mass anger against a dowry death combined with police
inaction and administrative callousness has reflected how deep are the
feelings of aversion and resentment over such incidents among people,
particularly women. People threw one of the dowry-seeker killers and burnt
him alive over the pyre of the woman who lost her life at the alter of the
dowry-demon.

Saraswati Devi was murdered mercilessly in Chitkharo village of Birni block
in Giridih by her husband and his family when she was not able to satisfy
dowry demands of her in-laws. It happened in spite of a public panchayat
where her husband and his family promised not to harass her for dowry. The
panchayat was held at Padarmania, maternal village of Saraswati, where she
came to evade torture by her in-laws. But the next day, on Nov 6, proved to
be her last day. When the news reached to her parental home, an FIR was
registered and her postmortem was carried out. But police remained passive
despite repeated persuasions and did not arrest the killers. Then the
villagers held a meeting in Padarmania and collectively decided to punish
the killers themselves.  Enraged villagers went to Chitkhora and caught Jago
Mandal, father-in-law of the deceased, from a hiding and brought him along
and threw over the flaming funeral pyre of Saraswati. He too died. This was
unprecedented and spontaneous. Two days later, police tried to arrest two
persons, but had to flee the spot as nearly two hundred women in the village
surrounded the police party and freed the arrested people. Agitated women in
Padarmania felt a sense of strength and confidence.

Later, on Nov 12, CPI(ML) held a mass meeting in the village and advised the
police not to take any action against any individual as it was an outburst
of mass anger against social evil of dowry and ineffectiveness of law and
order machinery. Party also condemned the role of the police for not
arresting the greedy killers immediately. Whatever be the legal outcome,
this incident was a vivid reflection of a new awakening against rotten
social values, anti-women attitude and systemic inefficiency. And when
saffron proponents of feudal values and degenerated culture are ruling the
country, recurrence of such outbursts is bound to be more frequent. Such
mass anger must be shaped into the collective political strength of the
people to dethrone the protectors of medieval values in order to shape a new
society.

OBITUARY

COMRADE RAM NAYAN UPADHYAYA, veteran Party leader and freedom fighter
breathed his last at PGI Hospital, Lucknow on 18 November 2003. He was 83.

Comrade Ram Nayan started his political journey joining independence
struggle in 1938, at the age of 18, when he joined Hindustan Socialist
Republican Army established by Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar
Azad and others. In 1940 he joined RSP. In August 1942 he took active part
in Quit India movement. After three years of underground life he was
arrested by the British police and was released in 1946.

In 1952 he joined CPI and with the division in 1964, sided with CPI(M).
Following Naxalbari he came out of CPI(M) and was a delegate from U.P. to
the first Party Congress held in Calcutta in 1970. He played a leading role
in organising the first state conference of CPI(ML) in U.P. at
Muzaffarnagar, which was attended by the then General Secretary Comrade
Charu Mazumdar.

Comrade Ram Nayan led a workers' strike in a multinational cigarette company
in Saharanpur in 1973, after which he was arrested and kept behind the bars
under the charge of instigating armed rebellion against the government.
After 6 months he was released in want of proof. He was closely attached to
the trade union in Mansurpur Sugar Factory. Following the disintegration in
the movement in the 70s, Comrade Ram Nayan joined CPI and visited Soviet
Union and China. In 1997, he came back to CPI(ML) and attended as a delegate
the 7th and 8th Party Congresses held at Varanasi and Patna respectively. He
was president of the U.P. unit of AICCTU. Very recently, on 16 October, he
presided over the state level Jan Adhikar Rally held at Lucknow.

DR. BD PRASAD, a senior physician of Patna and human right activist breathed
his last on 14 November  in a nursing home. Dr. BD Prasad was a close
sympathiser of Party for the past 15 years and contributed in all the major
Party programmes and took active interest in the formation of Inquilabi
Muslim Conference. His house was a centre of democratic and left
intellectual circle in Patna and he himself was active in PUCL. With his
demise Party has lost a friend and well wisher.

Veteran communist leader  of CPI COMRADE RANEN SEN passed away on 13
November in Kolkata. He was 94. He was president of the AITUC and also an
MP. Comrade Ranen Sen was a veteran freedom fighter and an ardent
protagonist of communist unity. His demise is a great loss to entire left
and democratic people throughout the country.

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