[L-I] [ INDIA ] ML Update Vol. 7 No. 36 7-13 Sept. 2004

ML Update
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
         Vol. 7     No. 36     7-13 Sept. 2004


Congress Bankruptcy Is Fodder for the BJP

The Uma Bharati episode is yet another example of the historical bankruptcy
of the Congress in facing the communal offensive of the RSS and its ilk.
Advani is not wrong when he repeatedly reminds us how the Congress had
delivered a whole range of issues and opportunities on a platter to the BJP
in the 1980s. While it may be too early for the BJP to gleefully bracket the
Hubli case with earlier Congress-sponsored blessings like the Shah Bano
controversy and the unlocking of the Babri Masjid, there is little doubt
that once again the Congress has ceded a major political advantage to the
BJP.
In 1993 when the BJP and Uma Bharti first tried to whip up communal frenzy
over the issue of hoisting the tricolour on the Hubli Idgah maidan, there
were Congress governments both in Karnataka and at the Centre. That was when
the BJP had been rendered thoroughly discredited in the wake of the barbaric
demolition of the Babri Masjid. The Hubli episode had left a trail of blood
with several lives being lost in police firing and communal riots. Yet Uma
Bharti was let off most lightly and for the next ten years she was left
scot-free even as the Congress continued to rule in Karnataka.

In fact, in July 2002 when the entire country was yet to come to terms with
the shock of the state-sponsored genocide in Narendra Modi's Gujarat, the SM
Krishna government of Karnataka went to court seeking a blanket withdrawal
of all the cases arising from the Hubli incident. The present government of
Karnataka was also following the same course till suddenly the Congress
leadership decided to tighten the screw following the 'tainted ministers'
controversy and the resignation and arrest of Shibu Soren. And now just a
few days after Uma Bharati had been lodged in a 'jail' of her choice, the
court has granted the original Congress plea of withdrawal of all the cases
concerning Bharati. So much for the Congress record of combating
communalism!

Uma Bharati has thus been allowed to emerge from this incident both a martyr
and a victor. And the BJP, which was lying low following the recent poll
debacle, has got a fresh lease of life. As chief minister of Madhya Pradesh,
Uma Bharati was proving to be a liability for the BJP, but now she has been
freed from that slot to play the role of a key national campaigner for the
BJP. Also, the BJP, whose entire ideological, political and organizational
heritage remains inimical to the legacy of the freedom movement, has now
been ironically given a chance to launch a 'tricolour march'.

The Congress has played a similar flip-flop with regard to the Savarkar
issue. And this too has a long history. Among the eight accused in the
Gandhi assassination trial only Savarkar was let off by the lower court
because of purported lack of sufficient evidence of his role in the
conspiracy. This acquittal was however never challenged by the Congress
government of that time. And today, to make up for one Manishankar Aiyar
comment, Congress leaders at all levels are now busy singing the
Savarkar-was-a-great-patriot-and-freedom-fighter tune. Manmohan Singh has
already dismissed Manishankar Aiyar's comments as his personal view.

Savarkar may be a legendary icon for the popular mind in Maharashtra, and
there is also no doubt that he had started off as a militant patriot. But by
the time he turned into an ardent advocate of political Hindutva and even of
militarization of Hinduism, he had made an abject surrender before British
colonialism. The two phases are clearly demarcated in Savarkar's evolution
as an individual, the latter phase developing at the cost of the former, but
the BJP would like to present him simultaneously as a great advocate of
Hindutva and a great fighter for the country's freedom from the yoke of
British colonialism. It is on the basis of this imagined continuity that the
BJP now seeks an ideological passport to the history of India's freedom
movement. And on the eve of the elections to Maharashtra Assembly, the
Congress is only facilitating the BJP's game plan.

It is not possible for the Congress to rewrite its long history of
prevarication on the issue of communalism with a few sensational 'secular'
statements or acts. As the Savarkar and Uma Bharati episodes amply
demonstrate, the Congress still remains a prisoner of its history of
prevarication. A consistently secular Congress is as much a historical
impossibility as a pro-swadeshi BJP.



People's March and People's Convention in Bihar
Against TADA& State Repression
 For Relief to Flood and Drought Victims

"TADA Bandi Rihaai Abhiyan"( TADA Prisoner's Release Campaign)  organised a
week-long padyatra ( people's march) , from 1 to 6 Sep from Kaler to Patna
to oppose imposition of TADA, state repression, increasing crime and to
demand adequate relief to flood and drought victims in Bihar. This was led
by CPI(ML) State Secretary Ramjatan Sharma, leader of the legislative group
Ramnaresh Ram, General Secretary of AIALA Rameshwar Prasad, MLA Satyadev Ram
and RYA General Secretary Kamlesh Sharma.

The padyatra was started from Kaler on Sep.1 after Vidyanand Vikal, AIALA
Secretary of Bihar and Pradip Kumar, on behalf of more than five hundred
padyatris, received red flags from Ramnaresh Ram and Krishnavatar Pandey,
President of PUHR, UP. A massive public meeting was also held on the
occasion. Krishnavatar Pandey said that judicial verdict on Bhadasi TADA
case has clearly exposed the partisan and anti-poor character of the
judiciary and that the justice to poor can be done only through people's
struggles. Party's Bihar Secretary Ramjatan Sharma said that state
repression and crime are the main pillars of the Laloo-Rabri regime which is
involved in suppressing whatever is left of democratic rights to the people
of Bihar. He termed the occasion as the launching pad for the long and
protracted people's struggle for democracy and for the development of Bihar
and to oust the dictatorial Laloo regime.

Describing  Laloo-Rabri regime as a 'frankenstein' Comrade Ramnaresh Ram
said that this regime got strength from the poor people but now it is bent
upon finishing them. He said this govt.'s days are numbered as the people of
Bihar are now preparing to give it a decisive blow.
The first day of the march was concluded when marchers reached Belsar Lakh
village in the evening. 16 poor landless agricultural labourers of this
village have been victimised under TADA. Here villagers welcomed and greeted
all the marchers who later held a mass meeting after garlanding the statue
of martyred CPI(ML) leader Comrade Chittaranjan Mishra.

Marchers continued their journey throughout the week and camped in the
villages on the way during nights where they always received a very
enthusiastic welcome with cheers and garlands. They addressed dozens of mass
gatherings in villages including those held at Mehandia, Balidad, Baidrabad,
Arwal, etc. People in half a dozen villages had erected gates in memory of
the martyrs to welcome them. At Arwal thousands of people welcomed the long
cavalcade of pedestrians where a welcome gate was erected in the memory of
comrades Gorakh, Jamadar and Keshav, martyrs of 1988 Bhadasi police firing.
A mass meeting was also held there.

At many villages new groups of marchers joined padyatris during the 150 km.
long journey which was concluded on Sep 6 at Patna after covering main
centres of Arwal, Kinjar, Jehanabad, Masaurhi and Patna City.

At Patna, on concluding day, all marchers were received by leaders of
various Left and democratic parties including the vetran socialist leader
Surendra Mohan and CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya at around
11 AM before the start of the Mass Convention at Vidyapati Bhavan, which was
the concluding event of this week-long campaign.

Addressing the mass convention Comrade Dipankar said that the ire of the
people of Bihar will soon spoil all pleasures being enjoyed by the
power-blinded Laloo-Rabri government at the cost of lives and dignity of the
common people. This regime will have to go if TADA cases imposed on the poor
agri. workers, peasants and their leaders are not withdrawn. On Paliganj
killings and RJD-PWG nexus, he said that the government is running with the
open support of criminals. By merely suspending one lone MLA, Dinanath
Yadav, under people's pressure will not be enough.  The question is how long
will this RJD govt. comprised of dozens of Dinanaths survive? The answer of
the the people is topermanently oust this regime from the political scene of
Bihar. And this Convention does mean it. He said that ruling class can not
put an end to this sorry plight of Bihar and it is the revolutionary
struggles by toiling agrarian labourers of Bihar which will pave the way for
a new Bihar.

Comrade Dipankar welcomed and thanked leaders of various left and democratic
organisations in the Convention saying that only people's struggles have the
potential to break the ideological barriers and develop a wider unity.

Surendra Mohan emphasised on the demand to withdraw all TADA-POTA cases in
his speech and said that this campaign has explicitly given the message that
the struggle against oppressors can never be halted. A veteran Gandhian Razi
Ahmed criticized the govt. for violating the constitution, while PUCL Vice
President Chittaranjan Singh said that Laloo-Rabri govt. has set new heights
of barbarity in the state during its 14 years tenure. Leader of Pasmanda
Muslim Mahaz Ali Anwar said that enacting black laws can never stop the
forward march of people's movements.

CPI State Secretary Jalaluddin Ansari, CPM State Secretary Ganesh Shankar
Vidyarthi and Gandhian thinker Shankar Sharan emphasised on the need to
forge a much stronger unity among the Left forces and called for
intensifying struggle against murders of political activists and repression
through black laws.

The Convention was also addressed by Samajwadi Party leader Shankar Prasad
Tekriwal, AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee, Prof. Bharti S. Kumar,
General Secretary of PUCL Bihar Kishori Das, General Secretary AIALA
Rameshwar Prasad.  The Convention was presided over by Central Committee
member of CPI(ML) K. D. Yadav and conducted by Editor of Samkalin Lokyudh
Ramji Rai.
The Convention passed five resolutions demanding withdrawal of TADA cases
and release of all TADA detainees, CBI inquiry into the Paliganj killing
incident in which one of the accused was arrested from the MLA flat of
Dinanath Yadav, a high level inquiry into the abduction of Roshan Kumar and
murder of his father and grandfather in Aurangabad district, and arrest and
punishment to police officers responsible for firing and killings of flood
victims in Darbhanga, Vaishali and Samastipur districts. The Convention also
demanded to halt the fast increasing crime and stern action against
police-criminal-politician nexus and resolved to intensify the struggle on
this issue. The Convention also demanded to declare famine in whole of Bihar
and condemned the criminal negligence of the government in this regard.



Suicides and Starvation Deaths Continue,
Why is the Parliament Silent ?
Peasants Demonstrate in Delhi

Hundreds of peasants under the banner of Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sangharsh
Samiti (AIKSS) held a demonstration in Delhi on 3 Sep in protest against
acute agrarian crisis, which has engulfed the entire country and resulted
into growing incidence of peasants suicides and starvation deaths of the
rural poor, suppression of peasant leaders and cadres under lapsed black
laws like TADA and killings of peasant leaders in Bihar's Paliganj

Peasants and their representatives from Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Haryana, Andhra and Tamilnadu participated in
the demonstration at Parliament Street in Delhi. Peasants also sat on a
day-long dharna.
The protest-demonstration was led by CPI(ML) M.L.A. and national convener of
AIKSS Rajaram Singh, CPI(ML) M.L.A. from Bihar Arun Singh, Ex- M.L.A. and
popular peasant leaders of Siwan and Bhojpur Amarnath Yadav and Chandradeep
Singh, Uttar Pradesh peasant leader Ishwari Prasad Kushwaha, Mahendra
Choudhary and Phool Chand Dhewa from Rajasthan, Rajwinder Rana from Punjab,
Vinod Rawat from MP, Prem Singh Gehlawat from Haryana, Harinath from Andhra
Pradesh, Sugandan from Tamilnadu and B.B.Rao from Orissa.

Addressing the demonstrators, the peasant leaders said, "suicides and
starvation deaths continue but our Parliament is silent. The everyday
economic concerns of the peasantry cannot be left at the mercy of a mute
Parliament and we will have to take it to the streets in a big way.
Parliaments can be adjourned and silenced but people's movements brook no
adjournments". They strongly condemned the unholy alliance of the Congress
and the BJP in passing of anti-peasant-anti-worker budget of 2004 without
any debate in Parliament, "only a hundred days  back people had given a
clear mandate against the disastrous economic policies of the NDA
government. But the Congress-led UPA government is also pursuing the same
policies. This is nothing but only a betrayal of the people's mandate" they
said.

The demonstration demanded to convene a special session of parliament on
agrarian crisis and farmers' plight, a white paper on the growing incidence
of peasants' suicides and starvation deaths of the rural poor, waiver of all
pending loans of the peasants and reversal of the WTO-dictated agriculture
policy.
Withdrawal of TADA charges imposed on many agricultural labourers and their
leaders in Jehanabad-Arwal region of Bihar was also demanded. The peasant
leaders demanded from the central and the Bihar governments to institute a
CBI inquiry into the Paliganj killings.
Later, a delegation of leaders met the Union Home Minister and submitted a
memorandum asking for withdrawal of all TADA charges and ordering of a CBI
inquiry into Paliganj killings. A memorandum on these demands was also
submitted to the Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, while a
separate memorandum on various agrarian issues was handed over to the Union
Agriculture Minister.


AICCTU's Jail Bharo:
Thousands of Workers Courted Arrest

Responding to the call of All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU)
thousands of workers courted arrest on 2 Sep in protest of the UPA govt.'s
anti-worker-pro-corporate-pro-MNCs budget. This protest action took place in
several major cities and industrial centres including Delhi, Chennai,
Kolkata, Mumbai, Guwahati, Tinsukia, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Patna, Lucknow and
Jaipur.

In Delhi, around two hundred workers led by AICCTU General Secretary Swapan
Mukherjee, National Secretary N.M. Thomas, Delhi State Secretary Santosh Rai
and R.A.P. Singh courted arrest at Parliament Street police station. Before
courting arrest a protest meeting was organised at Jantar Mantar.

Addressing the workers, speakers at the meeting said, "it is unprecedented
in the history of Parliament that finance Bill was passed without any
discussion, thanks to the alliance forged between  ruling party Congress and
the largest opposition party BJP over the disastrous, anti-people economic
policies". They said "Even as the Congress and the BJP are hand- in- gloves
on economic issues, for public consumption, they are shadow- boxing on the
issue of secularism. Emboldened by smooth passage of Finance Bill, the govt.
has come out with a Foreign Trade policy which intends to turn India into a
dumping ground of rejected foreign goods and technology and at the same
time, in the name of increasing exports, to develop special economic zones
devoid of all labour laws."

Strongly criticizing the budget, speakers said that despite opposition by
left trade unions and parties, this first budget of UPA govt. has turned out
to be a betrayal of interests of workers and employees on the one hand and
bonanza to the foreign investors and big corporate houses, on the other.
While the budget has completely ignored the major issues of working class
like making adequate budgetary allocations for extending social security for
the workers of unorganised sector and agricultural labourers and enactment
of legislations for them. The priorities of the UPA govt. have been exposed
by their very first budget: instead of meeting the demand of working people
to restore the EPF interest rate to 12%, the govt. has further slashed it to
8.5%, and at the same time chosen to grant concession to share brokers on
Securities Transaction Tax to the tune of 6300 crore rupees.

West Bengal: Nearly a thousand workers led by CPI(ML) Polit Bureau member
D.P. Buxi and AICCTU national Secretary Basudev Bose courted arrest in
Kolkata.
Assam: Five hundred workers led by Subhash Sen courted arrest in Guwahati.
Workers of Power Workers' Union also joined the strike.
Maharashtra: More than two hundred workers joined in a mass meeting which
was addressed among others by AICCTU National secretary Uday Bhatt.
Bihar: Hundreds of workers and employees led by AICCTU Secretary R.N. Thakur
courted arrest in Patna.
More than two hundred people led by Surendra Singh were arrested in
Muzaffarpur.
Tamilnadu: More than two hundred workers led by AICCTU Working President S.
Kumarsamy courted arrest in Chennai. Court arrest and protest dharnas were
also organised at Tirunelvelli, Kanchivaram, Pudukottai, Thiruvallur,
Sirkazi and Thiruchengode.
Jharkhand: More than five hundred workers led by AICCTU Vice-President Tarun
Sarkar courted arrest in Ranchi. Nearly three hundred workers courted arrest
at Dhanbad.
Rajasthan: Two hundred people led by AICCTU Vice-President Srilata
Swaminathan courted arrest at Jaipur. A dharna was also organised at
Jhunjhunu.
Uttar Pradesh: More than a hundred people including employees of Municipal
Corporation held a protest demonstration and courted arrest at Allahabad. A
protest march led by AICCTU State Secretary Dinkar Kapur was taken out in
Kanpur. A protest dharna was held at Lucknow. A dharna was also held at
Varanasi.
Nearly five hundred people participated in a demonstration at Robertsganj in
Sonebhadra district which was led by UP Khet Mazdoor Sabha leader Ramnarayan
Gond.



Kisan Sabha Conference in Bhojpur

The third Bhojpur district conference of Kisan Sabha (Peasant Association)
was held at Agiaon  block in Bhojpur district on 29 August. More than 500
peasants participated in the open session which was inaugurated by CPI(ML)
MLA and Convenor of Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sangharsh Samiti Rajaram Singh. He
called upon the people to intensify struggle against acute agrarian crisis.
The open session was also addressed by former CPI(ML) MLA and Kisan Sabha
district convenor Chandradeep Singh and Buxur district leader of Kisan Sabha
Alakh Narayan Choudhary. The delegate session started on the same day. A 19
member district committee was elected with Chandradeep Singh as District
president and Bhagirathi Yadav as Secretary.
The conference demanded that the government must immediately implement food
for work programme on a war-footing and declare Bihar as a 'famine-affected
region.'



Distribution of Relief to Flood Victims in Bihar

CPI(ML) organised a relief camp on 31 August at Darbhanga party office to
distribute relief material collected from the masses as well as from the
contributions made by all Party MLAs in Bihar of their one month's salary.
This amount was used to purchase clothing and rice which were distributed
among 244 villagers of Khutwara, Kharthua, Garhia Musahari, Katasa,
Bharhmpura and Rasulpur in the district. Most of the recipients were poor
and helpless women and dalits.
Besides, AIPWA also collected and distributed relief materials and money to
the victims in the district.



Agri. Workers Protest Demonstration in Uttaranchal

All Iindia Agricultural Labour Association , Udham Singh Nagar unit held a
demonstration and gherao of block headquarter on Sep 2 to demand BPL cards
to all agri. workers as well as to protest the anomalies in the making of
BPL lists. It was demanded to include all agricultural workers in BPL list
and to publicly display these lists to curb the corrupt practices.
The dharna was also attended by a large number of women agri. labourers and
members of various 'self help groups' constituted by the goverment  under
much hyped Self Employment Scheme, called: Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarojgar
Yojana.


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