[L-I] ML International Newsletter: May-June 2004

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ML International Newsletter
May-June 2004



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An update on news and ideas from the revolutionary left in India.

Produced by: Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation
international team

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Website: www.cpiml.org

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]



Table of Contents


1)     Let Young India Rise and Roar Again

2)     CPIML Election Manifesto

3)     Struggle Against Global US Imperialist War: The Role of the Indian
Left?

4)     Election Polemics



Indian Election Special


Let Young India Rise and Roar Again



- Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPIML Liberation



[Speech on the Release of CPIML's Manifesto]

One single spark can raise a prairie fire. One single instance of martyrdom
can change the course of history. It can sound the death knell for a mighty
empire.

On March 23, 1931 Bhagat Singh went to the gallows at Lahore Central Jail.
His martyrdom was a spark that raised a prairie fire and sounded the death
knell for the British Empire.

Bhagat Singh wanted to free India not only from the yoke of British
colonialism, he wanted to overthrow the nexus between the British
imperialists and their Indian collaborators, the parasitic classes of the
Indian society. His vision of a free India was that of a socialist India, a
people's India.

Today India is formally free, but the parasites wielding power in India have
made the country a happy hunting ground for their American masters. Together
they have declared a war on the actual producers and workers of India. While
the real producers and workers are being driven to death, the parasites and
their masters are having a grand picnic. Bhagat Singh's inheritors are being
killed and jailed, but criminals of different hues are having a field day.

The people of India must therefore wage and win a second war of
independence. And this is why we must go back to Bhagat Singh, the biggest
people's hero of our freedom movement in the 20th Century. We need every
inspiration and strength from his legacy, because we have a battle on hand
with the disciples of Golwalkar and Savarkar. If Golwalkar and Savarkar had
sought British blessings to transform India into a fascist Hindu Rashtra,
their disciples today are seeking American protection. Bhagat Singh's young
comrades must get ready to teach these American agents a fitting lesson.

The ensuing elections to the 14th Lok Sabha mark an important battle in this
ongoing war. The ruling classes and their parties have always sought to win
elections by using a combination of money, muscle and mass deception. This
time round with the help of the corporate media and celebrity circles, they
are trying to convert it into a grand spectacle where the people are
expected to be just spectators. A lot is being said about India's young
electorate, some crocodile tears are also being shed about the curse of
unemployment, but the youth are only being urged to follow the beaten track.
Indeed, they want us to cheer and clap even as they reduce us to rightless
citizens in our own land.

We on the other hand call upon the people to rise against their enemies and
assert their presence as an independent force. The criminals of different
hues who are trying to hijack our country and rule us with their weapons of
terror and deception must be brought to book.

The CPI(ML)'s manifesto for the 14th Lok Sabha elections is being released
today, on the seventy-third anniversary of Bhagat Singh's martyrdom. For us,
election manifesto is not a litany of lies or a string of empty promises. It
is a mirror of truth, a charter of struggle. It is a renewed commitment to
intensify the battle for democracy and social transformation, for a
genuinely free and progressive new India. Bhagat Singh's young comrades have
a great responsibility to spread this message far and wide and to translate
it into action.

Let us dare to fight and dare to win. Let us uphold Bhagat Singh's glorious
legacy and realise his great vision of a truly free India.

Inquilab Zindabad (Long Live the Revolution)!



Indian Election Special


CPI(ML) Manifesto for the 14th Lok Sabha Elections

(Excerpts)



Two Indias stand face to face in the present elections. Their India and our
India.



They orchestrate a genocide in Gujarat and bask in its 'glory'. They
squander our money to celebrate a grand 'feel good' festival when we count
starvation deaths. When we demand jobs, they talk about the share market and
dollar reserves. When we call for a central legislation for agricultural
labourers, they talk about making laws to make temples. When we complain
about the sheer lack of potable water, they slash prices of foreign liquor.



When we ask them to stop Bush and Blair from ravaging Iraq, they discuss
American proposals to set up military bases in India. They want us to forget
Bhagat Singh and worship Savarkar who had surrendered before the British and
called for militarising Hinduism and Hinduising India.



It is nothing short of a total war on us. They want to take away all our
rights and loot all our resources. And they want us to applaud them as they
reduce us to rightless citizens in their India.



This design must be foiled. This audacity has to be punished.



The forthcoming election is all about meting out an exemplary punishment to
the enemies of the people. It is all about saving our India from their
clutches. India that our martyrs dreamt of and died for cannot be allowed to
be hijacked and vandalised by the demolition squads of the RSS.


CPI(ML)'s Commitment: For a Powerful People's Movement on an Alternative
Agenda


The Sangh Parivar and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) are certainly not operating in a vacuum. The
biggest facilitator for the BJP has of course been the Congress, with its
long and continuing record of bankruptcy and betrayal. From Bhagalpur to
Bhopal and Ayodhya to Ahmedabad, the Congress credential on the crucial
question of secularism has been increasingly suspect and shameful. And in
terms of economic and foreign policies, it is of course futile to expect the
Congress to reverse the pro-imperialist direction which was initiated by the
party itself.



In fact, in terms of economic policies, all state governments in the country
today, including the CPI(M)-led ones in West Bengal and Tripura, are more or
less following the same direction and pattern. Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and
Karnataka are ruled by three different parties and all the three governments
advertise themselves to be hi-tech regimes, but the hi-tech gloss cannot
suppress the stark reality of farmers' suicides and starvation deaths.



Corruption is another big leveller for most parties in power. Parties like
the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal
(RJD) in Bihar which claim to be champions of secularism and social justice
excel in competitive criminalisation and anti-poor anti-women violence in
their respective domains. A party like the BSP which secured a significant
following in UP with a strong rhetoric against Brahminism sells tickets to
feudal-mafia elements to win seats and repeatedly allies with the BJP to
come to power. In Tamil Nadu, the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) and All
India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and their smaller allies take
their turns to collaborate with the BJP at the Centre.


CPI(ML) Stands for a Bold and Comprehensive Popular Resistance


This all-pervasive political opportunism has generated an environment of
public cynicism and the BJP has been the biggest beneficiary of this sordid
state of affairs. To deliver a real blow to the BJP it is imperative to wage
a ruthless battle against opportunism and hold high the revolutionary banner
of communist ideology. The CPI(ML) has always been firm on this score and it
has been working with great ideological vigour for a rejuvenation and
expansion of the communist movement which alone can ensure a real crushing
defeat for the forces of fascism and imperialism.



The new economic policies have trapped the working people and the small
producers in a state of acute insecurity and crisis. The Sangh Parivar is
working overtime to channelise the resultant frustration and anger of the
masses in favour of its communal, divisive and obscurantist agenda and
jingoistic outcries. The task before all sincere anti-fascist
anti-imperialist forces is to direct this anger against the real enemies of
the people and transform it into a formidable force for social
transformation.



The CPI(ML)-led mobilisation and assertion of the oppressed rural poor
provides a powerful platform of people's resistance to the Sangh's fascist
campaign and pro-imperialist economic policies. The recent formation of a
powerful all India organisation of agricultural labourers and growing
countrywide cooperation among peasant associations and farmers'
organisations against WTO and the agrarian crisis have broadened the arena
of this resistance.



In the parliamentary arena the lone CPI(ML) MP from Assam and the Party MLAs
in Bihar and Jharkhand have always been highly alert and active in defending
people's rights and opposing fascist and imperialist designs. They have also
been playing an outstanding role on the development front, in terms of
utilisation of MP/MLA development funds and implementation of local area
development schemes as well as leading popular struggles against
bureaucratic lethargy and corruption.



Combining all forms of struggle and utilising every forum of mass
intervention, the CPI(ML) has always taken prompt political initiative on
every important issue facing the people and the country. Apart from
intensifying the continuing struggle for land reforms, wages and employment,
and human dignity and people's rights, in the recent past the Party has
organised powerful protest movements on issues relating to the Gujarat
genocide, the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, Prevention of Terrorism
Act (POTA) and state repression, oppression and massacres of rural poor and
attacks on women, privatisation and denial of workers' rights,
commercialisation and saffronisation of education, and many other vital
concerns of the people.



Revolutionary vigour and consistency, powerful mass assertion and bold
initiatives have been the three cardinal characteristics of the CPI(ML) in
Indian politics. We are determined to strengthen this identity of the Party.
We are aware of the challenges ahead and we need all your support and
participation to meet them successfully.



For an Uncompromising People's Movement on a Basic Democratic Agenda


Certain issues and concerns have gained particular prominence in Indian
politics over the last one decade or so. In 1989 VP Singh had become Prime
Minister on an anti-corruption platform, even though today he himself has
started trivialising the importance of the struggle against corruption. In
1997 the special session of Indian parliament commemorating the Golden
Jubilee of the country's independence had called for ending criminalisation
of politics. But since then we have had more and more criminals becoming not
only MLAs and MPs but also ministers; and the nexus between state power and
feudal, communal and mafia violence has become all the more open and brazen.



The fact that not a single corrupt politician has been punished by the
system does not make corruption a non-issue. The fact that today there are
more criminals in politics must not make us treat politics as a criminal
profession. The present situation only underlines the need to wage a more
vigorous and consistent struggle against corruption and criminalistion, and
this in turn demands greater political participation of the oppressed and
working people as well as the intelligentsia.



Social justice has been another popular slogan of the 1990s, but it is
generally conceived in the restricted sense of reservation. Today with
government jobs shrinking and a small creamy layer cornering most benefits
of reservation - the NDA government has in fact raised the income ceiling
for identification of the creamy layer from Rs. 1,00,000 to 2,50,000 - the
slogan is liable to lose its meaning for a whole lot of people. Also, the
continuing anti-poor violence in states like Bihar and UP, where hundreds of
people, men as well as women, old as well as young and even children,
belonging mostly to dalit-backward-Muslim families have been butchered by
private armies and the police, exposes the paradoxical perpetuation and even
consolidation of social injustice behind the veneer of social justice.
Naturally, the battle for social justice today has to be waged on a more
meaningful basis, as part and parcel of the bigger battle for social
transformation, and the creamy layers have to be prevented from hijacking
the slogan and cornering its benefits.



Like social justice, a whole range of forces swear in the name of
secularism, but the secular-communal divide has turned out to be one of the
most shifting lines in contemporary politics. Many of the forces who had
opposed the BJP a decade ago during Advani's first rath yatra and the
subsequent demolition of the Babri Masjid demolition were busy sharing power
with the BJP and even defending the Narendra Modi regime in the wake of the
genocide in Gujarat. This only teaches us about the futility of treating a
formal commitment to seculrism as the defining attribute of a political
force. Real secularism is inseparable from democracy, and an undemocratic
force can never be secular.



While political coalitions have been made and unmade over the issues of
corruption, social justice and secularism, the last fifteen years or so have
witnessed a massive market-oriented shift in economoic policies leading to
increased social inequality and regional disparity in the country. Time and
again, trade unions and other mass organisations have gone on strikes and
other major agitations against the policies imposed in the name of IMF,
World Bank and WTO. Yet these concerns have often been brushed aside as mere
'economic issues' and never given any real political priority by any of
these coalitions.



We are of the firm opinion that all these basic concerns of the people and
the country cannot be compartmentalised. Nor can the people's agenda be
reduced to a single concern to the exclusion of all other basic concerns of
the people. Democray is indivisible and non-negotiable, and all the basic
concerns of the people and the burning issues of a period must be addressed
as integral parts of a democratic agenda.



For the 14th Lok Sabha elections, we hereby declare our firm commitment to
the following core agenda:



1. Bringing the perpetrators of Gujarat genocide and Babri Masjid demolition
to book, opposing attempts to impose a temple in place of the demolished
mosque, disbanding all Sangh Parivar outfits which have a history of
spearheading violent campaigns and misusing foreign funds to foment communal
violence, and resisting attacks on the rights and dignity of minority
communities;



2. Formation of a special tribunal to identify and punish the guilty who are
responsible for driving thousnds of farmers and agricultural labourers to
death through suicide and starvation, holding the central and state
governments and the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies accountable on this issue
of national shame;



3. Scrapping of POTA and other black laws and release of all activists of
democrtic movements, disbanding of all private armies and meting out of
exemplary punishment to perpetrators of feudal violence;



4. Resisting atrocities on dalits, adivasis and other oppressed sections and
securing equal rights, dignity and rapid advance for all deprived sections
of the society;



5. Resisting the growing incidence of crimes against women, and thwarting
attempts by fundamentalist and other anti-women forces to deny women their
freedom and equal rights;



6. Building people's resistance to criminalisation of politics and defeating
the criminal-politician-police nexus;



7. Stopping the loot of public funds, establishing popular supervision over
the functioning of bureaucracy and implementation of development projects,
enforcing the people's right to information and participation in all matters
of public interest;



8. Political settlement of the demands of all autonomy movements including
honouring of Article 370 for providing maximum autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir
and Article 244A for creation of an autonomous state comprising the two hill
districts of Assam (Karbi Anglong and N.C. Hills), formation of a Second
States Reorganistion Commission to look into all pending statehood demands;



9. Withdrawal of Anglo-American forces from Iraq and cancellation of all
arrangements of military cooperation between India and the US and India and
Israel, withdrawal of US military bases and all other forms of strategic
intervention from South Asia;



10. Rejection of regional hegemonist trappings of Indian ruling classes and
promotion of closer and friendly ties with all neighbouring countries,
development of South-South cooperation and pursuit of a bold
anti-imperialist foreign policy to resist US hegemonism and imperialist
domination in all spheres of international relations;



11. Cut in Indo-Pak defence spending, easing of visa restrictions between
India and Pakistan and resolution of all outstanding disputes between the
two countries through bilateral dialogue without American mediation in any
manner;



12. Complete reshaping of economic policies giving top priority to
eradication of hunger and acute poverty, massive creation of job
opportunities, revival and reopening of sick and closed industries,
strengthening of the public sector and enhanced resource mobilisation
through strict enforcement of economic discipline by penalising all
corporate defaulters who do not repay loans or pay taxes or electricity
bills;



13. Enactment of a comprehensive central legislation for agricultural
labourers with round-the-year employment guarantee, adequate social security
entitlements, including universal access to healthcare and housing
facilities, for all unorganised workers and workers of sick and closed
industries, introduction of job reservations in the private sector;



14. Imposition of quantitative restrictions to stop unnecessry imports,
protection of Indian agriculture and industry from the clutches of WTO,
significant augmentation of public investment in agriculture, strengthening
of public procurement and distribution systems, cancellation of debts of all
marginal farmers;



15. Lowering of existing land ceiling norms and radical redistribution of
land to sweep away every vestige of landlordism and encourage the real
productive forces, restoration of land alienated from their original tribal
owners and guranteeing of the tribal people's traditional right to forest
land, forest produce and other natural resources;



16. Lessening of regional disparities through special central plan for
speedy development of all economically backward districts with particular
emphasis on Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan;



17. Special central initiative for a permanent solution to the problem of
recurring floods in Assam, Bihar and other flood-prone regions and for a
just and fair solution of inter-state water disputes, scrapping of the river
networking plans, implementation of urgent steps to check river and soil
erosion;



18. Guaranteeing 33% reservation of seats for women in Parliament and State
Assemblies, strict enforcement of the Supreme Court guideline to stop sexual
harassment of women in workplaces and withdrawal of all attempts to remove
existing protective legislation for women workers, revision of the domestic
violence bill to plug anti-women loopholes, enforcement of equal wages and
joint land pattas for women;



19. Incorporation of the right to work as a fundamental right and provision
of mandatory subsistence allowance of Rs. 1,000 per month for every
unemployed individual, introduction and implementation of a progressive
national youth policy;



20. Legal protection of the workers' right to strike and collective
bargaining in its entirety, including recognition of trade unions through
secret ballot and appropriate steps to undo the Supreme Court ban on
government employees' right to strike, rejection of the Second Labour
Commission recommendations recognising the employers' so-called 'right to
hire and fire';



21. Provision of universal elementary education for all with free mid-day
meals and adequate free supply of textbooks and other educational materials,
scrapping of the UGC's proposed Model Act for universities, withdrawal of
all measures aimed at commercialisation and saffronisation of education,
protection of the autonomy of premier educational and research institutions;



22. Universalisation of childcare facilities for all children below six
years, abolition of child labour and child abuse, effective rehabilitation
of children who are victims of such oppression;



23. Allocation of at least 10% of the annual central budget on public
health, strict enforcement of drug control in terms of both quality and
prices, subsidised supply of all essential and life-saving drugs, universal
sanitation and drinking water facilities, no privatisation of water;



24. Debarring mafia dons and notorious history sheeters from contesting
elections, guaranteeing the voting rights of oppressed sections and minority
communities, introduction of comprehensive electoral reforms with provision
for the electorate's right to recall non-performing and anti-people
representatives and ban on corporate funding to political parties;



25. Resisting attacks on the freedom of the press and on the freedom of
expression of people associated with diverse streams of art, literature and
culture.



Save India from Fascist and Imperialist Clutches!

Intensify the Battle for Democracy and Social Transformation!



Seminar Paper


On the Strategy and Tactics in the Struggle Against Global US Imperialist
War:

The Role of the Indian Left


- Daya Varma

Presented at the International Communist  Seminar May 1-4, 2004 in Belgium

 by Daya Varma on behalf of

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) [Liberation]



Introduction

Simply put, imperialism means interference in the internal affairs of other
nations, ruthless exploitation, colonization, neo-colonization and war. All
of this is going on at the present time. Peace and imperialism cannot
co-exist. When imperialism does not actually wage war, it prepares for one.
War provides the greatest convergence between imperialist economics and
politics. The only time imperialism refrains from using force is when it can
save lives such as in Rwanda 10 years ago and Sudan now.



All aspects of imperialism are operative at all times. However, some aspects
become its dominant manifestation at specific period of history.  Currently,
the US imperialism is in the period of an all out drive for world
domination, nearly 65 years after the axis of three failed during World War
2.



At this juncture, the US is the dominant world power. Inter-imperialist
contradiction is secondary and cooperation primary. Likewise, contradictions
between the Third World, the worst victims of imperialism, and the US
imperialism are simmering while compliance by the leaders of most Third
World countries to the US dictates is the order of the day.


Notwithstanding certain variations in the US foreign policy from President
to President, continuity is its essence. With the state becoming the
instrument of capital, the dominance of finance capital in production,
favorable terms offered by the IMF, World Bank and WTO to imperialism
particularly US imperialism and the dominance of multinational corporations
in the world economy, the US is poised to exert control over world
resources, specially energy. In this endeavour of the US, other imperialist
powers as well as the ruling elite in the Third World are adjusting their
policies and competing with each other for a more lucrative reward within
the framework of the US world domination. The Indian case is a good example
of this readjustment.



Evolution of Indian foreign policy

The British colonial rule of India ended in 1947. Initially, the foreign
policy of independent India retained footprints of the long anti-colonial
struggle, which was highly influenced by the Bolshevik revolution, the
glorious struggle of the Indian Communist Party and popular demand to end
feudalism. Consequently in the two decades following the independence,
Indian ruling classes did not develop a decisive alliance with US and
attempted to distance themselves from both the Soviet Union and the USA. The
foreign policy of both India and Pakistan revolved around mutual conflict.
At the same time, India took several steps to gain international importance
in its effort to emerge as a regional superpower. It played a role in
developing the movement of nonaligned countries and in the Bandung
conference of 1955, which was attended by leaders of India, Indonesia,
Yugoslavia, Peoples Republic of China and Egypt. In its ambition to become
the central figure in South Asia, India has made some attempts to improve
ties with China, Russia and European powers such as Germany and France.
While in the wake of its nuclear explosion in 1998, India cited China as the
enemy number one, both the Defense Minister and the Prime Minister of India
paid friendly visit to China. Notwithstanding these developments, India's
dependence on and loyalty to the US has grown so enormously during the last
few years that it overshadows India's relations with other major powers like
China, Russia or the European Union. For the Indian government, ties with
other powers constitute merely a minor extension of the US-oriented
Pakistan-obsessed core of its foreign policy. Occasional speculations about
an India-Russia-China axis notwithstanding, the dream of playing second
fiddle to a US-led coalition, a US-Israel-India axis for instance, has come
to stay as the defining vision of India's foreign policy.

India-US-Israel Axis

The change in Indian economic policy in favor of liberalization, which
started in the 1980's led India to opt for a distinct pro-US policy in the
1990'. It picked up a momentum in late 90's with Hindu fundamentalist
government of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) coming to power. The pro-US policy
acquired a feverish pace in the wake of September 11, 2001 with New Delhi
going out of its way to curry favor with Washington hoping to use its status
as a junior partner or regional ally of the US in contention with China. The
present warming up of relations between India and Pakistan is a favorable
byproduct of the America's need for both countries in its central Asia and
Middle East policies. In essence however, India has emerged as a strategic
ally of the US.

During a visit to Washington last year, India's National Security Adviser
Brajesh Mishra openly advocated the idea of a US-Israel-India axis claiming
that all these three countries are faced with the common threat of modern
day terrorism and such an alliance would have the moral authority to take
bold decisions in extreme cases of terrorist provocation. Essentially Mishra
was saying that India, Israel and the US have the moral authority to launch
aggression, separately or jointly as the need be. Indian Prime Minister
Vajpayee called for an alliance of the three "embattled democracies".

The Indian government is increasingly building up military alliance in
different fields - both with the US and Israel. Several thousand Indian
soldiers are getting specialized training in Israel for containing
'insurgency'. The US has cleared the sale of Israeli falcon airborne rudder
system to India and the Government of India is expected to acquire arrow
missile defense system, which is a product of joint US-Israeli cooperation.



Despite mass poverty, some of the worst figures for child malnutrition and
female illiteracy anywhere, and mass unemployment, successive Indian
governments have been spending massive amounts on purchasing expensive arms
to bolster their self-image as a regional power and maintain anti-Pakistan
hysteria. According to the latest Yearbook of the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India's arms imports increased 72 percent
in 2002, making it the world's second largest buyer of arms from abroad.
Between 1993 and 2002, India spent a total of over US$9 billion on purchase
of arms, making it one of the top clients of the global arms industry
anywhere. Over the next decade, Indian armed forces will receive 140 new
generation Su-30 combat planes, over 300 new tanks and a dozen new warships
from Russia. Talks are on to acquire an aircraft carrier from Russia, new
submarines from Russia and France and a US$1.2 billion Falcon airborne
warning system from Israel.  India has become one of the biggest customers
for Israel's arms industry in recent years. Thus the US sees India as a
well-armed ally.

Washington has invited New Delhi to be a part of the multinational
"stabilization" force in Iraq. It is reported that Albert Thibault, Deputy
Chief of Mission, and Steve Sboto, Military Attaché at the US Embassy in
Delhi, met the Indian Army brass recently and discussed the "stabilization"
force proposal. The US ambassador to India Robert Blackwell has also floated
the issue at the highest levels with the Indian Defense Minister George
Fernandes. Thibault hinted to the possibility of the Indian Army
administering one of the four military sectors in Iraq.  The Indian Army
Chief recently visited the USA and several important US military personnel
have been visiting India.

The Pentagon and Government of India are conducting a series of joint
military exercises on land, sea and in air, in hilly and jungle terrain of
the North-East India, joint paratroopers exercise in Alaska, air-lift
operation in India with US Air Force C-130 Cargo Aircraft and Indo-US joint
'peace-keeping' exercise. Encouraged by the US, Indian Navy has launched a
3-year program to construct a fleet capable of projecting power into South
China Sea. Recently the US and India have also agreed upon to hold naval
exercise with atomic submarine in Indian Ocean.  Such close cooperation
between Washington and New Delhi implies that the US feels confident of a
long-term relationship with India since both the  major political parties of
India, the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the official opposition,
the  Indian National Congress.

These developments are contrary to the interest of South Asian and Third
World unity. Already Pakistan has started complaining about the India-Israel
nexus and apprehensions are being expressed from all of South Asia about the
impact it will have on the strategic equilibrium in the subcontinent.
Naturally these developments have resulted in a reversal of India's
traditional support for the Palestinians. In its place India has offered
both formal and informal support for Israel, and despite mass protests, the
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was invited to visit India and welcomed
by Prime Minister Vajpayee and the leader of opposition Sonia Gandhi.

The relevance of India in American strategy

The US is increasingly losing its grip on its traditional allies in Europe,
barring UK, both in the economic and military fields. European Union, mainly
under the leadership of Germany, is coming up as a strong competitor to the
US in world capitalist market. In Asia, China and Japan are becoming a
threat to US economic hegemony. In the military field the position of NATO
also is not cohesive. In the Iraq invasion, the US could not involve NATO.
In such a situation US imperialists are more and more looking to Asia and
searching for a strong new ally like India. The visit of India's Home
Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Advani to the US in June of 2003
culminated in informal understanding between the two countries to work
together in a global and regional architecture that accepts American
pre-eminence but recognizes India's own sphere of influence.



For the US, India is the most attractive alternative. India has a relatively
developed infrastructure in espionage and military operations. India has a
large army, which has fought wars against Pakistan, was successful in
bringing independence for Bangladesh (former East Pakistan). Indian army has
been the busiest in the world in internal suppression of people's struggle
starting with the Communist Party of India-led armed peasant struggle in
Telangana in late 1940's to North East and Kashmir since then. India and the
US have taken several steps to suppress the peasant struggle in Nepal under
the leadership of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists).



Of all the consideration leading to the US patronage of India, the US fear
of China is perhaps the main factor. With the rise of China as a strong
competitor in world market as also its rise as a mighty military power, the
US imperialism is keen on using Indian resources against China. India too
sees China as a main threat to its hegemonic aspirations. China's ability to
meet the basic needs of its population while developing its economy ahead of
India despite its starting with a weaker industrial base at the time of
liberation in 1949 is perceived by the Indian people as a weakness of
India's internal and external policy.



In the past, the people of the third world, especially of the Middle East
looked towards India as a source of moral and political support. The US
imperialist hold on India is bound to isolate India. As well, the huge
expenditure on military coupled with the policy of liberalization and
privatization will increase the deprivation of the toiling masses
approximately 30 percent of whom (nearly 300 million) already subsist on
less than one dollar a day.



Fundamentalism in the service of imperialism and reaction

Reactionaries all over the world have fanned religious fundamentalism and
ethno-nationalism, which in all its forms serve imperialism and reaction.
Islamic fundamentalism has practically paralyzed all Muslim-majority
countries. Hindu fundamentalism in India is on way to destroying the very
fabric of the Indian society.



The West led by the United States initiated the construction of anti-Muslim
culture in mid 1990's. Many of its consequences are already apparent. This
anti-Muslim climate was a gift to Hindu fundamentalists in India. They
embarked on systematically obscuring every relevant issue of the country by
invoking the need for Hindu identity and a Hindu Rashtra (country). The most
reactionary section of the Indian bourgeoisie excelled all others in using
religious fundamentalist as a shield in its anti-people, anti-minority and
pro-imperialist policies. Given that India has historically been a
multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-nationality
society, the Indian bourgeoisie is aggressively using Hindu fundamentalism
to erect India on the pattern of Israel.  A byproduct of this Hindu
nationalism, among other adverse consequences, is the construction of a
pro-imperialist atmosphere especially among the Indian middle class.
Consequently in the Indian context, the struggle against imperialism is
intricately linked with a struggle against fundamentalism on one hand and
that for the imminent material needs of the masses on the other.



The struggle against imperialism and for peace

We think that a three pronged-movement is essential to thwart US imperialist
policy of world domination through various mechanisms including direct
military intervention such as in Afghanistan and Iraq and threats of war
against Iran and North Korea.



First, there is a great merit to general international movement to oppose
the US and expose its acts of aggression and intervention at a global level.
Such a movement in the past was expressed during the Viet Nam war and has
surfaced again against the US war on Afghanistan and more particularly
against Iraq. Millions of people all over the world especially in Europe and
North America came out on the streets to express their disgust at the US-led
war on Iraq. These were mass protests involving all sections of the society;
these were not limited to the traditional left.   Although these movements
have not succeeded in ending the US occupation of Iraq, they have forced
both the US and its closest ally Britain to tell more lies and to begin
thinking in terms of finding a way out of the crises they have landed in.
Nothing in Iraq is going in favor of the US. Even the traditional corporate
media is divided over the whole issue.



Second, there should simultaneously be important movements within specific
countries demanding that their governments distance themselves from US
policy of war and aggression. The former government of Canada led by
Chrétien refrained from becoming a part of US-led coalition against Iraq
precisely because of the anti-war sentiment of the masses. The anti-war
movement in Spain led to a change in the government and may lead to
withdrawal of its troops from Iraq. Mass protests have forced several
governments including the Indian government to refrain from offering
full-scale open support to the US-led war on Iraq.  Because of the popular
pressure, the Indian Parliament had to pass a resolution condemning U.S.-led
war on Iraq and reject the US invitation to send Indian Army in Iraq. The
anti-US mass movement within the country might be crucial especially within
imperialist countries of the European Union. The broad masses in the
developing countries suffer from all round deprivation because of the
repressive policies of their own ruling classes and are generally deprived
of news of international developments; consequently the anti-imperialist
response in the Third World is invariably tied to demands for social justice
and reflects in their opposition to ruling class policies of liberalization,
privatization and globalization.  Consequently the struggle often takes the
form of strikes and other forms of protests. Our Party has consistently
mobilized workers and peasants aside from other sections in anti-imperialist
and anti-war protests with the slogan "Save Democracy, Save India" as well
as to oppose the Indian government's policy of privatization of public
sector and anti-labor laws. On February 24 of this year, responding to a
call by left trade unions, nearly 50 million workers participated in a
general strike paralyzing government functioning to protest a Supreme Court
ruling banning strike by government employees.   Our Party led numerous
anti-war demonstrations in several parts of the country. On November 7, 2002
we staged a 45-km long anti-war march in Jharkhand state, which was recently
carved out of Bihar and where our party has been waging relentless peasant
struggle for the last 30 years.

In our opinion, the third and the most relevant aspect of the struggle in
developing countries such as India calls for intensifying the struggle for
democratic revolution of which anti-imperialist struggle is an integral
part.  Given the uneven economic development within India and its other
national characteristics, there exist several influential regional political
parties besides the Congress and BJP. Despite marginal differences, all
these political parties hold more or less similar position with regard to
collaboration with imperialism and on economic policies. With the emergence
of Hindu fundamentalist forces on the forefront of the Indian polity, most
of these political formations highlight their adherence to secularism, which
too is a shallow proclamation because they ally with the Congress one day
and with BJP the next day. They practice ruthless anti-people policies
whenever and wherever they form the government while trying to allure the
minority community, especially the 15 percent of India's Muslim population,
with  their secularist slogan. We think that a consistent unwavering
anti-imperialist program cannot be separated from social justice at all
levels. Secularism is merely an assertion of democratic state principle.
Secularism divorced from full democratic rights to peasants, workers and
other toiling masses is an empty slogan with little content and destined to
fail. For this reason, our Party has entered the present Parliamentary
elections in frontal opposition to all bourgeois reactionary parties on a
thoroughgoing democratic anti-imperialist platform.

Conclusion

It is true that the world today is not a bipolar one like in the Cold War
era. At the same time, the world is also not in a steady unipolar state.
Bush's Iraq war has highlighted the acute isolation of the Anglo-American
axis from the rest of the world. Trends towards a multipolar, or maybe again
a bipolar order, are now quite discernible. While this present period of
transition is opening up more and more space for foreign policy initiatives,
the present Indian government remains committed in favor of a US-dominated
unipolar world. From various statements of Congress Party leadership, which
is now the main opposition with a slim chance of forming the next government
in mid-May, it is clear that there will be little change in Indian foreign
policy.  This has pushed India into a tight corner, drastically limiting the
range of foreign policy initiatives. Our Party has consistently stood for an
independent foreign policy and solidarity with the entire developing world
including China and believes this should be an integral part of its domestic
policy.  By its wars of aggression, especially the illegal and unjust war on
Iraq, the US imperialism has also created condition for its own demise. The
collapse of US imperialism may not be imminent but is certain. The united
struggle by the people of the world will make this possible.



Opinion


Election Polemics


- Soumitra Bose



MLIN is presenting two articles on Indian elections as a virtual extension
because of space constraints. Below are the summaries of these articles and
the directions for accessing the full articles.



The Indian Elections

India is in the process of electing the 8th parliament. Indian elections are
the most entertaining and most painful exercises in the world. People are
slaughtered, stampeded, beguiled and with certainty befooled. All types of
permutations take place in social and political engineering.  Parties adopt
one tactic in a state and just the opposite in the other. Classes and
interest groups all are in the fray.



Election - A Wastage Sector

Third world "democracies" are drained blue to maintain a white elephant of a
process of electing representatives in the election process. People are
forced to choose between representatives they do not like and give them the
full sovereign right to them for their own existence. This is, as this
article suggests, the worst form of slavery the West has pushed on to the
people of developing third world. Read in detail the ramifications of this
system and the duty of revolutionary democrats.



Directions:

  1.. Go to: http://briefcase.yahoo.com/
  2.. Login with ID: Mlintguest
  3.. Password: international
  4.. Click on the folder "MLIN"
  5.. Click on document you want to read




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