Thursday, February 26, 2015

ML Update | No.09 | 2015


ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 18, No. 09, 24 FEB – 02 MARCH 2015

The Exit of Jitan Ram Manjhi and 

the Agenda of Assertion of the Oppressed People in Bihar Politics


​A​
fter nine months of professed 'renunciation' of office, Nitish Kumar has secured his 're-anointment' as the Chief Minister of Bihar. The much awaited showdown between Nitish Kumar and Jitan Ram Manjhi eventually fizzled out rather tamely, as Manjhi tendered his resignation just a little before the scheduled floor test in the Assembly. The support extended by the BJP remained an unused cheque, with its future validity remaining an open question. Nitish Kumar has time till the middle of March to prove his majority.

Kumar now says his decision to resign and hand over power to Jitan Ram Manjhi in the wake of the rout of the JD(U) in the Lok Sabha election of 2014 was an 'emotional' one. Being the calculating and pragmatic politician that he is, Nitish Kumar is not really known for taking 'emotional' decisions. Indeed, the decision to install Jitan Ram Manjhi as the stopgap Chief Minister of Bihar was anything but an 'emotional' gesture. It was a shrewd political move aimed at killing several birds with one stone.

By making Jitan Ram Manjhi the Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar had insulated both his party and government from the immediate impact of the huge defeat suffered in the Lok Sabha elections. He projected himself as a leader who was ready to shoulder responsibility for the defeat. And most significantly, he wanted to convey the message that he was serious about the mahadalit discourse initiated by his government, hoping to claim every credit for 'sacrificing' his own seat of power for a leader coming from the most oppressed and marginalised Musahar caste.

But as Jitan Ram Manjhi began to test Nitish Kumar's calculations with the steady assertion of his new found authority and unmistakable emergence from Kumar's shadow, Nitish Kumar began to panic. The BJP, the party that habitually patronised and defended every massacre of mahadalits in Bihar, discovered great political merit in the symbolism of Jitan Ram Manjhi and got ready to outplay Nitish Kumar in the game he had started with the Manjhi card. But more than anything else, it was perhaps the Delhi election outcome which limited the BJP's options and made sure that the Bihar political drama ended in a rather anti-climactic denouement.

Jitan Ram Manjhi has been a politician of the old Congress school who later switched over to the Janata Dal. He comes from the Gaya-Jahanabad belt of Bihar which witnessed heinous massacres of the rural poor all through the 1980s and 1990s. Manjhi never really spoke out for the dignity, rights and survival of the oppressed people in this turbulent period. Following the political tradition of Jagjivan Ram and Ram Vilas Paswan, and unlike someone like Karpoori Thakur, he never really sympathised with the oppressed poor's battle for social dignity and emancipation.

As Chief Minister, he had the chance to address the basic agenda of the oppressed people. A CPI(ML) delegation met him and asked him to reopen the massacre cases in which the culprits have all been acquitted by the High Court, reinstitute the Amir Das commission whose disbanding had emboldened the Ranvir Sena to resume its campaign of anti-dalit, anti-women violence and initiate measures to implement the recommendations of the Land Reforms Commission. Manjhi did not show any concern for these basic questions of justice, on the contrary he began to hobnob with the BJP, the biggest patron of social injustice and oppression.

Will Manjhi now seek reconciliation with Nitish Kumar to return to the Janata Parivar or will he float a new party and toe the Ram Vilas Paswan line to jump on to the BJP bandwagon? The early indications are he is keeping his options open. Let us leave these speculations to Manjhi who alone can determine his own future political course. What is most important is to reassert the agenda of people's rights, justice and dignity in this new political juncture. Nitish Kumar must be held accountable for betraying the trust the people had reposed in him over his promises of development and good governance.

Towards the very end of its tenure, the Manjhi government took several decisions addressing some of the long-standing demands of Bihar's most deprived and neglected sections of workers and employees. Pressure must be mounted on Nitish Kumar to respect and implement all those decisions. Recent developments have made it abundantly clear that whether it is the Janata Dal or the BJP, both are interested in using Manjhi only as a pawn and the real concerns of Manjhi's community figure nowhere in their scheme of things. The communist banner of class struggle must be held high at this juncture as the real vehicle for the political assertion of the oppressed people.


Red Salute to Comrade Govind Pansare!

Why Are Killers of Pansare and Dabholkar Free?


​V​
eteran CPI leader Comrade Govind Pansare, shot at on 16th February, passed away on 20th February. Two armed men had at him and his wife in front of their house in Kolhapur district when they were returning from their morning walk. His wife Comrade Uma also survived a bullet injury.

Like Narendra Dabholkar, his friend and associate, Comrade Pansare too was a pioneer of the rationalist movement in Maharashtra. Dabholkar too was shot dead on his morning walk in August 2013, following threats by Hindutva terrorist groups. His killers are yet to be caught. Following Dabholkar's murder, Comrade Pansare had stepped up pressure on the government for the passage of the Anti-Superstition Bill.

Who killed Comrade Pansare and why? To understand that, one would have to know his work.

In 1984, Comrade Pansare wrote a popular book called Shivaji Kon Hota (Who was Shivaji) on Chhatrapati Shivaji where he challenged the communal misuse of Shivaji by the saffron brigade. The book has been translated into many languages. The books says, "If there are any buyers for their hatred for Islam they should sell it on their own merit. They should not sell their commodity in Shivaji's name. They should not sell that commodity under the brand of Shivaji. At the same time, the Muslims should not equate Shivaji with his image created by these so-called Shivabhaktas. They should look at history; they should appreciate his attitude to Islam religion. Then only they should make their opinion."

This is how Dhaval Kulkarni summarises the Shivaji who emerges from the book, "Shivaji respected all religions, abolished serfdom, framed pro-farmer policies by doing away with arbitrary powers of local satraps (like Deshmukhs) to collect land revenue, took on established interests, and appointed Dalits and backward classes to prominent positions. In contrast with the modern version of the predatory state, Shivaji also warned his soldiers against 'touching a vegetable stalk in the farms of the ryots (farmers)."

The Hindutva outfits were incensed by him because he ripped apart their hijacking of the historical figure of Shivaji for their anti-Muslim agenda.

Comrade Pansare helped organise and support the movements of a range of workers, especially in the unorganised sector. He was a vocal opponent of the Modi Government and the Fadnavis Government, and scathing in his criticism of the Sangh-BJP's two-pronged strategy of appropriating Gandhi's legacy and celebrating Gandhi's killer Godse.

Filmmaker Anand Patwardhan observed, "In the week leading to his murder, Pansareji had spoken out against the forces that glorify Nathuram Godse and had also spoken about the need to re-investigate ATS chief Hemant Karkare's death in light of the fact that Hindutva had targeted Karkare for his indictment of saffron terror and had the most to gain by his death." Recently, he had been leading an anti-toll tax agitation in Kolhapur.

Hindutva outfits like the Sanatan Sanstha (implicated in Dabholkar's murder as well as in blasts in Thane and Goa), had filed a defamation suit against Pansare, who had accused these organisations of fomenting terrorism. Pansare had even received a letter threatening 'Tumcha Dabholkar Karu' ("We'll do a Dabholkar to you").

Modi has assured now that hatred and violence will not be tolerated. But he is yet to say a word against the killing of Comrade Pansare. And he is yet to take any steps to rein in the organisations like the Sanatan Sanstha, which openly incite hatred against activists like Dabholkar and Pansare.

Apart from Dabholkar and Pansare, RTI Satish Shetty is also among the activists who have been killed in the past few years in Maharashtra. Shetty was murdered in Pune for exposing land grab, and the CBI investigation in the murder has made no headway.

Protests were organised on 16th February by left democratic forces all over Maharashtra, including, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Shrirampur. CPIML (Liberation) activists joined the protests in Mumbai and Pune. In both the places, the protests were organised by around 400 people each, despite the last minute call. In Mumbai, a public agitation was held in which CPIML, Lal Nishan Party, Republican Panther, Bigul Majdoor Dasta and AAP participated. In other places, CPI, CPM and Lal Nishan Party attended the protests in major numbers. The CPI(ML) demanded a judicial inquiry on this matter by a sitting Supreme Court judge.

Delhi Police detained a large number of students from various universities and Left groups as they gathered to protest Comrade Pansare's murder.


Land Grab and the Lie of 'Employment, Development'

The Modi Government's Land Acquisition Ordinance nullifies the need for consent and social impact assessment for land acquisition for industrial corridors, security, rural infrastructure, housing and related infrastructure, and social infrastructure including projects under government and PPP models. This effectively opens the flood gate for land grab without consent by any public/private entity under any pretext!

The condition under Section 101 of the 2013 law, which requires that land not used for 5 years be returned to the owner, has been altered thus: "The time limit which has been set for a project or 5 years, whichever is later". This opens the doors for real estate mafia to acquire land, sit on it, and then sell it when the land prices have shot up.

To justify the urgency of this Land Grab Ordinance, the Modi Government has claimed that land acquisition for industry and infrastructure is necessary to generate jobs and promote development.

The CAG Performance Audit Report on Special Economic Zones exposes the fact that land grab under the 'public purpose' clause has resulted in massive diversion of land for commercial real estate purposes, and that the claims of generating jobs and development have been a big lie. The Land Grab Ordinance is only setting the stage for more scams on the lines of the SEZ Scam, that will loot land and impoverish peasants to fill corporate real estate coffers.

CAG Report Exposes SEZ Scam : The SEZ Act 2005 (as well as SEZ Acts in states such as Odisha and West Bengal, enacted prior to the 2005 national act) all claimed to be a panacea for 'development'. People's movements resisting land grab for SEZs (at Raigad, Kalinganagar, Nandigram and Jagatsinghpur, and other places) have been met with firing and repression, and been branded as 'enemies' of development and employment-generation. The colonial 1894 Land Acquisition Act facilitated such land grab, deeming that farmers' consent was not needed as long as land was acquired for 'public purpose'.

 The CAG Report lays bare the truth – that the people's movements were right and the pro-corporate Governments were liars.

The Report observes:

"Though the objective of the SEZ is employment generation, investment, exports and economic growth, however, the trends of the national databases on economic growth of the country, trade, infrastructure, investment, employment etc do not indicate any significant impact of the functioning of the SEZs on the economic growth.

"Out of 45635.63 ha of land notified in the country for SEZ purposes, operations commenced in only 28488.49 ha (62.42 %) of land. In addition, we noted a trend wherein developers approached the government for allotment/purchase of vast areas of land in the name of SEZ. However, only a fraction of the land so acquired was notified for SEZ and later denotification was also resorted to within a few years to benefit from price appreciation. In terms of area of land, out of 39245.56 ha of land notified in the six States, 5402.22 ha (14%) of land was denotified and diverted for commercial purposes in several cases. Many tracts of these lands were acquired invoking the 'public purpose' clause. Thus land acquired was not serving the objectives of the SEZ Act."

To summarize:

•Vast areas of land were acquired for 'public purpose' SEZs. But most of the land remained unused and were later diverted for commercial real estate purposes. This is a scam of massive proportions, and concerned Chief Ministers and the then Prime Minister ought to be criminally prosecuted for this scam.

•The CAG report also notes the environmental violations of the coastal Adani SEZ in Gujarat, in which both the then Modi-led State Government and the UPA Government were complicit, and which fisherpeople's and farmers' groups in Gujarat had exposed.

•The Land Grab Ordinance now again aims to do exactly what the SEZ scam achieved – grab land without peasants' consent in the name of 'public purpose', and divert that land for real estate profits. This is why the five-year time limit for using acquired land is also being scrapped.

•SEZs fail to generate economic growth, jobs, infrastructure, investment. Those were just lies to justify robbing peasants of land and India of its food security. The same lies are being peddled in favour of the Land Grab Ordinance now.

•The CAG report also tries to calculate the massive amount spent on SEZs in terms of sops, tax exemptions, and so on (Rs 1.76 lakh crore, according to 83rd Report of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce

•on Functioning of SEZs, June 2007) but recognizes that tax sops are actually even more massive since they were 'hidden' and disguised.

•In fact SEZs robbed India's poor peasants and adivasis of land, livelihood and jobs on a massive scale. The CAG report indicates the incalculable cost borne by the nation, of this massive loot of jobs, fertile fields, environment villages, lives and food security.

On 23rd February, on the call of the All India Kisan Mahasabha, gram sabhas all over the country met to pass resolutions demanding scrapping of the Land Grab Ordinance and an end to the moves to curtail MNREGA and Food Security coverage. These resolutions will be submitted to the President of India and Lok Sabha Speaker following the Jan Sansad in Delhi by people's movements on 16th March, following the launch of the All India People's Forum.


"Demand Fortnight" Observed by Kissan Mahasabha

The Bihar state council of the Akhil Bharatiya Kissan Mahasabha organized protest demonstrations in front of the block headquarters across Bihar between 27 January to 12 February 2015 to demand that the paddy be purchased from sharecroppers and small and medium farmers at Rs 1660 per quintal without having to show the papers of land ownership. Other major demands included- registration, identity cards and kisan credit cards and agricultural loans to all sharecroppers and lease holding farmers, subsidized seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, fixing of farming rates as the level of the government, loan waivers (government as well as moneylenders'), diesel subsidy, crop damage compensation in case of floods or famine, guarantee of a fixed period of farming without fear of eviction, and roll back of the land grab ordinance. Thousands of farmers and sharecroppers joined the protests.

Protests and meetings were held at Daudnagar (Aurangabad) with strong participation by small and medium farmers demanding elimination of middlemen, compensation for loss of potato crop, and parchas for land occupied on the banks of river Sone. At Arwal and Karpi farmers protested along with 3 and 7 tractors of paddy respectively. Similarly at Kurtha block hundreds of farmers protested along with their paddy. Protests were also held at Chakai block in Jamui district. At Beguserai Khemas, Kisan Mahasabha and CPI(ML) jointly protested in front of the Collectorate and put forward the farmers' demands. On 30 Jan various Left organizations took out a joint protest march in Beguserai. Protests and dharnas were organized at Darauli block in Siwan district, Bairiya block in Western Champaran and Darbhanga district.

"Paddy purchase fortnight" was observed in Patna district in the form of kisan dharnas in front of block headquarters. A 10 point memorandum was submitted through the BDOs to the Chief Minister. Farmers were mobilized through leaflets and village meetings. These programmes were organized at Naubatpur, Dulhin Bazar, Punpun, Bikram, Sampatchak, Paliganj, Dhanrua, Masauri, Fatuha, Bihata, and Maner.

A three day kisan jagaran yatra (farmers' awareness journey) was taken out in Hajipur, proceeding through Hajipur, Bidupur, Rajapakar, Desri, Sahdei Bujurg, Jandaha, Mahnar and Patepur blocks and encompassing 48 nukkad/village meetings. On 30 Jan 400 farmers and sharecroppers with their paddy protested at the Hajipur block HQ. A total of 2500 quintal paddy was purchased by the administration on this day. Hundreds of farmers protested in Nalanda district on 12 Feb.

The Kisan Mahasabha demanded purchase of paddy up to April 15 and elimination of middlemen. About 500 farmers staged a road block in Dumrao block in Buxar district on 28 Feb. Protests and meetings were organized in Rajpur block on 2 Feb. Between 4 Feb and 11 Feb protests were organized at Nawagarh, Chougai, Kesath, where the speakers pointed out the anti farmer policies of the govt which were responsible for the farmers' woes.

In Bhojpur, the administration of 9 blocks, namely Jagdishpur, Piro, Tarari, Sahar, Charpokhri, Sandesh, Agiaon, Gadhani and Udwantnagar, had to bow down before the protesting farmers who had come with their paddy, and purchase the paddy at 1660 per quintal. The dhan kharido movement began at Jagdishpur where farmers brought paddy loaded on 37 tractors in a procession from Naykatola crossing to the block headquarters. On 2 Feb around 2000 quintals of paddy was brought to Charpokhri block. On 4 Feb about 225 tractors of paddy were brought to Agiaon block. In Agiaon and Gadhani the farmers stopped all work for 4 days through road blocks and dharnas. In Sahar block sharecropping farmer Mohd. Nasir Hussain sat on an indefinite hunger strike along with his 88 quintals of paddy as the purchase centre in-charge refused to purchase his paddy. On 14 Feb the Kisan Mahasabha organized a huge meeting in support of Mohd. Nasir Hussain. On 15 Feb the BDO gave the assurance of meeting his demands and he ended his hunger strike.

The dhan kharido andolan has created awareness in the sharecroppers and farmers who are now expressing their anger against the government, middlemen, and administration.


Struggle against Gang Rape and Murder of Adivasi Girl in Jharkhand continues

On 15 December 2014, two tribal girls employed as cleaning workers in a hotel were gangraped by the employer in the hotel premises in Ramgarh district. One of the girls died due to the injuries caused during the brutal sexual assault. Soon after the incident was brought to light by the fact finding team comprising of CPI(ML) and RYA activists, CPI(ML) and AIPWA have been engaged in a sustained struggle to help the victims obtain justice even as most Jharkhand parties continue remaine silent on this matter. AIPWA National General Secretary Meena Tiwari along with a 15 member AIPWA team visited the village on 4 February, met and spoke with the rape victim and her parents, the parents of the dead victim, as well as other villagers. The team attempted to meet the Jharkhand Chief Minister, chairperson of the Women's Commission, and Minister for Women and Child Development, but none gave the team an appointment. On 6 February AIPWA and RYA staged a dharna at the Ramgarh block headquarters. Addressing the dharna Meena Tiwari said that the poor people and adivasis would give a prompt and fitting reply to the BJP Government. Through the dharna a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister was submitted to the SDO, demanding among other things- speedy trial, immediate arrest of the two rapists and investigation of the role of the station in charge in trying to shield the guilty, action against the doctor who wrote a false medical report on the death of the victim and compensation for the victims. On 12 February, the Foundation Day of AIPWA, women in large numbers protested in Deogarh, Kodarma, Rajdhanwar, Garhwa, Dumka, Gomiya, and Ranchi, after which the charter of demand was sent to the Chief Minister. It has been decided that if these demands are not met, a protest will be held in front of the CM on 2 March.

Obituary : Prof. Tulsi Ram

Professor Tulsi Ram's untimely demise at the age of 65 years took place on 13 February at Rockland Hospital in Faridabad. Till his last breath he continued his fight against the politics, ideology and culture of communal – religious violence, superstition and social and economic inequalities.

Tulsi Ram joined the left movement by associating with AISF and CPI during his days in Banaras Hindu University. Later he joined JNU and after his finishing his PhD in International Politics, got appointment as a faculty in the same university. Besides engaging in research in Marxism, International Politics, in particular the international politics during the period of Soviet Union, he also studied Buddhist perspectives and Ambedkarism, assimilating his understandings of them in his larger understanding of politics.

Besides being very well grounded in Ambedkarite thought, he remained a Marxist till his last breath. He never resorted to rhetoric or non-constructive criticism of the work culture of Communist parties on the issue of caste. Instead, he used the platforms available to him to present his nuanced understanding and analysis of the caste question. He wanted to resolve this question by engaging in criticism and introspection from within the Marxist organizational structure.

Today, when the Dalit movement is undergoing a great crisis and a deep process of introspection and inner struggle is underway, Prof. Tulsi Ram's absence will be keenly felt. He used to say that one of the most dangerous trends for Dalit movement was the Dalits becoming casteist, and about the politics of BSP he used to say that BSP is making Dalits casteist.

Prof. Tulsi Ram played a significant role in the promotion and development of Dalit literature. His also played a crucial role as the President of Dalit Writers' Association. He explained Dalit literature as the literature of liberation of the entire humankind. As a left activist he remained anti-imperial till the very end. 'CIA- Rajnaitik Vidhwans ka Amriki Hathiyar' (CIA- American tool of Political Demolition), 'The History of Communist Movement in Iran', 'Ideology in Soviet-Iran Relations', and 'Angola ka Mukti Sangharsh' (Freedom Struggle of Angola) are some his prominent works. Prof. Tulsi Ram also edited the magazine 'Ashvaghosh'. In 2012 he was part of the Citizens for Justice for Bathani Tola platform. His demise is an irreparable damage to the culture of rational and dialectical materialist intellectual traditions and the Left-Dalit movements in India.

 

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication, R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22442790, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org


Wednesday, February 18, 2015

ML Update | 08 | 2015


ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 18, No. 08, 17 – 23 FEBRUARY 2015

Challenge Islamophobic and Racist Violence in the US and India

 

The murder of three young Muslims in the US, followed by the brutal violence by US police on an aged Indian man, Sureshbhai Patel, have once again shone the spotlight on deeply entrenched Islamophobia and racism in the USA.

In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a Muslim man Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Mohammed Abu-Salha were gunned down in their home by a white neighbor. The killer had been reportedly been expressing prejudice and hatred for the hijab worn by Yusor Abu-Salha, and had picked fights before with the Muslim family.

In a familiar pattern, the US police are trying to portray the killings as the consequence of a 'parking dispute' rather than an Islamophobic hate crime. This is reminiscent of the Delhi Police chief trying to portray targeted vandalization and desecration of churches in India's national capital as a 'robbery', comparable to 'robberies' of temples.

The US media also largely ignored and trivialized the murders, thereby reflecting their own unwillingness to recognize and challenge Islamophobia. But local people, including neighbours, co-workers, and fellow students of the three victims, came out in large numbers to protest the hate crime. On social media also, outrage over the killings spilt over with the 'Muslim Lives Matter' hashtag, striking a chord with ongoing protests against racist murders that had used the 'Black Lives Matter' hashtag.

Soon after, in Alabama, police officers slammed an old Indian man on the ground, breaking his neck and partially paralyzing him. Sureshbhai Patel was visiting his son's family to help take care of his baby grandson. Seeing Sureshbhai on a walk in the neighbourhood, a neighbor reported to the police that a "skinny black guy" was wandering about, leading him to fear about his wife's safety. Sureshbhai communicated to the police that he was from India and could not speak English. But the senior police officer threw Sunilbhai on the ground, grievously injuring him.

Initially the Alabama police put out a press release justifying the police brutality and blaming Sureshbhai for disobeying the police. But following diplomatic intervention by India, the police officer has been sacked and arrested.

It would be a mistake to assume that the police behaviour against Sureshbhai Patel was an aberration. The attack on Sureshbhai is part of a pattern of similar incidents involving police high-handedness and killings of Black and Latina people in the US. In fact, the senior police officer who attacked Sureshbhai was giving the younger trainee officer a lesson in routine racist high-handedness and brutality. Aware that his actions and words were being recorded, he kept up a commentary falsely implying that Sureshbhai was being non-cooperative and violent. And in incident after incident of killings of Black and Latina men, the US police have literally got away with murder. They would have got away in Sureshbhai's case too, were it not for the diplomatic issues involved.

Indian civil liberties activists in the US have pointed out that it is not enough to respond to the attack on Sureshbhai by 'educating' US police officers to distinguish Indian Hindus from Blacks, or from Araband South Asian Muslims. Instead, the effort must be to forge solidarity between Black and Arab communities as well as South Asians of all faiths, to resist the fresh surge in racism and Islamophobia in the US.

At the same time, our outrage over the prejudice and violence meted out to Sureshbhai Patel in the US, must also serve to make us introspect about xenophobia and anti-Black racism in India. When Black people are subjected to mob violence in India, the politicians and police here, too, tend to blame such violence on 'criminal activities' by 'foreign nationals' rather than on racist prejudice. When people from North Eastern states are attacked in Indian cities, the police try to claim that the incidents are random rather than racist. Violence against Muslim economic migrants and refugees alike tends to be justified, celebrated and promoted as action against 'Bangladeshi infiltrators'.

Communal hatred and violence, at the hands of Hindu majoritarian groups as well as by police, against religious minorities in India has been systematic and state-sponsored. The BJP continues to systematically use anti-minority hatred and violence to expand its presence across India. Following President Obama's remarks on the need to curb religious intolerance and by the scathing call by New York Times for Modi to break his silence, the Indian Prime Minister has finally declared his Government's commitment to uphold religious freedom of all Indians. But these vague statements are mere lip service, given that no action has been taken against members of Modi's own Cabinet and his team of MPs who have been at the forefront of the hate-mongering. Further, his words ring hollow in the face of the systematic persecution of activists who have been striving to pursue cases of communal violence in which Modi himself is implicated, and the systematic impunity to the BJP President and police officers who staged fake encounters of Muslim men and women in Gujarat on Modi's own watch.

The Chapel Hill murders and the assault on Sureshbhai Patel have reminded us all that Islamophobic, racist and xenophobic prejudice and violence are no less a problem in the US than in India. The way forward is for movements against communalism, Islamophobia and racism in India, the US, UK and other countries to join hands with each other in closer solidarity and united struggle.

 

Mid Day Meal Workers Struggles in Bihar


In the workshop organized by the party in Muzaffarpur on 21-22 September 2014, it was decided to intensify and speedup the process of uniting the mid-day meal workers in Bihar. Since of the 1, 86,000 mid day meal workers, nearly 1, 25,000 of them are women, it was further decided that it would be most appropriate to bring them together under the banner of AIPWA under the leadership of AIPWA leaders. In keeping with this decision, efforts were initially started to bring together the women mid day meal workers in four blocks of Patna district- Fatuha, Dulhin Bazar, Punpun and Paliganj. Their main demands are- 1) As per the resolution no. 2401/20.7.07 passed by the General Administration Department of Bihar, pay an honorarium of 15,000/- per month, on a regular basis (at present they are paid merely 1000/- per month); 2) All the cooks should be given the status of government employee and thereafter they should be provided the facilities due to a fourth class employee; 3) All the cooks should be given an identity card and a uniform; 4) All the cooks be provided with the benefits of ESI and EPF; 5) all the cooks should be included in the accident and health insurance policies; 6) Female cooks should be provided with the facility to avail maternity leave, emergency leave and special leave; 7) the pending honorarium of all the cooks should be immediately paid; 8) The honorarium due to all the employees be deposited in their account; 9) The cooks should not be made to job that are not a part of their job profile, such as cleaning school premises, cleaning toilets, washing utensils, etc.; 10) All the mid day meal workers should be treated with dignity and should not be threatened with expulsion threats.

Focusing on the above mentioned demands, demonstrations were held in Dulhin Bazaar on 28 January, in Paliganj on 29 January and in Punpun on 4 February. Prior to the demonstration in Punpun, a convention was also held on 1 February in which 45 mid day meal workers were also present. Nearly 150 mid day meal workers participated in the demonstration in Dulhin Bazar, 100 in Paliganj and about 200 in Punpun. The state AIPWA President, Com. Saroj Dubey was present in all the demonstrations and after each demonstrations, the charter of demands was presented to the block officers.

On 1st February, 2015, a unit of State Midday Meal Workers' Association was also established in a convention held in Fatuha in which nearly 225 mid day meal workers participated. They shared their difficulties and problems. The convention ended with the formation of 23 member committee and by a passing a resolution to ensure the success of the programmes undertaken for 12 February and 24 March 2015, in continuation of the early initiatives.

On 12 February 2015, thousands of midday meal workers under the banners of State School Midday Meal Workers' Association and AIPWA staged demonstrations in different districts in front of the district officials. In the state capital, Patna, the protest demonstrations were led by state AIPWA President Com. Saroj Chaubey, state AIPWA Jt. Secretary Com. Anita Sinha, Patna AIPWA Vice President cum Sinhi Panchayat head, Com. Asha Devi along with several other state and district level AIPWA leaders. In Bhojpur district, the protests demonstrations were led by AIPWA General Secretary Com. Meena Tiwari and in Nawada, they were led by the Com. Shashi Yadav, AIPWA Secretary. In Gaya, the protest demonstrations were led by Comrade Reeta Baranwaal and in Siwan, Comrades Sohila Gupta, Malti Ram, Kumanti Ram led the protests along with other leaders.

In the protest demonstrations held in Patna, the speakers pointed out how in Bihar, the mid day meal workers were being paid only Rs. 33/- day for only ten months in a year, despite working for nearly 8 to 8 ½ hours every day. This was in clear violation of resolution no. 2401/20.7.2007 of the Bihar government's Common Administrative Department according to which the workers were to be paid an honorarium of Rs.15,000/month. In protest demonstrations in different states, the workers pointed out how even the current wages were paid after considerable delays and not deposited in their accounts. The charter of demands of the mid day workers were submitted to the district officials of the different districts.


First State Convention of the Insaaf Manch in Bihar 

 

The 'Insaaf Manch' (Platform for Justice) was formed an year ago in Muzaffarpur to raise the voices of minorities, dalits and women. In one of its major initiatives, the Insaaf Manch had organized successful movements against witch hunting of minority youth who were falsely implicated by NIA in terror cases. In some of the cases relating to the Patna bomb blasts, the NIA had been forced to release boys whom it had initially picked up and tortured, and in one case, mass protests by villagers themselves had prevented NIA from being able to abduct and torture a young man.

The Insaaf Manch has also made significant interventions in the cases involving mass killings of Dalits. The Insaaf Manch held its founding Bihar State convention on 15 February 2015The convention was held at the Gate Public Library in Patna. CPI (ML) General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya, President of the UP unit of Rihar Manch, Mohd. Shoaib Inqualabi, Convenor of the Inquilabi Muslim Conference, Com. Salim, and others participated in the conference.

Addressing the convention, Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya said that it is not the ruling class but the common masses who will set the political agenda of the country. The slogan of 'sabka saath-sabka vikas' (support of all- development for all) has been proved to be a lie. The issues of the common masses included- home, food, employment, land, peace and harmony and these were the agenda for people's struggles. After coming to power with a clear majority, BJP has speeded up the economic policies introduced in the 90's, is running the government mainly by way of ordinances and instead of fulfilling the promises it made to people, it has started working for the benefit of a handful of rich corporations and imperialist interests. Meanwhile the RSS has started showing its true colours and its cadre is enjoying complete support from the central government. The BJP government had not only compromised the sovereignty of the country by signing the nuclear deal but had also endangered the life of the citizens. However, the Delhi elections had shown that people were not pleased with the policies of the BJP government. He also spoke about how the youth from minority communities were being targeted in the name of fighting terrorism. The Insaaf Manch, he said, had proved to be a platform reflecting the concerns of democratic citizens for the young boys and men who are picked up and tortured by security agencies to falsely accuse them of terrorism.

Referring to the current political situation in Bihar, Com. Dipankar pointed out that while on one hand, Nitish Kumar who had initially made Jitan Ram Manjhi the CM of Bihar was now bent on having him removed. On the other hand, BJP which had over the years provided political patronage to those responsible for the numerous mass killings of Dalits and had compared Ranveer Sena chief Brahmeshwar Mukhiya to Gandhi, was now trying to prove itself as a well wisher of the Mahadalits by supporting Jitan Ram Manjhi. The attitude of both the JD (U) and the BJP towards Mahadalits is evident from their own actions.

Com. Salim, the national convenor of the Inquilabi Muslim Conference, in his speech said that in times when the fascist forces were trying to run their dictatorship in the country and the secularism and democracy were under threat, the struggles fought by the Insaaf Manch in Bihar were indeed laudable. He cautioned that the attempts of the BJP to destroy the secular fabric of the country and compromise it's sovereignty for the benefit of handful of individuals and the US, will be strongly resisted and defeated.

Prof. Jameel Saheb, Anwar Hussain, Islamuddin, Neyaz Ahmad, Shahid Muzaffarpuri, Manoj Manzil and several other leaders also addressed the convention. In their speeches, they all pointed out that the minority communities had now understood how the ruling parties assumed silence on the question of justice be it in the case of witch hunting of Muslim youth in the name of terrorism or on the issue of justice to the victims of mass killings of Dalits in Laxmanpur Bathe and Bathani Tola. They spoke about the hope of justice that the Insaaf Manch had been able to inspire among the minorities and the Dalits through their various initiatives and interventions.

Towards the closing of the convention, a 57 member state level committee was formed with Mohd. Iftekhaar Aalam as the President and Suraj Kumar Singh as the Secretary. 


Workshop for women workers in Uttar Pradesh


A workshop for women workers was jointly organized by AIPWA and AICCTU in Kanpur on 25 January 2015. The women workers who participated in the conference included women working in factories, nursing homes and laundries in Kanpur and also the mid day meal workers in the state primary schools. Addressing the participants, state Jt. Secretary of AIPWA Com. Kusum Verma said that in the present times when the current government was planning to introduce several anti-workers' policies and laws, it was important that the workers working in different areas unite to resist and defeat such moves. She added that women workers had to put with double oppression. From home to work, they had to face insecurity and discrimination. She pointed out that provisions like day care facilities at work places for children of working women, double wages for overtime and secure transportation service for women working in night shifts were integral parts of labour laws and that AIPWA and AICCTU would unite working women to assertively raise these demands and ensure equal wages and dignified working conditions for women. Addressing the workshop, the district president of AIPWA, Com. Shivani Verma said that under the present system, working women have to play a dual role in societal development. One hand they have to take up the responsibility of raising their children and on the other hand participate in the production process. However given the patriarchal structures, they have to face oppression on both fronts. During the workshop, the honorary President of AIPWA, Com. Vidya Rajwar that there were provisions for providing free education to the children of working women and for providing them with cycles for the purpose of commutation under the 'U.P. Buildings and other construction workers welfare ordinance' and these could be availed only by mobilizing and uniting with organization's struggles.


Construction Workers' Protest in Lucknow


On 22 December 2015, nearly 300 construction workers demonstrated outside the office of Deputy Labour Commissioner under the banner of the AICCTU affiliated Construction Workers' Union, to protest against the obstacles being posed in the registration and delivery of benefits to the workers and in support of their basic rights. Secretary of the Construction Workers Union, Nomi Laal, other leaders of construction workers- Kaamta Prasad, Bhanumati, Keshav Mishra, Geeta ji, District in charge of CPI (ML) Com. Ramesh Singh Sengar, leader of Railway Workers' Union, Com. Magan ji and Scooter India Workers' Union Aarbi Singh addressed the protest demonstration. The leaders pointed out the big scale rigging that was taking place and also that for long they had they been demanding that the opinions of the registered workers' unions be taken into account. However no heed was being paid to these demands. Our union has been demanding that basic provisions such as night shelters at labour sites, toilets, tin shades for resting purpose and safe drinking water facilities be provided to the construction workers. However, neither has any action been taken so far by the concerned authorities, nor have they even bothered to provide any updates regarding the progress on the aforementioned demands. Several speakers also raised the demands of providing identity cards and ration cards to all the workers who had come from the outside states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh or even from districts in UP outside Lucknow. They also demanded that the names of these workers, who had given their sweat and blood for the development of Lucknow, be added in the BPL list and they should be given places to stay. The speakers also pointed out that while certain provisions did exist for the registered workers such as provision of Rs.1,00,000/- for building house for workers who have land, it was unlikely for a construction worker to have land in Lucknow. During the protests, list of demands were submitted to the concerned authorities which included- 1) Camps be organized on construction sites on specified dates and time for the registration of construction workers; 2) Provisions such as toilets, tin shades for taking rest and drinking water facility, be made available on construction sites; 3) All construction workers be issued red ration cards and their names be included in the BPL list; 4) Colonies should be established for providing housing facilities to construction workers; 5) There should be effective mechanisms to ensure that wages usurped by the building owners or builders be paid to the workers; 6) There should effective mechanisms to ensure that the provisions and benefits guaranteed to the workers through various laws are made available to them.


Protest against Hindu Mahasabha's threats on valentines day

The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha had issued threats prior to 14 February that couples seen holding hands or displaying any other form of affection publicly on the Valentine's Day would be forcibly married off. The Hindu Mahasabha had further warned of conducting ghar waapsi in case of inter-religious couples. Responding to such anti constitutional diktats that reflect utter disdain towards individuals' freedom to choose and express, several progressive organizations including AISA and JNUSU, called for a protest outside the Hindu Mahasabha office in Delhi on 14 February 2015. In a creative form of protest, the students and youth had come with garlands and musical instruments daring the Hindu Mahasabha cadre to carry out their threats of marrying them. The protestors included couples belonging to different religions, castes and sexual identities. They raised slogans on the lines of "Fall in love, not in line"; "No Man shall be discriminated for wearing a sari and no woman shall be violated for a short skirt"; "In love, our consent is all that matters, we neither fear your threats, nor your fetters"! However, the Delhi police instead of protecting the rights of common citizens and taking actions against those who had issued threats chose to cordon off the area outside the Mahasabha office and detain the protestors who were only asserting their right to choice and expression. While the political patronage accorded to the threat issuing cadres of saffron brigade was clearly evident, the students and youth demonstrated that they were not the ones to bow done in face of such right wing threats.


Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication, R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22442790, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

ML Update | No. 06 | 2015


ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.  18 | No. 06 | 3-9 FEB 2015

Covert Attack on the Constitution

On the occasion of Republic Day, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry of the Modi Government issued an advertisement, with an image of the Preamble of the Constitution minus two key words – 'secular' and 'socialist'. The Preamble of the Constitution declares that "WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; And to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION."

Scrambling to defend itself on the intent behind the omission of 'secular' and 'socialist' from a 2015 Republic Day advertisement, the Modi Government – as well as the BJP and its allies - found themselves speaking in many contradictory tongues.

First, the I&B Ministry explained that they had merely used a watermark of the original 1950 Preamble, which at the time only had the words 'Sovereign Democratic Republic'. What is wrong in commemorating the original Preamble, they asked innocently? Had the mater remained there, perhaps the apprehensions of India's concerned citizens would have subsided.

But soon enough, Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP, hailed the 'accident' by which the two words were excluded, and called for the accident to be turned into a 'reality'. And soon after, the Telecom Minister of the Modi Government, senior BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad, called for a 'national debate' on the need for those two words in the Preamble! In support of these calls for outright deletion on the one hand and 'debate' on the other, it was argued that the words 'secular' and 'socialist' had been introduced by Indira Gandhi during the Emergency. These words carried the Emergency taint, it was argued in saffron quarters, and therefore should be deleted.

The Shiv Sena and Ravishankar Prasad revealed the real 'Mann ki Baat' behind the omission of the words 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Preamble as displayed in the Modi Government advertisement. That 'Mann ki Baat' is nothing but the agenda of eroding secularism to head in the direction of a 'Hindu Rashtra' in which minorities will not enjoy equality and freedom. It is extremely significant that throughout, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintained a calculated silence on the subject, allowing his Government and party to speak in many voices.    

Many offensive amendments made by Indira Gandhi to the Constitution were deleted by subsequent amendments by the Janata Government as well as by Supreme Court intervention. But no Government in the four decades since the Emergency has ever yet felt the need to 'debate' the inclusion of the words 'secular' and socialist', and there is good reason for this.  

The main reason is that those words simply underlined or amplified the assurance present in the rest of Preamble, as well as in many Articles of the Constitution. The word 'Secular' only reflects the spirit of the Preamble's guarantee of 'liberty of faith and worship', of equality, and of fraternity based on the 'dignity of the individual'. And this spirit is fully reflected in several Articles of the Constitution.

What about 'socialist'? It may be argued that with the passing of the 'public sector' regime and the establishment of liberalization as a policy framework, is has become anachronistic to call India 'socialist.' Others can argue, rightly, apart from the outward trappings of five-year plans and public sector, the Indian State was not socialist in any sense of the term. India was never even a welfare state, let alone socialist in the revolutionary sense. The failure to carry out land reforms and democratise agrarian relations, and the growing subordination of the public sector to the interests of crony capitalism are the two biggest negations of any kind of socialism.

But what these arguments forget is that the term 'socialist' is important in as much as it reflects the spirit of 'social, economic and political justice' promised in both the Preamble and the directive principles of state policy. At a time when Governments are trying to step back from their duty of ensuring basic entitlements of food, shelter, water and so on to the people, the Constitutional commitment to that duty is important. At the present juncture, any move to drop the word 'socialist' is nothing but a ploy to claim Constitutional 'approval' for the rampant flouting of the principles of social and economic justice by Governments.  

In a recent interview, BJP President Amit Shah has reiterated that his party sees no need to remove the words 'socialist' and 'secular' from the Preamble. But it is significant that in the same interview, Shah refused point blank to comment in any way on RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat's declaration that India is a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation). If the BJP is indeed committed to the secular spirit of India's Constitution, why is it unwilling to outright condemn the RSS' 'Hindu Nation' claim that is the worst possible attack on that spirit? In the same interview, Amit Shah defended what his party calls 'ghar wapsi' and called for a 'law against conversions' – both of which fly in the face of the Constitutional guarantee of the freedom to practice and propagate one's faith.

Ravishankar Prasad and others may ask, rhetorically, if Ambedkar was less secular because he saw no need to include the word 'secular' in the Preamble. But can there be any doubt whatsoever that Ambedkar was deeply opposed to the notion of India being a theocratic 'Hindu Rashtra'? Ambedkar himself organized mass conversions to Buddhism and declared, 'I may be born a Hindu but I will not die a Hindu'. Can there be any doubt that Ambedkar would find a 'law against conversions' opposed to the basic spirit of India's Constitution as he drafted it?  

A 'Hindu Rashtra' is not just deeply dangerous for India's religious minorities. It also spells an end to the Constitutional promise of equality and freedom for India's Dalits, adivasis, oppressed castes and women. At the time when India adopted the Constitution, the RSS had opposed it and had called for the Manusmriti to be the Constitution of India as a 'Hindu Rashtra'. The RSS organ Organiser, on November 30 1949, had complained that the Constitution had no mention of the Manusmriti – the same Manusmriti that is full of horrific decrees against the basic dignity and freedom of Dalits and women, the same Manusmriti that Ambedkar had publicly burnt.

It is precisely as a rebuff of and safeguard against these forces that seek to turn India into a Hindu nation that India's Constitution and Preamble must continue to declare India's secular character without any room for ambiguity.


Landless Poor Demonstrate in Bihar

Nearly one lakh landless poor demonstrated at over 200 regional centres in Bihar on the issue of dwellings and land for farming, following the call given by All India Agricultural Labour Association (AIALA) and Shehri Gareeb Morcha (Urban Poor Front). Angrily raising slogans of 'Give us land not announcements', the protestors demanded that they be given homestead land, papers for land occupancy, and occupation of the land for which they have been issued papers. In the course of the demonstration, nearly 1 lakh applications were given across the state in which the question of allotting nearly tens of thousands of acres of land for which papers have been issued. Once again the Manjhi government is offering false assurance of homes and farming lands to the poor. While several announcements pertaining to land distribution are being made on papers, in actual the situation is the exact opposite where on an increasing rate the poor are being displaced even from whatever little land they do have for living and agriculture. In the survey report brought by CPI (ML) it had been revealed that nearly sixty percent of people in Bihar were landless. Had the JD (U) government implemented the land reform recommendations then nearly 21 lakh acres of land marked by the committee could have been recovered by the state government and distributed to the landless for accommodation and doing agriculture. Protesting against the false promises of the state government, thousands of people even demonstrated in the cities on the question of land reforms.

The various AIALA leaders leading the demonstrations declared that they will continue to expose the false assurances of the government and intensify the movement to force the government to implement its announcements.


Protest against Exploitation of Women

In the past few days several instances of exploitation of women have been reported in Bihar. In one incident, a minor girl hailing from West Bengal was gang raped on 5 February in Muzaffarpur district collectorate. In yet another case of brutal exploitation, a woman named Geeta Rani, residing in a posh locality of the capital city tortured her 11 year old domestic help, inserting hot rods inside her private parts and had her sons send the dead body to the girl's home. All the accused in this case are absconding.

Amidst all these instances, PMCH nurses continue to protest in order to be regularized. They had started an indefinite hunger strike on 3 January 2015 that had lasted two weeks and during which the health of several nurses had deteriorated.

In light of these increasing occurrences of violence against women and their continued exploitation, protests marches were taken out under the leadership of AIPWA leaders and activists in Patna, Bhojpur and Muzaffarpur on 8 January and organized. The protestors demanded that the district administration of Muzaffarpur take responsibility for the gang rape of a minor and that Geeta Rani, who had brutally tortured a minor help, be arrested along with the other co-accused. In the rallies conducted following the protest marches, it was also demanded that the state administration guarantee safety of women and fulfill the demands of the protesting nurses. In Fatuha, besides the aforementioned demands, the AIPWA led protestors also demanded that the concerns of women working for the midday meal programme be immediately addressed. The protest march in Fatuha was led by State AIPWA President Saroj Chaubey.


Mahapanchayat by All India Kisan Mahasabha in Uttarakhand

On 28 January 2015, thousands of people took part in the mahapanchayat called by the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha in Bindukhatta in Nainital district, demanding the status of a revenue village for Bindukhatta and protesting against the state's decision to make Bindukhatta a municipality. The residents of Bindukhatta have been demanding the status of village since 1970's under the leadership of CPI (ML) and its mass organizations. Though, for a considerable period, no other political party was willing to support this demand, of late the demand for a village hood has become a part of the manifestos of most parties in the state. However, despite this, ignoring the long standing demand of the residents of this forest land, Bindukhatta was made into a municipality and the anger of the people could be clearly seen in the streets of Laalkuan. It is important to note that though members of bureaucracy had cautioned the state government against making Bindukhatta a municipality and pointed out several legal hurdles, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat chose to ignore people's genuine demand along with the suggestions of his own bureaucratic advisors. CPI (ML) believes that the decision to make Bindukhatta a municipality is solely guided by the motive to enable some Congressmen become councilors, chairmen and also find employment for several Congress contractors. This is a conspiracy to deny to the common people of Bindukhatta ownership rights to their land.

Flustered by the participation of thousands in the protests organized by the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha, the Congress workers burnt the effigy of those who participated in the demonstrations. The burning of effigy of protesting masses only exposes the political bankruptcy of the Congress.


Movement in Ramgarh against Gang Rape and Murder of Tribal Women

On 15 December 2014, two minor tribal women were gang raped in Vasundhara Vatika hotel, located in Rajrappa Road in Chitarpur (district Ramgarh, Jharkhand). One of the victims had to be referred to Ranchi following excessive bleeding, however, her life could not be saved. On 27 December 2014, a team led by CPI (ML)'s  Bigendra Thakur, Jaglal Soren, Mahadev Manjhi, Heeralal Mahto and RYA's Amal Kumar Ghoshal and Krishna Munda, went to Tikahara Tola in Bokaro to meet the families of the parents. The information gathered by them revealed that one of the girls, aged 16, was working as a sweeper in hotel named Vasundhara Vatika owned by Dilip Saav for a wage of Rs. 3000. Within a few days of joining work, Dilip began to sexually assault her and also forced her into sex work with other guests in the hotel. On 15 December, when the victim and another 14 year old girl from the same village who had joined work were sleeping in the same room, Dilip along with two other men came to their room and gang raped them. After FIRs were filed by surviving victim and the father of the girl who died, Dilip was arrested, however, the issue of a sexual exploitation racket was thrown into cold storage. The report prepared by CPI (ML) and RYA team revealed that several girls from outside areas were brought and forced into sex work and also that the incharge of Rajrappa Police station, Lileshwar Mahto had been staying in one of the hotel rooms for nearly four months.

After returning, a press conference was called in Ramgarh office in which the district secretary Com. Bhuvneshwar Bediya, Com. Saryu Bediya and the members of the fact finding team exposed the rape incident and demanded that the culprits be arrested, the hotel premises be sealed, the rapists be charged for murder and Lileshwar Mahto be suspended. On 28 December 2014, thousands of women and youth took out a protest march under the leadership of AIPWA leaders Rupa Besra and Jhuma, RYA leader Amal Kumar Ghoshal and several other CPI (ML) leaders. On 29 December 2014 again thousands of people marched from Chitarpur bazaar to Rajrappa Mod, under the joint leadership of CPI (ML), AIPWA and RYA leaders demanding immediate action on the culprits and Lileshwar Mahto and compensation for the survivor and the family of the dead victim. The administration is still attempting to cover up the issue exposing BJP government's view on security of rural tribal women. The movement led by CPI (ML) has resulted in several people from rural and urban areas coming out on streets in protest. 


Demonstrations by Footpath Shopkeepers in Jehanabad

On 29 December 2014, all the footpath shopkeepers of Jehanabad carried out an angry demonstration outside the district council office under the banner of the 'Footpath Shopkeepers Association', led by CPIML activists. The demonstration followed a massive procession from Unta Sabzi Mandi to the district council office. The programme was led by district councilor Upadhyaya Yadav, AICCTU leader Dheeraj Gupta, ML city incharge Santosh Keshri and Footpath Shopkeepers Association leaders Arvind Kumar Chopra, Bablu Kumar and others. Through the programme, demands were raised pertaining to – permanent arrangement for footpath shopkeepers, provision of pukka shops, drinking water and toilets for shopkeepers, entry of footpath shopkeepers in BPL list and immediate vacation of shops by those not involved in business. While there has been a long standing movement on these demands, no concrete steps have yet been taken by the district authorities. A delegation of leaders handed over a four-point demand letter and pressurized the district administration to assure that immediate action will be taken, failing which the movement would be intensified.


CPI (ML) Ensures Return of Land to a Tribal Family in Maharashtra

About 100 km away from Mumbai, in a Dhabon village of Palghar district, some non tribal hooligans had snatched the land of a tribal family. On 16 January 2015, under the leadership of CPI (ML), the land was recovered from the goons and restored to the family. On the instructions of a goon, Chaubey, the family was told by some of the local tribal leaders working as brokers for Chaubey that the family had no ownership over the land and they must take accept Rs. 25,000 and vacate the land. Having no knowledge about ownership rights of the tribals, the family vacated the land. When the local CPI (ML) leadership came to know about the incident they obtained the property documents on which it was mentioned that land belonged to the family that had been forced to vacate. On 16 January 2015, the party cadre along with the family launched the occupy movement and captured the land by putting red flags on it.  At the start of the movement, Com. Mahendra Singh was remembered on his 10th martyrdom day. 


Protest against Suspension of AISA Leader from Lucknow University

AISA activists organised a protest rally in GPO, demanding the revocation of the expulsion of their leader Sudhanshu and re-establishment of the women's cell in Lucknow University. Earlier this month, in a shameful assault on campus democracy, the Lucknow University (LU) administration had expelled comrade Sudhanshu Bajpai, UP state president of AISA, from LU for the 'crime' of organizing a seminar on LU campus on the Love Jihad bogey and for burning the effigy of the UP Chief Minister at a subsequent protest held by AISA. The seminar against 'Love Jihad', which was to be addressed by AIPWA national secretary comrade Kavita Krishnan, was disrupted by ABVP.

Addressing the protest rally, AISA leader Puja Shukla said that the actions of LU administration show that there is no space or permission in the University for discussing the rights of women to exercise their choices. AISA Jt. Secretary, Sandeep Sen said that the expulsion was an outcome of AISA's attempts to expose the corruption in the university and raise questions about the mismanagement. Protest was held by AISA activists in Delhi in front of UP Bhawan.


Unveiling the Statue of Mohan Singh

On 31 December 2014, in Bahedi village of Bareily district, the statue of Comrade Mohan Singh was unveiled. Com. Mohan Singh was a leader of CPI (ML) and the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha.  He had died in an accident on 31 December 2013 while he was leading an indefinite hunger strike by the farmers fighting for the outstanding payment of 44 crore for sugarcanes.  On the initiative of the party and the local farmers, it was decided that his statue would be established in the Kisan Bhawan, Bahedi on his first death anniversary. The statue was unveiled by the CPI (ML)'s central committee member and the general secretary of Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha, Com. Rajaram Singh.

On this occasion a pledge-taking rally was also organized for the farmers. Addressing the gathering, Com. Rajaram Singh said that when the communal forces were busy breaking the unity of farmers and killing many in Muzaffarnagar last year, and the farmer's unions instead of coming to their rescue had chosen to ally themselves with the saffron brigade, it was the Kisan Mahasabha under the leadership of Com. Mohan Singh that sent a strong message of united farmer's movement. He added that in current times when Modi Government has launched an unprecedented attack on the farmers, the legacy of Com. Mohan Singh will help in providing the direction. The rally was chaired by veteran Communist leader Com. Atri Kumar Rishi and was moderated by Com. Javed Akhtar.

More than 300 people including late Com. Mohan Singh's wife Rachna Singh, participated in the programme.