tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7801540923230676282024-02-07T16:11:46.489+05:30.CPI(ML) (Liberation)CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.comBlogger369125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-52316615531621560852016-12-28T11:08:00.001+05:302016-12-28T11:08:11.095+05:30ML Update | No. 1 | 2017<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-nH gmail-aHU"><div class="gmail-nH gmail-hx"><div class="gmail-nH"><div class="gmail-h7 gmail-ie gmail-nH gmail-oy8Mbf" tabindex="-1"><div class="gmail-Bk" style="width:875px"><div class="gmail-G3 gmail-G2 gmail-afm"><div id="gmail-:10v"><div class="gmail-adn gmail-ads"><div class="gmail-gs"><div id="gmail-:10x" class="gmail-ii gmail-gt gmail-adP gmail-adO" style="font-size:12.8px"><div id="gmail-:10w" class="gmail-a3s gmail-aXjCH gmail-m1594056f76881b5e"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">Vol. 20 | No. 01 | 27 December 2016 - 2 January 2017</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Resolve for 2017:</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Headline2cols" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:18pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Intensify The Resistance To The Fascist Assaults on Democracy</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">When the PM announced the Note Ban in November, he promised that the situation would return to normal in 50 days. By December, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has declared that cashless, digital transactions are the 'new normal' for India. The Note Ban began with promises of rewarding the poor and punishing the rich and corrupt. By now it is clear that the real intention was to do the opposite. The Government would like us to accept as 'normal' the utter devastation of the cash-based informal economy, small traders and farmers and poor cash-dependent people – and the boom for corporates who benefit from 'cashless' digitalization. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">In fact, throughout 2016, we can see how the Modi Government and the Sangh Parivar have striven to change the face of democracy as we know it, and establish authoritarianism, bigotry and trampling of hard-won rights as 'the new normal' for India.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">2016 began with the institutional killing of the Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula by the Hyderabad Central University authorities after he was branded 'anti-national' by the ABVP and Modi's own Ministers. Soon after, the JNU became the target, with students being arrested for 'sedition.' There was a distinct pattern at play: the Sangh Parivar and Modi Government were indeed seeking to make it 'normal' for students on campuses to be branded 'anti-national' and subjected to witch-hunts and violence. As the New Year approaches, another JNU student, Najeeb Ahmed, is missing after being thrashed by ABVP students. From Rohith to Najeeb, it has become 'normal' for Sangh-appointed VCs to protect ABVP violence and punish dissenting activists instead of protecting Dalit and Muslim students from persecution and violence. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">In 2015 the lynching of Akhlaq by a saffron 'cow protection' mob shocked the whole country. In 2016, one of the Dadri accused who died was draped by the Sangh Parivar in the national flag at his funeral. Launching mob attacks on Muslims and Dalits in the name of 'cow protection' and even 'patriotism' became 'the new normal.' </span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">Saffron mobs kept bullying people in the name of chanting 'Vande Mataram' and the national anthem. By the end of 2016, a Supreme Court order has now put the seal of approval on such bullying by making it a crime for people to remain sitting during the national anthem in cinema halls.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">In the Bhopal fake encounter, the police and the BJP's Madhya Pradesh Government did not even try very hard to disguise the murder as an 'encounter.' The cold-blooded killings were carried out in public and in broad daylight, and disseminated through videos. The MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, like Modi when he was Gujarat CM, openly sought public approval for the custodial killings instead of denying it. By making the Bhopal killings a public spectacle, the BJP is out to remove any lingering stigma or shame from the execution of Muslims accused of terrorism. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">The BJP is now attacking the hard-won land rights of the adivasis of Jharkhand by seeking to dilute the provisions of the historic CNT and SPT Acts. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">Before the Bihar elections the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had called for a review of reservations. Now, again while speaking in Uttar Pradesh on the eve of polls, Modi Minister VK Singh (already notorious for comparing Dalit victims of atrocities to dogs) has called for a debate on reservations. These remarks are not slips of the tongue. RSS and BJP leaders are deliberately testing the waters – hoping to create a 'new normal' in which caste-based reservations, like the CNT and SPT Acts of the adivasis or the labour laws of workers, can be diluted.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">In 2016, the Modi Government has introduced a new template into the Indian State's dealings with Kashmir. It has abandoned even the fig leaf of dialogue or political resolution of the Kashmir dispute: and has instead made it 'normal' to respond with pellet guns to unarmed protesters and civilian population. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">In 2016 Sadhvi Prachi, a VHP leader, declared that "having achieved the mission of making a Congress-free India, it is time to make India, Muslim-free." Nor is hers a mere 'fringe' sentiment. The PM himself, quoting the RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, called to Hindus to 'treat Muslims as your own' and 'refine' them. Reading the context of Deen Dayal Upadhyay's words makes it clear that he was calling for Muslims to be assimilated into "Indian nationalism which is Hindu nationalism, and Indian culture which is Hindu culture" – failing which they would have to "driven out of India." </span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">The Note Ban decision is the most ambitious totalitarian project of the Modi Government so far. Trampling over the institutional autonomy of the RBI and mocking and bypassing the Parliament, Modi is seeking to test how far he can impose his own whims on the system, undermine facts and hoodwink people by emotional propaganda alone.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">In their project of remapping India as Hindu Rashtra, the BJP and RSS repeatedly use the Brahminical metaphor of 'purification' and 'cleansing' for their fascist projects. The PM began by touting Note Ban as necessary to 'cleanse' the economy of black money; now he is silent on black money and he instead claims that cash itself is dirty and the economy must be rendered 'cashless' to cleanse and purify it. The RSS and BJP seek to cleanse the country and campuses of dissent. And of course they seek to cleanse the country of its diversity and plurality. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">But if 2016 has been the year of unprecedented assaults, it has also been a year of remarkable resistance. The movement for justice for Rohith Vemula, the Stand With JNU movement, the powerful blow to the Sangh Parivar and to caste oppression by the Dalits of Una and Gujarat, the general strike in Kashmir that lasted several months, the ongoing struggle in Jharkhand to save the CNT and SPT Acts – all these showed that every assault by the fascists was an opportunity for the people to fight back and discover new strengths and solidarities.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">2017 will begin with the task of thoroughly exposing the authoritarian, pro-corporate and anti-poor agenda of the Note Ban and channelling the resentment against it into robust resistance. The Note Ban must be exposed as not a mere economic policy of the Government – but an attack on democracy and people's survival and livelihood. Building on the solidarities forged in the struggles of 2016, let us meet 2017 with a renewed resolve to fight fascism and defend democracy !</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">POL KHOL, HALLA BOL Campaign Against Demonetisation</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-ParagraphStyle1"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">State Cadre Convention in Lucknow</span></b></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">The CPI(ML) Uttar Pradesh unit organized a cadre convention on 18 December 2016, the 18th death anniversary of Com Vinod Mishra with the objective of determining effective interventions in the current political scenario and making preparations for the coming Assembly elections.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">Addressing the convention, General Secretary Com Dipankar Bhattacharya said that demonetization is a huge economic disaster for the country; it has severely distressed the poor while benefiting the corrupt and the politically powerful, especially the ruling party BJP. He said that anger against demonetization is beginning to grow despite the huge false propaganda by the government; CPI(ML) is organizing a 'Pol Khol Halla Bol' campaign and on 30 December will stage effigy burnings to enable people to give voice to their anger. He also put the SP and BSP in the dock saying that the former's 'development' was pro-corporate and not for the poor, while the latter is compromising the interests of dalits by holding hands with Brahmanism instead of raising issues of land and dignity for dalits as is being done by the dalit movement in Gujarat. The convention resolved to fight the Modi Emergency and Demonetization Disaster.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">The following Resolutions were passed at the Convention:</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">1. A Statewide 'Pol Khol Halla Bol' (Expose and Challenge) campaign between 20 and 30 December. On 30 December Jan-Sunwai (people's courts) programmes will be organized at Assembly constituency levels to highlight the distress people are going through due to demonetization, and the effigies of the Prime Minister Modi will be burnt at various Chaurahas (road intersections).</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">2. The following demands will be pressed: the government should pay Rs 1 lakh each as compensation to every poor person who has suffered financial loss due to demonetization; Rs 20 lakhs should be paid as compensation to the families of those who lost their lives standing in queues or deprivations caused due to demonetization; the government should waive all farmers' loans.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">3. The central government should find the whereabouts of Najeeb, the JNU student who has been missing now for two months, and should ensure his safe return. The Convention strongly condemns the criminal negligence of the police and administration in this matter. The Convention resolves to carry forward the new consciousness which has arisen across the country after the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula and the brutal attack on the four dalit youths in Una. Keeping this in view, the Convention resolves to strengthen the efforts to organize dalit workers and raise issue of land reforms on a State level.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">4. The alleged encounter killing of the 8 under-trial SIMI activists should be probed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-ParagraphStyle1"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Programmes in Bihar against Demonetization</span></b></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">Vociferous protests were held at several block headquarters in Bihar under the banner of the CPI(ML), AIARLA, AICCTU and All India Kisan Mahasabha (AIKM) as part of the ongoing 'Pol Khol-Halla Bol' campaign against demonetization, with the demand for crediting Rs 1 lakh into the accounts of the poor and confiscating the black money stashed away within the country as well as abroad.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">CPI(ML) Politburo member Amar said that people's anger against demonetization is beginning to escalate and they are not going to be fooled by the false propaganda by Modi and the Sangh forces. He said that since the last 15 during the 'Pol Khol- Halla Bol' campaign people's hearings were organized on village and panchayat levels and the adverse effects of demonetization on the common people were discussed. Meetings were held at the village level to expose the true intent of the Modi government behind this demonetization move. He demanded from the government to pay subsistence allowance to all those whose livelihoods have been snatched away as a result of demonetization.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">Com. Amar also said that the Modi government which is talking big about nabbing black money is actually protecting black money hoarders and converting their black money into white. If the government is as honest as it claims to be, why is it not bringing the proposal to bring all political parties under the ambit of RTI? Demonetization has dealt a mortal blow on the livelihoods of the poor, the working class, daily wage earners, migrant workers working outside the State, farmers and traders. More than 2 crores of people have lost their jobs and means of earning a livelihood; this is totally against humanity. Under this ongoing campaign, protests were held in all the districts in Bihar.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-ParagraphStyle1"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Campaign against Demonetization in Delhi</span></b></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">CPI(ML)'s 'Pol Khol- Halla Bol' Campaign against Demonetization is being carried out regularly in different parts of Delhi. On the fourth day of the campaign in Wazirpur, thousands of pamphlets were distributed during lunch-time to workers and street meetings were conducted at several places in the entire industrial area. One of the workers said, "Don't Tata-Birla have black money, will this government ever punish them?"</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">A 'Jan-Sunwai' was organized on the issue of Demonetization in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Noida. Many people from the locality participated in the public hearing. Comrades from local AICCTU unit actively participated in the program. As the program was about to start, local BJP-Sangh supporters tried to interrupt it but people's support and anger defeated their moves and the public hearing was smoothly conducted. Sucheta De, President, AISA and other leaders addressed the meeting and requested all to join the campaign in coming days.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">Street meetings and movie screenings were held at several places in Narela. While meetings were conducted during daytime, movie screenings were done using whatever resources that were available. At one place a pickup truck was utilised as a movie screen! One elderly person remarked, "I challenge this government to look for black money in my house and that of Ambani-Adani. Wherever it gets black money it should take action, this Demonetization is simply a whitewash nothing else." A street vendor said, "Earlier 8-9 kilograms of flour were consumed daily at my shop, now only 2 kg is enough. My business has been ruined." The activists urged the people to come out on the streets and demand answers from the government as the 50-day period cited by the government comes to a close.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-ParagraphStyle1"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">CPI (ML) holds 'Occupy RBI' protest in Kolkata</span></b></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">CPI (ML) called for an 'Occupy RBI' protest in Kolkata on 22 December against demonetization. Several hundreds of people joined the protest and broke the barricade put up to stop them from marching. They also burned the effigy of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Loud slogans against demonetization were raised. During the protest the leaders pointed out severe economic consequences that has fallen upon the entire population of the country, particularly on the working people after demonetization. The severe cash crunch has ruined innumerable workers of the informal sector in particular, job losses, shut down of industry are the few fall outs. Within a short span of 43 days, RBI and the Ministry of Finance changed their decision 60 times that has telling effect upon the trust and confidence of the citizens of the country.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">A delegation led by CPI(ML) West Bengal Secretary Partha Ghosh submitted a memorandum to the RBI. The demands outlined in the memorandum included:</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">1. Immediate withdrawal of all the limits of withdrawal from the current & savings bank account. It is a very fundamental right of every citizen of our country.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">2. The tea garden workers are on the verge of starvation death. Special arrangements should be made forthwith to tide over this situation.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">3. The pensioners, the jute workers, the salaried people are not getting their salary from their respective bank on the pretext of non-availability of cash which is again a gross infringement on people's democratic right. This has to be stopped forthwith.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">4. RBI should compensate every citizen, at least to all people having Jan-Dhan account for the breach of trust that they all along maintained on the supreme monetary authority of our country.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">5. RBI is an autonomous institution and must not behave as a political appendage of central govt. to the detriment of our country.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">AIARLA to Campaign Against Devastating Impacts of Demonetisation on Workers</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">In a two-day National Executive meeting of All India Agricultural and Rural Labour Association concluded on 26 December in Patna, it was decided to further build up a nationwide resistance against the adverse impacts of demonetisation on workers who are forced to reverse migration in face of sudden rise in unemployment and consequent extreme low wages in rural areas, with government's draconian anti-poor Note Ban.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">AIARLA will hold protests at all district headquarters as part of this campaign on 15 January.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">AIARLA demands to compensate rural and urban workers for loss of livelihoods and lives caused by demonetisation and to waive all farmer loans. It also said that rhetorical gestures regarding Benami property are not intended to materalise just like Note Ban was not meant to curb black money. Benami properties would have been seized by now in two and a half years of Modi rule and an urban ceiling Act would have been in place if the government was really serious about curbing corruption.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">AIARLA leaders from all over the country shared their experiences of harshly negative impacts of Note Ban on workers and toiling masses. In absence of cash they have to work on very low wages while Minimum Wage Act remains a mockery. Workers are forced to even barter their labour in order to survive at many places. This cynical demonetisation is a severe blow for general masses, while at the same time Modi government has amassed huge amounts of common peoples' cash in banks to further the interests of big corporates and the corrupt.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">AIARLA resolved to fight for the compensation of at least Rs. one lakh to all poor and toiling masses against Note Ban losses; to declare Swish Banks' account holders and corporate bank defaulters names to the public; to stop criminalising poor people's Jan-Dhan accounts; to seize Benami properties immediately and to promulgate an urban ceiling act, to waive all types of loans of workers and peasants; to stop giving loans to big corporates and to provide more loans to general masses; to increase funds and works in MNREGA scheme; to make right to housing a basic fundamental right; and to guarantee lands, entitlements and possession for the dalits and tribals throughout India. The AIARLA will launch a nationwide campaign on these issues with immediate effect.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">AIARLA has expressed its resentment on rising attacks on dalits and minorities in Bihar and other parts of country. With day by day increasing propensity towards Modi rule, Nitish government has totally stopped even mere discussions of the very important issues like land reforms and has now instead opted for indulging into demagogical 7-Resolves which is devoid of content and utterly rhetorical. The poor in Bihar are constantly under attacks and being displaced from their lands in face of various kinds of oppressions, brutalities and state repression.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Bhagalpur Bandh And Statewide Protests Against Police Brutality on Poor, Dalits, Women</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">A call for statewide protests in Bihar and Bhagalpur bandh on 16 December to protest against the brutal attack on peacefully protesting dalits, poor and women, was given by jointly by Left forces- CPI (ML), CPI, CPI (M), SUCI (C)and other Left parties. The bandh was highly effective.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">Activists and supporters of the bandh came out in large numbers and blocked NH 80 in spite of the atmosphere of fear sought to be created by the local administration. Rallies were taken out on main roads and bazaars such as Rajendra Prasad Road, Patel Babu Road, MP Dwivedi Road and other places. The protestors raised slogans in support of their demands and against the brutality by the police and administration. The protesters put forward the following demands: removal of the Bhagalpur DM and filing of case against him and the police chief; taking back of all false cases against the protesters who were demanding homestead lands; possession for all parcha holders; action against the guilty officials; and implementation of the D Bandopadhyay land reform commission recommendations.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">Protest marches were taken out in Patna and other parts of the state including Masaurhi, Jehanabad, Arwal, Darbhanga, and other places. Apart from the above demands, the following demands were also raised at the protests: putting a stop to displacement of the landless in Eastern Champaran, Darbhanga and Kataiya; release of CPI(ML) leader Com. Banhu Ram; rehabilitation of and compensation for mahadalits and the poor who have been displaced in Patna; 5 decimal land for housing to all poor; dakhal-kabja (possession) for parcha holders (allottees) in Maksudanpur, Bishanpur and Beguserai; stopping displacement of sharecroppers; release of Banka CPI(ML) leader Com. Renu Yadav without conditions.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Socialism International Conference 2016 in Malaysia</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) organized an International Conference - Socialism International 2016 at Kuala Lumpur on 25-27 November. Comrade Balasubramanian, Central Committee member of the CPI(ML) Liberation attended the Conference. He participated in a panel discussion on 'Exit Capitalism – Build The Left' along with Pierre Rousset, Fourth International, France; Alex Bainbridge, Socialist Alliance, Australia and Soh Sook Hwa, Central Committee of PSM.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">Balasubramanian also delivered a talk on 'Breaking Away from Neo-Liberal Globalization' where he pointed out that neo-liberal globalization operates primarily by creating and enforcing a neo-liberal policy consensus - by suggesting that there is no alternative, that the only 'logical', rationale and possible economic system is neo-liberal globalization. It is able to maintain this consensus not only by coercion by the IMF or World Bank but with the help of local ruling classes. Local and regional struggles against capital have an important role in breaking this consensus. He emphasised that "our battle has to be two-pronged" – it has to combat Islamophobia and xenophobia even as it confronts and fights the neo-liberal economic policies. He said that the election of Modi in India, Donald Trump in the US, and the Brexit vote in the UK have reminded us that the struggles against communalism, casteism, misogyny, xenophobia and racism have to be a crucial and integral component of battles against capitalist and imperialist economic policies.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">He added that "country-specific revolutionary projects still continue and constitute a key component or contingent of the global quest for socialism. The clarion call of the Communist Manifesto to workers of different countries not just to unite on a worldwide scale but also to defeat capital in their respective nations by emerging as the new ruling class and establishing themselves as the nations remains the cornerstone of the revolutionary orientation of the working class and the people. The challenge of beating capital on the national terrain of course presupposes a firm rejection of and resistance to the usually chauvinistic and often jingoistic plank of bourgeois nationalism and the framework of narrow and sectarian national rivalries." He ended with the call, "Let us share our experiences, let us learn from each other, let us face this formidable challenge together." Pierre Rousset, as well as Jayakumar Devaraj, Member of Parliament, Malaysia, and Central Committee member of the PSM also spoke on this topic.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Workers' Protest at New Mangalore Port</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">AICCTU held a demonstration in front of the office of the DC of Dakshina Kannada district at Mangalore on 26 December 2016 demanding his intervention in streamlining industrial relations prevailing in shipping companies engaged in cargo movement at New Mangalore Port Trust. Hundreds of protesters also demanded right to protest in port areas and withdrawal of false cases foisted against workers of Delta Infralogistics (Worldwide) Ltd. They further demanded a meeting be organised comprising of all stakeholders including Port Chairman, shipping company managements and the union AICCTU, which is the only union operating among workers of shipping companies.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">United Left March in Banaras</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">Left parties marched unitedly on the streets in Banaras to protest the anti-people demonetization; arrest of protesting BHU workers; razing of footpath-vendors' shops; and the increasing land loot in Banaras in the name of 'development' and 'Smart City'. They raised slogans of 'Modi Go Back' against the Prime Minister who had forced the entire country to stand in queues and while giving the black money hoarders an offer of '50-50'. They also demanded that the loans of farmers, workers, and small shopkeepers should be waived; a minimum of Rs 1 lakh should be put into each Jan-Dhan account; and compensation should be paid without delay to the families of those who had died due to demonetization.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">CPI (ML) Convention in Hyderabad</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">A people's convention was organized in Hyderabad on 12 December 2016 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Naxalbari movement on the subject of Fascist Attacks on Democracy and the Responsibilities of the Left. The convention was addressed by Dipankar Bhattacharya, N Murthy, B Bangara Rao, D Rajesh, Sudha, Mallikarjun, Ramanna, Harinath, Nagamani, Satyanarayan, Sanyasi Rao, and K Ganesh.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protests against the Murder of the B.Tech. Student for Resisting Rape</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">On 16 December 2016, a 19 year old 5th semester B. Tech. student who was alone at home was attacked and brutally murdered when she resisted rape by a group of intruders. According to her elder sister, she fought till the last and finally her killers throttled her with an iron wire and burnt her face.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">The next day a huge number of students from RTC Institute of Technology in Ormanjhi near Khunti (where the victim was a student) came out on the streets in protest, and they were joined by students and youth from the whole of Ranchi. Protests were held at Albert Ekka Chowk, Doranda, and Buti Mor. Various student organizations, social organizations, and political parties also held protests at many places.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">AISA, AIPWA and AIDSO took out a protest march on the same day at Albert Ekka Chowk demanding punishment for the guilty and freedom without fear for women. They also led a protest march by hundreds of students on 19 December from Ranchi University. Students of RTCIT jammed national highway for 4 hours with these same demands. Though the police is still far from apprehending the culprits, the agitation continues to spread.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Two-Day AISA-RYA State Workshop in Darbhanga</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">AISA-RYA held a 2 day workshop starting on 19 December at Leheriyaserai in Darbhanga which was attended by about 100 delegates. Inaugurating the workshop, CPI(ML) leader Rajaram Singh said that the nationalism of Bhagat Singh, Azad and Ashfaq was based on intellect, scientific truth and the intent to put an end to imperialistic loot and internal oppression. Today a cruel joke is being played on this foundation of true nationalism. Constitutional and democratic values are being eroded. The demonetization disaster has brought dire distress to the poor, farmers, workers, daily wage earners and women, while corporate companies and corrupt politicians are being benefited. Loans to the tune of lakhs of crores are being waived for capitalists, and they are being given further loans from the hard-earned money of the common man. We have to fight unitedly against saffron nationalism and corporate capitalism. Dhirendra Jha also addressed the workshop.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Bangaluru Workers for Minimum Wage 21000 and Equal Pay for Equal Work</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) held a demonstration before Karnataka Labour Commissioner office on 24 December at Bangaluru, demanding a minimum wage of Rs. 21000 and Equal Pay for Equal Work as per recent Supreme Court Judgment. More than 1500 Workers from BHEL, HAL, NAL, BBMP, BWSSB, RMC, RDC, Lafarge, MICO BOSCH, NIMHANS, etc., participated in the demonstration. A memorandum with the demands was handed over to the Labour Commissioner.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Memorial Meetings for Comrade Ganeshan</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">A memorial meeting for Comrade Ganeshan was held on 16 December at Gandhi Peace Foundation, Delhi. Delhi CPI(ML) Secretary Ravi Rai presided over the meeting. Radhika Menon recalled how Comrade Ganeshan would send useful mails to comrades on topics of their interest, helping younger comrades explore their ideas and also how he would say that he became a communist in the quest for his own human liberation as much as for social liberation. KK Saxena, a publisher who runs Aakar Books, spoke about how he relied on Comrade Ganeshan for advice on which books to publish – and how Comrade Ganeshan would himself distribute copies of those books which he found useful for activists and intellectuals in the Left movement. Ajay Kumar of Udbhavna Prakashan also spoke about Comrade Ganeshan's close interaction with him and other publishers and editors on the Left. Chintu Kumari, an AISA activist, recalled growing up with Comrade Ganeshan around as a very loving and caring mentor. Several others comrades and friends too shared their memories of Comrade Ganeshan.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">At the meeting, CPI(ML) GS Comrade Dipankar said that with little formal schooling, Comrade Ganeshan was a self-taught Marxist intellectual who was constantly learning. He was ever willing to confront his own weaknesses, face criticism, and be willing to change himself. It was unfortunate that we could not document an important part of history which Comrade Ganeshan had helped create: the events of the workers' and peasants' movements in Tamil Nadu in the 1960s and 1970s. He added that in times when communism isn't fashionable, Comrade Ganeshan lived all his life with the energy, possibilities, and hope of the communist movement.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">A memorial meeting for Comrade Ganeshan was also held at Chennai on December 21st at Ambattur. The meeting also paid tribute to Fidel Castro and Tamil poet Inquilab who passed away recently. CPI(ML) Liberation's Tamil Nadu Secretary Comrade S Kumarasamy presided over the meeting. CPI(ML) PB member Com. Kartick Pal read out a message from the Central Committee, and PB member Com. Swadesh Bhattacharya addressed the hall packed with workers. At the meeting, comrades recalled how hard-working Comrade Ganeshan was, how generous in sharing his knowledge and insights. They recalled his love for the Tamil language and his committed internationalism.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Tribute:</span></font></p><font size="4"></font><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-ParagraphStyle1"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">People's Poet Inquilab</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">The noted Tamil poet, dramatist and rationalist Inquilab passed away on December 1, 2016. He was 72. He was born Shahul Hameed at Keezhakarai in Ramanathapuram district. He had been a Tamil Professor at New College in Chennai till his retirement. A rationalist, his body was donated according to his wishes to the Chengalpattu Government Medical College. He was popularly known as 'Makkal Kavignar' – People's Poet.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">He began activism with the Dravidian movement, and had, like many others of his generation, participated in and been jailed during the anti-Hindi agitation of 1965. The massacre of 44 Dalit agricultural labourers at Kilvenmani in 1968 drew him towards Marxism – initially the CPI(M) and then the Marxist-Leninist movement. The angry lines of his song 'Manusangada, naanga manusangada' (Humans, we're humans) on the Kilvenmani massacre is an anthem of sorts for the ML and Dalit movements. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">He was a trailblazer of the Vaanampadi movement of modern Tamil poetry. His plays brought Sangam poetry to the modern Tamil stage. His play Avvai challenged patriarchal stereotypes by imagining the legendary poet Avvaiyar, not as a wizened and wise old woman as she is usually portrayed but as a young, sensuous and free woman. His modern rendering of the celebrated epic Manimegalai lent itself to feminist theatre in Tamil Nadu. In 2006 he returned the Kalaimamani award given to him by Tamil Nadu government in protest at the government's failure to protect Sri Lankan Tamils, whose Tamil nationalist cause he passionately advocated and supported.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_5337860865064891022gmail-AABodytextArial95"><span lang="EN-GB">His poem 'Kanmani Rajam', criticizing the moral bankruptcy of politicians, was prescribed in school textbooks till an irate DMK Government removed it from the curriculum after Inquilab spoke out against the Government's decision to celebrate the 1,000th birth anniversary of Raja Raja Chola – a king whom Inquilab considered an imperial oppressor who exploited labourers to build the grand Thanjavur temple.</span><span class="gmail-HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:16pt"></span></font></span></p><div class="gmail-yj6qo gmail-ajU"><div id="gmail-:11r" class="gmail-ajR" tabindex="0"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-nH"><div class="gmail-l2 gmail-ov" style="padding-bottom:440px"><div class="gmail-aeU" style="width:294.031px;font-size:medium"><div id="gmail-:11l"><div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-39857138428191117442016-12-21T12:09:00.001+05:302016-12-21T12:09:38.483+05:30ML Update | No. 52 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-nH gmail-aHU" style="font-size:medium"><div class="gmail-nH gmail-hx"><div class="gmail-nH"><div class="gmail-h7 gmail-ie gmail-nH gmail-oy8Mbf" tabindex="-1"><div class="gmail-Bk" style="width:751.094px"><div class="gmail-G3 gmail-G2 gmail-afm"><div id="gmail-:110"><div class="gmail-adn gmail-ads"><div class="gmail-gs"><div id="gmail-:112" class="gmail-ii gmail-gt gmail-adP gmail-adO" style="font-size:12.8px"><div id="gmail-:111" class="gmail-a3s gmail-aXjCH gmail-m1591c46ebb9f659c"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 52 | 20-26 December 2016</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-5144241805715732643gmail-01Headline2cols" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:20pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Modi Government Subverting Institutions, Undermining Constitutional Norms</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black">In two and a half years</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black"> the Modi Government has already packed Universities, educational and cultural institutions with hand-picked RSS men, overriding considerations of institutional autonomy and transparency. Now, constitutional norms are being eroded by the Government in appointments to the armed forces and judiciary.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black">No doubt, in any democracy, the armed forces must be subordinate to the elected Government. But it is also unhealthy for the Government to resort to political interference in the functioning of the armed forces. In superseding three senior officers to appoint Lt General Bipin Rawat as the new Army chief, the Government is undermining the internal autonomy of the armed forces.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black">It has been the norm for the senior-most officer to be appointed as Army chief, but this time the Government superseded the top three senior-most officers - Lt General Praveen Bakshi, Lt General PM Hariz and Lt General BS Negi – to appoint Lt General Bipin Rawat instead. The Government's claims of 'merit' and 'experience' being the consideration for the appointment notwithstanding, the appointment has been met with criticism by many retired and standing officers of the Army.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black">It is cause for concern when transparent criteria for appointments in sensitive posts like the Chief of Army are overridden and the processes guiding such decisions are opaque and arbitrary. It is widely held that the decision to appoint Lt General Rawat was driven largely by the the choices of the Prime Minister and his National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Lt General Bipin Rawat, like Ajit Doval, hails from the Pauri Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, as does the newly appointed RAW chief Anil Dhasmana. Doval has already been criticised for undermining the Army in his attempts to control the Pathankot operation. Doval's role at the time had resulted in the embarrassing situation of several avoidable casualties of NSG commandos after the Prime Minister as well as the Home Minister and Defence Minister prematurely announced the successful completion of the operation. Doval is also widely regarded to exercise disproportionate and extra-parliamentary influence on foreign policy decisions of the Modi Government – leading to several unfortunate consequences such as the eroding of Indo-Nepal friendship. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black">Over-centralisation, concentration of decision-making in the hands of a select and opaque clique instead of elected and accountable people's representatives, and undermining of the internal autonomy of military and other institutions compromise the country's security as well as the health of a democracy. It is notable that the only previous Prime Minister to have overruled seniority in appointing an Army Chief was Indira Gandhi – remembered also for the infamous imposition of Emergency.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black">The Modi Government is also locked in a battle with the judiciary as it attempts to exert undue control over the process of judicial appointments. The Government set up the National Judicial Appointments Commission to replace the existing system of collegium system of appointing judges to the higher judiciary – but this Commission was set aside by a Supreme Court judgement. According to prevailing norms, the Government can return a proposed candidate's name to the collegium for reconsideration once, but the collegium's final decision will hold primacy over the Government's opinion. Moreover the Government cannot delay the process indefinitely since judicial appointments are required to be made on a time-bound schedule. The Modi Government has, according to Chief Justice of India, sat on the collegium's recommendations of appointments to the high court for nearly a year and returned 43 judges' names to the collegium for reconsideration.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black">It is of grave concern that in an interview to a national daily, the Minister of State for Law and Justice PP Choudhary claimed that the Government had a right to decline the appointment of a judge "if the government finds that an appointment goes against national security," and that the Supreme Court should not question such an opinion expressed by a government. Is the Minister suggesting that no less than 43 judges approved by the Supreme Court collegium pose a threat to national security? After environmental and student activists and ordinary citizens, is the Government now branding judges too as unpatriotic? Will judges who pass arbitrary diktats ordering the arrest of citizens who do not stand up for the national anthem in cinema halls be approved as 'patriotic' while those who defend the constitutional liberties of citizens be rejected as 'unpatriotic'? This Government has time and again cloaked its political prejudices in the guise of 'national security' to victimise dissenters. Now it wants to use the pretext of 'national security' to politically influence judicial appointments, undermine judicial autonomy and create a pliant judiciary. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black">The Modi Government has also been dragging its feet on appointing the Lokpal, thereby crippling the anti-corruption body. Various institutions and processes including the RBI, Parliament and possibly even the Cabinet were trampled to take the demonetisation decision. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black">The Government's encroaching on the autonomy and decision-making mechanisms of various robust institutions to concentrate powers in the hands of the Prime Minister and a handful of his favourites is yet another symptom of the undeclared Emergency that is being imposed by the Modi Government on India. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:wingdings;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><br><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:wingdings;color:black"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"></span></p><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">18<sup>th</sup> Memorial Day of Comrade VM Observed As Sankalp Diwas</span></b><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><br></p><p class="gmail-m_-5144241805715732643gmail-01BodytextArial9" style="margin:0cm 119.1pt 0.0001pt 99.25pt"><span style="color:rgb(32,18,77)"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:20.8px;font-family:"berlin sans fb",sans-serif">"Finally, for me the mother of all dreams is a motherland where political liberty of each of its citizens will be valued most"</span></span></p><span style="color:rgb(32,18,77)"></span><p class="gmail-m_-5144241805715732643gmail-01BodytextArial9" align="right" style="margin:0cm 119.1pt 0.0001pt 99.25pt;text-align:right"><span style="color:rgb(32,18,77)"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px">- Vinod Mishra</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The 18th death anniversary of Com. Vinod Mishra was observed as Sankalp Diwas by the party. In several states, district, block offices party members gathered to pay tribute to Com. Vinod Mishra. The Call drafted by the central committee of the party was read in party offices throughout the country and cadre conventions held in several places. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A state level cadre convention of the party was organized on 18 December at the party's central office in Delhi. The party members paid tributes to Com. VM. During the convention, discussion was held on 'History of communist movement' and 'Effects of demonetization and the task of Delhi-NCR level movement on the issue'. The discussion note was presented by PB member Com. Kavita Krishnan. Bihar State Secretary comrade Kunal was the chief guest of the cadre convention.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Jharkhand, a cadre convention was organized in Kanko Gram Panchayat (Koderma) which was chaired by Com. Mohan Datta. A sankalp sabha was also organized in Nirsa, Dhanbad where the 'call' sent by Central committee on this occasion was read out. Sankalp Diwas wals also observed in Giridih. A study circle was organized in Hazaribagh Central Jail where the Call drafted by CC was read out and comrades imprisoned for participating in people's struggles discussed the pledge and paid tribute to Com. VM.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A Dalits Self Dignity Convention was organized in Bangalore on Vinod Mishra Memorial Day. The convention gave the call of 'stop atrocities on Dalits', 'Stop the practice of Manual Scavenging and Untouchability'. Workers engaged in cleaning job and employed in government, public and private sectors in Bangalore participated. They demanded that free education, health and housing for Dalits, Sanitation workers and all contractual workers working in industries. They also demanded that the practice of carrying carcasses be ended.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Lalkuan, Uttarakhand, the Sankalp Sabha began with a two-minute silence in memory of Com VM. The Sankalp Sabha was addressed by Party State Secretary Com. Rajendra Pratholi and All India Kisan Mahasabha leader Com Purushottam Sharma.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Asandh, Haryana, Sankalp Diwas was observed and a march against demonetization was held where the effigy of Narendra Modi was burnt in protest.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Sankalp Diwas was observed at many places in Andhra Pradesh. A number of village panchayats in East Godvari district, including Parimthadaka, Chendurthi, Pothuluru, Dharmavaram Chennayapalem programmes were held on VM's 18th memorial day. A meeting was also held at Kakinada party office. While in Krishana district, it was held at Visannapeta , Vijayawada town, Chatrai Mandal headquarter by the masses and party activists. A mass meeting was organised at the historic village of Boddapadu, which was a hotbed of Telangana peasant uprising, in Srikakulam district. The AIARLA members observed VM's memorial day in Sathyavaram village of Vishakapatnam district. The day was commemorated at Com. Vinod Mishra Nagar – the colony constructed after after a prolonged land struggle for homestead lands at Prathipadu and Eleswaram of East Godavari. Here unorganized sector workers including large number of women garlanded the photo of Com. VM and party flag was hoisted by women comradesAt Jagamapeta, a small town in the East Godavari the day was observed. On the eve of the Sankalp Diwas CPI(ML) organised of medical camp in Rajavomangi of East Godavari which was attended by many tribal families on 17 December.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Sankalp Diwas was commemorated at all the districts of Bihar at various places. Leader of Beur Mushahari comrade Gorki Devi hoisted the party flag in Patna City office at Chitkohara before the floral tributes were paid to comrade VM and the Sankalp Diwas call was read out to the party activists present. The Digha Area Committee held a cadre convention which was addressed by senior leader KD Yadav.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Bhubaneswar city committee commemorated the VM Memorial day at Nagbhushan Bhawan where veteran leader Kshitish Biswal addressed the activists and supporters who paid tributes to VM and pledged to fulfil the tasks as per the 18 December Call of the Central Committee.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Similar programmes were held all over including places in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan, and other states. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Statement by CPIML Liberation on International Human Rights Day</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The CPI (ML) Liberation Central Committee during its ongoing meeting in Hyderabad observed International Human Rights Day today, December 10th. The CC resolved to resist the ongoing onslaught on human rights in India.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The CC condemned the recent instances of fake encounters in Bhopal, Malkangiri and Mallapuram. Last year we witnessed the custodial massacre of adivasis by AP Police at Seshachalam, and the fake encounter of five Muslim youth by Telangana police. Police continue to indulge in custodial killings because they are confident of enjoying impunity. Be it Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh, we see Chief Ministers openly justifying and even glorifying fake encounters. Even in LDF ruled Kerala, we see the Government failing to take action against police and upholding NHRC norms in the Mallapuram fake encounter case.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The wider situation of human rights in India is also very bleak. Perpetrators of Dalit massacres and communal pogroms go scot free and are acquitted even in Courts. Adivasis are being massacred in cold blood in Bastar, Odisha, Jharkhand and other states. Custodial torture by police is a common practice. Draconian laws like AFSPA, UAPA continue to be in force.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The situation in Kashmir is very bleak with the Indian State unleashing brutalities against agitations for self determination by the civilian population. More than 13000 people have been arbitrarily jailed, pellet guns have claimed the eyesight of scores of people and civilian protesters are being killed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Women in India also are denied basic liberties, including sexual and reproductive autonomy. Homosexuality continues to be criminalized due to the Section 377 law.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On the occasion of Human Rights Day, the CPI (ML) Liberation demands punishment for perpetrators of fake encounters, police reforms to put at end to unconstitutional practices and custodial violence, justice in all pending cases of Dalit and adivasi massacres and communal violence, scrapping of draconian laws like AFSPA, enacting of a law against 'honour' crimes and scrapping of Section 377.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">- <i>CPI (ML) Central Committee</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Countrywide Anti-Communalism Marches on 6 December</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Left parties and secular and democratic forces participated in anti-communal marches in various states across the country on 6 December, the 24th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and pledged to resist the Modi government's attempts to destroy the composite culture of our society and impose politico-economic dictatorship on the people. The following is a brief report received so far from different States:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">BIHAR: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Patna 6 Left parties—CPI(M), CPI, CPI (ML), Forward Bloc, SUCI (C) and RSP—held a joint march attended by large numbers which culminated in a meeting at Kargil Chowk. The meeting was addressed by Com. Meena Tiwari of the CPI (ML), CPI (M) leader Com. Sarvoday Sharma, CPI leader Com. Satyanarayan Singh, and SUCI (C) leader Com. Arun Kumar.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A Sankalp (Resolve) march was also held in Samastipur in which more than 200 people from various blocks participated and which culminated in a meeting at Station Chowk. Protest marches and meetings were also held in Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga, Siwan, Gopalganj, Nalanda, Bhabhua, Jehanabad and other districts.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">UTTAR PRADESH: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Joint Left marches and meetings were held in various districts of Uttar Pradesh on 6 December, the anniversary of the Babri demolition and also Baba Ambedkar's 60th Parinirvan day, against fascist-communal forces and in solidarity to protect the Constitution and communal harmony. In Lucknow workers, farmers, students, youth, intellectuals, and a particularly large number of women participated in the March that culminated in a meeting at the Ambedkar statue at Hazratganj. Joint marches were also taken out in Varanasi, Ballia, Devariya, Mau, Chandoli, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Lakheempur Khiri, Sitapur, Pilibhit, and Jalaun. Joint Left dharnas were organized at Gazipur and Allahabad, and symposia were held at Kanpur and Gonda.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">HARYANA: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A dharna was organized at Karnal on 6 December led by All India Kisan Mahasabha leader Com. Prem Singh Gehlawat.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">JHARKHAND: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A joint Left meeting (Nukkad Sabha) was held at the Loghna Mor in the Jhariya coal district of Jharkhand resolving to resist the growing communal corporate onslaught of the BJP Governments in the state and the Centre. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">KARNATAKA: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A public meeting and discussion was organized by the CPI (ML) on 6 December in Bengaluru on the topic, "The Babri Masjid Demolition: A Brutal Attack on Secularism and Democracy". The meeting was presided over by Com. Shankar and addressed by Party leaders as well as other Left party and progressive associations' leaders. A meeting was also held at Gangawati.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Report on Police Brutality on Dalits and Poor in Bhagalpur</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A State level CPI (ML)-AIARLA team visited Bhagalpur on 11-12 December and enquired into the incident of horrific lathi-charge on the poor and brutal beating of women by the police. The team also met the injured dharna-protesters and went to Sultanganj to get full information of the incident. The team comprised State committee members, AIARLA State Secretary Com. Gopal Ravidas and AIARLA State Joint Secretary Com. Pankaj Singh.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The team met the injured women at Bhagalpur Nehru Hospital—Sukhiya Devi, Tabli Devi, Kaili Devi, Sushila Devi and Kabuli Devi (village Tilakpura, Ganhariya). The most seriously injured woman who has broken bones in the neck and ribs told the team that in 1972, 1976 and 1988 they had been allotted about 39 acres of 'ceiling fazil' land by the Bhoodan Yagya Committee, but people from the dominant sections are not allowing them to settle on that land.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">"From 1988 we have been making our demands from the administration. But so far only 1304 people have been given possession. The descendants of Siyasharan Singh, and Sunil Singh (all associated with BJP or RJD) have captured the land. Dominant Yadav goons threaten us all the time". Some local leaders have started an NGO 'Jan Sansad' through which they are working among the poor on land and health issues. They have the support of Rinku Yadav of the Nyay Manch (formerly associated with the CPI (ML)). It was under their leadership that the poor went on a protest in front of the Bhagalpur DM on 5 December for kabja (possession) of the land. On 8 December ADM Harishankar Prasad called the leaders of the protest for talks with the DM.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The delegation was about to proceed for the talks when Sadar SDO Anuj Kumar suddenly ordered the lathi charge. The women were half-stripped and brutally beaten. Dozens of women were injured and later admitted to the Bhagalpur hospital. 6 people from the protest venue were sent to Bhagalpur jail.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The FIR even contains names of people who were in Delhi on that day. There is also a student who studies at AK Gopalan College. A case has also been registered against a youth Bunty who had gone to buy medicines at that time.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The team felt that the people of Bhagalpur are solidly against the lathi charge. Even the local MP and MLA feel that the administration is to blame. The enquiry team believes that the DM, SP, and Sadar SDO of Bhagalpur have deliberately lathi charged the peaceful protesters at the behest of the State government. The team has put forth the following demands:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 9pt;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">1. The concerned officials should be arrested and tried under criminal charges.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 9pt;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">2. All the arrested people should be released unconditionally and the false cases against them should be taken back.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 9pt;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">3. The injured should be given proper and full treatment and each injured should receive Rs 20,000 as compensation.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 9pt;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">4. Parcha holders should be given dakhal-kabja (possession) of their land without delay and all landless poor should be given land for housing.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Joint Left Protest March against Bhagalpur Police Brutality</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On 9 December, Left parties took out a joint protest march against the Bhagalpur police brutality on landless poor and dalits, including women. The march started from Ghantaghar Chowk and culminated in a meeting at Station Chowk. As activists began gathering for the march, the police in large numbers surrounded the venue and started scolding passers-by, rickshaw drivers etc. and tried to create an atmosphere of fear. When the march started, police vehicles also fronted and tailed the march and they tried to keep the common people away from the protesters. However, the spirited slogans of the protesters silenced the police.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Speakers at the meeting said that innocent landless poor and dalits peacefully protesting for possession of their land were brutally beaten and lathi charged, and women were stripped half-naked and beaten, by the administrative officials at the behest of the State government and dominant sections of society. This incident has exposed the anti-poor and anti-dalit face of the Nitish government. This government, drunk on the arrogance of having brought in 'prohibition', has given the landless poor nothing but false and empty promises. The Left speakers pledged that they would fight every such attack by the administration and would continue the struggle for land and other basic issues of the poor.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Left parties demanded the arrest of concerned officials, unconditional release of struggling people against whom false charges have been registered, compensation to the injured, possession of the land to the landless poor and immediate implementation of Bandopadhyay commission recommendations on land reforms.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Construction Workers' Protest in Patna</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Bihar State Construction Workers Union affiliated to AICCTU held a huge rally in front of the Chief Minister in Patna on 1 December 2016. The rally was to protest against the withdrawal of all schemes of the Construction Workers Welfare Board including registration of construction workers by the Nitish government. A demand charter was submitted to the Chief Minister asking: reinstatement of all Welfare Board schemes including registration; increase in social security amount in proportion with price rise; accident compensation of 4 lakhs; normal death compensation of 2 lakhs; marriage aid of Rs 50,000; old age pension of Rs 3,000; family pension of Rs 2,000; and strengthening of the Welfare Board against the conspiracy to loot 8 billion rupees.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The rally and meeting were attended by about 2,000 construction workers from various districts of Bihar and led by State President of the Union SK Sharma. During the protest, a 5 member delegation met the Chief Secretary of the Labour Resources Department for talks.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Addressing the meeting at the protest venue, the speakers condemned the Nitish and Modi governments and said that only those forces which attack and snatch away the rights of the workers and the poor are supporting demonetization. 50 to 60 crore workers are on the brink of starvation and more than 100 people have died due to demonetization but both Modi and Nitish are silent on this. Nitish Kumar is following the same path as Modi and is depriving workers of their rights. Payment under Welfare Board schemes are long pending whereas 8 billion rupees are still deposited in the Welfare Board account and officials and middlemen are conspiring to loot this amount. The speakers also pointed out that the Nitish government's allotment for construction workers' schemes is the lowest in the country.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> The rally also strongly opposed the Modi government's demonetization decision calling it a decision that has brought starvation and unemployment to construction workers, especially migrant workers, and submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister (through the Chief Minister) after passing a resolution against this pro-capitalist pro-corporate measure.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protest for Landless in Madhubani</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The CPI(ML) held a large protest on 5 December 2016 in front of the Madhubani District Collectorate. The protest was organized under a 15 point charter of demands that included- 5 decimal housing land for the landless (1 decimal in Bihar equals to 435 sq feet, or 40.46 sq meters <i>-Ed</i>); parchas (entitlement of land) for those already settled and possession for those already holding parchas; action without delay on the 15,000 applications in different blocks in this regard; re-starting of all closed mills in the district; ending trickery such as demonetization and "cashless" advice; confiscating all black money in and outside the country and depositing 15 lakhs in the accounts of the poor.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On this occasion a meeting was held chaired by CPI(ML) District Secretary Dhruv Narayan Karn in which it was announced that if action is not taken within 2 months on the issue of housing land, an indefinite "Ghera Dalo Dera Dalo" agitation would be started from February 2017. The speakers said that the deceit of the government is getting exposed in its Operation Dakhal Dihani and Operation Basera. The CPI(ML) has submitted applications of more than 15,000 landless poor in Rahika, Rajnagar, Pandol, Khajoli, Andharathadi, Jhanjharpur, Kaluahi, Jaynagar, Lakhnor and Visfi blocks, but so far, the administration has done nothing about it because feudal dominant people have captured government lands and neither the government nor the administration have the will to free the government lands from the possession of these forces. At the same time, huge cheating is going on in Food Security, MNREGA and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The rich-dominant-middlemen-<wbr>administration nexus is gobbling up most of the benefits which should go to the poor.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The protest was attended by people from many villages and the traffic from Post Office Road to Jaldhari Chowk was blocked for hours.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protests Continue Against Demonetisation</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A daily campaign against Demonetisation and it's impacts on urban poor is continuing in Delhi which will be culminated on 30 December in a Convention to be organised by AIPF. Comrades from AICCTU, AISA and AIPWA campaigned in Delhi's Kapashera Border area. Pamphlets were distributed and film screenings were held at different locations. Workers in the localities complained, "We do not have cash to pay our room rents because of which landlords are harassing us. Many people have simply locked their rooms and gone back to their villages." One of the workers present during film screening said, "I have never felt so helpless. This government works only for Ambani and Adani." Fifty days are almost over, but there's no respite for the people.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Delhi University Students exposing the facade of demonetization, are also campaigning under AISA banner against the black money which flows with the nexus of PG Mafias and dominant political students wings like that of ABVP.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Udaipur, Rajasthan, a People's Tribunal was organised by Jantantrik Vichaar Manch on 18 December. This was attended by people from different walks of life. The Jury of the tribunal included academicians, ex-bureaucrats, journalists and activists. Prof. Hemendra Chandalia conducted the proceedings where he also apprised the audience of ineffectiveness of demonetisation exercises in curbing black money in the past in various countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Myanmar, Soviet Union and also in India. He said that such a Note Ban always resulted in economic recession in the past too. A small scale industry owner told that his production has fallen to a great extent and still he has no cash to pay to the workers. A local hospital representative informed that hardly ten percent patients are coming now and most of them have no cash to pay for. This indicates how people have been made deprived of essential basic health care. Many academicians explained how the people's hard earned money has been siphoned off to the big capitalists through the demonetisation exercise, and the crisis of capital has been carried over per force over the common toiling masses. The black money and corruption will flourish as usual while people have to suffer more. Construction workers informed of the job loss and reeling unemployment, a peasant told that the vegetable he grew are now fetching much less prices, while a woman activist said how housewives' own savings over the years have disappeared over night which was meant for rainy days.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Against House Demolition in Varanasi</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A massive protest was held on 17 December at Varanasi by the residents of an artisans' colony Varuna against the demolition orders served to them. The residents in hundreds gheraoed the DM office and demanded to withdraw demolition orders. They held a massive protest in their colony a day before on 16th and forced the officials and their Bulldozer which was brought to demolish their homes, to retreat. CPI(ML) activists organised this resistance.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">AIPF Protests Dilution of CNT-SPT Acts</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The All India People's Forum held a day long dharna in front of Jharkhand Assembly on 19 December demanding the withdrawal of anti-tribal amendments carried out by BJP Govt. in CNT and SPT Acts. Xavier Kujur, Nadeem Khan and Anil Anshuman along with a number of activists from many cultural and social organisations took part in this protest.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">8<sup>th</sup> Patna Film Festival Against War-Mongering</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:center;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">"War is not the solution to issues; now is the decisive moment to oppose war-mongering in the country"</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center"><i><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">: Gauhar</span></b></i></p><div style="text-align:center"><i><b></b></i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Inaugurating the 8th Patna film festival "Cinema of Resistance" organized by Hirawal, Jan Sanskriti Manch, and The Group on 4 December, distinguished scientist, film-maker and poet Gauhar Raza reminded people of the historical links between war-mongering and the rise of fascism in Europe. He pointed out that war, whether it is on the border or at the banks, always inflicts suffering on the poor only.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Earlier, Bihar's well-known theatre director Kunal said that the culture of questioning, dissent, and criticism is essential to defend humanity. "Cinema of Resistance" is a step in this direction. Present on the dais at the inauguration were anti-nuclear activist Kumar Sundaram, senior journalist Manikant Thakur, Prof Santosh Kumar, Prof Bharti S Kumar, poet Pratibha Verma and 'Filhal' Editor Priti Sinha. JSM Bihar Secretary Com. Sudhir Suman began the proceedings of the festival with tributes to Fidel Castro and Polish film-maker Andrzej Witold Wajda and condolences to those who lost their lives due to demonetization and the recent rail accident and the soldiers killed in the Nagrota attack.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> The films screened at the festival gave the message of opposition to war and struggle for peace: Gauhar Raza's documentary 'Inquilab'; Anand Patwardhan's 'Jung Aur Aman'; 'Fidel—the Untold Story' based on Castro's life; 'Come and See' portraying the times of Nazi Germany's capture of Belaruse and the use of Mozart's music for war-mongering; Vijay Raj's 'Kya Dilli, Kya Lahore'; Ashwini Kumar's 'Little Terrorist'; Bahman Ghobdi's Persian language film 'Turtles can Lie'; Sabira Samar's 'Khamosh Pani'; Japanese animation film 'Grave of the Fireflies'; French director Alain Resnais' documentary 'Night and Fog'; and Nagraj Manjule's Marathi feature film 'Sairat'.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.0333px;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.0333px;color:black"> The festival opposed war-mongering through other media also, such as art and painting, music, and dance.</span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-82439108842972887012016-12-17T11:03:00.001+05:302016-12-17T11:03:24.860+05:30ML Update | No. 51 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><font size="6"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:red">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color:blue">Update</span></i></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></font></p><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;font-family:calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(153,153,153)">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt"></span></p><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-right:6.5pt;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8pt;color:rgb(153,153,153)">Vol.19, No. 51, 13–19 DECEMBER 2016</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-5985348666248363734gmail-AABodytextArial95" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:0cm;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-GB"><br></span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:28.8px;font-family:"berlin sans fb demi",sans-serif;color:red">Reject the Modi Emergency,<br></span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:28.8px;font-family:"berlin sans fb demi",sans-serif;color:red">Resist the Demonetization Disaster!</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:28.8px;font-family:"berlin sans fb demi",sans-serif;color:red"></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="color:rgb(68,68,68)"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:15.2px">(Pledge Day Call issued by the Central Committee of CPI-ML on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the passing of Comrade Vinod Mishra)</span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:15.2px;color:black"> </span></p><div style="font-size:12.8px"><table vspace="0" hspace="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" align="left" style="padding:0cm"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black"> The Modi government at the Centre has completed half of its 5-year term. During the first two years, the government remained largely busy with populist programmes like Swachh Bharat and Digital India campaigns, Jan Dhan Yojana and so on while the extra-parliamentary complement of the new dispensation, the Sangh brigade, which has now been bestowed an unprecedentedly overt say in the functioning of the government, went on unleashing its vicious agenda, item by item, from 'love jihad' to cow vigilantism to all kinds of moral and thought policing, with the tacit and sometimes open support of the PM. With the crucial UP elections round the corner - victory in which can give the BJP a much stronger presence in the Rajya Sabha and facilitate various constitutional changes the party is known to be contemplating in accordance with the RSS agenda - the government now seems to be in a definite hurry.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">The two so-called 'surgical strikes' in the recent past, the first allegedly on terrorists across the LoC and the second apparently on black money held inside the country, have been the biggest talking points of the Modi government till date. Both have proved to be thoroughly ineffective in terms of meeting their stated objectives. Attacks on Indian bases are continuing, Nagrota being the most glaring example after Uri and soldiers continue to lose their lives. And the Sangh brigade uses these attacks either to foment jingoistic frenzy or to silence every expression of dissent and grievance of the Indian people by invoking the sacrifice of the soldiers on the border.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">The second strike came in the form of a sudden scrapping of notes of the two biggest denominations of Rs 500 and 1000. The move has inflicted enormous pain on the common people, and with an acute shortage of new notes to replace the scrapped currency, the cash-dependent sections of the population, virtually 9 out of every 10, are suffering from a debilitating cash crunch. And with every passing day it is becoming clear that the cash crunch is just the gateway to a much bigger and graver economic crisis hitting production and employment, and hence income and mass consumption across the board. The government initially talked about momentary inconvenience for a few days, but the pain is now threatening to become chronic and the damage permanent and irreparable.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">The original stated purpose of the note ban exercise - neutralizing black money and counterfeit currency - now seems to be only an excuse. The government itself has offered to launder black money at just 5 per cent higher rate than the income disclosure scheme earlier on offer. People like Mahesh Shah who declared a black income of Rs 13800 crore, openly saying that the money belonged to politicians and businessmen, are being let off and the declarations dismissed without any investigation. We also know how ahead of the November 8 announcement, across the country the BJP converted huge sums of money into landed property and how BJP leaders are now being spotted with lakhs and crores of rupees in the newly introduced 2000 rupee notes. While common people had to defer weddings and were deprived of medical care owing to lack of cash, the likes of Janardan Reddy and Nitin Gadkari hosted royal weddings spending a fortune.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">When the entire country complained about the utter lack of preparation of the Modi government, the Finance Minister said the preparation could not possibly have been better and Modi said only the corrupt hoarders of black money who could not make arrangements to save their black money were complaining. And now when it is becoming clear that almost the entire amount of scrapped currency is set to return to the banking system, putting paid to speculation and rumours of large-scale decimation of hoarded cash, Modi is incriminating Jan Dhan Accounts as repositories of black money. While thus inflicting immense pain and insult on the poor, Modi has however also launched a major emotional propaganda campaign to project himself as a messiah of the poor, cashing in on the poor's inherent anger against corruption and the growing inequality in society.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">One important purpose behind the massive exercise of scrapping big notes seems to have been to bail out the banks which have been looted by India's big corporate houses and crooks like Vijay Mallya who was made a Rajya Sabha MP by the BJP and allowed to flee the country by the Modi government. Risky loans worth Rs 11 lakh crore have been extended over the years to the corporate sector, which are now being systematically written off in a phased manner. Note ban has sucked in all the savings of the common people, and the improved liquidity of the banks will now be translated again into cheap loans to the rich and the corrupt. Apart from injecting fresh capital into the banks, demonetization is also aimed at giving a big push to the digital India campaign and the entire gamut of pro-corporate economic reforms establishing greater corporate control over the entire economy. Everything small-scale, from small agriculture and trade to small industries and various enterprises and occupations in the informal sector, will now have to fight hard for sheer survival in the face of heightened corporate aggression.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">By all indications, India is now in the grip of a veritable Modi Emergency. Police repression is on the increase everywhere, the broad daylight killing of eight young undertrials who were claimed to have escaped from the Bhopal central jail, the midnight assault on peaceful anti-eviction protesters in Barkagaon and the escalation of the war on the Kashmiri people demanding self-determination clearly announce the arrival of a police state. The systematic gagging of media freedom and citizens' right to freedom of expression, and deliberate devaluation and evasion of parliamentary accountability by the Prime Minister and his cabinet are also tell-tale signs of an autocratic regime. The advisories being issued on a daily basis also remind us of the coercive days of Indira Emergency.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">Of course, the current Emergency is still formally undeclared. But that aside, we can clearly see some other major differences with the Indira-Sanjay era of 1975 Emergency. The economic discourse then revolved around the public sector, land reforms and socialistic welfare. Today it is all about land acquisition, free market and corporate-led 'development'. The foreign policy then was marked by India's close proximity to the Soviet Union, today it is all about a strategic alliance with the United States and Israel. With the victory of Trump in the American presidential election, we are going to see an unmitigated reign of racism and Islamophobia, and there is now every possibility of a rabidly Islamophobic convergence between the Trump Presidency and the Modi government, albeit in the name of a shared battle against terrorism. And last but not least, while Indira Gandhi's Emergency regime had only the Youth Congress as the extra-constitutional wing, the Modi regime has the backing of the entire Sangh brigade, with any number of RSS affiliates openly dictating and enforcing government policies and what passes for 'law and order' in the country. In fact, the government has become the implementing agency for corporate interests and the RSS agenda and the two are increasingly coalescing within a single integrated framework.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">The Indian people are of course very much alive to this danger and we can see powerful resistance developing on many fronts. The land acquisition ordinance had to be consigned to the waste paper basket in the face of determined protests by the peasantry. The repressive tactic of sedition charges has been valiantly rebuffed by the student community and the democratic intelligentsia. The institutional murder of Rohith Vemula and the Una incident of brutal assault on four Dalit youths have given rise to a powerful new phase of Dalit awakening in the country. And as India reels under the Modi-made economic disaster of demonetization, protests have begun to intensify defying the systematic propagation of lies by the Sangh brigade whether through its own network or through the media. Revolutionary communists must work hard to bring about a growing convergence of these diverse strands of struggle in a powerful stream of popular resistance.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">On the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the passing of Comrade Vinod Mishra, let us pledge our fullest might and best efforts to the task of saving India from the menace of the Modi Emergency, from the growing threat of corporate-communal fascism. The current year is also the 50th anniversary of the great Naxalbari uprising and the centenary of the Great November Revolution. It is our responsibility to carry forward the great revolutionary legacy and rise to the occasion. The year 2015 saw the Modi government suffer decisive defeats in the Assembly elections in Delhi and Bihar. 2017 begins with elections to the state Assemblies of UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. For the people who are paying the biggest price for the Modi government's demonetization disaster, this is a great payback opportunity and we must make sure that the suffering of the people is translated into yet another roaring rebuff for the BJP.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:red">Modi Hatao, Roti Bachao! Save Democracy, Save India!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:red">Protest against Demonetization</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:red"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">The CPI(ML) Darbhanga district committee protested in front of the Darbhanga Collectorate demanding rollback of demonetization; re-starting of closed factories; a permanent and stable solution to deal with floods and droughts; starting of paddy purchase; possession of land for parcha holders; construction of the Donar and Laheriyaserai Chatti over-bridge; stopping the razing of bastis of the poor without first making alternative arrangements; and ration cards for hitherto deprived families. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:red">United March by Left parties in Uttar Pradesh on 6 December</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">On 6 December, a day that marked the 24th anniversary of demolition of the Babri Masjid and the 60th Parinirvan Day of Babasaheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the left parties took a united march against fascism and in defence of constitution and harmony, and demanding punishment for those responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid. in various district capitals of Uttar Pradesh. Marches were held in Lucknow, Baliya, Varanasi, Doeria, Mau, Chandauli, Seetapur, Pilibhit and other districts. On the same day left parties organized a united dharna in Gazipur and Allahabad and organized seminars in Kanpur and Gonda. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:red">Jauhar-Nirmal-Ratan Memorial Foundation Stone Laid in Bhojpur</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">The foundation stone of the memorial to former CPI(ML) General Secretary Com. Subrata Dutta (Com. Jauhar), Dr Nirmal, and Com. Rajendra Yadav (Com. Ratan) was laid in Gadhani (Bhojpur) on 29 November 2016, the 41st anniversary of their martyrdom. The three, who were leaders of the anti-feudal farmers' struggles in Bhojpur inspired by the Naxalbari movement, were killed on this day in 1975 in a police firing while they were resisting the Emergency at Babubandh (Charpokhri).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">Present on the occasion were CPI(ML) General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya, Com. Ramjatan Sharma, Com. Amar, Com. Nand Kishore, Com. Santosh Sahar, Com. Mahanand, and Dr Nirmal's colleague eminent physician Dr BNP Yadav. Thousands of people rent the air with enthusiastic slogans as Com. Dipankar laid the foundation stone after 2 minutes' silence was observed for all the martyrs of the Indian revolution. The meeting was also addressed by Tarari MLA Com. Sudama Prasad, State committee members Comrades Raju Yadav, Qayamuddin Ansari, Ajit Kushwaha and Manoj Manzil. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:red">AIARLA Protests in Bihar against Demonetization </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:red"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">Demonetization has become a source of distress for villages and the rural poor. Farmers and agricultural labourers in rural areas are in difficulties. Farmers are unable to sell their paddy. Workers are unable to earn their daily wage. They are left with no option but to work for deferred wages or to accept rice or wheat as wages. The rural wage rate has fallen. Lakhs of Bihari workers working outside are returning to their villages for want of work. Work is not available either in villages or in cities. Poor patients are dying for lack of treatment and medicines. Marriages in poor families have had to be cancelled or postponed. The sowing of the rabi crop has been obstructed, as have the studies of their children.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">AIARLA organized protests in front of District Headquarters on 22 November to demand relief from this distress forced on the villages and the poor, in which thousands of farmers and sharecroppers took part. These protests also raised the issues of the Central government reducing ration, housing, and pensions of the poor and snatching away panchayat rights. The protests strongly raised the issue of the Nitish government's negligence towards land rights housing rights, and health and education rights.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">In Samastipur district a 2 day "Ghera Dalo Dera Dalo" campaign was conducted which found enthusiastic participation and an increase in organizational activities in 3 or 4 blocks in the district. In Patna a march to the Vidhan Sabha was organized under the leadership of the AIARLA Patna district unit. Anger was rampant among the workers, women, and the poor who participated in the march because ration-kerosene has not been distributed in Patna district for the last 4 months. The march was led by AIARLA State Secretary Com. Gopal Ravidas, District President Com. Vidyanand Bihari, Secretary Com. Aklu Paswan, comrades Mukhiya Asha Devi, Rakesh Manjhi, Sanjay Paswan, Sarifa Manjhi and others. Comrades Dipankar Bhattacharya, Kunal, Amar, AIARLA National General Secretary Dhirendra Jha, Shashi Yadav and other leaders participated in the march.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">When the march reached Gardanibagh, the venue of the dharna, a memorandum was submitted to the DM. Later, an AIARLA delegation met the Rural Development Minister and expressed the anger of the poor at the loot of their ration and the insensitivity of the government. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:red"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:red">AICCTU Protest in Bangalore</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">AICCTU sanitation workers led by Com. Nirmala, General Secretary of BBMP Guttige Powrakarmikara Sangha, gheraoed the Raja Rajeshwari Nagar zonal office of BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Municipal Corporation) on 7 December 2016 demanding revised minimum wage of Rs. 14400, payment of 3 months salary, reinstatement of illegally retrenched worker Rangaswamy, drinking water, toilet facility, free breakfast, and other demands. Sanitation workers from 6 wards, including, Kengeri, Anjananagar, Gollarahatti, Hegganahalli, etc., participated in the protest.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:red">Public Talk organised in Bangalore on 6 December</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">On the 24th anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid, a Public Talk on 'Babri Masjid Demolition: A Barbaric Attack on Secularism and Democracy' was organised in by CPI(ML) in Bangalore. Com. Balan, CPI(ML), Shivalingam, Swabhimani Dalit Shakti and Abdul Majid, GS, SDPI addressed the gathering while Com Shankar presided the meet and Com Clifton delivered vote of thanks. Similar programmes organised jointly by left and progressive organisations, including CPI(ML) was held at Gangavati and was addressed by Com. Bharadwaj along with others.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:red">Kisan Mahasabha Block Level Conferences in Patna</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">The All India Kisan Mahasabha has taken up a national level project under its organizational drive to increase membership and hold district and block level conferences. So far 5 block level conferences have been held in Patna district under as part of this drive, the target being to conduct a total of 12 conferences in different blocks after which district level conferences will be held. So far in Patna district, conferences have been held in Fatuha (20 Nov), Masaurhi (23 Nov), Dulhin Bazaar (22 Nov), Naubatpur and Maner (25 Nov).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">The conference at Fatuha was presided over by Com. Ravindra Prasad Yadav, conducted by Com. Ramjanm Yadav, and inaugurated by State Joint Secretary Com. Umesh Singh. The conference decided to intensify the membership drive and elected a 9 member block committee with Com. Ravindra Yadav and Com. Ramjanm Yadav as President and Secretary respectively.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">About 200 farmers took part in the conference at Dulhin Bazaar on 22 November inaugurated by Patna District Secretary Dr Kripa Narayan Singh. The conference decided to carry forward the agitation for the modernization of the Son canals and other demands. An 11 member committee with Com. Anand Prasad as President, Com. Mangal Yadav as Secretary was elected.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">The 23 November Masaurhi conference, attended by over 100 farmers, was jointly presided over by comrades Shiv Paswan and Bisheshwar Yadav and conducted by Com. Bhagwan Singh. Conference discussed issues such as: rollback of the Punpun canal project which is destroying agricultural land; starting of defunct government hand pumps, and other irrigation-related questions. The conference was addressed by State Joint Secretary Com. Umesh Singh. A 15 member committee with Com. Shiv Paswan as President and com. Bhagwan Singh as Secretary was elected.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">120 farmers participated in the Naubatpur conference which was presided over by Com. Madheshwar Sharma and conducted by Com. Tribhuvan Prasad. The conference discussed irrigation-related issues like the Son canal and defunct hand pumps, free electricity, Rs 2900 minimum support price per quintal of paddy, guarantee of purchase, and decided to carry forward struggles for these demands. The conference elected a committee with Com. Tribhuvan Prasad as President and Com. Madheshwar Sharma as Secretary. The Maner conference, under the supervision of Umesh Yadav, was presided over by Com. Subodh Yadav and conducted by Com. Ramkumar Singh. About 100 farmers participated in the conference which identified issues important to farmers and decided to carry forward struggles for demands related to these issues. An 11 member committee was elected with Com. Umesh Yadav as President and Com. Ramkumar Singh as Secretary.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:red">Protest at Labour Commissioner's Office in Bhubaneswar</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">A massive rally was organised outside the State Labour Commissioner's office in Bhubaneswar on a 11 point charter of demands. Around 700 comrades participated in the rally that started from Nagbhusan Bhavan and ended outside the labour commissioner office. During the march, the participants raised slogans against demonitization and the Modi-Naveen governments at the centre and the state who have been working with an understanding on anti-people measures. After reaching the labour commissioner office, a public meeting was held. Com. Radhakant Sethi, General Secretary of AICCTU Odisha, elaborated on the impact of demonetization on working class and how the working class has been suffering the entire last one month in different parts of the state. He criticized PM Modi for his anti-poor and also unplanned demonetization. He said that the only planned part in it was the planned process to loot the common people. Com. N.K. Mohanty, President of AICCTU's Odisha unit shared that the contract workers in different industries were not getting minimum wages and that the Naveen government was doing business with the corporates. After the meeting, a six members delegation team led by Com. Mahendra Parida, national secretary of AICCTU, met the Chairperson of the Building and Construction Workers' Welfare and discussed several issues with him. They were assured that their demands will be fulfilled. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:red">Birsa Jayanti Observed in Ranchi</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">On 15 November 2016, the occasion of Birsa Jayanti, CPI(ML) activists took out a Sankalp (Resolve) March from the Birsa Central jail square and paid tributes at his memorial in Kokar by garlanding the statue of Birsa Munda.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:3.05pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;color:black">The Sankalp March was led by District Secretary Com. Bhuvaneshwar Kewat, Com. Ajab Lal Singh and Com. Sudama Khalkho. The activists who participated in the march paid tribute to Birsa with slogans such as "Village and City Call Alike, Company Raj Will Not be Tolerated", "Stop Killing Farmers and Adivasis", "Take Back Amendments to CNT Act", "Jail for the Guilty in Police Firing Incident", and "We Shall Build the Jharkhand of Birsa's Dreams".</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-5985348666248363734gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Floral tributes to Birsa's statue were paid by CPI(ML) leaders. Addressing the gathering at the Birsa Memorial, the Party leaders said that even after 16 years of statehood the condition of villages in Jharkhand is dismal. Each successive government has indulged in empty promises and proclamations which has turned the people's initial happiness and enthusiasm at the founding of the State into anger. In order to crush this people's anger the government is resorting to killing farmers, adivasis, and students through violence and police firing. They resolved to strengthen the movements against the government ploys to loot the land and livelihood of people.</span></p> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-87860076119521475372016-12-07T23:24:00.001+05:302016-12-07T23:24:43.408+05:30ML Update | No. 50 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">Vol. 19 | No. 50 | 6-12 December 2016</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:14.72px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;color:red">SC Order On National Anthem Allows Bullies To Pose As Patriots</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">In a recent order, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy ordered the national anthem to be played in movie halls before every film, stipulating that every member of the audience must stand while the anthem is played and the hall doors be shut to prevent audience members leaving. This order has dangerous implications because, by stating that patriotism must trump individual liberties, it emboldens the growing tendency to cloak assaults on dissent as 'patriotism.'</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The SC Bench declares that the National Anthem "is the symbol of the Constitutional patriotism," and "People must feel they live in a nation and this wallowing individually perceived notion of freedom must go." The Constitution of India does not even use the term 'patriotism', let alone presume to define it. On the contrary, the Constitution of India does guarantee the right to personal liberty. Instead of doing its duty of defending the Constitutionally guaranteed personal liberties of the people, Justices Misra and Roy have invoked the Constitution to justify the use of notions of 'patriotism' to deny and denigrate the very concept of personal liberties. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Not long after this order was passed, the same judges rejected a plea to enforce the national anthem inside courtrooms, saying "our order should not be overstretched." Why should the national anthem be enforced in cinema halls but not in Courts? It seems that the judges place the judiciary and judicial system above the common citizens, suggesting that common citizens need a forced dose of patriotism that the judiciary does not. Such a notion itself is dangerous to democracy.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">But there is another reason why the SC Bench was more interested in enforcing the anthem in cinema halls rather than courts or other spaces. The fact is that cinema halls in recent years have become the arenas for displays of bullying disguised as 'patriotism', with political outfits mobilizing audiences to heckle, bully or beat individuals who refuse or are unable to stand during the playing of the anthem. In Kerala, a young man who refused to stand during the national anthem in a cinema hall was heckled by a mob and then charged with sedition. In a cinema hall in Mumbai a man was thrashed by a mob because his girlfriend, a South African woman, did not stand when the national anthem was played. In a Goa cinema hall, a disabled man Salil Chaturvedi was heckled and hit for being unable to stand during the anthem.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Chaturvedi later said, "I now believe that even if I could stand up during the national anthem, I would rather not, simply because I am being forced to do so. Is this why we fought the colonialists? Did we get our freedom only to become sheep, and that too led by the most sinister, manipulative brutes among us? I will not participate in this sham." Now, the Supreme Court order by Justices Misra and Roy emboldens the "sinister, manipulative brutes."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">In recent times, there is an attempt to equate 'patriotism' with the worst authoritarianism and intolerance. Saffron groups that are involved in violence against minorities, Dalits, women and citizens who challenge their goal of 'Hindu Rashtra' pose as 'patriots' and try to enforce the chanting of 'Vande Mataram.' Lawyers who beat up JNU students charged with 'sedition' shout 'Vande Mataram.' Ministers declare that it is unpatriotic to question mob lynching by 'cow-protection' goons, fake encounters, or even policies like demonetization. It is such anti-democratic forces that the SC order on the anthem legitimizes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">In other countries too, there is an ongoing struggle between democratic and authoritarian forces over national symbols. In the USA, supporters of the 'Black Lives Matter' movement including prominent sportspersons have taken to sitting or kneeling rather than standing during the playing of the US anthem, as an expression of protest against racist violence by police. In that country, racists masquerading as 'patriots' have been insisting that kneeling or sitting during the anthem amounts to 'insulting' the nation.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Be it India, the US or any other country, the real question to ask is, if it is not an insult to the nation to equate patriotism with bigotry, racism, casteism, communalism and attacks on individual liberty? If patriotism is reduced to certain symbolic gestures and acts, then every goon or criminal can become a 'patriot' simply by standing up for the anthem; and every concerned and conscientious citizen who works for the rights and liberties of the country's marginalized and vulnerable people can become 'anti-national' simply by failing to stand up during the anthem! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">In any democracy, every individual must have the right to express dissent or protest in any peaceful way. Every individual must have the right to express love for their country in whatever manner he or she chooses. And above all, the right of every individual to express themselves freely without fear of violence must be safeguarded. The SC Bench of Justices Misra and Roy has unfortunately failed in its duty to safeguard individual liberty and freedom of expression that the Constitution guarantees and has instead given a boost in the arm to the bullies and criminals posing as patriots.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:red"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;color:red">People's Hearing on Demonetization</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Against the misleading propaganda being launched by the government on the dangerous demonetization and to protest the same, the CPI(ML) in Bihar has launched a 'Pol-Khol, Hallabol' (exposure) campaign from 2 December. The campaign began in Patna through a Jan Sunwai (people's hearing), held jointly with other organizations at the Gate Public Library, Gardanibagh. The Jan Sunwai was aimed at providing a platform to those affected by demonetization including daily wage labourers, construction workers, small shopkeepers, ASHA workers, midday meal workers and others, to present their concerns and expose the misleading campaign of the government.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The Jan Sunwai was joined by CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, noted economist Jean Dreze and former director of A.N. Sinha Institute Prof. D.M. Diwakar. The jury comprised of Prof. Diwakar, Bihar State ASHA Workers Association President Shashi Yadav, Dr BNP Yadav, retired bank worker Kaushal Karma, and AIARLA National President Rameshwar Prasad.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">After the participants shared their problems and the brutal ways in which the move had affected them, Prof. Diwakar gave a statement on behalf of the jury. The jury stated that among those who expressed their views in the Jansunwai, none was in favour of the demonetization. Farmers, farm workers, construction workers, auto drivers, vegetable sellers and small traders—they are all bearing the vicious brunt of this demonetization. The jury said that the discussion brings out clearly the fact that this demonetization is anti-poor, anti-farmer and anti-worker. There is disquiet and unrest in all fields. The country is in the grip of an economic emergency. The interests of the common people are being thwarted ruthlessly. The verdict of jury was as follows:</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">1.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">Peasants, agriculture and rural life have taken a huge hit. They are not getting a support price for their paddy and the government is least bothered about this. In this peak farming season they are able to buy neither fertilizer nor seeds.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">2.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">Workers' livelihoods have been snatched away. Workers are either going back home or are being forced to work for extremely low wages. Day-hire, MNREGA and construction workers are being forced to accept old notes as wages for work.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">3.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">Women who had kept some little cash saved for a rainy day have been looted of their hard-earned savings. Demonetization has created an atmosphere of mistrust within households.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">4.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">Demonetization has left an extremely negative impact on the unorganized sector. 70% of the country's business is in the unorganized sector and work in this sector has been brought to a grinding halt by stopping the flow of cash. There will be a drastic fall in employment in the days to come and the negative impact of this will be felt in our growth rate.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">5.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">This demonetization is against all workers—contract workers, rickshaw and auto drivers, rasoiyas (mid-day meal workers) and others.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">6.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">Citizens are being deprived of basic facilities. Either they do not have cash, or if they do, they have Rs 2000 notes for which they are unable to get change. People are not able to buy even medicines.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">7.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">So far, more than 80 people have died in bank queues due to demonetization. This is a violation of basic human rights. The victims and their families must be compensated according to Constitutional law. Constitutional and democratic rights are being flouted daily.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">8.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">Demonetization has encouraged and increased corruption. Even earlier, banks have been a medium for conversion of black money into white. After demonetization, banks are playing an even bigger role in converting black money into white. Thus, demonetization is synonymous with the campaign for conversion of black money into white. First it was 'voluntary disclosure' and now it is 'income tax amendments' which are facilitating conversion of black to white. Loans of big businessmen to the tune of lakhs of crores are being waived.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">9.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">This demonetization is a conspiracy to benefit the capitalists in favour of a 'cashless system'. It is a sinister attempt to push the consumer from small shopkeepers to big malls.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">10.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">The public should be shown accounts of lands being bought by political parties for party offices or other purposes and use of black money for election campaign purposes.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">11.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">The reality behind the printing of forged currency is not being shown to the people.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">12.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">The real black money is owned by real estate barons, industrialists, insurance businessmen, jewelry dealers, builders, contractors, bureaucrats, and politicians.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_6586878063527924513gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 18pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">13.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"times new roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">This demonetization is having a very adverse effect on the country's economic development and employment situation. In totality, it is dragging the country backwards and having a very dire impact on progress and development.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;color:red">NHPC Contract Workers in Uttarakhand</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The NHPC Contract Workers Union affiliated to AICCTU in Dharchula held a General Body Meeting where it decided to step up the struggle for Equal Work, Equal Pay and regularization. It was also decided to take legal action against NHPC for its failure to pay bonus.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Addressing the meeting, AICCTU State General Secretary KK Bora said that the Modi government at the Centre has created a grave crisis for workers through demonetization. The Modi government which always said that workers' strikes brings loss to the nation, has itself destroyed the nation's economy. No action is being taken against black money owners named by Swiss banks and the Panama papers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">He demanded that the Modi government at the centre and Harish Rawat government in the State should take cognizance of the Supreme Court verdict of 26 October 2016 and start paying all temporary and contract workers equal pay according to their grade without delay. He appreciated the struggle by the NHPC Contract Workers Union and said that the Union's struggle is a just struggle whereas the Management is flouting the Constitution of India, labour laws, and the Supreme Court verdict.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Addressing the meeting, CPI (ML) District Secretary Com. Govind Kafaliya said that workers are being exploited as bonded labour in the name of contract labour and made to work overtime without being paid for this. NHPC Contract Workers Union President Uday Singh presided over the meeting and the proceedings were conducted by Indra Kumar. The meeting was also addressed by Union General Secretary Vinod Kumar and others.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;color:red">Rural Workers' Protest</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Rural and agricultural workers under the banner of Akhil Bharatiya Khet Gramin Mazdoor Sabha (AIARLA) held a protest on 22 November 2016 in front of the Motihari District headquarters in Eastern Champaran to demand homestead land and employment from the government. They took out a march to the Collectorate led by AIARLA District Secretary Jeetlal Sahni and comrades Bhola Sah, Tarachand Bhagat, Atiullah Miyan, Kishun Mukhiya, and Virendra Gupta.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The meeting started with a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the Kanpur rail accident. Addressing the meeting CPI(ML) District Secretary Prabhudev Yadav said that the Modi government and Nitish government are both running away from their responsibility to implement the recommendations of the Land Reform Commission and provide work for MNREGA workers and unemployed youth. Instead, they are aiding land thieves and dominant feudal forces.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The Bandopadhyay Commission had found, through surveys in different districts of Bihar, that 21 lakh acres are with land-thief landlords and said that these lands should be distributed among the poor. The Modi-Nitish governments are not bothered in any way about the livelihood of the poor. Modi is trying to divert the people's attention from his failed promises through diversionary and divisive politics but we will not allow this ploy to succeed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">CPI(ML) leader Bhaiyyalal Singh said that Nitish's declarations for the development of the poor are limited to papers and office files. Expressing deep condolences for those who lost their lives and sympathy with the injured in the recent Kanpur rail tragedy, he demanded that the families of the dead should be paid 10 lakhs as compensation. A 17-point charter of demands was submitted to the district officials.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span style="font-size:16pt;color:red">AISA Seminar on Ambedkar in Allahabad University</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">AISA organised a seminar on 5 December to commemorate the 60<sup>th</sup> death anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar in Allahabad University. However, before the seminar could be held, there were several attempts by the ABVP led union to obstruct the seminar. Despite having the permission to hold it in the Student Union office, the student union President took the keys of the venue from the staff and refused to allow the seminar to be held. Hundreds of students however gathered in protest and after taking out a protest march in the campus, the seminar was finally held in the Nirala auditorium. It is noteworthy that the DSW of the university and other administrative officials incharge of ensuring discipline were seen as bowing down in front of the ABVP.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Mohit Pandey (President, JNUSU) addressed the seminar and asked that even as the BJP leaders were planning to take out a 'Parivartan Yatra' and talking of 'parivartan' (change), where in this change according to them are Najeebs and Rohiths. What will be the treatment meted out to Rohiths in the change that BJP talks about. Today, the BJP talks about fighting against vandalism, criminalisation and corruption but what happens when their own student wing attacks Najeeb and their appointed VC refuses to take any action. Today, people who decide to bring about a change by carrying forward the ideas of Ambedkar are either brutalised, murdered or declared as anti-nationals by the BJP-RSS brigade. Today, there is need to fight fascists by adopting the slogan of Dr. Ambedkar- "educate, agitate and organise".</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Rama Naga (Former JNUSU General Secretary and AISA leader) said that today we have a government that brands people as anti-nationals for merely asking questions. The criticism of government is being equated with criticism of the state. How would Babasaheb Ambdedkar have responded if he were alive today. Former AISA leader, Ramayan Ram said that by putting a ban on the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle, soon after coming to power, the government had made it clear that there will be an attack on the freedom of expression in campuses which can be seen now in BHU, HCU, FTII, JNU and in today's programme, which witnessed ABVP attempts to disrupt.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">The chief editor of Janmat magazine, Ramji Rai shared that Dr. Ambedkar had said that we are entering an era of contradictions where in political terms we will have one person-one vote but in social life, the rejection of 'one person-one value' will continue. He added that the students will have to keep alive the truth today by retaining the courage of calling wrong a wrong, and right a right. Today we need intellectuals who if they see a spot on the sun, can have the courage to point it out and say so. The seminar was moderated by AISA state secretary Sunil Maurya.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;color:red">'Mukhyamantri Jawab Do' March In Muzaffarpur</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The CPI(ML) and AIARLA took out a 'Mukhyamantri Jawab Do' (Chief Minister, respond to the questions) march in Muzaffarpur during Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's 'Nishchay Yatra' (Decision Yatra). The march demanded answers from the Chief Minister on seven questions related to common people's lives and running parallel to the seven 'decisions'. The seven issues raised during the march included: land reforms and sharecroppers' rights; land and housing for all poor; food security guarantee and large scale </span><span lang="HI">rigging</span><span lang="EN-US"> in the ration lists; employment or Rs 5000 monthly unemployment allowance for all unemployed; arrangement and regular payment of Rs 5000 as pension under social security; regular work under MNREGA and ending of large scale cheating and corruption; increasing oppression and violence against dalits and poor; and rise in crimes against women; regularization of honorarium workers, school rasoiyas and ASHA workers. Large numbers of women and workers participated in the march.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;color:red">Gherao Of Executive Engineer in Darbhanga</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The CPI(ML) Bahadurpur block committee organized a gherao of the office of the Executive Engineer (Rural Works Department) a day before the Chief Minister's Darbhanga visit to protest the fact that construction has not yet been started (in spite of the announcement to that effect) on the road bridge at Pirdi Panchayat, Darbhanga district. The march, mirroring the people's anger, culminated in a gherao of the office of the Executive Engineer at Saeed Nagar. The gherao was led by CPI(ML) state committee member Abhishek Kumar, AIARLA District President Jangi Yadav, Neyaz Ahmed of the Insaf Manch and Ramshankar Sahni. Speakers in the march said that villages located in Bahadurpur block at a distance of only 7 to 8 km from the Darbhanga headquarters and having a population of 3000-4000 dalits and mahadalits are still unconnected to the main road even 67 years after independence. For years, people have been waiting for a bridge on the River Kamla. Four months ago, after protests by panchayat representatives, the executive engineer and district administration had given the assurance that the work would be started in October-November. However, the work has not yet started and the executive engineer must answer the people.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The gherao lasted for hours, after which the Executive Engineer gave a letter to the protesters stating that work on the road-bridge would be started in 1 to 1 ½ months. During the gherao the DM of Darbhanga spoke on the telephone to the leaders of the protest and assured them that construction of the Chhaprar road-bridge would be included in the list of important works to be discussed with the Chief Minister.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;color:red">Memorial Meetings for Com. Rama Gairola</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Sankalp meetings in memory of CPI(ML) State committee member and AIPWA State Joint Secretary Com. Rama Gairola was organised on 20 November 2016 at various places in the State. The untimely demise of Com. Rama occurred on 5 November 2016 after an illness.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">A memorial meeting was held in Lucknow. Recollecting the struggles waged by Com. Rama for the rights of workers, farmers and women, speakers at the meeting said that her sudden demise at a time when a more intense and comprehensive struggle against corporate fascism is the need of the hour is an irreparable loss not only for the Party and AIPWA but for the Left people's movement. The Sankalp Sabha resolved to carry forward Com. Rama's incomplete struggle for a democratic society against patriarchal and communal-feudal forces. Party district in-charge Ramesh Sengar, Jan Sanskriti Manch convener Shyam Ankuram, Nirman Union Secretary Surendra Prasad, and many others attended the memorial meeting which was presided over by AIPWA Vice President Tahira Hassan and conducted by Meena.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">A memorial meeting in Pilibhit was attended by large number of people on 20 November. Com. Rama was fondly remembered by all including Politburo Member Swadesh Bhattacharya, State Secretary Ramji Rai, and CC member Krishna Adhikari. Memorial meetings were also held in Chandauli, Ghazipur, Sitapur and other districts.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-size:16pt;color:red">CPI(ML) Condemns Bihar Government for Police Brutalities on Agitators</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal">CPI(ML) Bihar state secretary Kunal has condemned the response of the Bihar state government to the police firing in Katarwa in Bagaha and the police action during Lalganj violence. Com. Kunal termed the justification of police firings by the government as a murder of justice for the poor. He said the response of the government was extremely shameful and castigated the government for still failing to find Chandeshwar Mahto, after whose kidnapping people had started a movement and had to suffer police brutalities. He termed this failure as extremely shameful and also the fact that instead of trying to find Chandeshwar Mahto, the government is busy punishing the agitators. In this state, the justice to the poor has become a travesty. The punishment to leaders of Ranvir Sena in several cases has not been met, and the poor and the activists have had to face disappointment. While murderers, rapists and criminals are being set free, those fighting struggles for the oppressed are being punished. The so called 'social justice' government is adopting a double standard for poor and agitators.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;color:red">Protest in Samastipur</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">CPI(ML) activists protested in front of the Collectorate at Samastipur on 22 November 2016 on the following issues: land for the landless, parchas for those settled on government land, kabja (possession) for parcha holders, housing for the needy, registration of names in ration lists, toilets, tap water, free electricity for farmers, parity in education, employment, unemployment allowance, strengthening hospitals, curbing corruption and other issues of people's welfare. After the protest in front of the Samastipur District Magistrate more than one thousand activists sat on a dharna at the government bus stand under the 2-day "ghera dalo, dera dalo" agitation.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;color:red">Obituary</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:16pt;color:red">Comrade Ganeshan</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-GB">Comrade Ganeshan (PV Srinivas), passed away at 2.30 am on 6 December 2016 in a hospital in Delhi, where he had been admitted with respiratory illnesses and tubercular meningitis some weeks ago. He was 78. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-GB">PV Srinivas was born in Kerala. Poverty drove his parents to migrate to Chennai. He studied only up till Standard V. He worked as a hotel employee and was among the first in Tamil Nadu to form a Hotel Workers' Union. As a labour organiser, he would also argue many workers' cases in labour court. He joined the communist movement, becoming a leader of the CPI(M). Together with Comrade Appu, he had helped launch the CPI(M) Tamil organ Theekadir. However, he along with Comrade Appu and several other comrades developed several differences with CPI(M), over the nationality question and support for the anti-Hindi agitation. He came out of CPI(M) and joined the CPI(ML). </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-GB">When a young student comrade Ganeshan - an engineering student at Annamalai University who had joined the revolutionary student movement inspired by the Naxalbari uprising – was killed, PV Srinivas adopted his name to keep his memory alive, and has been known as Comrade Ganeshan ever since. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-GB">Comrade Ganeshan was arrested and jailed during the Emergency. He led many militant working class struggles in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Thiruvalluvar. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-GB">Comrade Ganeshan became a Central Committee member of the CPI(ML) in 1980, and was Polit Bureau member of the CPI(ML) between 1982-88, and was elected to the Central Committee in 6th Party Congress of CPI(ML) in 1997.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-GB">Comrade Ganeshan will be remembered as a revolutionary and organic intellectual of the working class. All his life, right up to his final illness, he enthusiastically followed the progress of Left movements, working class movements and people's movements in India and the world over, maintaining a dialogue with intellectuals and activists in India and abroad across parties and across all sectarian boundaries. Comrade Ganeshan's warm comradely hospitality to all guests and comrades at the CPI(ML)'s Central office in Delhi endeared him to all.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-GB">His mortal remains were kept at CPI(ML) headquarters in Delhi where comrades and friends paid him hearty tributes. The cremation took place at Nigambodh Ghat, Delhi. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:1cm;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-GB">Red Salute to Comrade Ganeshan ! </span><span class="gmail-HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"></span></font></span></p><div class="gmail-yj6qo gmail-ajU" style="margin:2px 0px 0px;font-size:12.8px"></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-53844543510553575692016-11-30T16:15:00.001+05:302016-11-30T16:15:26.914+05:30ML Update | No. 49 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="gmail-m_3577048824436423544gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:28.8px"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:28.8px;color:rgb(0,32,96)">Update</span></i></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:28.8px"></span></i></b></p><p class="gmail-m_3577048824436423544gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:7pt;line-height:11.2px;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:6pt;line-height:9.6px;color:gray"><br>Vol.19 | No. 49 | </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:5pt;line-height:8px;color:gray">29 NOV - 5 DEC 2016</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">All India Outrage Day:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:7.2pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:29pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:18pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Anger Against Demonetisation Disaster Spills Out On Streets</span></b></p><div style="font-size:12.8px"><table vspace="0" hspace="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" align="left" style="padding:0cm"></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-GB">WITH EVERY PASSING DEMONETISED DAY, the distress of common people continues to mount. More than 80 people have lost their lives due to demonetisation. Farmers are suffering devastation, workers are losing jobs, and people are denied healthcare. But the Prime Minister has not displayed any interest in acknowledging the colossal disaster that demonetisation has proved to be. Instead of alleviating people's suffering, he launched a self-serving 'survey' in a personal app, and promptly proceeded to claim that the app-survey showed that demonetisation had the approval of 92% of Indians. This, in spite of the fact that a mere 17% of Indians use smart phones and a tiny fraction of these participated in the survey, and moreover that the survey was designed to elicit only approving responses, failing to provide a 'disagree' option on its most crucial questions!</span></div><p class="gmail-m_3577048824436423544gmail-01BodytextArial9" style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-GB">Exposing the farce of Modi's app-based 'survey', millions of common Indians came on the streets on 28 November to express their anger and participate in People's Outrage (Jan Akrosh) protests all over the country. Here, too, Modi himself proceeded to claim that the opposition parties had declared a Bharat Bandh – and since no Bharat Bandh took place, he declared the protests a flop. Just as he declared his demonetisation move 'passed with flying colours' in a test he himself set and examined, Modi declared the people's protests a 'failure' in the imaginary 'Bharat Bandh' that no one had declared! </span></p><p class="gmail-m_3577048824436423544gmail-01BodytextArial9" style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-GB">If the people's opposition to demonetisation could be seen and heard on the streets, the complicity of certain 'Opposition' leaders like Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in the demonetisation calamity is also glaringly visible. Nitish Kumar won a popular mandate in Bihar on the promise of rebuffing and resisting the BJP. At the earliest opportunity, however, Nitish Kumar has gone out of his way to bail out the BJP, betraying his mandate and leaving in the lurch the common people of Bihar, the bulk of whom, as poor farmers and migrant labourers, are devastated by demonetisation. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_3577048824436423544gmail-01BodytextArial9" style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-GB">In his latest policy announcement, PM Modi reintroduced the scheme of voluntary disclosure of unaccounted-for cash, even after December 30, the deadline announced earlier. This scheme is essentially a rehash of the Government's income disclosure scheme that ended in September, with the modification that this time, the penalty is 50 per cent – just 5 per cent more than the penalty that had been in place in the scheme that ended in September. In 2014 Modi came to power promising to bring back black money from foreign shores. That promise seems to lie forgotten as Modi instead claimed to have launched a 'surgical strike' in the form of demonetisation, on black money on 8 November. But now, instead of a devastating 'strike' to destroy black money, the Government is once again seeking to whitewash black money! We must expose and reject such attempts to whitewash black money, and instead demand that black money holders be punished and their black money confiscated. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_3577048824436423544gmail-01BodytextArial9" style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-GB">Shockingly, even as BJP claims to crusade against black money, a Demonetization Scam is unfolding. There is evidence that on the eve of demonetization, the BJP national party, through its local leaders, bought up lakhs of crores worth of land in Bihar, Odisha and, according to the claims of its own Bihar leader Sushil Modi, in every district in India. Modi mocked all criticism of and opposition to the demonetisation decision, claiming that these were just the protests by Opposition parties which did not get time to 'prepare' – i.e get rid of illegally gotten cash. It seems that the ruling BJP was given time by the Modi Government to 'prepare' by converting black money into real estate! An impartial but urgent probe is called for into this Note Ban Scam. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_3577048824436423544gmail-01BodytextArial9" style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-GB">Modi's latest 'Mann ki Baat' broadcast has once again reiterated the claim that the Note Ban has caused 'small inconveniences' for 'small people' and huge difficulties for the corrupt rich. The evidence is however entirely to the contrary. The super-rich and corrupt continue to hold wedding extravaganzas and indulge in conspicuous consumption while for the poor, demonetisation has become a matter of life and death. More than 4 lakh jobs have been destroyed by demonetisation, the most vulnerable informal sector workers and poor peasants are worst hit.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_3577048824436423544gmail-01BodytextArial9" style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-GB">The PM is doing nothing to cushion the common people from or compensate for job loss, wage loss and other consequences of the demonetisation disaster. Instead he is holding up the mirage of a 'cashless economy' as a pro-poor paradise that demonetisation will create in the long term. The world experience shows that the poor and small businesses in every country depend on cash transactions to survive. In a country like India, where internet coverage is low and services unreliable, the notion of a 'cashless' economy is laughable. The PM's claim that cashless transactions are safer and less vulnerable to corruption is also false: online transactions are just as if not even more vulnerable to theft than offline ones. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_3577048824436423544gmail-01BodytextArial9" style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-GB">The Modi Government must not be allowed to get away with its outrageous falsehoods about demonetization. The PM continues to assure people that after 50 days the demonetisation 'side-effects' will subside. But he is yet to declare when exactly people will be allowed to withdraw freely from their own hard-earned savings. The PM must be held accountable for the people's sufferings caused by demonetization. The Government must compensate each of India's common citizens with Rs 2000 per day for each day that the demonetisation disaster lasts. If the disaster lasts 50 days, the Government must pay each common citizen a compensation of Rs 1 lakh. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB">The resistance to the Demonetisation Disaster and Note Bank Scam must intensify, exposing every false claim and nailing every lie of the killer Modi Government. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Aakrosh Diwas Against Demonetization Observed Across The Country</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The 'Aakrosh Diwas' across the country was observed to protest against the Modi government's anti-poor demonitization move jointly by left parties as well as rest of the opposition. Even as the toll of those who have died waiting in bank and ATM queues continues to rise and the poor remain the worst hit with their employment under grave threat, the PM Modi has only been heard making fun of people's difficulties and miseries.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The CPI(ML) observed the day with the slogan 'Not Notes, Change the Government'. In Bihar, a massive juloos was taken out from Gandhi Maidan in Patna which was barricaded at JP Chowk by the police which clashed with the protestors. The protestors were arrested which included several CPI(ML) leaders and the party General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. Earlier, addressing the protestors Com. Dipankar said that the politics of loot will no longer run in the country. Within just 20 days after the announcement of demonetization, people's angst can be seen against the Tughlaqi dictate of the government. Now the PM is saying that people of the country should bear for 50 more days and then all would be fine. However, this is a blatant lie and another attempt to misguide the people. He added that it is the toiling masses who have been affected by this demonetization. Nearly 80 people have died and this is extremely saddening and painful. The PM is calling the money of the toiling classes as 'black money'. We want to tell this government that this is our hard earned money and we will not let it be looted by the corporates.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Throughout the state, thousands of protestors were arrested. The demonstrations were marked by reverberation of slogans such as – 'the politics of lies and loot will no longer work', 'Confiscate the black money of Ambani and Adani', 'Change the government, not the currency, 'Bring back black money', and 'teach the treacherous government a lesson'. Several state and national roadways and railway lines were blocked. CPI(ML) leaders also condemned the Nitish government for siding with Modi in his anti-people move.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Jharkhand, a united protest march of CPI(ML) and CPI(M) was called in Jhumri Teliya in Koderma district. The march culminated in a public meeting. An Aakrosh march and a mass meeting was called in Garhwa. In Dhanbad, CPI, CPI (M), CPI (M), MCC and others called for a march. The demands raised included that legal action be taken against those whose names were revealed in Panama leaks, Sahara- Birla Diaries, loan waivers announced to industrialists be revoked and compensation be paid to the families of those who lost their lives due to demonitisation. In Hazaribagh a united march was held. Protests were also called in Bokaro, Jaamtada, Dumka, Godda and Ranchi and all other towns.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Chhattisgarh, CPI, CPIM, CPI(ML) and Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha jointly held a protest at the SBI office at Raipur. Joint Left protests of the three Left parties were also held at Bilaspur and Korba.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Tamil Nadu Observing the Aakrosh Diwas in Tamil Nadu, a joint protest demonstration was held in front of the State Bank of India Head Quarters at Chennai. The protest was joined by Vidudhalai Chiruththaikal Katchi (VCK). The demonstration turned into road blockade and nearly one thousand cadres were arrested. CPI(ML) Tamilnadu state secretary Kumarasamy led the party contingent here. A joint dharna was held at Tanjore which was addressed by leaders including Balasundaram, CCM of CPI(ML). Joint demonstrations were also held at Pudukottai , Valathan , Tirunelveli, Chengulpattu, Salem, Coimbatore, Namakkal and Erode, Tiruvellore, Dindigul, Cuddalore, Vilupuram, Madurai and Tiruchi,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Mumbai, CPI, CPIM, CPIML, LNP (L), SUCI, Peasants and Workers Party, and Bharatiya Republican Party Bahujan Mahasangh jointly held a protest demonstration at Churchgate. Even when the public meeting was on for over an hour, police detained all the protesters.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Karnataka, CPI(ML) along with CPI(M), CPI, SUCI(C) held demonstrations across the state, including Koppal, Davanagere, Mysore and Bangalore. The demonstration in Koppal was addressed by the CPI(ML) State Secretary Com. Bharadwaj.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">CPI (ML) also held a protest in Karnal, Haryana. A procession was taken out in the city up to DC office where effigy of PM was burnt and a meeting was held. The meeting was addressed by Haryana in-charge Prem Singh Gahlawat, Priti Sahni, Rekha Pal, Krishna Saini and Mahendra Chopra.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Joint left demonstrations were organised in Bhubaneswar and other parts of Odisha.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Andhar Pradesh, left parties including held joint protest demonstrations in Prathipadu, Yeleswaram in East Godavari district and Vijaywada. Several protestors and leaders were arrested while participating in the protest rally in Vijaywada.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Uttarakhand, a protest demonstration was called by CPI(ML) in Lalkuan. The effigy of the PM was burnt amidst loud sloganeering. In Chamoli district, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML) jointly organised protests and burnt the effigy. They also demanded that the 11 lakh crore loan waiver to industrialists be immediately revoked and loan waiver be announced for the farmers and compensation be paid to those who lost their lives due to demonetization. A protest demonstration was also held in Srinagar (Garhwal).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Delhi, a joint left march was led by Sitaram Yechuri, CPI(M), Kavita Krishnan, CPI(M), Atul Anjan, CPI and other left leaders from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar. Earlier, CPI(ML), AICCTU, AIPWA and AISA had called for a united workers-women-students march to PM house on 26 November in which hundreds of protestors were arrested at the Parliament Street.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Uttar Pradesh, Left came to streets on 28 November with marches, protests and effigy burnings in various districts in all parts of the state. CPI(ML), CPI and CPI(M) had also protested on 22 November in front of Reserve Bank of India's branch in Lucknow.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Convention against Demonetization in Ranchi</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The CPI(ML) organized a people's convention in Ranchi as part of the countrywide protests against the killer demonetization which has wreaked havoc on the daily lives and economy of the common people.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The convention started with a silent tribute to the champion of the deprived, Fidel Castro. Addressing the convention as the main speaker, Party General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said that it is necessary to understand the politics of demonetization. This demonetization slapped on the people of India by Modi has become an economic emergency for the poor and the common people. The actual hoarders of black money are enjoying the luxury of Five Star hotels while those who have earned money through hard work are standing in queues. The people in Modi's party were aware of this move in advance, enabling them to buy land worth crores in Bihar and deposit billions of rupees in banks in Bengal just a few hours before the demonetization announcement. Now, a new black market trade has started in the form of changing old currency. The beleaguered people are sarcastically saying, "Jio Paytm se, aur Maro ATM pe" (Live by Paytm and Die at the ATM). Exposing the autocratic ways and the cruel joke played on the poor by the Modi government Com. Dipankar called for accelerating the protests and said that the time has come to press hard for the campaign of "Note Nahi Sarkar Badlo" (Change the government, not the currency).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Speaking in the context of Jharkhand, Com. Dipankar said that the amendments to the hard-won CNT-SPT Act are for the destruction of adivasis and for the prosperity of the Adanis and Ambanis. This Modi-Raghuvar conspiracy must be fought through spirited and dedicated people's struggles.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Opposing the demonetization, noted economist Jean Dreze said that tyres of the development vehicle the country was riding have been punctured by the very government who is in charge of steering the vehicle. The worst and most long-time effect of this will be felt by the poor and the rural population. The economic development of the country will be set back hugely. He called the government's pro-demonetization arguments ridiculous and said that deceiving the people is a specialty of the Modi government. The real black money is with all ruling-class parties including Modi's BJP; this fact is being hidden and the common people are being held guilty. We must make the people aware of this truth.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Senior human rights activist Fr Stan Swamy said that the names of the real black money hoarders have already been listed by the people of the country; the Modi government should nab them first. But instead of catching them, the government has waived their loans to the tune of thousands of crores, and the common people are being forced to stand in queues. We must oppose this oppression.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">CPI(ML) Jharkhand Secretary Janardan Prasad said that corporate companies and capitalists—the breeders and carriers of black money and corruption—are merrily prospering; it is for their benefit that the havoc of demonetization is being wreaked on the common people and also Modi-bhakts. He stressed that we must expose this conspiracy and accelerate the campaign to convert Demonetization into DeModi-tization.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Social activist Hussain Kachchi said that the common people are not standing in line of their own volition; they have been forced to line up. Advocate Ajablal and Josephina Panna presented government statistics to expose Modi's falsehoods. Several other speakers spoke of the distress faced by common people and exposed the government. Hundreds of activists from different districts participated in the convention.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha March</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The CPI(ML) took out a Vidhan Sabha march in Ranchi on 21 November 2016 with the slogan "Raghuvar Hatao Jharkhand Bachao" (Oust CM Raghuvar Das, Save Jharkhand). The march passed through the main roads of the city and culminated in a meeting at Birsa Chowk.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The march was in the backdrop of attacks on people's movements against land grab, amendments in SPT and CNT Acts and targeting of minorities in the state. The bandh call was given after the Barkagaon firing on 1 October. A series of statewide agitations were initiated by the CPI(ML) as well as other left forces which in turn compelled other opposition parties to join the agitation, thus leading to a emergence of a united political movement. Earlier, on 22 October thousands of adivasis took out a huge rally under the aegis of 40 people's organizations against the Jharkhand government's wrong domicile policy and amendments in the CNT-SPT Act. During the rally there was brutal police repression and one adivasi was killed in police firing in Khunti.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The march to Assembly was a culmination of the statewide mass campaign by the CPI(ML) from 1 November to 15 November. People's padyatra and village sabhas as well as mobilisations at district headquarters were organized at various places. Mass meetings were held at Giridih, Koderma, Ramgarh, Hazaribagh and Barkagaon, where the firing took place. In Giridih district, groups of 100 to 150 activists from each of 11 blocks held padyatra of 10 km daily and did a person to person campaign among tens of thousands of people. A motorcycle march was held with hundreds of bikes at Barkagaon where a rally and mass convention was held on 15 November, this was followed by the Vidhan Sabha march on 21 November.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Slogans raised at the march called for rolling back of amendments to the CNT-SPT Act, trial of the guilty police personnel in the Barkagaon, Sayko (Khunti) firings and Latehar, Bundu, and Narayanpur (Jamatand) killings in police lock-up under under murder charges, rollback of the killer demonetization, and putting a stop to giving away Jharkhand's resources to Adani-Ambani. Despite it being harvest time, large number of people from all the districts participated in the march.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Vidhan Sabha march was addressed at the barricades by CPI(ML) MLA Rajkumar Yadav, former MLA Vinod Singh, and several other leaders. All the speakers emphasized that CM Raghuvar Das has unleashed attacks on the people of the state with his anti-people policies. This is the need of the time for all the Left and democracy-loving forces of Jharkhand to get united for the ensuing political battle. The speakers strongly condemned Modi's demonetization which is a step not for curbing black money but for snatching away the earnings of the workers and the poor and pushing them into starvation and unemployment so that banks can get more money to favour the corporates while the owners of black money have no problem in converting their black income into white money. The meeting was conducted by Nadeem Khan.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"><b>Jharkhand Bandh</b>: While the protests in opposition to the amendments in CNT and SPT Acts continue for several months throughout the state, the BJP government in a shameless move formally passed those amendments in the Vidhan Sabha on 23 November amid heavy protests. This led to spontaneous protests all over the state followed by a statewide Jharkhand Bandh on 25 November. The bandh paralysed almost all parts of Jharkhand exhibiting a historic peoples unity and resolve against pro-corporate BJP regime. The bandh, initially called by Left parties and JVM, was jointly observed by all opposition parties and tribal organisations in the state. Thousands of CPI(ML) and other parties' activists got arrested while lakhs of people took out to streets amid police batons, tear-gas shells and lathi-charges.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Movement for Paddy Purchase in Bihar</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">An agitation for paddy purchase was held all over Bihar on 15 November 2016 in response to a call by Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Mahasabha. Dharnas, protests and meetings were organized at various Block and District Headquarters on the following demands: (i) government procurement centres should be opened in every village (as has been done in Punjab) and paddy should be purchased from small and middle farmers including sharecroppers without having to show land documents; (ii) while the input costs for paddy crop comes not less than Rs 1600 per quintal, the Central government should pay Rs 2500 and the State government should pay a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal; (iii) Rs 30,000 per acre compensation should be paid for crop loss due to drought and floods; (iv) regions with less than 19% of average rainfall till 31 July should be declared drought-affected as per norms fixed by the government. The programmes during the protests also made the demand that the responsibility for preparing the data base (registration) of farmers should be given to the Agriculture Consultant, Agriculture Coordinator, PACS and Vyapaar Mandal, and they should visit every village within a fixed time frame and guarantee the registration of all farmers including sharecroppers wishing to sell their paddy.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">At Jehanabad a dharna and meeting were organized at Modanganj block HQ. The speakers at the meeting said that the current paddy purchase rate fixed by the Bihar government is Rs 1470 and Rs 1510 for A grade paddy; this must be revised and raised to Rs 3000, as the production price itself is Rs 1600 per quintal. Sharecroppers are not considered as farmers by the government and they are deprived of all benefits due to farmers, whereas actually they form 60 to 70% of the State's farmers. Therefore, sharecroppers must get all benefits including crop loss compensation. They also demanded completion of irrigation projects and repairing of defunct tube-wells.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The dharna at Bhojpur District headquarters in Ara saw a good presence of people from outside the organization also in large numbers. Dharnas were also held at Hajipur in Vaishali District, in Patepur, Pakribarama Block (Nawada district), Kauakoul, Sheikhpura, Sonho block (Jamui district), Bhavanipur (Purnia district), Dhamdaha, Srinagar, Banmankhi, Barhara, K. Nagar, Daoodnagar (Aurangabad district), Hussainganj (Siwan), Chenari , Kawath, Bikramganj and Silouthu (Rohtas), and Laheriya Serai (Darbhanga). The dharnas were held from 11 AM to 3 PM and the district officials heard the demands and assured the farmers that their demands would be conveyed to the government.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Dharna in Lalkuan</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The CPI(ML) held a one-day dharna on 17 November 2016 in Lalkuan tehsil demanding a government order for taking back the announcement of making Bindukhatta a municipality, and to declare it a Revenue Village as per the people's long standing demand.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">CPI(ML) Assembly election candidate Purushottam Sharma addressed the dharna and said that the Chief Minister of the State should act according to his earlier announcement issue a government order immediately. He said the government should also without delay take back the false cases slapped on the farmers of Bindukhatta and take action towards the entitlement of lands to farmers in Bindukhatta. He added that the CPI(ML) senior leader Bahadur Singh Jangi said that this dharna has been organized as a reminder to watch what action the State government or the Opposition BJP takes in the final session of the Assembly which begins from 18 Nov on the issues raised by us. At the conclusion of the dharna a memorandum was sent to the Chief Minister through the Tehsildar.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Rural Chowkidars' Struggle in Uttar Pradesh</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Uttar Pradesh Gramin Chowkidars (Guards) have been appointed in the villages since 1862. However, even today their salary remains a meager Rs. 1500 per month. The duties fixed for the rural chowkidars are to go to the thana twice a month and report the incidents which occurred in their areas, and in the remaining time they have to guard the village. But the police officials in the thanas call them every day and make them do their personal work. They oppress them physically and mentally. If they refuse to do personal work they are abused and beaten by the constables and darogas. The Uttar Pradesh Gramin Chowkidar Union (affiliated to AICCTU) organized a 3-day dharna in front of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow, against this oppression and to demand increase in wages and declaration of State government employee status for them.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The dharna proceeded peacefully for two days. On the third day when thousands of chowkidars wearing red head-dresses came out on the streets to gherao the Vidhan Sabha, the UP police, government and administration got into a panic and courted arrest thousands of chowkidars who were taken in several buses to the Lucknow Police Lines. AICCTU leader Dr Kamal Usari was also arrested. They were released after midnight, after an announcement to increase in the chowkidars' salary was made by the officials. The leader of Chowkidar Union Ram Kishore Verma said that the struggle would continue until the Gramin Chowkidars are declared State government employees. Ramanand Paswan of the Union too expressed the resolve of thousands of chowkidars for continuing the struggle further.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">AIARLA Dharna against Eviction of Poor in Guwahati</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Kamrup district unit of AIARLA organised a sit-in protest on 17 November at Dighalipukhuri Park, Guwahati against the eviction of poor people from forest and government land. The protestors also raised voice against allotment of huge tracts of land to Ramdev's Patanjali in different parts of Assam and demanded that the land be allotted to the landless families and patta be given to the peasantry.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">They also demanded immediate implementation of the Forest Right Act, 2006. Loknatha Goswami, notable singer, Noren Bora of CPI(ML), Arup, Pankaj, Swapna and many others addressed the Dharna. A memorandum was submitted to the Chief Minister of Assam through the Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup Metro District. A dharna on similar demands was also held at Circle office in Chandrapur.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">District Conference in Dibrugarh</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The district conference of CPI(ML)'s Dibrugarh district unit was held on 20 November 2016. A 15 member district committee was elected with Com. Bitopan Bakolial as the district secretary. The delegates at the conference resolved to carry forward the movement against eviction of poor people, and for minimum wages to tea workers, for food and land to rural poor, withdrawal of the citizenship act amendments and justice to affected families under land acquisitions.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">CPI(ML) in Chandigarh Municipal Elections</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Four CPI(ML) candidates including Dr. Navkiran Natt, Rampreet, Ram Ajore and Agin Kumar have filed their nomination papers on November 28 for the elections to Chandigarh Municipal Corporation from ward numbers 2, 14, 20 and 24 respectively. The elections are scheduled to be held on December 18.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Long Live Fidel Castro!</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">CPI(ML) dips its flag in respectful homage to Fidel Castro Ruz, the iconic leader of the Cuban revolution and towering figure who inspired anti-imperialist fighters the world over.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Fidel Castro led the successful Cuban revolution that overthrew the repressive Batista regime, and defended the tiny nation of revolutionary Cuba in the teeth of successive US regimes that were determined to destroy it. Fidel himself triumphed over 600 assassination attempts by the CIA, passing away at the ripe old age of 90. It is ironic that the new elected President of the USA, Donald Trump, has branded Fidel 'a brutal dictator,' given that Trump's own country, the supposed champion of 'democracy,' resorted to attempted assassinations of world leaders whose politics did not suit the USA. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Fidel's own stubborn survival and resistance to murderous imperialists reflected the revolutionary grit and determination of Cuba itself and its people. Shackled by imperialist embargoes, Cuba still managed to create systems of universal healthcare and education that shame much more prosperous capitalist countries including its big-brotherly neighbour the USA. Not only that, Cuba stretched its own meagre resources to export free healthcare and education to other needy countries of Latin America and the world. With Fidel at the helm, Cuba also supported the anti-colonial struggles, practicing internationalism with all its might. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Fidel Castro's life and legacy call to be celebrated, not mourned. Even after his passing, Fidel's legacy will continue to inspire revolutionaries, socialists and anti-imperialists all over the world.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The red flag will fly at half mast at all CPI(ML) party offices to honour the memory of Fidel Castro.</span></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle;border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> </span></p></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-21430953818927564632016-11-26T11:51:00.001+05:302016-11-26T11:51:24.941+05:30ML Update | No. 48 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="gmail-m_8064465569769707970gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;line-height:35.2px;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px;color:rgb(79,129,189)">Update</span></i></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px"></span></i></b></p><p class="gmail-m_8064465569769707970gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:19.85pt;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8pt;line-height:12.8px;color:rgb(127,127,127)">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8pt;line-height:12.8px;font-family:paras-hindi;color:rgb(127,127,127)"></span></p><p class="gmail-m_8064465569769707970gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8pt;line-height:12.8px;color:rgb(127,127,127)">Vol.19 | No.48 | 22-28 NOV 2016</span></p><p class="gmail-m_8064465569769707970gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8pt;line-height:12.8px;color:rgb(127,127,127)"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:7.2pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:29pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:18pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">'Not Notes, Change the Regime'</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Resisting the Economics and Politics of #NoteBan</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Two weeks have elapsed since the dramatic announcement of demonetization of 500 and 1000-rupee notes. In one fell swoop, the government has withdrawn more than 80 percent of the total value of the currency in circulation in the country. While the withdrawal has thus been massive and immediate, the transfusion of new notes has been painfully slow. Only about 10 percent of the value has since been replaced in the first ten days, and that too largely in the form of notes of 2000 rupees. The result has been a traumatic cash crunch, a massive disruption in the economy and incalculable hardship for the common people - in short, an unmitigated man-made disaster. On top of it, we have already experienced the shocking reality of dozens of demonetization deaths - people collapsing in queues, succumbing to stress and dying for sheer lack of timely medical care because of the cash crunch.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The government defends demonetization as a decisive blow to corruption, a so-called surgical strike on black money. Now, it is well known that only a small fraction of unaccounted-for income and wealth, which is popularly known as black money, is temporarily held in cash. How much of this cash hoard will indeed be flushed out is anybody's guess. Certainly it is not the corrupt hoarders of black money who are queuing up outside banks and ATMs. On the contrary we have seen a new form of black economy thrive in the country as common people are forced to exchange their old notes for lower amounts while the rich use their myriad ways to launder their black money ('donations' to ruling parties and temples and trusts being two well-known routes) and convert their old cash into more handy stocks of the newly introduced 2000 rupee notes. The Sanghi rumour mills are abuzz with stories of hoards of cash being destroyed by the corrupt, but frenzied conversion of cash into various forms of assets in the run-up to demonetization has been no secret. And we also have it from the horse's mouth (BJP Rajasthan MLA Bhawani Singh Rajawat) that the Adanis and Ambanis and other big business houses all had enough hint of the impending demonetization. So much for the 'secrecy' shrouding the so-called war on black money!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> The other official claim of neutralizing counterfeit currency of course has relatively greater merit. But do we have any idea of the volume of counterfeit currency in circulation? The Sangh-BJP propaganda machinery would have us believe that every second note is a counterfeit pumped in by Pakistan. But according to a study undertaken by the Kolkata-based Indian Statistical Institute for the NIA, the total volume of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) is estimated to be of the order of Rs 400 crore, and this amount has more or less remained the same over the last four years. A large part (not by any means all, because the study estimated as many fake 100 rupee notes as 500, and old 100 rupee notes are still valid) of this FICN has now admittedly been made defunct, but it is only a matter of time till we have new FICN replace the old. The new notes have no enhanced security features and will be as counterfeit-prone, if not more, as the ones that have been scrapped.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Now just compare the monetary cost of the whole exercise of printing and supplying the new notes (some 15000 crore to print new notes plus the logistical expenses of recalibrating the ATMs, reaching the new notes to distribution points and so on and so forth) to the volume of the FICN rendered defunct (say worth Rs 350 crore), and the whole thing looks nothing more than a grand celebration of absurdity. Increasingly we are hearing a third argument – that of India becoming a modern cashless digital economy. Now more than 40% of the adult population in India is still unbanked (which is a fifth of the global unbanked population), and while the figures in India have improved only recently with the increasing practice of direct bank transfers, 43% of Indian bank accounts are still dormant. If the fantasy of a 'cashless economy' is to be achieved on the basis of digital transaction – and not the ancient exchange mechanism of barter – then one must first talk about expanding and improving banking services for the common people of India. All this facile cashless talk is clearly putting the cart miles ahead of the horse while actively excluding and penalising the poor!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Interestingly enough, while upwardly mobile India finds the technological reality and possibility of cashless digital transactions quite an enchanting idea, we must keep in mind that a cashless economy <i>per se</i> provides no guarantee against economic corruption or various other economic crimes. Indeed, in terms of cash-to-GDP ratio India does not compare too unfavourably with the developed world, the Indian ratio of a little above 12 percent is way below that of Japan (above 18%) and Hong Kong (above 14%) and not too high compared to the Euro zone countries (10%) or China (above 9%). And a country like Nigeria which finds itself in the same bracket with Norway and Sweden (all less than 2%) is perceived as one of the world's most corrupt countries! Turning India today into a cashless economy is an elitist fancy quite akin to the bullet train idea. But these whims and fancies are exacting a heavy price – while the bullet train fancy is pushing the railways away from the basic question of infrastructural maintenance and amenity and safety of common passengers, the craze for going cashless has already resulted in the growing demonetization disaster.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">At the cost of a huge disruption of the economy and the danger of a major slowdown, the demonetization drive has of course achieved one tangible result: a massive injection of cash into the crisis-ridden banking system. It is well known that the banks had been reeling under a growing burden of Non Performing Assets (thanks primarily to the loans piled up by corporate India, loans that are hardly repaid and now being written off) and they will be the only ones to heave a sigh of relief. But if the easing of the banking crisis only reinforces the existing lending pattern, the whole thing will mean nothing but an adverse redistribution of the burden for the common people.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">While the economics of demonetization is clearly dubious, it is the accompanying political process and discourse which are particularly deceptive and dangerous. The government claims that the planning and preparation for demonetization was underway for quite some time. In April 2016 we had the SBI talking of 'rumours' of demonetization, and the previous RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan who held office till 4 September 2016 was known to have been against the idea of demonetization. What then was the institutional mechanism that took this momentous decision and oversaw its planning and preparation? And how did the PM's picture appear overnight in advertisements promoting a particular brand of digital wallet which is aggressively marketing itself using demonetization and the resultant cash crunch as a rare business opportunity?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Prime Minister made the announcement in a televised address to the nation but refused to face Parliament on this issue. And now he has launched an app to ascertain people's views on demonetization (and that too without offering them an option to disagree on most questions!), making it absolutely clear that it is only the manufactured consent of the digitally empowered that he cares about, the experience of the digitally excluded and dissenting views just do not matter. The subversion of parliamentary democracy and the arrogant flaunting of the digital divide have never been starker. Equally revealing has been the reaction of Narendra Modi and the Sangh-BJP establishment (ranging from outright denial and trivialization to sadistic derision and emotional blackmailing) to the disastrous fallout of demonetization, the traumatic economic disruption and mounting miseries of the people including scores of demonetization deaths.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">All the miseries being inflicted on the people, and the violation of so many rights, including the most basic right of being able to access one's own hard-earned money, are being trivialized as a temporary inconvenience and glorified as a sacrifice for a corruption free India. And audaciously enough, the government is packaging the whole thing as a measure to promote economic equality and punish the rich. But it is not difficult to understand that just as the principle of one person one vote has not stopped the concentration of political power in the hands of the super rich, the temporary rationing of notes too is not going to bridge the growing rich-poor divide in the society. It is also instructive to note that when the UPA government went for a partial demonetization exercise by withdrawing currency notes printed before 2005, the BJP had dubbed it an anti-poor diversionary exercise to obfuscate the real issue of black money stashed away in foreign banks! Interestingly, the Modi government has raised the limit of the Liberalised Remittance Scheme to allow Indian citizens to remit annually as much as 2.5 lakh US dollars abroad apart from the right to carry another 2.5 lakh dollars per year for every person going on foreign trips. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Revolutionary communists and all other forces of people's movements must boldly resist the disastrous economics and populist politics of demonetization. The government must be held accountable for the reckless manner in which it inflicted the ill-conceived idea of demonetization and the disastrous fallout that has engulfed the common people in its wake. There can be no scrapping or restricting any widely used currency without adequate availability of replacement notes. The cooperative banks, which are the lifeline of the rural economy and the bank of first resort for the bulk of India's agricultural population, must be allowed to discharge their full functions.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The government must answer for every demonetization death and must compensate the people for the loss of livelihood and economic disruption. For the peasantry, reeling under successive droughts and a chronic agrarian crisis, the demonetization has been a brutal blow in the midst of the busy sowing season, and the least that the government must do is to waive all farm loans and ensure free supply of inputs. Similarly, agricultural labourers, other rural workers, small traders and transporters, unorganized/informal sector workers and daily wagers, street vendors and greengrocers who have all been hit hard by the reckless note ban must be adequately compensated for their loss of livelihood.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The government must also be held accountable on the issue of combating the menace of black money and corruption, the pretext on which it inflicted this disastrous course on the people. The list of willful mega defaulters must be made public and they must be forced to pay up, failing which their property must be confiscated and companies blacklisted. The Panama Papers on foreign account holders and now the explosive Sahara-Birla Diaries with details of political payoffs to facilitate tax evasion are both in the public domain and the government must be made to answer and act on them. And last but not the least, there can be no cleaning up of black money without breaking the business-politics nexus, without making it mandatory for political parties to make public their entire finances, stopping corporate funding and excessive electoral expenditure.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">For the Modi government, demonetization is of course part and parcel of its autocratic agenda. The way the government went about the whole thing reminded many of the Indira-Sanjay era of Emergency four decades ago. The attack on the press, the forcible imposition of family planning in rural areas and mass eviction in the name of urban beautification, the suppression of dissent, the crushing of the people's democratic rights and political liberties, the suspension of parliamentary democracy and arrest of all opposition leaders and activists – all these trappings of the Emergency resonate in the air as the Modi government goes about politicizing the Army and militarizing politics, curbing the media and inflicting an unmitigated disaster like the ongoing trauma of demonetization in complete defiance of economic logic and parliamentary procedures.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The people of India have of course begun to sense this danger. And the cry of 'Note Nahi, Sarkar Badlo' (Not Notes, Change the Regime) being heard increasingly across the country reflects this realization of the people. It is the urgent task of every defender of the interests of the people to champion this democratic spirit and wage a determined resistance against the reckless offensive of the Modi government.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protests against Demonetization</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">CPI(ML), AISA and AICCTU are conducting a campaign against demonetisation from 16 November onwards in different working class settlements of Delhi, which is due to culminate in a March to the PM's House on 26 November to demand its rollback.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Demonetisation is causing harm in tragic proportions in working class colonies. The first day of campaign was conducted in the Wazirpur industrial area in Delhi, where workers and their families living in slum clusters said that they are struggling to meet expenses of food, medical expenses, school fees, transport and other essentials ever since the demonetization move. One 70-year-old woman said that after she had waited in the queue for hours, a policeman shoved her away and told her to come another day. Another woman who had stood in the queue from 3 am onwards was told that she could not be allowed to withdraw money because they claimed she had already made a withdrawal. One worker lacked enough cash to get medicines for his wife who is a cancer patient. Several people said they are eating once a day so that they can stand in lines and not miss their chance to get their hard earned money. Children are going hungry because parents are standing in the line.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Workers are being forced to convert their factory owners' money and they just can't refuse because otherwise they risk losing their job. And when they are getting paid, they are being paid in old currency that has no purchasing power at all. And now the indelible ink is making it difficult for them to convert their own wage. Their wage in old notes can't get anything from the shops. They have no credit worthiness so no one lends them anything. Landlords have refused to take the old currency and school fees are pending.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Those who get a monthly salary had just been given the salary a day before the announcement and they were stuck with money which they were running from pillar to post to get converted. No leave is available for standing in line. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Banks were busy converting money of people close to them, obviously the more well connected factory owners and managers, as serpentine queues of workers stood there waiting for cash to get over.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Women said they fainted while waiting and were brought back home - of course without any cash. Several people lost their wage and got no money either at the end of the day.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The government claimed it has collected "lakhs of black money" from people – people are saying: in that case, use that money to ensure free rations to the affected workers households; make travel free in buses and metros so that people can get to their workplaces without worrying about cash; ensure free health and education; ensure compensation for wages lost while standing in line.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Such a move is a violation of the right of workers to manage their own wage, in whichever way they like, without being arm twisted into a digital system and plastic money on which they have absolutely no control.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The day 2 of this campaign took a team of students and workers to Industrial Area in Narela. The miseries of the daily wage earners was apparent here. Some live in the fear that tomorrow their electricity might be cut-off, as despite having 500 rupees it wasn't accepted at the electricity office as the bill was for 200 and they can't get the change back. They are eating just one meal a day. '<i>Sara karkhana bandh hai</i>', they said, "no work in the nearby mills for past one week." A Bengali worker said, '<i>Bhat daal dik totodin sorkar, maach to chahichhina</i>', (the government should provide us rice and dal till then, we are not demanding fish). A young mother said, "How can a withdrawal of Rs 4500 suffice? More than half of that is paid in rent, how can we survive on the balance?" Another young woman worker said, "It is workers who are in the queues, the moneyed are sitting pretty in their homes." Another woman angrily asked, "We found it hard enough to get Rs 1000 notes changed. Now how can we get change for Rs 2000 notes?" The rage could be heard in the voice of a woman who said, "He (Modi) said 'Accha din' (good days) would come! Are these the good days?! He has shoved us into a pit!" </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On the 3rd day of the campaign, teams reached Batla House Area of Jamia Nagar. Scarcity of daily food, medicine, wages, cash crunch, anger, desperation, helplessness - the same story was repeated there.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On 4th day the AISA-AICCTU team reached Kusumpur Pahari in Vasant Kunj area. This is one of the biggest working class slums in South Delhi, hardly 2 km away from JNU, the narrow lanes are surrounded by Priya Shopping Complex on one side and DLF Promenade mall on the other. A highly expensive private hospital is also close by. Residents of Kusumpur Pahari told us, "How do we buy daily ration when we are missing our <i>Dihadi </i>(daily wage)? But is it the same for those who goes to the malls, who can pay with cards?" Children and the elderly are not getting much-needed medical attention because the shops would not accept old currency for medicines.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On the 5th day team reached NOIDA industrial area where many shops remain closed, no job for contractual workers, cash crunch in banks, no money for treatment or essential medicines- the story was the same. But that is how it is for every worker, women, small shop owner and senior citizens. Some workers also said that factory owners are giving advance salary for 3 months with old 500 and 1000 to get rid of their old currency, which is of no use.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The campaign is continuing and on the coming 26th November, workers, women, students will march in Delhi towards Prime Minister House demanding-</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">1. Roll Back of Demonetisation.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">2. Free distribution of food items and medicine for the poor till then.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">3. Free transportation in railways, DTC and Cluster buses.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">4. Punish the wilful corporate defaulters of bank loans.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">5. Investigate the Birla-Sahara scam in which lakhs of rupees were given by corporations to Narendra Modi when he was Gujarat CM</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">6. Bring the list of names who have deposited money in off-shore tax havens. Bring back this unaccounted money and punish the culprits.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Bengaluru (Karnataka) on 17 November, several organisations including the CPI(ML), Garment and Textile Workers Union, Bangalore Jilla Beedhi Vyaapaari Sangathenagala Okkuta, National Hawkers Federation, New Socialist Alternative, Karnataka Tamil Makkal Aikyam, NCHRO, Karnataka Janarogya Chaluvali, Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Yuvakara Vedike, Aam Aadmi Party, Swaraj Abhiyan and others held a protest in front of the RBI, with the slogan 'Occupy RBI'. The protesters raised slogans against the Modi Government's ill-conceived, poorly implemented move to demonetize which is nothing but a political gimmick to hide the failures of the central government while also stealthily move to a corporate controlled digital economy, the implications of which are neither studied not discussed. The Bangalore police, in a blatant effort to deny the right to freedom and expression detained many protestors even before the protest and the arrests continued while the protest was on. Those arrested included CPI(ML) leaders Balan, Clifton, Raghu, Maitreyi and Appanna. This just shows that when it comes to thwarting democracy, Congress and BJP are partners. Even as crores of people are suffering, Congress and BJP politicians shamelessly attended the wedding of Janardhan Reddy's daughter only shows their lack of intentions to fight the evils of black money.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Bihar unit of CPI(ML) gave a statewide call for protests which were held on 16 November in all the districts and has since been conducting an intensive Week-long Protest Week from 17-22 November, with effigies of the PM being burnt and protests held in every corner of Bihar. Protests were also held in different parts of Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Bengal and other states where marches, propaganda campaigns and effigy burnings took place.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">7th AIPWA National Conference in Patna</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The 7th AIPWA National Conference was held in Patna on 13-14 November 2016, at the Bharatiya Nritya Kala Mandir. The Conference called for women's resistance to patriarchy and the growing fascist threat and intensified struggles to defend democracy and assert women's freedom. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Bharatiya Nritya Kala Mandir complex was named after Rama Gairola for the occasion in memory of departed young AIPWA leader Rama Gairola. The hall was named after noted writer and activist, the late Mahashweta Devi and the stage was named after AIPWA Founding President the late Comrade Geeta Das.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On 13th November, the conference started with the hoisting of the AIPWA flag by veteran AIPWA leader Arti Devi, and tributes to martyrs and departed leaders of the revolutionary women's movement. Tributes were paid to the Naxalbari martyrs, those killed in the Bathani Tola and other massacres, Kamleshwari Kunwar, noted activist of the revolutionary Bhojpur struggle and life partner of Comrade Jagdish Master, Rama Gairola, Mahashweta Devi, Geeta Das, Chinta Singh, Jeeta Kaur, Ajanta Lohit, Aparna Tyagi, Siyamani Mukhiya, Manju Devi, Agni, Sheela, Lahri and others.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">This was followed by the inaugural session of the Conference, which began with the rendering of songs by women's cultural teams Chorus (of Bihar) and Prerna (Jharkhand).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A reception committee headed by Prof. Bharti S Kumar welcomed all the guests and presented mementoes to noted activists of the women's movement, including senior academic and AIPWA mentor since its founding days Maya Bhattacharya, Neelam Katara who is an activist against honour crimes; Kashmiri writer and activist Natasha Rather, Nirjhari Sinha of Jan Sangharsh Manch, Gujarat, Vidya Dinker, activist from Mangaluru; Advocate Asha from Kerala, Sanjeela Ghising, leader of the Democratic Revolutionary Women's Federation, Darjeeling; and veteran activist of the revolutionary communist movement Comrade Meera.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">At the inaugural session, Neelam Katara spoke about her struggle for justice for her son Nitish Katara who was killed on the pretext of 'honour', and the struggle for women's right to choice in matters of relationships. Natasha Rather, co-author of the book Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora spoke about her perspective as a Kashmiri on the struggle for self determination in Kashmir, and about the struggle of the rape survivors of Kunan Poshpora for justice. Nirjhari Sinha, founder of the Jan Sangharsh Manch, Gujarat, spoke about the struggle for justice for victims of the 2002 state sponsored Gujarat riots and for fake encounter victims Ishrat Jahan, Kausar Bi, Sohrabuddin and others. Vidya Dinker, an activist from Mangaluru, spoke about the way in which fertile land is being grabbed and environment destroyed in the name of 'economic corridors.' She spoke about the ways in which RSS outfits morally police women in Mangaluru, and called upon women to wage a jehad of love to uphold inter-caste and inter-faith love, as well as love for farms, environment and natural resources.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The inaugural session was addressed by AIPWA General Secretary Comrade Meena Tiwari. The inaugural session was conducted by AIPWA National Secretary Kavita Krishnan.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The delegate session of the Conference began with the delegates listening to a recording of a song composed and sung by the outgoing AIPWA National President Srilata Swaminathan. Comrade Srilata, who could not attend the conference because of ill health, was sorely missed by all, and her song was a celebration of AIPWA as a source of hope and strength for women. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">AIPWA General Secretary Meena Tiwari presented AIPWA's work report and a note on the social and political situation in India and the world. The note observed that BJP and RSS forces are working to push back progressive shifts in consciousness that had been achieved by movements. They are poisoning the social and political discourse and trying to establish divisive, hate-filled and regressive ideas as 'normal' and even 'nationalist.' </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On the night of 13th November, Chorus presented a play, 'Paro', followed by a traditional Jharkhandi dance by the Prerna team and cultural performances by several other activists. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On 14th November, delegates from all over the country discussed the issues facing the women's movement and shared experiences of their struggles. The note was adopted unanimously after discussion in the house.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The delegates then elected the new AIPWA leadership, including a 101-member National Council. Comrade Meena Tiwari was reelected National General Secretary, Comrade E Rati Rao was elected National President; Prof Bharti S Kumar, Tahira Hasan, Farhat Bano, Iqbal Udasi, Pratima Engheepi, Krishna Adhikari, Raju Barua and Saroj Chaubey were elected Vice Presidents; and Prof Sudha Choudhary, Indrani Dutta, R Nagamani, Geeta Mandal, Shashi Yadav and Kavita Krishnan were elected National Secretaries. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Addressing the delegates at the end of the Conference, newly elected AIPWA President Rati Rao said that just as Dalits were refusing to perform caste-based labour, it was high time women also refuse to do our gender based traditional work. She stressed the need to uphold a Marxist perspective on the women's movement and also draw strength and insights from the writings of Dr Ambedkar, Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule, Periyar and Bhagat Singh as we address class, caste and gender issues together and confront fascist Hindutva forces.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">People's Awakening March</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A Jana Jagaran Yatra, to commemorate 50 years of Naxalbari movement began from School Dangi, in Naxalbari block on November 19, 2016. The Yatra started by felicitating 15 comrades who had actively participated in the Naxalbari movement in the early years. Amongst the comrades felicitated were Khokan Mazumdar, Mujibur Rahman, Shanti Munda, Khudan Mullick, Khemu singh, Dulal Chanda, Thadu Munda, Suniti Biswakarmakar, Nemu Singh, Nathuram Biswas, Kandra Murmu, Shiril Ekka, Amulya Das of PCC CPIML, Govind Chhetri of CPRM and others.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A big gathering that included local residents of Jhoru Jote, of Naxalbari block, that had seen the beginning of the movement with the killing of the notorious police officer Sonam Wangdi by the peasants and locals, was present to begin the Yatra. The gathering was addressed by veteran Com. Khudan Mullick and Com. Khemu Singh as well as by CPI(ML) leaders Kartick Pal, Partha Ghosh and Abhijit Mazumdar. The programme began with revolutionary songs sung by the revolutionary cultural organisation under the leadership of Com. Nitish Roy. The speakers highlighted:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">• The revolutionary legacy of the Naxalbari movement, and its enduring inspiration for today's struggles</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">• The need to resist land grab by corporates and their mafia nexus.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">• The condition of tea garden workers who are living in abject poverty with low wages coupled with starvation on account of closures and non-payment of wages.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">• The demonitization that has hit the poor section of the society the hardest while adversely affecting the low income, middle class and small traders. The rural poor is affected especially in the peak agricultural season where people not only do not have money to buy seeds but are also forced to stand in long queues to get their own hard earned money out from the bank.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">• The failure to provide irrigation facility to the farmers of the terai region despite crores being spent on the Teesta barrage irrigation project.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Yatra travelled through the various villages of the three blocks of Naxalbari, Kharibari and Phansidewa where the Naxalbari movement began, and culminated at Chotopothu Jote on November 21, 2016.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Indore-Patna Train Accident Result of Railways' Criminal Negligence</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">CPI (ML) expressed deep condolences for the victims of the Indore-Patna train accident. This accident is a result of criminal negligence on the part of the Railways. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On the one hand the Modi government talks of starting bullet trains in the country but on the other hand it is not even able to ensure minimum safety of the passengers. The railway tracks are very old. The number of trains is increasing every year and train fares are also being raised, yet there is corresponding increase in the number of railway tracks or expansion in the workforce. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The inadequate workforce affects the crucial issue of maintenance of railway infrastructure and safety. Whereas there were 16 lakh workers in 2006, the number is reduced to 13 lakh in 2015-16. This laying off of workers has badly affected the maintenance of the tracks.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The CPI(ML) also appealed to the Bihar Government to make arrangements for the best available treatment for all the injured and demanded Rs 10 lakhs and government jobs as compensation for the the family members of the victims.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The CPI(ML) Patna city unit took out a candle march in the evening at Buddha Park to pay tributes to the dead and offer heartfelt condolences to the family members of the victims. The march included State Secretary Kunal, Politburo members Dhirendra Jha and Amar, Patna City Secretary Abhyuday, CPI(ML) leader Murtaza Ali, State Committee members Samta Rai, Prakash Kumar and Santosh Jha, AISA State President Mukhtar, Tariq Anwar, Sudhir and other leaders.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The condolence meeting was addressed by Dhirendra Jha and Abhyuday who said that the Modi government was responsible for several deaths through demonetization; and now more than 100 people have been killed due to criminal negligence on the part of the Railways, exposing the failure of the government.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">CPI(ML) Statement on Mine Accident in Nawada</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">CPI (ML) State Secretary Kunal expressed deep concern and grief over the death of 10 workers trapped in the earth during illegal mining by the Sharda Mines Company at Abrakh in Chatkari Panchayat of Rajauli Block, Nawada District. He strongly condemned the attitude of the administration and the government in this matter.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Com. Kunal said that such illegal mining is going on and the country's resources are being looted under protection from the government; at the same time, poor workers are losing their lives during this illegal mining. Till now only 2 bodies have been excavated; the remaining 8 are still trapped under the earth. The administration shows no concern about retrieving these bodies. The workers who have lost their lives belong to the Adivasi community of Jharkhand.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Com. Kunal demanded that the Bihar government should take immediate action in this matter. The CPI (ML) District Committee will protest at the District Collector's office on 21 November to demand an end to illegal mining, retrieval of the bodies of workers still trapped in the earth, proper compensation to the families of the victims, and ensuring the safety of workers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Joint Left Rally in Lucknow</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On 9 November 2016, a joint Left rally was held in Lucknow against price rise, unemployment, corruption, corporate loot, attacks on democratic rights, and in defence of communal harmony was addressed by the national and state leadership of CPM, CPI, CPI (ML), Forward Bloc, and SUCI (Communist). The rally took place on the banks of the Gomti at Laxman Mela Maidan. People from districts from all corners of the State including Poorvanchal, Awadh, Bundelkhand and Western UP participated in the rally. The rally was addressed by CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI (ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI Rajya Sabha member D Raja, Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrat Biswas. Other leaders who addressed the rally were CPI State Secretary Girish Sharma, CPI (M) State Secretary Hiralal Yadav, CPI (ML) CCM Sudhakar Yadav, Forward Bloc State Secretary Shiv Narayan Singh Chouhan, CPI (M) former MLA Subhashini Ali, and SUCI (C) National Staff member Arun Kumar Singh. The proceedings of the meeting were conducted by CPI State Joint Secretary Arvind Raj Swarup and the vote of thanks was proposed by CPI (ML) State Secretary Ramji Rai.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:black">Obituary</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Comrade Rohtas Bharati</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Comrade Rohtas Bharati from Narela, Delhi, passed away in the early morning of 18 November 2016 in a hospital in Faridabad after a long battle with cancer. A veteran comrade, he was active since the days of the Indian People's Front. He was the Party's candidate from Narela in the last Assembly elections in Delhi. Till the very last he was active in organising various party initiatives in Delhi.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">His cremation was attended by Delhi state CPI(ML) Secretary Ravi Rai and other comrades as well as many local people who remembered him fondly.</span></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;border-width:medium medium 2.25pt;border-style:none none double;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle;border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Red Salute to Comrade Rohtas Bharati !</span></p></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-12521479858064522912016-11-15T21:47:00.001+05:302016-11-15T21:47:34.490+05:30ML Update | No. 47 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><br clear="all"><div><br></div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">Vol. 19 | No. 47 |15-21 November 2016</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-01Headline2cols" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:18pt;color:rgb(23,54,93)">Note Ban: Assault on People's Hard Earned Cash, Livelihood and Dignity in the Name of Attack on Black Money</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">IT HAS NOW BEEN A WEEK since Narendra Modi made his Tughlaqi 'Note Ban' announcement. In one fell swoop the government junked all the 500 and 1000 rupee notes. People were asked to deposit their existing notes and collect their weekly 'ration' of new notes from banks, post offices or ATMs. For those living beyond or on the margins of the banking network and having no access to the digital world of plastic money and internet banking, it has meant a disastrous descent into growing chaos, insecurity, darkness and even death. The much-vaunted 'surgical strike' on black money has truly turned into 'carpet bombing' on the common people.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">The government says it had been meticulously planning for this ban for the last six months. The indications of advance planning can of course be seen in BJP leaders posing with the new Rs 2000 note before it made its formal appearance and curious cases of huge deposits in certain accounts, including official accounts of the BJP, just a few days and hours before the announcement of the ban. But if what the country is experiencing for the last one week is to be attributed to meticulous high-level planning, then we must say that this government is utterly incapable of governing and the sooner we can get rid of such a bunch of incompetent rulers the better for the country.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">The government took away 500 and 1000 rupee notes from the people and what the people got back in return in many places were the newly introduced 2000 rupee notes. But the new 2000 rupee notes being smaller in size than the old 500/1000 rupee notes, many ATMs have been rendered dysfunctional till they are made compatible with the new size of notes. In the absence of currencies of lower denomination, the everyday economy of the common citizen has been completely disrupted. No wonder, 100 rupee notes have been selling in the black market even as the government now inks the fingers of people drawing their own 'rationed' money after queuing up for hours outside banks.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">The Modi government has proved to be not just thoroughly inefficient not to anticipate the chaos created by its ill-conceived demonetization drive, but it has also been exposed to be deriving a sadist pleasure from the sufferings of the people. With his characteristic histrionics, Modi said he had got all the scamsters and black money hoarders in the country standing in the queue for sheer two notes of 2000 rupees. He said the poor were sleeping peacefully while the corrupt rich couldn't get any sleep even with sleeping pills. This when people are forced to give up their day's work and earnings to stand hungry and sleepless for hours in queues to get a ration of their own hard-earned money!</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">When reports have started coming in of people dying while spending hours in queues for notes or without getting medical treatment because of lack of notes, a BJP leader from MP says people can also die while standing in queues for food. Modi's media managers are telling us that the poor do not have 500 or 1000 rupee notes, so the move has only inconvenienced the corrupt and the rich. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is asking the people to use this passing inconvenience as an opportunity to go cashless and switch over to digital transactions! The arrogance of the power-drunk rulers and the contempt of digitally empowered elite for the common people of India has seldom been so transparent. Like the proverbial 'let them eat cake' advice given by the French royalty to the hapless people not having bread to eat, the BJP government is asking cash-strapped poor Indians to use cards for transaction! </span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">Designating this Tughlaqi demonetization drive as a surgical strike on black money is thoroughly misplaced and deceptive. We all remember that in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Modi campaign had relentlessly talked about repatriation of black money from foreign banks. Every Indian was promised Rs 15 lakh share in this repatriated treasure, something which was later trashed as 'jumla' or plain rhetoric by the BJP President. Now, in two years of Modi rule the discourse is being shifted from holdings in foreign banks to domestic hoardings, as though black money tycoons have literally stashed cash under their beds and with this one single blow all that cash will now come out in the open. A government which has refused to act against illicit outflow of wealth or obscene accumulation of domestic wealth or ostentatious extravagance by corporate defaulters and tax offenders is trying to deceive the people by presenting demonetization as a war on black money.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">In real life, we all know that only a small portion of black money is temporarily held in cash, the rest is continually converted into illicit wealth (whether in the form of real estate, jewellery, shares or any other lucrative investment asset) and/or used for transaction as a politico-economic lubricant (political funding, payment of bribes and so on that in turn is used to fund sundry luxury expenses of power-brokers and various parasitic classes). If at all demonetization addresses the issue of black money, it covers only that small part of the problem where black money is currently held in the form of cash. But just as demonetization in the past did little to tackle the problem of either black money or fake notes, it is highly unlikely that the present drive will prove to be any more effective.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">The roots of black money and economic corruption lie in the close nexus between big capital and state power, and the intimacy of the two defines every economic policy decision and its implementation in the era of crony capitalism and corporate loot. With Modi repeating his promise to end black money – earlier he wanted 100 days to repatriate black money from foreign banks and now he wants 50 days to act against black money inside the country – the government must be exposed and challenged on this very issue. Corporate bank robbery (sucking people's hard-earned money into the banking system only to write off corporate loans) and tax tyranny (exemptions for and evasion by the rich while crushing the common people under the weight of the GST, the most regressive tax policy which targets mass consumption while exempting wealth and inheritance) are the two big crimes of this government to hide which it has now inflicted the Note Ban Emergency on the people. After SEZ and forcible land acquisition, this has been the biggest economic assault on the common people and we must resist it with all our might.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">The BJP is talking about converting surgical strikes – the much-trumpeted one across the LoC and now this one on our wallets – into votes in the coming Assembly elections. We must foil this design and make it backfire by mobilising the people to use the coming elections as an opportunity to punish the perpetrators of undeclared political and economic Emergency. The attack on the honest cash economy and livelihood of the common people, and the sadistic celebration of the people's misery by the Modi government and the Sangh brigade must get a fitting rebuff when the people queue up outside polling booths in the forthcoming elections.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(23,54,93)">Protests against Attacks on Freedom of Press</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">The CPI(ML) had given a call to observe 9 November 2016 countrywide as National Unity Day to protest against the Modi government's attacks on freedom of the press and freedom of speech, bans on news channels and newspapers, ban on journalists in Bastar, repression of human rights in Kashmir and States in the North-East, and other issues. In response to this call, human chains, protest marches and other programmes were held across the country.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">Bihar: Under this nationwide protest programme a human chain was formed from JP Chowk, Gandhi Maidan in Patna on 9 November 2016. CPI(ML) State Secretary Com. Kunal, PB member Amar, Central Control Commission Chairman Ramjatan Sharma, Samkaleen Lokyudh Editor Brij Bihari Pandey, former MLA and Kisan Mahasabha General Secretary Rajaram Singh and several other party leaders along with activists from AISA, AIPWA, RYA, Hirawal, and Chorus participated in the human chain and protested against the Modi government's bid to inflict fascism on the country. Eminent intellectuals like Baldev Jha and Tarakeshwar Jha also took part in the human chain.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">CPI (ML) leaders said that the attacks and bans on newspapers, channels and freedom of speech in the present time bring to mind the horrors of the days of Emergency imposed by Indira-Sanjay Gandhi. The Modi government is bent on suppressing every voice that disagrees with it and expresses dissent. The continuing attacks on democracy and freedom of the press are cause for grave concern. Therefore, a pervasive unity against fascist forces is the need of the hour today.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">They pointed out that after facing pressure from across the country the government has only stayed the one-day ban on NDTV; the ban has not been rolled back. Bans on other channels are still on. Crushing freedom of the press amounts to dictatorship. Only a few weeks earlier an important Kashmiri newspaper Kashmir Reader was banned so that it could no longer report the ongoing movement in Kashmir. Journalists are being driven out of Bastar at the behest of the police and paramilitary forces. Now, whereas some channels which work as tools for the government are on velvet, one channel which, along with commercialism, was still maintaining some credibility in journalism, is being punished with a ban. What is this if not undeclared Emergency?</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">The protesters forming the human chain held placards displaying slogans such as: Stop attacks on the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression; Take back bans on news channels and newspapers; Stop repression and witch-hunt of journalists in Bastar (Chhattisgarh); Attacks on democracy will not be tolerated; Down with conspiracy to inflict fascism on the country; Nahin Chali Jab Hitlershahi, Modishahi Nahin Chalegi!; Nahin Chali Jab Indirashahi, Modishahi Nahin Chalegi!; and Jo Hitler ki Chaal Chalega Who Hitler ki Maut Marega.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">The protest march in Darbhanga started from Polo Maidan and culminated in a meeting at Laheriyaserai Tower addressed by State Committee member Abhishek Kumar, Neyaz Ahmed of the Insaf Manch, and leaders from other parties and people's organizations. Protest marches were organized in several other places in Bihar such as Darbhanga, Bhojpur, Arwal, Muzaffarpur, Siwan, Gopalganj, Betiya, saharsa, Gaya, Nalanda and Purnea.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">In Jharkhand too, a statewide Protest Day was observed. CPI(ML) activists led by State Committee members Mohan Datta and Bhuneshwar Kewat, AIPF national advisor Fr Stan Swamy, MZ Khan (Janwadi Lekhak Sangh), Anil Anshuman (Jan Sanskriti Manch) Nadeem Khan (Awami Insaf Manch), and others, wearing black badges, led a citizens' protest march at Albert Ekka Chowk.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">In Ramgarh a protest march raising slogans was taken out through Subhash Chowk and Bus Stand and came back to the Party office where it culminated in a meeting. At Naya Mor, Gandhi Chowk in Bokaro Steel City slogans were raised with flags, banners and placards and then a meeting was held under the leadership of District Secretary Devdeep Singh Diwakar, JN Singh and Mohan Prasad. In Garhwa town activists marched through the town. At Lohardaga a protest march against attacks on democracy and freedom of the press was taken out led by District Secretary Mahesh Singh.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">National protest day opposing the ban on TV channels and press was also observed at Lenin centre Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">In Lalkuan, Uttarakhand CPI(ML) leaders and common people took out a march in protest. The participants in the marh covered their mouths with a black cloth a mark of protest and condemned the authoritarian ways of the Modi regime. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(23,54,93)">Protest Against Amendments to CNT and SPT Acts in Jharkhand</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">CPI(ML) organized dharna in front of the Commissioner's office in Dumka on 3 November in which thousands of people took part. A large number of adivasis participated in the protest. The rally which preceded the dharna branched off in two groups—one group marched from the railway station; the other group marched from DC More to reach the Commissioner's office where the rally culminated in a meeting.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The issues raised by the protest were: amendments to the SPT and CNT should be withdrawn; the erroneous domicile policy should be withdrawn and the 1932 khatiyan or the first electoral rolls should be made the basis for domicile; judicial enquiry should be held into the Barkagaon and Khunti firings and the custodial killing of Minhaj Ansari in Narayanpur thana; the people who vandalized the idol of Siddho-Kanho in Bhognadih should be punished; mid-day meal workers should be regularized and paid a monthly wage of Rs 18000, along with other issues.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The dharna was addressed by CPI(ML) leaders Vinod Singh, Geeta Mandal, Sahdev and others. The main slogan of the dharna was, "Raghuvar Hatao, Jharkhand Bachao" ("Remove Raghuvar, Save Jharkhand").</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The speakers vowed to expand this agitation towards a bigger movement in order to remove Raghuvar Das because the very existence of adivasis and original inhabitants of Jharkhand will be in jeopardy under this government which has made policies to ensure that corporate companies get full control over the forests, land, and minerals of Jharkhand. The society is being divided in a communal and fascist manner. After the incidents at Latehar, Pelawal, Jamtara and the killing of Minhaj Ansari, RSS goons have now vandalized the Siddho-Kanho idol at Bhognadih in a conspiracy to break the Muslim-Adivasi unity in the Santhal Pargana.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">At the conclusion of the dharna a 9-point charter of demands was submitted to the Commissioner. The dharna called upon the people to initiate mass mobilization in order to make the gherao of the Vidhan Sabha during the next Assembly session a huge success.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(23,54,93)">Rally Against Killing of An Adivasi in Police Firing</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">On 22 October, thousands of adivasis participated in the 'Mahakrosh rally' against the amendments in the SPT and CNT acts responding to the call of Adivasi Sangharsh Morcha (comprising of 40 adivasi organisations). In order to stop the thousands of adivasis joining from Khunti, the police fired in which the life of an adivasi, Abraham Munda was lost. On 11 November, CPI(ML) organised a protest against this killing at Sayko Bazart and in Khunti.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Hundreds of adivasis holding banners and traditional weapons participated in the protest march. Later addressing the protest meeting, CPI(ML) MLA Rajkumar Yadav said that the political assertion of the adivasis cannot be stopped by use of bullets and batons. In order to ensure water, forests, land and natural resources for the corporates, the police engaged in firing on the adivasis. This is also being done to end the freedom and independence of adivasis' lives and livelihood in Jharkhand. The workers, farmers, adivasis are presenting a strong political claim against these oppressive measures and loot. Hence, it is certain that the Raghuvar government will have to go. The protest meeting was also addressed by Bhubaneshwar Kewat and other leaders. In the end, tributes\ paid to Abraham Munda's martyrdom and demand was made that 25 lakh compensation and a permanent job be given to his bereaved family members.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(23,54,93)">Public Meeting to Commemorate 100th Anniversary of Russian Revolution</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">A Public meeting to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Russian revolution was held at Tanjore on 7 November 2016. It was titled- "Prepare for Indian revolution in the light of Russian revolution". The meeting was presided by Rajan, District committee member of CPI(ML) and addressed by State committee member Desikan, Pudukottai District Secretary Asaithambi, Tanjore District Secretary Ilangovan, state committee member AS Kumar, central committee member, Balasundaram and and state secretary S Kumarasamy.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Com. Balasundaram in his address elaborated on achievements of Soviet revolution including the introduction of maternity benefit to women workers. Kumarasamy in his speech said that the meeting is being held at Tanjore where the campaign for Assembly election is going on which was earlier withheld by Election Commission citing flow of money. Now also the same candidates are in the fray making mockery of democracy. He also questioned that even as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu all along claims that she is living for the people, it is ironical that the people of the state are unable to know her health condition so far. While on one hand she was not in a position to order for the release of pending NREGA wages of the poor, she managed to affix her thumb impression in AIADMK candidates' election nomination forms as party's General Secretary. This reflected the lack of concern for the people of the state by the ruling party. After narrating the achievements of Russian revolution for the mankind, he called for a strong and vibrant left movement to check money and muscle power. Apart from state cadres, masses from Tanjai-Nagai district and Pudukottai district also attended the meeting.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(23,54,93)">CPI(ML) to Launch A Signature Campaign on People's Demands in Tamil Nadu</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">CPI(ML)'s state level cadre meet was held at Tanjore on 6 November 2016. More than 150 cadres from all over Tamil Nadu participated in this meet. The party cadres discussed 'November revolution and its relevance to India', an article published in Theepori (Party's Tamil organ). During the meeting, ways and means to collect 10 lakh signatures on people's demands throughout the state were also discussed. S Kumarasamy, state secretary, summed up the discussions. Com. Balasubramanian, Puducherry state secretary greeted and Com. Balasundaram and Com. Manjula were also present.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">About 1400 subscriptions of Theepori for the year 2017 were handed over at the meeting and It was resolved to complete more than 3000 subscriptions by December 18, 2016.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(23,54,93)">Com. Dipankar Addresses Student and Youth Activists in Chandigarh</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI(ML) General Secretary visited Chandigarh on 12-13 November. During his two days visit he addressed a meeting of the CPI(ML) Union Territory Committee of Chandigarh and a meeting of students and youth comrades. A get together of intellectuals and activists was also organized on 13 November where Com. Dipankar spoke on the "Footsteps of emergency and the fight for democracy". Prominent persons from media like SP Singh, Sandeep Dikshit, Adv. Arjun Sheoron of PUCL and theatre artist Samuel John participated in the discussions.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The UT Committee took the decision to contest eight wards in coming municipal elections of Chandigarh. A list of six candidates was also announced by Kanwaljeet, Secretary, CPI(ML) Chandigarh.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(23,54,93)">Land Satyagraha in Darbhanga</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">CPI(ML) Darbhanga district committee and AIARLA started an indefinite land rights satyagraha in front of the Darbhanga Collectorate from 20 October 2016 on the issues of giving possession over the lands to parcha holders (allottees), land for the landless, and legal land rights for people who have been settled on land for many years. Tens of thousands of parcha holders have not given possession over lands in Debna (Tardih), Godaipatti (Hanuman Nagar), Kaligaon (Singhwada), Eastern and Western blocks of Kushewarsthan, Biraul, Bahedi and other places in Darbhanga for years. Nothing has been done in this matter despite repeated requests to the administration who are responding with ifs and buts on the question of dakhal-dehani.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">During the land satyagraha agitation thousands of rural poor raising slogans of "Roar of the Landless Poor, Will Settle for Nothing Less than Our Land Rights" protested at the Darbhanga District Collectorate. The protest started from Polo Maidan and marched past the Commissioner's Office, Collectorate and Laheriyaserai Tower. The protest was led by CPI(ML) District Secretary Baidyanath Yadav, AIARLA District President Jangi Yadav, District Secretary Prof. Kalyan Bharti, State Vice President Laxmi Paswan, ML State committee member Abhishek Kumar and others. Addressing the meeting at Polo Maidan presided over by Ashok Paswan the speakers said that the government and administration are playing paper games on the issue of land for the poor and landless. They are even conspiring to displace those poor who are already settled on some land and the administration has become a puppet in the hands of land thieves.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">A Party delegation had talks with the DM on a 11 point charter of demands. The DM agreed to the demand of constituting a committee with political and social activists as members on the issue of dakhal-dehani. The Party also demanded the following: the conspiracy to displace the mahadalits settled in Kataiya Musahari of Biraul block should be stopped; people settled on canals and dams should not be displaced without alternative arrangements being made first; and positive action should be taken on the thousands of applications given by the landless in various zones. The Party gave the district administration a month's time and said that if concrete action is not taken a "ghera dalo, dera dalo" agitation will be started on 21 November.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(23,54,93)">United Action against War Mongering</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">A united campaign against war mongering- 'War, Chhod na Yaar' (Say No to War my friend) was called by more than 30 organisations on 9 November at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. The 9 November programme was preceded by screening of anti-war films and holding discussions at several venues in Delhi. The organizers included AIDWA, AIPF, AIPWA, AISA, AICCTU, ANHAD, CITU, Dwarka collective, DYFI, Sangwari, Jan Natya Manch, IPTA Delhi among several others. The programme on the 9 November saw poets, singers and other cultural, social and political activists, retired military officers and family members of military personnel killed in wars, who came together against war-mongering and appeal for peace. The speakers included AIPWA national Secretary Kavita Krishnan, Activist John Dayal, AISA activist and Ex JNUSU VP, Shehla Rashid Shora, Jagmati Sangwan, Admiral Ramdas and several others. Addressing the people who had thronged Jantar Mantar, AIPWA national Secretary Kavita Krishnan appealed to the people to think about the consequences of militarism, war and hate-mongering for India. She added that at a time when citizens are being told openly that they cannot ask questions even when citizens are being killed openly, as happened this week in Bhopal, it is time for those who believe in peace and democracy to speak up. Shabnam Hashmi from ANHAD said that people had gathered here to send out a message against the climate of war-mongering that has taken over the country post the Uri attack in Kashmir and the subsequent military stance by India. She emphasized that we needed to be wary of that and go for peace.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Artists from Delhi Sultanate & Begum X, Sangwari, Jan Samskriti and other cultural organisations raised voices against war mongering through their performances. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(23,54,93)">Protest in Solidarity With Para Teachers</span></font></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="gmail-m_2536385468408743500gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.25pt">CPI(ML)'s Jaynagar block committee, Koderma district, organised a protest against the attacks on the para teachers by the Raghuvar government in Jharkhand and expressed solidarity with their demands. The protestors also demanded the release of the teachers who had been arrested during teachers' agitation. The pressure of the people's protest forced the authorities to release the teachers. The protestors also raised the slogan of 'Remove Modi, Save Democracy' followed by effigy burning. In Birni, Raising the slogans of 'Save Teachers, Save Education' took out a protest march and a joint public meeting was held at the block headquarters with the agitating para teachers.</span></p></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-2196835891777796302016-11-09T13:53:00.001+05:302016-11-09T13:53:16.752+05:30ML Update | No. 46 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 46 | 8-14 November 2016<br><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:30.6667px;color:red">India Will Not Brook another Emergency</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">At the Ramnath Goenka journalism award function Narendra Modi tried to project himself as a champion of media freedom when he said no future leader in India would ever be allowed to impose another Emergency. Ironically enough, this grand proclamation was soon followed up by the announcement of a one-day ban on the NDTV Hindi channel 'NDTV India'. The channel was accused of leaking out 'strategically sensitive' information while covering the anti-terrorist operation in the wake of the Pathankot airbase attack, and the ban was announced as a punitive measure to enforce media discipline in matters of 'national security'. In the words of I&B Minister Venkaiah Naidu, the interests of the nation must take precedence over the freedom of the press.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The excuse dished out by the government to punish one of the most credible Hindi channels known for its critical coverage of contentious social, cultural, economic and political subjects did not obviously hold water for anybody except perhaps the most die-hard supporters of the Sangh parivar. The concerned information was all in the public domain and almost all channels aired similar footage while reporting from the site and covering the operation. It was quite obvious that the real reason lay elsewhere – the NDTV India coverage of Sanghi thuggery on various pretexts and the growing protests against this assault on democracy has been an eyesore for the thought police of the Sangh brigade.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">But as has happened with many recent cases of Sanghi offensive, the NDTV ban has also backfired, evoking considerable public opposition and significant protests within the media forcing the government on the backfoot. The case has now gone to the Supreme Court, but meanwhile as a face-saving arrangement, Naidu ensured a meeting with Prannoy Roy before announcing that the ban has been put on hold till the 'representation' made by NDTV is duly 'examined'. It is of course a limited and temporary 'respite' in a specific case, but nonetheless a significant victory that will inspire every defender of democracy in the ongoing resistance. We must of course remember that there are many other cases of attacks on the media – the ban on the Kashmir Reader, a Srinagar-based English daily, that has been in force since 2 October and continuing attacks on journalists in Bastar for example – that have not attracted as much attention and generated as much protest and solidarity as the NDTV case. There can be no selective defence of media freedom and the battle must be waged consistently.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Ever since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, we have seen the government's desperation to control the cultural and intellectual discourse in the country and systematically subvert the freedom of expression and stop the flow of critical ideas. From the planting of trusted Sangh loyalists in key posts of various institutions to the crackdown on students and teachers in IIT Madras, FTII, Hyderabad central university, JNU and other places to the persecution of human rights activists and restrictions on media operations – the pattern has been quite clear. This is the basis on which students have been charged with sedition, every critical questioning of the government's Kashmir policy and handling of Pakistan has been dubbed an insult to the army reflecting complicity with Pakistan, and demand for judicial inquiry in the case of the Bhopal fake encounter is being branded as an act of appeasement of Muslims in the interest of 'vote-bank politics'. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">While accusing the entire opposition of politicizing issues of national security, the BJP is openly asking its cadre to use the surgical strike for votes in UP elections. Even as the one-day ban on NDTV has been put 'on hold', the Chhattisgarh police has booked professors of Delhi University and JNU in a case of 'murder of an adivasi'. Delhi police who has shown utter inertia and inaction in the case of JNU student Najeeb Ahmad who has been missing for more than three weeks following an assault by ABVP activists inside the JNU campus unleashed its fury on protesting students and citizens including Najeeb's mother. We saw the Delhi police behave similarly in the case of retired soldier Ramkrishan Grewal who took his own life to protest against the non-implementation of the OROP scheme on which the Modi government always pats its own back.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The Modi government and the entire Sangh brigade seem to be working on a conscious strategy of testing the waters and keeping the pot boiling so they can keep the people divided along as many fault lines as possible even as they unleash their regressive agenda in its entirety. But in the process, the government is creating a series of flashpoints and once the people start recognizing the links and identifying the common threat, the battle-lines can all converge in a common battlefield. The Sangh brigade believes it has the freedom to define the nation and everything pertaining to it – from nationalism to national security to every other national interest – and the Modi government has the luxury to impose an undeclared emergency and suppress all dissent in the name of national security. Let us tell them loud and clear that India shall never brook another Emergency, declared or undeclared, and the destroyers of the country shall never be allowed to teach us on patriotism and national security.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"> </p><p class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-MsoSubtitle" style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:21.4667px;color:red">Withdraw FIR Against Prof. Nandini Sunder and Others Files by Chhattisgarh Govt.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal">CPI(ML) strongly condemns the FIR filed by the Chhattisgarh government against Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar, JNU professor Archana Prasad, CPI(M) Chhattisgarh state secretary Sanjay Parate, Vineet Tiwari from Delhi's Joshi Adhikar Sansthan and six others. This FIR, ridiculously charging Prof. Sundar and others of the murder of an adivasi villager in Bastar, is clearly an attempt to intimidate all democratic voices speaking out against the ongoing state repression in Chhattisgarh. Apart from murder, they have been charged with criminal conspiracy and rioting.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal">The ridiculousness of the charges are patently visible. On <span lang="HI">4</span> November, Shamnath Baghel was killed at his residence in the Tongpal area in Chhattisgarh, allegedly by Maoists. According to the Chhattisgarh police and Inspector General of Police Kalluri, Baghel had been getting threats from the Maoists. Nandini Sundar, Archana Prasad, Vineet Tiwari, Sanjay Parate and an unidentified woman activist from Sukma have been accused of "inciting" adivasis against the government and seeking villagers support for Maoists. It is on the basis of these absurd allegations that Prof. Sundar and others are being charged and harassed.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal">Earlier this year, those named in the FIR were part of a fact-finding team that documented the repression in Bastar. Prof. Sundar and others have consistently been campaigning against the widespread human rights violations in Chhattisgarh. Time and again, democratic voices have exposed the blatant lies of the police and security forces. They have repeatedly brought to light the continuing impunity with which murders, rapes, fake encounters and widespread intimidation of adivasis is taking place in Bastar. It needs to be remembered that the Chhattisgarh Police was recently indicted by the CBI for not just burning <span lang="HI">160</span> homes in Dantewada in <span lang="HI">2011</span>, but also for falsely suggesting that Maoists were responsible for the violence and damage. The current IGP Kalluri was the SSP of Dantewada in <span lang="HI">2011</span> when this incident took place. Prof. Sundar, Swami Agnivesh amongst others had played a crucial role in bringing this horrific episode to light.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal">Clearly, the FIR now filed against Prof. Sundar and others are a punishment for their daring to expose the reality of Bastar, for daring to speak out against the ongoing brutalities unleashed by the police and security forces and supported by the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh. Just two weeks ago, police and special auxiliary forces in Chhattisgarh burnt effigies of critics of human rights violations, including Prof. Sundar, at an official protest two weeks ago. And now this farcical FIR has been filed.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal">Truth is being turned on its head: those who expose murders by Chhattisgarh police and paramilitary forces are now being booked for murder. We are being asked to believe the opposite of truth. CPI(ML) demands an end to the intimidation and harassment of human rights activists, journalists and scholars exposing the reality of Bastar.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span style="background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </span></p><p class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-MsoSubtitle" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;line-height:21.4667px;color:red">Jan Ekta Rally to Commemorate 6<sup>th</sup> Death Anniversary of Com. Ram Naresh Ram</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">A <i>Jan Ekta Rally (</i> People's Unity Rally) was organized in Piro on 26 October 2016 to commemorate the 6<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Com. Ram Naresh Ram, the towering figure of social change and founder of CPI(ML) in Bhojpur. The rally, attended by large numbers of poor, minorities and justice-loving people was organized on the issues of communal harmony, democracy and people's rights. Party leaders Rameshwar Prasad, Mahboob Alam, Sudama Prasad and many others were present in the rally.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The rally organized was also to protest against the attempts of Sangh forces to incite communal frenzy in Piro on the occasion of Durga Puja and Muharram. It is to be noted that only CPI(ML) is openly protesting against the violence being unleashed against the minority community. Parties like the RJD, JD(U) and LJP were complicit in the BJP conspiracy to incite violence and riots. All these parties ran campaigns first against the minority community and then against the CPI(ML) and spread all kinds of rumours. In recent days, the Sangh forces focused on Tarari, the constituency of CPI(ML) MLA Sudama Prasad, and ran a conspiracy to spread communal poison and create enmity between dalits and Muslims in a bid to weaken the CPI(ML). They had tried a similar ploy in 2014 at Sahar during Laxmi Puja.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The Party countered attempts to vitiate the atmosphere by holding meetings from village to village followed by the Jan Ekta Rally on 26 October. The rally which was attended in large numbers by people including many from the minority community was able to lessen the fear which had been instilled in the minds of the minorities. The rally cautioned the rioters' ideological nurturers- the BJP and RSS, that the CPI(ML) would take up cudgels against their communal hate-mongering. These initiatives by the Party broadened its mass base and left a deep impact on the minority community who understood that in times of trouble it is only the ML which stands by them. This rally not only strengthened the people's unity by opposing the politics of communal division, but also exposed the opportunistic politics of the RJD and JD(U) on the issue of communalism.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-MsoSubtitle" style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:21.4667px;color:red;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Condemn Police Assault on the Activists of Rihaai Manch</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span style="color:rgb(29,33,41);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">CPI(ML) state unit of Uttar Pradesh strongly condemned the police brutalities unleashed on the activists of the Rihaai Manch including on their general secretary Rajeev Yadav. On 2 November 2016, the activists of the Rihaai Manch were on their way to the GPO park in Lucknow to protest against the fake encounters of 8 Muslim youth in Bhopal by Bhopal Police. However, they were stopped by the Lucknow Police and brutally beaten up.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span style="color:rgb(29,33,41);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">A team of party members visited the office of the Rihaai Manch to meet the injured activists. CPI(ML) UP state secretary Ramji Rai said that the way the Samajwadi Party government dealt with peaceful activists and those defending democracy has started reminding one of the days of emergency. The party that claims to follow the ideals of Lohia is showing authoritarian behaviour. <span class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-m6734097133581318690gmail-textexposedshow">He also said that it seems the talking about the failures of the BJP government at the centre and exposing their attempts to incite communal frenzy as the UP elections come closer does not appear to go down well not only with the BJP but even with the SP. The SP government at the state appears uncomfortable about questions being raised about the failures and communal agenda of the BJP. If it were not so, the police under Akhilesh Yadav would not have unleashed brutalities on the protestors demanding answers on the so called "bravery" of the MP police headed by Shivraj Singh. He added that the people of the state are watching everything and the elections to the state assembly are not far away. He demanded strict action against the accused police officials who attacked the activists of the Rihaai Manch.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-m6734097133581318690gmail-textexposedshow"><span style="color:rgb(29,33,41);background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </span></span></p><p class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-MsoSubtitle" style="font-size:12.8px"><span class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-m6734097133581318690gmail-textexposedshow"><b><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:21.4667px;font-family:calibri,sans-serif;color:red;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Protests Continue Against the Inactions and Failures in Finding JNU Student Najeeb</span></b></span><span style="font-size:16pt;line-height:24.5333px;color:red;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">It has been nearly three weeks since Najeeb, student of JNU went missing. The JNU administration and the Delhi police have completely failed to take effective measures to find Najeeb. On 3 November the JNUSU organised a solidarity meeting with leaders from various political parties and other concerned citizens on the JNU campus. The speakers including Delhi CM, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, CPI(ML) PB member Kavita Krishnan, CPI(M) PB member Prakash Karat and several others came down on the JNU administration for its efforts to shield the attackers of Najeeb and for failing to recognize the attack on Najeeb. They also strongly criticised the Delhi Police for its shoddy search process in which it had failed to interrogate the attackers whom several students have identified, the warden who was witness to the violence and several others. They also spoke against the increasing persecution of the minorities by the present government.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">On 6 November, a United Citizens Vigil at India Gate was called to increase the pressure on the Delhi Police to find Najeeb. However, the Delhi Police cordoned off the entire area around India Gate and did not allow the protestors to gather. Najeeb's mother was brutally dragged away and pushed into the bus. Students travelling in public buses were detained and taken to different police stations. Male police was seen brutally assaulting female activists. The day saw the police sparing no attempts to ensure that voices demanding justice for Najeeb were suppressed. However, undeterred students continued to raise slogans for Najeeb and making all possible attempts to reach the site of protest. Hundreds of students and Najeeb's mother and sister were detained.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">On 7 November JNUSU gave a call for a Protest Demo in front of the Delhi Police Head Quarter against the police's brutality on Najeeb's mother, sister and many students on the way to the vigil at the India Gate. The students decided that in days to come they will further intensify the movement against the continuous delay and tactics by the Delhi Police to sheild the ABVP goons who attacked Najeeb. The student leaders said that there will be no tolerance to the police's lethargy in finding out Najeeb.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </p><p class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-MsoSubtitle" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;line-height:21.4667px;color:red">Protests in Darbhanga against Bhopal Fake Encounter</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">On 31 October 2016 the Madhya Pradesh police killed 8 undertrial Muslim youths citing the reason that they "had broken jail and were running away". The videos that have come up later have clearly exposed the lies of the BJP government and the contradiction between the statements of the state home minister and the Bhopal IG. Besides Delhi, where protest was held on 1 November demanding a full enquiry monitored by the Supreme Court into these alleged encounter killings, protests have also been organized in other parts of the country.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">In Darbhanga, Bihar, a protest march against the fake encounter killings in MP was taken out under the joint banners of the CPI(ML) and the Insaf Manch. The march, led by ML State committee member Abhishek Kumar, Insaf Manch State VP Naiyaz Ahmad, and CPI(ML) City Secretary Com. Sadiq Bharati, proceeded past the Collectorate and culminated in a meeting at the Laheriyasearai Tower presided over by Ranjeet Ram. Addressing the meeting Abhishek Kumar said that even before this, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has regularly killed adivasis and minorities in fake encounters. This is the same Shivraj Chauhan government which has murdered 42 people in order to hush up the Vyapam scam. Naiyaz Ahmad said that the killing of 8 undertrials by the MP police is a cold-blooded and pre-planned murder.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-MsoSubtitle" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;line-height:21.4667px;color:red">Dharna Against Brutal Oppression of Adivasis in Bastar</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">A dharna was organized under the banner of the Bastar Bachao Sangharsh Samti on 3 November 2016 at Budha Talab, Raipur to demand resignation of Chief Minister Raman Singh and the arrest of police official SRP Kalluri who are responsible for the brutal repression of adivasis in the State and the murder of democracy. Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti), CPIM, CPI(ML) (Red Star), CPI(ML) (Liberation), Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, Adivasi Kalyan Sansthan, Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, Jila Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (Rajnandgaon), Chhattisgarh Christian Fellowship, Dalit Mukti Morcha, PUCL Chhattisgarh, Bastar Patrakar Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, Chhattisgarh Kisan Sabha and other organizations participated in the dharna.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Addressing the dharna, Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha President Janaklal Thakur said that we cannot countenance a Prime Minister who provides protection to criminals. This government is crushing the rights of farmers, workers, adivasis, and dalits. The adivasis of Bastar are being brutally repressed so that their land can be grabbed. Sanjay Parate of the CPIM said that the Sangh goons are attacking the rights of the common people across the country. The Modi-Raman-Kalluri triumvirate is having adivasis killed in Bastar and handing over natural resources and land, which are the people's property, to corporate companies. Such a government has no right to remain in power. Nand Kumar Kashyap of the Kisan Sabha said that this BJP government which burns effigies of political and human rights activists has no faith in democracy and the constitution of India but relies rather on crushing the rights of the people. CPI(ML) (Red Star) State Secretary Shora Yadav pointed out that the Chhattisgarh government is celebrating Rajyotsav (State foundation day celebrations) on the dead bodies of adivasis and farmers. Kamal Shukla of the Bastar Patrakar Sangharsh Samiti said that security forces are giving protection to companies which are engaged in illegal mining in Bastar and are killing innocent citizens; he said that an unbridled loot of minerals is going on in Bastar. The dharna was also addressed by Comrades Brijendra Tiwari, Ramakant Banjare, SR Netam, Kaladas Dahariya, Mridul Sengupta, Goldie George, Sudha Bharadwaj and others.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">At the conclusion of the dharna a memorandum was sent to the President of India through the Governor of Chhattisgarh. The people's organizations and political parties affiliated to the Bastar Bachao Sangharsh Samiti said in one voice that violence against innocent adivasis and brutal suppression of human rights is taking place in Bastar under the guise of eradication of Maoism. Adivasis are being killed in fake encounters. Women are being raped by security forces personnel. All this is being done on the say-so of the Central and State governments in order to clear the way for corporate loot of the priceless natural resources of Bastar.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-MsoSubtitle" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;line-height:21.4667px;color:red">Against Attack on Food Security Act</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span style="background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">On 5 November 2016, more than three thousand rural poor marched under the banner of All Assam Grameen Shramik Sanstha, affiliated to AICCTU against the Modi's government attack on constitutional rights and in particular on the National Food Security Act. The huge number of protestors who gathered virtually paralyzed the main thoroughfare of Tinsukia town in Assam as they marched raising slogans against the Modi government.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span style="background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </span></p><p class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-MsoSubtitle" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;line-height:21.4667px;color:red">AIPWA Third State Conference in Odisha</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) held its third Odisha State Conference on 23 October 2016 at the Nagabhushan Patnayak Bhawan, Bhubaneshwar. Over 200 delegates participated in the conference.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Inaugurating the conference, AIPWA National Vice President, Saroj Choube said that this State conference was a prelude to AIPWA's National conference next month (13-14 Nov) whose chief slogan is "<i>Maang Rahi Hai Aadhi Aabadi-Suraksha Samman aur Azadi</i>" (Half the population is demanding -secuirty, dignity and freedom) and "<i>Sangh Brigade Hoshiyar-Mahilayen Hain Taiyyar</i>" [Sangh Brigade be cautious- Women are Ready (to take you on)].</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">She further said that in 2014, Narendra Modi's pre-election slogan was "<i>Bahut Hua Nari par Vaar/Abki Baar Bhajapa Sarkar</i>" (Enough of violence on women- this time BJP government). It is now two and a half years since the Modi government came to power but the violence against women has not abated; rather, a veritable 'Vaar" (War) has been launched against farmers, workers, students, women and youth. Today premier campuses of the country have been turned into battle grounds—whether it is the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula or witch-hunt of students at JNU and BHU. Everywhere students who raise their voices in dissent are being attacked. There is no safety for women and girls across the country. A failure on all fronts, the Modi government now wants to throw the country into the flames of war-mongering. The people's water, forests, and land are being handed over forcibly to corporate companies even if it means using bullet-force. People are being killed in fake encounters. To resist present situation, we must strengthen the organization and sharpen people's struggles.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">CPI(ML) State Secretary Yudhishthir Mahapatra, Namita Biswal, peasant leader Ashok Pradhan and AICCTU leader Radhakant Sethi also addressed the open session of the conference. Com. Savita Baraj presented the work-report. Comrades Sita Das, Roshan Ara Bibi, Jayanti Biswal, Urmila Nimle, Atyoshi Malik, Sukanti Kustiya, Jyotsna Mishra, and Arati Jena presented their views on the report. At the conclusion, a 25-member State committee was constituted with Savita Baraj as President and Mandakini Sethi as Secretary. The conference also elected the delegates who would participate in the forthcoming national conference.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-MsoSubtitle" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:14pt;line-height:21.4667px;color:red">Fact Finding Report on the Killing of Minhaj Ansari in Jharkhand</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-GB">A 22 year old Muslim youth Minhaj Ansari died after being brutally beaten by police in Narayanpur block in Jaamtada district. On 17 October, a fact-finding team comprising of members from AIPF, UMF, Right to Food Campaign, Anjuman Islamia, Yuva Ulgulan Manch and ACPR visited Minhaj Ansari's home and talked to his family members and villagers. The following facts emerged during the fact finding:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-GB">On 3 October evening, the station incharge of Narayanpur station along with other police personnel took away Minhaj Ansari, Fahim and Shabaan from Minhaj's shop. There was a complaint against Minhaj that he has posted a controversial picture in a whatsapp group. They were beaten while they were being taken away. </span>Several villagers reported that on the night Minhaj was arrested the police made him run and beat him mercilessly. They could hear his and others cry for help. The police also threatened those standing outside witnessing this cruelty that they too would be shot if they did not go inside.<span lang="EN-GB"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Minhaj's relatives reported that when they saw Minhaj's dead body, the bones of his neck, hand and feet were found to be broken. The post mortem report had mentioned excessive bleeding. Shahban and Fahim who had been arrested along with Minhaj shared that Minhaj had anticipated that the police would kill him. Shahban said that while initially they were beaten together, later Minhaj was taken to a separate room to be beaten. They could hear his cries from the other room. On the night of 3 October when the police sub inspector went to Minhaj's home to collect his laptop and sim card, they let him talk to his sister on phone, where he also shared with her that the police will kill him and they must give the police whatever the police is asking for. Besides laptop and Sim, they also took 3000 rupees cash. They abused his sister calling her whore and threatened his relatives that they would be put behind bars if they spoke in favour of Minhaj. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Minhaj's family never saw him alive again after he was picked by police. Even when he was produced before SP, he could hardly move and he was unconscious. On 6 October he was sent to RIMS hospital where his parents saw him but there was no movement in his body. It was on 9 October that he was officially declared dead.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">The team found out that Minhaj had been killed in police custody in which the station sub-inspector Harish Pathak, RSS members and the Cow protection groups have a direct role in Mihnaj's death. Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Jaamtada district secretary Sonu Singh had complained against him and when Minhaj's uncle went to the police station, Sonu Singh was present there beating Minhaj and giving directions to Harish Pathak to beat him. Minhaj's family has registered a case of murder against Sonu Singh.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">The fact finding team has demanded that Sonu Singh and Harish Pathak be arrested and all false cases slapped on relations and family of Minhaj be taken back. His family should also be paid a compensation. There should be impartial judicial investigation into the entire incident. During the release of the report the team also condemned the Raghuvar Das government for oppressing democratic voices and unleashing police oppression and terror in the state.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </p><p class="gmail-m_6396069034721267967gmail-MsoSubtitle" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;line-height:21.4667px;color:red">OBITUARIES</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:red">Comrade Rama Gairola</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">It is with deep sorrow and shock that we learnt of the untimely death of Comrade Rama Gairola at the prime of her life and revolutionary political journey at the very young age of 30. She was a CPI(ML) State Committee member and AIPWA Joint Secretary in Uttar Pradesh. She was admitted in Jatpura local hospital in the night of 1-2 November after a heavy bout of fever. Doctors assured that she will improve in a couple of days, but the fever persisted and on 4th November she was taken to Puranpur hospital and then to the Pilibhit district hospital. The next day her condition deteriorated suddenly in the evening and doctors referred her to the hospital in Bareilly but she passed away around 10.30 PM within ten minutes of reaching the Bareilly hospital.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Dengue has spread in epidemic proportions in Puranpur where the CPI(ML) party office is located. Comrade Rama was involved in helping dengue patients in her locality, when she herself contracted the disease.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The fact that she was diagnosed with dengue – a curable disease - on time and yet her life could not be saved is a comment on the state of health services in rural India.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Comrade Rama was very much liked by the workers, peasants, and women amongst whom she worked. She had been a model elected member of the Zila Panchayat - a post she won with a record margin in 2010 after an election campaign conducted on her own, without any money power, on foot from village to village. She fought against the custodial killing of a dalit youth Rampal while contesting this election. Inside the Zila Panchayat she was a voice for the struggles of people, raising her voice against rampant corruption in different development schemes. She won hearts all through the five years of her tenure. When the Zila Panchayat illegally sanctioned construction of shops on the hospital land it was her struggle that forced the authorities to stop the construction. She joined peasants in the struggle against inclusion of 95 villages of Pilibhit under the Tiger Project, leading thousands in the gherao of central minister Maneka Gandhi's office in Pilibhit which is the latter's parliamentary constituency.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">She was one of those comrades who are always available to the people in their need and always ready to take whatever initiative is required in order to resolve various issues.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">She had rejected an award from the UP State Government in protest against violence on women and Mulayam Singh's rape culture 'boys are boys, they can make a mistake' remark.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">She had begun organising ASHA and Anganwadi workers and had worked hard during their protest and chakka jam - road blockade - recently held in the state capital Lucknow. Her wish to organise this important contingent of workers and women in an effective state level organisation remained unfulfilled.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Comrade Ram Gairola was a promising young activist of AIPWA and CPI(ML) Liberation in Pilibhit and rural Western Uttar Pradesh. She emerged as a leading voice of left in the region within a brief time span of just 6 years. She left indelible imprints of her work and service to the people that no one can forget.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">She lived the life of a revolutionary, and became a fulltime activist. She had to fight personal battles against patriarchal restrictions in her own home, and chose her life companion braving heavy opposition from parents.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">We are committed to carrying forward Comrade Rama Gairola's struggles. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:red">Com. Ramjeet Bediya</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Com. Ramjeet Bediya, a resident of village Padariya (Chumba Panchayat) in Mandu block of Ramgarh district, Jharkhand, passed away on 30 October 2016 from heart failure while undergoing treatment at RIMS in Ranchi. He was 55 years old and left behind his wife, four daughters and a son.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Com. Ramjeet joined the party in 1988 and had been an active member ever since. He played an active role in the party's struggles against feudal oppression, moneylenders' oppression and police repression as well as in the struggles on the issues of employment and wages.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">His funeral procession was accompanied by party leaders, activists, and villagers in large numbers, including CPI(ML) district Secretary Bhuneshwar Bediya, Mandu block committee members Laka Bediya, Ramvriksh Bediya, Prayag Bediya. A two minute silent tribute was paid and condolences expressed to his family members before the last rites, and it was resolved to carry forward his work and fulfill his dreams.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:red">Com. Deviram Besra</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">The untimely demise of Com. Deviram Besra, aged 47, occurred recently in Jobla village, Mandu block, Ramgarh district in Jharkhand. He had become a member of the CPI(ML) in 1986. He had played an active role in the party's struggles against feudal oppression and for restoration of land to the poor. He had participated in the movements against police repression and for ending pay-loader system to give opportunities to the unemployed. He also participated in movements outside Jharkhand and campaigned for elections in Purnea (Bihar).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:red">Com. Ghanshyam Mahto</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:red"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-US">Spirited and dedicated kisan leader of the nineties Com. Ghanshyam Mahto passed away in his paternal village Bundu in Baruhathu. He was 76 years old. He joined the CPI(ML) in 1990 and worked ceaselessly for the poor and adivasis. In spite of financial constraints, he never looked back or wavered. On the day of his demise, despite ill health, he attended the Sankalp Sabha on the martyrdom day of Parmeshwar Singh Munda. He leaves behind three daughters and two sons.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-US">Red Salute to all departed Comrades !</span></b></p> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-22200794316550254502016-11-02T20:32:00.001+05:302016-11-02T20:32:44.180+05:30ML Update | No. 45 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-adn gmail-ads" style="padding-left:8px;font-size:medium"><div class="gmail-gs" style="margin-left:44px"><div id="gmail-:10w" class="gmail-ii gmail-gt gmail-adP gmail-adO" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-bottom:5px"><div id="gmail-:10v" class="gmail-a3s gmail-aXjCH gmail-m1582404d364fafed"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-m_-4031931155754951548gmail-Section1"><p class="gmail-m_-4031931155754951548gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;line-height:35.2px;color:red">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px;color:rgb(84,141,212)">Update</span></i></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px"></span></i></b></p><p class="gmail-m_-4031931155754951548gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8pt;line-height:12.8px;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine<br></span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:7pt;line-height:11.2px;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 45 | </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:6pt;line-height:9.6px;color:gray">1-7 NOV 2016</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:7.2pt;text-align:center;line-height:29pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:14pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Save India from the 'Gujarat Model' - <br>Say a Firm and Loud NO to 'Encounter Raj'</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In Gujarat, Narendra Modi had consolidated his rule first by giving a free hand to the Sangh brigade to carry out the infamous Gujarat genocide and then by manipulating the state machinery to engineer a string of extra-judicial killings. And to legitimize this total subversion of the tenets of rule of law he used to invoke the tested and trusted rhetoric of aggressive provincial chauvinism (Gujarat Gaurav) and anti-Pakistan jingoism (his election speeches often used to target Miyan Musharraf). Halfway through his first term Modi seems to be repeating the same trusted tactic on a countrywide scale. The Gujarat model is now truly being sought to be replicated aggressively across the country.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Let us take the case of the Bhopal encounter. On 31st October we all woke up to the news of a daring jailbreak by 8 undertrial prisoners belonging to the SIMI from the high security Bhopal central jail. We were told that the prisoners had made good their escape by slitting the throat of constable Ramashankar Yadav. Within a few hours television channels broke the news of all those eight undertrials having been killed by the MP Police in an 'encounter'. While for large sections of the media the encounter became a cause for celebration of a 'quick and smart retribution' by the police forces, it soon became clear that the versions put out by different responsible sources were simply not adding up to any coherent narrative, the holes were just too many, and too glaring and gaping at that.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The MP jail minister accepts her responsibility for lapses in jail security and says CCTVs were not working which means there would be no footage to back the jail escape narrative. The home minister has gone on record that the undertrials were unarmed, a fact which is clearly substantiated by the various video clippings of the encounter that have surfaced so far. The IG however claims that the undertrials had sharp weapons with which they attacked the police. The sarpanch of the local panchayat where the encounter took place said the undertrials only pelted stones at the police. Even otherwise, the presumptions of eight undertrials breaking the jail with the help of sheer plastic spoons and wooden keys and then leisurely embarking on a collective trip to acquire fresh clothes and climb up a hillock from where they would be visible to all have the makings of a crude Bollywood thriller that thrives on the credulity of a lazy and captive audience.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The fact that the Vyapam-tainted Shivraj Singh Chauhan establishment of Madhya Pradesh did not even bother to put out a slightly more coherent and credible narrative of the entire episode shows the level of brazenness of the rulers in the Modi era. They know they can always rely on the services of a pliant and complicit media and the aggressive rhetoric of hyper-nationalism of the thuggish Sangh's brigade to adamantly insist on their otherwise loophole-ridden story. Already two central ministers have jumped in to justify the encounter. Union Minister of State in the PMO, Mr. Jitendra Singh has called the Bhopal encounter a morale-booster for the nation. And Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr. Kiren Rijiju has asked Indians to stop the habit of doubting and questioning the authorities and instead trust the police version of the story.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Bhopal is however no aberration, it only defines the new 'normal' in matters of 'law and order', it is the Modi model of 'minimum government, maximum governance' at work. Just a week before Bhopal we had Malkangiri where a squad from the 'greyhound' force of Andhra Pradesh stormed a Maoist conclave in an Odisha jungle to kill reportedly three-dozen-odd Maoist leaders and activists and local villagers (nearly half of those killed being Adivasis). If the Maoists were all armed and the killings happened as a result of a genuine armed encounter, the police would have also had to sustain major casualties, the report of which is conspicuously missing from the Malkangiri narrative. The NHRC and the Supreme Court have laid down clear judicial and administrative guidelines to deal with encounters claimed by the state, but in the cases of both Bhopal and Malkangiri, the powers that be are contemptuously ignoring the NHRC/Supreme Court mandate. Encounters aside, we can also see an alarming rise in the incidence of killing of unarmed people in unprovoked police firing, not only in 'disturbed' border states of Kashmir and the North-East, but also in a state like Jharkhand where at least seven peasants, workers and students have been killed in three incidents - Gola, Barkagaon and Khunti - in less than last two months.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Following the much discussed post-Uri 'surgical strike', banners were seen across poll-bound Uttar Pradesh lauding the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister and issuing a brazen warning: 'We will kill you and kill you for sure but with our gun, our bullet, at our time of convenience but at your place.' It now clearly turns out that the 'you in your place' need not be some unknown people in unknown locations beyond our borders, but could be any of us Indians in any of our places if the rulers so desired. If we raise any question we will be charged with insulting the army or lowering the morale of the police. There has never been a clearer trend of politicisation of the army and militarisation of politics, and but for the period leading up to and during the infamous Emergency, India as a country has never appeared closer to the chilling reality of a police state.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">It took India a determined popular resistance to rescue parliamentary democracy from the eclipse of Emergency and win back a modicum of press freedom and civil liberties. Today Modi and Bhagwat and their men want us to give up this 'habit of democracy' and accept a police state and all-pervasive fascist thuggery as the new normal and celebrate it as 'national glory' in the era of 'Achchhe Din.' Democratic India cannot accept this autocratic order. The challenge of waging a determined defence of democracy has to be upheld here and now. Even as we mourn the loss of lives suffered by the Army or paramilitary or police forces, we must insist unfailingly on truth and justice. The truth of Bhopal and Malkangiri must be brought to the fore through Supreme Court monitored judicial investigation. Justice cannot be allowed to be hijacked by the police and the media cannot be reduced to the Public Relations agency of the government or propaganda instrument for the RSS agenda.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Probe Malkangiri Killings</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The CPI(ML) expresses concern over the killing of 39 people in Malkangiri (reportedly 28 Maoists and 11 adivasi villagers) on October 24. There are many disquieting questions about this alleged encounter. A Greyhound commando who lost his life in this episode reportedly died of drowning, and another is injured, but there are no other major casualties on the side of the paramilitary forces. This raises questions about the genuineness of the encounter. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Supreme Court has issued detailed guidelines on encounter killings, mandating mandatory registration of FIRs and investigation by an independent agency in every case of encounter death. FIR must be registered in the Malkangiri killings and there must be a time-bound Court-monitored judicial probe. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The Court has ordered that missing Maoist leaders including Akkiraju Haragopal (RK) be presumed to be in illegal police custody and produced in Court without delay. These orders must be carried out immediately.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protest in Bhubaneswar to Condemn Encounter of Maoists by AP and Odisha Police</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A mass protest was called in Bhubaneswar to condemn the encounters of 28 maoists by Andhra Pradesh and Odisha police in Malkangiri in Odisha. The protest was joined by CPI(ML) (Liberation), CPI-ML (Red Star), CPI-ML (New Democracy), CPI, AIPF, Insaf and other organisations and democratic sections. The protestors demanded a judicial investigation of the killings. Com. Radhakant Sethi, Com. Mahendra Parida from CPI(ML), Amiya Panda from AIPF, Com. Sivaram from Red Flag and Com. Asis Kanoongo from CPI were some of the participants who addressed the protests. The speakers cautioned the central government and the state governments in AP and Odisha to stop the Greenhunt.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">CPI(ML)'s Andhra Pradesh unit too condemned the killings, terming them brutal fake encounter. They demanded judicial investigation of the same and questioned the refusal of the Odisha government to conduct post-mortem of those killed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protest at Jantar Mantar against Bhopal Killings</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Eight undertrial young Muslim men, alleged to have 'broken jail and escaped', were killed in Bhopal by MP police on 31 October 2016. Shocking videos of the killings have come to the fore since the killings, which clearly show that the slain youth had no weapons with them and shows the police men repeatedly fired at the semi- conscious injured bodies lying on the ground to guarantee that they are dead. At pains to explain the killings, several contradictory statements have been issued by the Bhopal Police IG and MP State Home Minister. Protesting against these killings, several protesters gathered today at Jantar Mantar on 1 November demanding Supreme Court monitored investigation on the entire episode of Bhopal encounter. AISA and other organisations like BASO, Disha and ANHAD and students from JNU, DU, Jamia and AUD joined the protest. Protesters Raised Demand of SC Monitored Investigation in the Entire Episode of Bhopal Killings.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Addressing the protestors, Ashutosh Kumar, Delhi AISA State Secretary said, "We don't believe the police version on the episode. The police persons who are seen to be firing at the lying bodies of the youth must be immediately suspended. A Supreme Court monitored investigation should be initiated on the entire incident including the murder of the police constable". Sucheta De, National President, AISA said, "You kill Muslim youths and call them terrorist. From Gujarat to MP, the same model is being followed. Why are the undertrial youths being called terrorists? Why didn't the MP police want the judicial process to end? Why were the eight men killed like this?".</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Protestors carried placards that termed the Bhopal encounter as the replay of the 'Gujarat Model of Encounters'. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Order SC-Monitored Judicial Enquiry Into Bhopal 'Encounter'</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">- AIPF Statement</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">All India People's Forum demands a judicial probe monitored by the Supreme Court into the killing of 8 undertrials near Bhopal by Madhya Pradesh police. Video footage of the incident that has emerged strongly suggests that the 'encounter' was staged. The footage shows unarmed men waving their bare hands; it shows no firearms on or near the bodies of the 8 men; it shows police shooting at men lying on the ground inert and prone. The initial statements of the Madhya Pradesh Home Minister admitted that the 8 men were armed with nothing but sharpened spoons, the ATS IG present at the spot also initially confirmed that the undertrials had no long-range weapons, while the police later claimed that the 8 men had firearms and had fired at the police. These mutually contradictory statements also add to conviction that the killing was a fake encounter. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">AIPF also demands an enquiry into the alleged escape of the 8 undertrials from the high-security Bhopal Central Jail after killing a policeman.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The 8 men were allegedly members of SIMI – a banned organization – charged with various terror crimes. They were yet to be convicted, however. The Supreme Court has held that mere membership of a banned organization is no crime. We have seen time and again how citizens charged with terror crimes have been proven innocent and acquitted, with Courts commenting on the police foisting false cases on innocent citizens.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">These 8 men cannot be declared 'terrorists' without being established in the court of law. If these 8 men were indeed 'terrorists' as is being alleged, then their crimes should have been proven in Court so that they could be duly punished. Extra-judicial killings are an assault on judicial process and a mockery of the Constitution - a replay of the Gujarat model of 'encounters' in Madhya Pradesh. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">AIPF demands an impartial, time-bound judicial probe monitored by the Supreme Court, to investigate the facts of the alleged jail break, killing of the police constable as well as the killing of the 8 undertrials. AIPF also demands that the relevant footage of the CCTV cameras of Bhopal Central Jail as well as footage of the 'encounter' be made public. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The AIPF also expresses concern about the pattern of massacres and extra judicial killings all over the country, in blatant violation of judicial guidelines and Constitutional values. Another recent cause for concern is the alleged 'encounter' in which 39 people - 11 adivasis and 28 Maoists - were killed by paramilitary forces on the Odisha/Andhra border in Malkangiri on 24 October. In keeping with Supreme Court guidelines, an FIR must be registered in this case, an impartial judicial probe conducted and all persons taken into custody produced in Court without delay, as ordered by the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Court.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:gray">signed by -</span></p></div><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"><br clear="all" style="break-before: auto;"></span></i><div class="gmail-m_-4031931155754951548gmail-Section2"><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Sunilam , Samajwadi Samagam</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Kavita Krishnan, CPI(ML)</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">ND Pancholi</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">John Dayal</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Dr. Binayak Sen</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">SP Udayakumar, PMANE</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A Marx, Tamil Nadu</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Uday Bhatt, Lal Nishan Party (Leninwadi)</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Mangat Ram Pasla, RMP</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Master Raghubir Singh, RMP</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Gurnam Singh Daud, RMP</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Bhim Rao Bansod, Lal Nishan Party (Leninwadi)</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Gautam Mody, NTUI</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Rajiv Dimri, AICCTU</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Kumar Sundaram, CNDP </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Ambarish Rai</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Radhika Menon</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Roma Malik, AIUFWP</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Panchanan Senapati, Amiya Panda, Manav Jena, Odisha </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.35pt">PC Tewari, Uttarakhand Parivartan Party</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Indresh Maikhuri, Uttarakhand </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">BL Netam, Chhattisgarh</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">M Shoaib, Rihai Manch, UP </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Dr Sandeep Pandey</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Arundhati Dhuru</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Ram Krishna, Nagrik Parishad</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Dr Krishnaavatar, UP </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Mohd Salim, UP </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Tahira Hasan, UP</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Vinod Singh, Jharkhand</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Dayamani Barla, Jharkhand</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Dr Faisal Anurag, Jharkhand </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Meher Engineer, Bengal</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Prof Tushar Chakraborty, Bengal</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Prof Salil Biswas, Bengal</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Advocate Ajoy Dutta, Bengal,</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Amlan Bhattacharya, Bengal</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Sabyasachi Deb, Bengal,</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Abhijit Mazumdar, Bengal</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Dr Debashis Dutt, Bengal </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Chandramohan, Tamil Nadu</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Vidyasagar, Tamil Nadu </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Prof. Murali, State Gen.sec. PUCL, Tamil Nadu</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Simpson, State Convenor, Liberation Front of Oppressed, Tamil Nadu</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:right;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Arivalagan, Dalit Research Centre, Tamil Nadu</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"></span></p></div><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)"><br clear="all" style="break-before: auto;"></span></b><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">CPI (ML) Condemns Acquittal of the Main Accused in Bathe Massacre</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">CPI(ML)'s Bihar State Secretary Com. Kunal and former Party MP and AIARLA National President Rameshwar Prasad have stated that the judicial system is adopting double standards when it comes to giving justice to dalits, the poor, and the weaker sections of society. Feudal-communal and hate-mongering destructive forces who had perpetrated massacres of the poor have become fearless after getting "certificates" of acquittal from the courts. On the other hand, people from dalit, poor and weaker sections are being convicted and sentenced.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">They said that such double standards of the judiciary are also apparent in the Senari massacre case where people from the poor and deprived sections have been sentenced.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Recently the main accused in the Bathe massacre Dharma Singh was honourably acquitted by the court. But in the same Jehanabad (now Arwal) district, 14 agitating CPI(ML) activists were incarcerated in jail under TADA. Several of them have since died in jail. In spite of their terms of sentence being complete the government is not releasing them. The CPI(ML) leaders further said that recently the Patna High Court has granted bail to the epitome of crime and terror Shahabuddin, rapist RJD MLA Rajvallabh Yadav, and Rocky Yadav, chief accused in the murder of a Gaya school student Aditya Sachdeva. On the other hand, the bail applications of CPI(ML) MLA Satyadev Ram and RYA National President Amarjeet Kushwaha who are in jail on false and fabricated charges have been rejected time and again. What attitude is this of the judiciary towards the poor people and struggling activists?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Com. Kunal also said that false cases had been slapped on Com. Satyadev Ram and Com. Amarjeet Kushwaha during the land struggle in 2013 at Chilmarwa village in Guthni block (Siwan district) at the behest of the then Darauli BJP MLA Ramayan Manjhi.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Com. Rameshwar Prasad said that the silence of the BJP on the acquittal of Dharma Singh and MLC Tunna Pandey raises many questions. He asked the BJP why it is silent on the crimes of a mass murderer like Dharma Singh. He further said that actually it is the BJP which has been at the forefront of giving political patronage to the Ranveer Sena. Their leaders have not only been giving patronage to the Ranveer Sena, they have also aided the massacre of the poor and dalits through supply of money and arms. The recent Cobra sting operation has exposed the political connections between BJP leaders and the Ranveer Sena chiefs. Several senior BJP leaders including Sushil Modi have time and again helped the Ranveer chiefs. He said that the people of Bihar have seen through these tricks and well recognized true feudal-communal and fascist face of the BJP.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Kisan Mahasabha Observes Protest Day against Barkagaon Massacre</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On the night of 30 September police attacked farmers protesting against land grab and fired on them while they were asleep, killing four and injuring many more. Farmers do not want to give up their land but the Modi government at the Centre and the Raghuvar Das government in Jharkhand want to force them to do so through bullet power. The Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Mahasabha observed a countrywide Protest Day on 24 October against this massacre by the police. While state-wide bandh was observed in Jharkhand along with rallies, marches, protest meetings and effigy burnings, widespread protests were also held in different parts of the country. Thousands of farmers protested and expressed their outrage and unity by participating in marches, meetings and effigy burnings of Modi and Raghuvar Das. Slogans were raised demanding Modi to answer for the Barkagaon killings and asking for resignation of Raghuvar Das who was responsible for the killings. The protestors also demanded an ending of forcible land grab from farmers; relief, rehabilitation, and compensation as per the Land Acquisition Bill 2013; denouncing Company Raj and demanding restoration of democratic rights.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Huge protests were held across Bihar led by Kisan Sabha and CPI(ML) leaders. Protest rallies, marches, effigy burnings and meetings were held at Daudnagar in Aurangabad district, Fatuha, Sampatchak, Punpun, Dhanrua, Dulhinbazaar, Naubatpur in Patna district. Protests were also held in Bihata. The Kisan Sabha organized a dharna in Siwan in front of the Collectorate. Rallies and meetings were held in Jehanabad, Nawada, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Purnea, Rohtas, Vaishali, Nalanda, Beguserai, Jamui and other places, which were addressed by many speakers including former MLA Com. Amarnath Yadav, Com. Halkari Devi and Com. Jagdish Paswan. The speakers stressed that the Barkagaon attack and killings are indicative of the brutality of the police and the complicity of the central and state governments. The Modi government had brought in the Land Acquisition ordinance four times but had to back down in the face of strong protests by farmers. Now the government is running away from paying the farmers relief, compensation and rehabilitation as per the 2013 Land Ordinance Act. The Modi government is strangling democracy and attempting to inflict Company Raj on the country. The speakers called for the resignation of CM Raghuvar Das holding him responsible for the massacre.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In Rajasthan, Kisan Sabha leaders including National executive member Com. Ramchandra Kulhari, Com. Phoolchand Dheva, and others led a protest in Jhunjhunu district and submitted a memorandum to the President through the DM demanding sacking of the Jharkhand government which was responsible for the murder of the farmers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Protests were also held and memorandums sent to the PM through the district authorities in Bhind (Madhya Pradesh), Bhuvaneshwar (Odisha) and other places.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">AIARLA Conference in Tamil Nadu for Land and Housing Rights</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The All India Agricultural Rural Labour Association (AIARLA) organized a State level convention in Tamil Nadu on 12 September 2016 at Com. Subbu Hall in Villupuram. Com. Subbu was a popular kisan leader who was killed in 1994 by feudal goons in Tirunelveli district, the same district where Com. Mariappan was recently killed by casteist-communal forces. The convention started with tributes paid to Com. Swapan Mukherjee after which two minutes' silence was observed in memory of Com. Swapan, Com. Mariappan and all other martyrs and departed leaders.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">About 300 rural workers from different districts in the State participated in the convention which was presided over by AIARLA Deputy General Secretary Com. M. Venkatesan. The convention was addressed by AIARLA General Secretary Com. Janakiraman, AIPF National Council member Com. R Vidyasagar, AIARLA National Vice President Com. Balasundaram, and CPI(ML) State Secretary Com. S Kumaraswamy. The speakers recollected the contribution of Com. Swapan Mukherjee to the cause of the revolutionary struggles of workers and rural poor. Com. Kumaraswamy spoke of the political significance of the agitation for homestead land and housing in the struggle of rural workers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The convention resolved to carry forward the campaign demanding homestead land and housing as one of the main demands of the rural workers. As a first step, the convention decided to join with AICCTU in conducting a signature campaign to get 10 lakh signatures for this demand, along with other pro-people demands. The convention strongly condemned the Modi government for creating a flagrant situation in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the Cauvery water-sharing dispute, and demanded that this dispute be speedily resolved.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The convention was followed by a meeting of the AIARLA state council. The procedures of the council meeting were conducted by Comrades Ilangovan, Susheela, Rajangam, Bharati, and Sigamani. Com. Janakiraman presented an overview of the discussion. The council meeting unanimously elected Com. Balasundaram as President of the AIARLA Tamil Nadu State unit, a post which had fallen vacant due to the demise of former President Com. TKS Janardanan. In his concluding address Com. Balasundaram called on AIARLA activists to strengthen the efforts to further develop the energetic struggles of the rural poor.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">RYA Protest against Misbehaviour and Casteist Abuses against a Journalist</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">RYA called for a protest march and nukkad sabha in Birni block in Bagodar to protest against the misbehaviour and casteist abuses meted out to Dainik Hindustan journalist Shekhar Suman. The BDO of the Birni block of Bagodar had misbehaved with Shekhar Suman and hurled casteist abuses at him. The protestors demanded the arrest of the BDO. Writer's association and AISA too joined the protests and the strength of their struggle forced the Birni police to register a case against the BDO Inder Kumar. However, the police also registered a case against Shekhar Suman on the plea of the BDO. In light of the recent events, RYA and AISA have resolved to intensify the struggle for the arrest of the BDO and also to ensure that the fabricated case against the journalist who himself was subjected to humiliation is withdrawn.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">OBITUARY</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Comrade Jagnarayan</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Com. Jagnarayan's demise came as a sudden blow to comrades in Delhi who admired his dedication, energy and warmth in fulfilling various party responsibilities. Recovering from a recent bout of chikungunya, he had left Delhi on vacation a few days ago to visit his family in Bhojpur where he suffered some unexpected medical complications leading to septicemia and passed away in a Patna hospital on 1 November 2016. Comrade Jagnarayan's association in Delhi spans more than 25 years when he and his comrades working in a security company IPSS came to visit the party office after the CPI(ML) and IPF held a historic rally at boat club in 1990. They wanted to start party's work in their area and since then he was consistently active in Delhi organisation. He was founder member and office bearer of one of the oldest trade unions in Delhi, the IPSS Security Union which happens to be one of the first unions in the security guards sector. The party branch which IPSS comrades founded through area level activism at Rama Road Jhuggi is one of oldest branches in Delhi and most consistent one owing to the pivotal role played by comrade Jagnarayan.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Comrade Jagnarayan was the one to be seen at the forefront in times of crisis and need. And he was always one of the first to volunteer for all kinds of odd jobs from managing big mobilisations and rallies to arranging for various meetings and programmes held in Delhi or attending comrades admitted in hospitals. There may not be a single all India mobilisation held in Delhi for the last two decades without his presence at New Delhi Railway station as a volunteer. He was a most reliable comrade who used to work day and night and never left the station till the last rallyist had boarded the train.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Comrade Jagnarayan along with other IPSS union executive members were illegally suspended from jobs few months back and their President summarily terminated by the management emboldened by the policies and onslaught of Modi government. He was resolutely at the forefront against this victimisation and attack on their Union.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Before coming to Delhi for work, he was active in the party in his village in Bhojpur. Those struggles which he witnessed and took part in his youth were the source of inspiration for Comrade Jagnarayan. We lost him when he was only in his mid-50s.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Comrade Jagnarayan was cremated at Bans Ghat in Patna where party's Bihar State Secretary Kunal, Central Control Commission member Ramjatan Sharma, Rajaram, Santosh Sahar, Umesh Singh, other comrades and his family members bid him farewell. </span></p><div style="border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.0333px;color:black">Red salute to comrade Jagnarayan !</span></p><div class="gmail-yj6qo gmail-ajU" style="margin:2px 0px 0px"><div id="gmail-:11q" class="gmail-ajR" tabindex="0"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-12437671241599720182016-10-26T20:05:00.001+05:302016-10-26T20:05:52.944+05:30ML Update | No. 44 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-h7" tabindex="-1" style="outline:none;font-size:medium"><div class="gmail-Bk" style="margin-bottom:0px;border-right:0px;border-bottom:0px;border-left:0px;border-radius:0px;float:left;width:751.094px"><div class="gmail-G3 gmail-G2 gmail-afm" style="padding-top:0px;border-right:0px;border-bottom:0px rgb(216,216,216);border-left:0px;border-top-color:rgb(216,216,216);border-radius:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div id="gmail-:10x"><div class="gmail-adn gmail-ads" style="padding-left:8px"><div class="gmail-gs" style="margin-left:44px"><div id="gmail-:1aa" class="gmail-ii gmail-gt gmail-adP gmail-adO" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-bottom:5px"><div id="gmail-:1a9" class="gmail-a3s gmail-aXjCH gmail-m157fbc7ac213ad7f"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine<br></span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 44 | 25 – 31 October 2016</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Headline2cols" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:18pt;color:red">Sarkar at the Service of Raj</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Sub-heading" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Fadnavis Government Turns Broker for MNS Mafia</span></p><div><table vspace="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" hspace="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" align="left" style="padding:0cm"></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9" style="text-indent:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB">The 2005 Hindi film Sarkar inspired in equal parts by Bal Thackeray's life and Godfather, portrayed the parallel power wielded in Mumbai by the Shiv Sena. The film's title played on the pun 'Sarkar' - which in Hindi and Marathi is a feudal title for a man wielding power and authority, and also means 'Government.' In BJP-ruled Maharashtra today, this pun seems especially apt. The Sarkar - Government - is at the service of 'Raj' Thackeray, Bal Thackeray's nephew. Raj Thackeray, today's mafia 'Sarkar' imposes his mob rule, with the tame cooperation of the Chief Minister himself. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">MNS leader Raj Thackeray threatened violence against the soon-to-be-released film Ai Dil Hai Mushkil, on the grounds that it starred a Pakistani film actor. Johar issued a public declaration that he would no longer hire Pakistani talent in his films – and Raj Thackeray then made a deal with Johar in the Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis' presence, in which he agreed to allow the film to be released on condition that Johar paid a Rs 5 crore 'fine' which would go to the Indian Army.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">It is indeed a new low for democracy when an elected Chief Minister brokers a deal allowing leader of goons to use the threat of violence to extort 'tax' from film producers. The BJP brands any questions about surgical strikes as an 'insult' to armed forces. Is it not an insult to armed forces to be offered funds extorted by the mafia-style Sarkar Raj?</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">What is equally shameful is that this extortion is able to pose as 'patriotism.' Here, a considerable share of the blame rests with the media channels and anchors that threw journalistic responsibility and restraint to the winds and helped create a frenzied 'demand' for a ban on or boycott of Pakistani artists. While the Modi Government's Home Minister Rajnath Singh stated that films featuring Pakistani actors would be allowed to be released, the Information Minister Venkaiah Naidu justified boycott threats as public sentiment that must be respected.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">The MNS, like the Shiv Sena under Bal Thackeray, is notorious for its mob violence against migrant workers from Bihar and UP, as well for holding cultural and sports events to ransom. Is mob violence against migrant workers from other States 'patriotic'? Is it not a shame when a party that refuses to respect the rights and dignity of students or migrants from Bihar or UP as citizens of India, be allowed to lay down 'patriotism laws' and impose 'patriotism taxes'?</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Mobocracy has been emboldened and encouraged by the BJP Governments, most so in the climate of jingoism fostered in the past few months. A 'protest letter' from a little known saffron outfit was enough to make organisers of a film festival in Goa drop a 1959 classic film Jago Hua Savera from its itinerary, on the grounds that it was a 'Pakistani' film. Faiz Ahmad Faiz, arguably one of the greatest poets of the subcontinent, wrote the screenplay for Jago Hua Savera, based on a story by Bengali writer Manik Bandopadhyay, and the film featured a largely Bangladeshi cast with the music composer and a leading actor being Indians (Timir Baran and Tripti Mitra respectively). Such mobocracy impoverishes Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis alike by robbing us of our rich and shared cultural legacy.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Also a cause for concern is the craven submission of most Indian celebrity figures from the influential worlds of film and sport, before the mobocracy posing as patriotism. Barring a few honourable exceptions, most film figures have kept silence on the calls for boycott of Pakistani actors and artists.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">It is neither courageous nor patriotic to be part of mobs that violently force people to chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', stand up for the national anthem, or pay 'fines' for employing Pakistani actors. True courage and conviction lie in standing up and being counted against such bullying and violence. Here, we can admire the example of the 19-year-old Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, daughter of Captain Mandeep Singh who was killed at Kargil, who has issued a moving statement against the anti-Pakistan war-mongering and communal hate-mongering. Declaring that war, not Pakistan, killed her father, she has called herself 'a soldier like my father – a soldier for peace,' and called upon political leaders of India and Pakistan to 'talk to each other' and work to achieve peace.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Indians need to stand with the soldiers for peace not the 'Senas' of hate and mob violence that terrorise Dalits, migrants, and women and wage war on freedom of expression and the subcontinent's shared composite culture.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Successful Jharkhand Bandh Amidst Heavy Repression</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Jharkhand bandh on 25 October called by CPI(ML) and other left parties in the state was a success not only in terms of peoples participation and support it received but also for making a point that continued repression on adivasis and common masses and current spree of firings, killings and brutal oppression by the BJP government must be stopped. The bandh was called to oppose the recent incidents of firing on tribal protesters in Khunti, firing on displaced people in Barkagaon and killing of two workers of Inland Power Plant in police firing in Gola.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Tribals and peasants were subjected to brutal repression for protecting their lands and livelihoods from the government sponsored corporate loot. Ongoing unabated communal attacks by Sangh outfits on minorities were also protested through this bandh. Demands of para-teachers and other contract workers in government sectors were also raised during this bandh.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">While the Raghubar government's state machinery was determined to foil the bandh call by heavy deployment of forces and open threats to the people, the common masses in all parts of the state came on the streets against state government's policies. CPI(ML) senior leaders including State Secretary Janardan Prasad, ex-MLA Vinod Singh, Subhendu Sen and Bhuvaneshwar Kevat were arrested after a heavy crackdown on marching bandh supporters in state capital Ranchi,. Many leaders and activists were injured during the scuffle when police arrested hundreds of them and sent for a day to the Mohrabadi grounds which was turned into a makeshift jail. Arrests were also made in other places in the state including Giridih and Bokaro.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">The protesters all over in the state demanded arrests under charges of murder of all officials others who perpetrated incidents of police firing in Khunti, Barkagaon and Gola, and to immediately stop the ongoing land grab and loot of natural resources in Jharkhand.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Marchers came to streets with the slogan 'Raghubar Hatao, Jharkhand Bachao' (Oust Raghubar govt, Save Jharkhand) in Bagodar, Birni, Rajdhanwar, Jamua, Devri, Gama, Tisri, Bengabad, Gandey, Giridih and Dumri blocks of Giridih district. Similar slogans reverberated also in Jharia, Bokaro, Hazaribad, Ramgarh, Ranchi, Bundu, Lohardagga, Gumla, Garhwa, Palamu, Latehar, Koderma, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahebganj and many other districts where masses joined bandh activists in hundreds spontaneously.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Markets remained closed in many places and roads were blockaded as was seen in Saria town. Workers organised processions in cities like Dhanbad in support of the bandh. Many also towns witnessed large processions on the eve of the bandh day.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Left parties including CPI(ML), CPM, CPI, MCC and SUCI held out processions jointly in almost all places. Jharkhand's non-left opposition including Congress, JDU, RJD, JVM etc. barring JMM, also came for the bandh same day with a separate call. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">CPI(ML) State Secretary Janardan Prasad has congratulated the people of the state to make the bandh call a success and termed it a reflection of peoples' anger against fascist, pro-corporate Raghubar government in the state. He said that people cannot be deceived by rhetorical communal jingoistic manoeuvres of the BJP.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">CPI(ML) Bihar MLA Faces Threats in All-Party Meeting For Opposing Communal Propaganda Against Minorities </span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">It is an old trick of the BJP and RSS to spread communal frenzy through rumour-mongering under the cover of festivals. During Durga Puja and Moharram this year, communal tension was visible in several districts of Bihar, in which attacks were made on the minority community and their shops and property were either burnt or looted. Communal riots were consciously incited in many places including Piro and Gopalganj (Bhojpur district), Bihariganj (Madhepura), Kanhauli (Sitamarhi), Buniyadganj and Purnea (Gaya), Parsagaon (Supoul), Barun (Aurangabad), Warsaleeganj (Nawada), and Turkauliya Boring Chowk (Eastern Champaran). The attitude of the Bihar government – that won elections in the name of an alternative to the communal BJP – in these cases has been indifferent, at best. And in Saran and Piro, some elements having connections with the RJD were directly involved in incidents of incitement and loot.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">The Tarari region of Bhojpur district has been the heart of the revolutionary peasants' struggle. Some years ago the Ranveer Sena perpetrated the Bathani Tola carnage which was both casteist and communal in character, and in 2014 the communal forces tried to divide the CPI(ML) base by inciting dalit youth against Muslims. On 25 October 2014, during the immersion after Laxmi Puja in Sahar the BJP spread false rumours which resulted in communal tension for days. The CPI(ML) had then taken many initiatives against BJP's poisonous campaign by organizing meetings in many villages.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">This time Piro town in Bhojpur was the target of the rioters. Durga idols had been installed at 9 places in Piro bazaar. The route for the idol immersion went past Badi Masjid in the Muslim-populated Piro village and the Yadav-populated basti along the banks of the canal, up to the Gatariya bridge. As they had done in previous years, this year also the minority community cooperated in every way with the procession as the idols were being brought for immersion. The immersion took place peacefully. But on the evening of 12 October when the Moharram procession started, everything started going wrong. The procession started from Milki village and reached Yadav-dominated Dusadhi bazaar when bricks and stones began to be hurled from the roof of the Yamaha showroom, inflicting head injuries on about a dozen people. Bullets were also fired from the terrace of teacher Meena Devi injuring Nanhe Miyan in the thigh. A stampede-like situation ensued. Rumours were spread all around that the Muslims had shouted slogans of "Pakistan Zindabad". Rioting crowds started collecting near Muslim mohallas. At Milki village the wife of Jalaluddin Ansari wept and called for help but the administration remained a mute spectator.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">On 13 October a CPI(ML) team visited the fear-ridden Muslim mohallas and spoke to the injured. The team comprised of MLA Sudama Prasad, former MLA Chandradeep Singh, State committee member Sanjay Kumar, Ajit Kushwaha, Mahesh Singh, Qayamuddin Ansari, and Khairati Khan. The victims told the CPI(ML) team that the slogan "Pakistan Zindabad" (Long Live Pakistan) was not raised anywhere; this was purely a false rumour. Yes, the slogan "Islam Zindabad" (Long Live Islam) was being raised.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">As the team members were meeting the victims, news came of a Tata 407 vehicle belonging to a Muslim and a tempo being set afire at Piro bus stand and Khairi Tiwaridih respectively. Rioters had blockaded the roads coming to Piro town from Nonadih and Charpokhri and were hunting down and beating up persons from the minority community. Apart from attacking vehicles belonging to the minority community, the rioters also attacked trains and bust the administration's internet services.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">On 14 October the administration held a hasty meeting in Piro thana. MLA Sudama Prasad represented the Party at the meeting, but the minority community boycotted the meeting saying that it would serve no purpose until the perpetrators and rioters are arrested. Even after efforts by the administration no one from the Muslim community (except RJD leader Adib Rizvi) participated in the meeting which was conducted in the presence of the IG, DIG, DM, and SP. The BJP, RJD and Congress representatives, strangely, seemed to be speaking in one voice at the meeting, proving the extent to which the BJP-RSS campaign of communal poison has spread. They both said that these incidents had occurred because the Muslims had raised slogans of "Pakistan Zindabad."</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">CPI(ML) MLA Sudama Prasad said in the meeting that it was very shameful that the the administration was taking no action against the rioters. Every year peace committees are formed during the Puja and yet attacks on Muslims do not cease. He said that the participants in the procession say that the slogan "Islam Zindabad" was raised not "Pakistan Zindabad"; what is wrong in that? The BJP people are deliberately spreading the false rumour that "Pakistan Zindabad" slogans were raised, to paint the minority community as pro-Pakistan and anti-India. As soon as Sudama Prasad said this, the meeting exploded. The leaders and workers of BJP, RJD, Congress and LJP all got up and started shouting that Sudama Prasad is unfit to be an MLA; he is a liar and is biased. Some of them even took up a chair to beat Sudama Prasad. The guard allotted to Comrade Sudama had to intervene to protect him from being beaten up. The members continued their misbehavior even in front of the top administrative officials present – none of whom took any action. It is a symptom of our intolerant times that an elected representative should be attacked in this manner inside a police station by representatives of 'secular' and 'communal' parties alike, for setting facts straight against communal propaganda.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Now the other Parties are busy spreading the canard that the CPI(ML) is 'anti-Hindu': opposition to communal propaganda and defence of minorities in a situation of communal violence is being equated with being 'anti-Hindu.'</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">CPI(ML) has decided to hold a massive Jan Ekta (People's Unity) Rally in Piro on 26 October, the death anniversary of Comrade Ram Naresh Ram who was a beacon for social change. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Against Rising Instances of Violence against Dalits in Punjab</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">On the evening of 5 October, a large casteist nouveau riche group associated with the ruling Akali Dal (Badal) faction in a village in Sangrur district attacked a Dalit Khet Mazdoor mohalla in pre- planned manner. In this attack on workers- men, women, and old people were brutally beaten, subjected to casteist abuse and their homes were vandalized. More than 24 Dalit men and women were injured. The main target of the attack was the home of Punjab Kisan Union (AIKMS) State Secretary Com. Balbir Singh Jalur and his brother Aagu Balvinder Singh. During the entire attack, the police in spite of being fully informed, remained mute spectators. The next day, at the behest of Akali Dal (Badal) MLA and Finance Miister Parminder Singh Dhidhsa, the police registered cases against 68 workers who were actually victims and only 18 people from among the attackers. The police arrested Balbir Singh Jalur and his aged father and put them in jail; they even took the less seriously injured people from the hospital and arrested them. Till 22 October only two of the attackers were arrested, and the rest are not only roaming free but once again beat up women workers in the village and have called for a social boycott of the Dalit community in the village.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">The bone of contention in this long-drawn out fight is the dispute over the Dalits' one-third share of panchayati land. According to the Punjab Common Land Act of 1964 one-third of panchayati land in every village is allocated for Dalits. However, in reality what often happens is that the rich farmers of the village acquire these lands for themselves by making their servants or Dalits who are close to them make high bids for the land. With farming in Punjab being fully mechanized, the khet mazdoors can neither find enough work on the fields to sustain their livelihood, nor find food for their families or fodder for their cattle. This crisis led to the demand raised by many landless khet mazdoors in Sangrur district under the leadership of Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Committee (ZPSC) that the Dalits' share of land should not be auctioned to the highest bidder; instead, it should be given to them at an affordable rate for collective farming. In March this year the land in this village was taken by a rich farmer through a high bid by a Dalit under his control. Since then there was constant conflict between the Dalit workers and the Jat farmers. The police and administration were fully aware of the situation but they did nothing to solve the issue, which resulted in the big casteist attack on Dalit workers on 5 October.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">The CPI-ML (Liberation) has from the beginning supported this struggle by the Dalit workers. Even on the day of the attack, party workers and Mazdoor Mukti Morcha workers participated in a dharna in front of the SDM Laharagaga office in support of the Dalit workers' demands. Party State Committee member and Sangrur district Secretary Com. Govind Singh Chhajli addressed the dharna. Effigies of the Badal government were burnt at several places by Party and MMM workers to protest against the 5 October attack. It was decided to organize a "Hankar Todo March" on 12 October from Lahra to Jalur but the march could not be held as the government deployed a large police force to stop it. However, a protest meeting was held at Lahra after which a rally was taken out through the town and a memorandum submitted to the administration with the Dalits' demands.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">On 21 October several workers' and farmers' organizations united to take out a huge joint rally against the 5 October attack in which leaders from the Party's workers' and farmers' organizations participated. This struggle is still ongoing. District Secretary Com. Govind Chhajli is among the 68 workers who have been named as accused by the police. The Party at the State level has also condemned the Badal government's open support and encouragement for casteism and the administration's biased action and has demanded that all the attackers should be arrested; cases should be registered against them under the SC-ST Act; action should be taken against the police and civil service officials guilty of biased action; all the jailed workers should be released immediately and the false cases against all the workers should be withdrawn.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">In another incident of atrocities on Dalits, a 21 year old dalit youth Sukhchain Singh was brutally murdered in Gharangana in Mansa. The murderers also cut off one of his legs and took it with them. Sukhchain had become a victim of the sellers of illegal alcohol and drugs and joined one such gang. He belonged to a normal agricultural labourer's family. CPI (ML) has started an agitation against this brutal murder and demanded action against the culprits. The party insisted that post-mortem and cremation will not be held till the culprits are caught, the lost leg of the victim recovered and a compensation of 10 lakh paid to his family. A dharna was called immediately. Due to the pressure of the agitation, the administration and police were forced to act. The culprits were caught, the sections pertaining to SC-ST act were added to the FIR, the cut-off leg of the murdered youth recovered from his attackers along with their ammunitions and a compensation of 8 lakh was paid to the family of the victim. When Sukhchain was finally cremated, the people of the region refused to allow any Akali dal leader to be present.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Dalit Student Subjected to Prolonged Bullying and Brutality in Muzaffarpur</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">A horrifying video went viral on social media, showing two schoolboys beating up a third boy brutally. The 16-year-old victim Uttam also wrote about the attack: "I am a Dalit and so doing well in the examinations or academics, which brings me praise at home, earns me humiliation and abuse in my classroom."</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">A team of AISA-CPI (ML) and Insaaf Manch visited Uttam's family in Muzaffarpur. Comrade Shivprakash Ranjan, Bihar AISA Secretary who was a part of the team reported that Uttam, a dalit student in class 12th was beaten up brutally by classmates from the dominant community. Uttam's crime was scoring well in exams - something that a dalit student is not supposed to do, something that violated the code of Manu normalised in our caste ridden society and schools. Those who 'punished' Uttam for being better in studies come from socially influential families. And the school administration was allowing the prolonged bullying because they didn't want to offend their parents. Uttam has been going through trauma and depression since the assault. His grandfather with whom Uttam lives says their security is at stake since the video of the assault has gone viral. He fears backlash from the dominant community after assault on Uttam has become public. No one from the local administration or the government had visited Uttam's family days after the attack, and even the necessary medical care has not been given. So much for claims of social justice by Nitish-Lalu duo.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB"> AISA held state wide protests on 23rd and 24th October demanding Justice for Uttam, against the continuation and normalisation of caste based abuse in our educational institutions, against the Mahagathbandhan Government's complicity with such casteist abuse and violence, and against the silence of the central government on Rohith Act.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Handloom Weavers Rally In Puducherry</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Hundreds of handloom weaver's took out a big rally on 18th October 2016 under the banner of AICCTU. They demanded complete employment round the year and in increase of 40% wages to make both ends meet. The rally was led by K. Subramanian State Secretary of Puduvai Kaithari Nesavalar Sangam. The rally passed through main thoroughfares of Puducherry and culminated into a militant demonstration in front of Registrar of Co-operative Societies office. The other main demands of the weavers were: 40% Bonus (incentive) to all handloom weavers without restrictions; compensation Rs. 3 lakhs to the family of weavers for his natural death and that of Rs. 5 Lakhs to death by accidents and total infirmity; Complete implementation of health insurance schemes to weavers; Free housing schemes to handloom weavers; Rs. 5000/- to weavers as lean period assistance; and Complete waiver of loans to handloom weavers.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">S. Balasubramanian, State President, S. Mothilal, Vice President AICCTU and Puducherry CPI(ML) District Secretary S. Purushothaman addressed the demonstrators. A 21 points charter was submitted to the Chief Minister. The Puducherry Government assured to convene a meeting of handloom weavers leaders on 9th November to resolve their demands.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Women Workshop in Uttarakhand</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">AIPWA and AICCTU jointly organised a workshop of women activists in Haldwani on 16 October where women from all parts of Uttarakhand representing various sections including ASHA, Anganwadi, Mid-day Meal and industrial workers, students and peasantry participated.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">The workshop was addressed by AIPWA national secretary Shashi Yadav where she criticised increasing attacks on women under Modi regime and reminded the anti-working women attitude of this government. She condemned the statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat that women must be confined inside their homes and said that BJP is trying to impose a fascist repressive code against women.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">She further added that the women are coming forward in all walks of life through their struggles which are also manifested in their demands of equity and equal wages for equal work. The related laws have proved a lollipop as their proper implementation has never been achieved by the government. The open exploitation of ASHA, Anganwadi, mid-day meal and industrial workers which needs to be resisted through a very powerful women's movement to ensure equal wages as well as dignified and equitable work conditions. She told that forthcoming AIPWA National Conference which will be held in Patna on 13-14 November will focus on struggles against fascist-patriarchal attacks on women in the country.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Uttarakhand ASHA Health Workers' Union president Kamla Kunjawal welcomed the participants and said that it is only the struggle that makes women freer in day to day endeavors of their lives, be it in home or outside.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">The workshop was presided over by Uttarakhand Anganwadi Union's state president Dipa Pandey. Vimala Rauthan, Basanti Bisht, Mina Arya, Rita Kashyap, Indira Deopa, Nirmla Pal, Hira Bhatt, Saroj Pant, Usha, Munni Bisht, Rina Bala, Rama, Roopa, Jyoti Upadhyay, Mamta Arya, Leela Mehar, Bhagwati Sanwal, Ruby Bhardwaj, and many others actively took part in the workshop. Two resolutions expressing solidarity with the ongoing struggles of Anganwadi Workers in state and Minda Factory workers in Sidcul were also passed by the participants.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Farmers and Women March in Sitapur</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">Hundreds of farmers and women from self-help groups holding aloft red flags and raising slogans of "Waive farmers' loans if you waive corporate loans" and "Shame on Narendra Modi" marched to the Sitapur district headquarters in Uttar Pradesh on 22 September 2016. The march started from the Party office and culminated at the district headquarters. A charter of demands addressed to the Prime Minister and also to the DM was submitted. The charter also contained a list of 1000 debt-ridden farmers and applications for loan waiver. CPI-ML District Secretary Com. Arjun Lal led the march in which nearly 700 farmers participated. After the march a meeting was held at the Party office. The meeting was addressed by Kisan Sabha convener Com. Santram Rawat, town in-charge Com. Gaya Prasad, District in-charge Com. Madan Singh, and AISA leader Com. Archana.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">AIPF team visits Naihati-Bijpur</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">A 15 member AIPF team visited riot ridden Naihati-Bijpur area on 22 October following the communal clashes that took place at Hazinagar and Halisahar in North 24 Parganas district which have left several people injured. In Hazinagar, the clashes had taken place near the Naihati Jute Mill area. On visiting, it was found that police inaction and provocation was one of the main reason for a large-scale loss of property of minorities. AIPF demanded that urgent steps be taken for rehabilitation and building confidence between the two communities. A demand for judicial enquiry was also made. The team was led by Dr.Vinayak Sen, Bolan Gongnpadhaya, Prof.T. Chakraborty, AB Chowdhury & others. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01Sub-heading"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Protests for Missing JNU Student Najeeb</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9"><span lang="EN-GB">A first-year student of M.Sc. Biotechnology, JNU, Najeeb Ahmed has been missing from JNU campus since 15th of October, 2016. He was found missing after being brutally beaten and threatened by some members of the ABVP. As the JNUSU raised the issue of the disappearance with university authorities and the Delhi Police, the JNU administration in complete abdication of its responsibility not only refused to file a complaint with the police regarding Najeeb's disappearance, the university also did not think it necessary to issue a sensitive appeal to Najeeb assuring him of safety and an unbiased hearing. The JNU student community led by JNUSU marched to the police station on 18 October to file a complaint. On 21 October, a protest was called outside the home ministry to build pressure on the home ministry to intensify search operations for finding Najeeb. On 21 October as the students tried to reach the site of protest, several of them were detained by the police at the Parliament Street police station. Several others were dragged and pulled down from the bus and brutally beaten. After much pressure from the students, the home ministry officials conveyed to the students that an SIT had been formed to search for Najeeb. On 23 October, the JNUSU organised a human chain march in which several hundreds of students, teachers and concerned citizens participated. The human chain march culminated in a meeting outside the JNU VC's house which was also addressed by Najeeb's sister. Continuing to build the pressure, the JNUSU also called for JNU students, students from other institutions and social activists to join a march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar on 24 October. A public meeting was also organised at Jantar Mantar where many student activists of various organisations and other leaders spoke demanding Justice for Najeeb. The JNUSU in its appeal to the citizens said that it is indeed shocking that a –"student is subjected to violence and threats in a university space, is found missing and the institutional authorities respond by doing NOTHING to bring the perpetrators of violence against him to book and feel NO need whatsoever to reach out to the missing student with sensitivity and assurance. Such shocking abdication of institutional responsibilities cannot be allowed to become a norm! Today, as a society, we must come together to demand institutional accountability!! We must come together and say it loud and clear that- persecution, disappearance, humiliation or any kind of discrimination against any student in any campus will not be tolerated!"</span></p><div style="border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="gmail-m_-3341341096210525312gmail-01BodytextArial9" style="border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB">In solidarity with the struggle for finding and demanding justice for Najeeb, AISA observed a Nation-Wide Protest on 24 October in Delhi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Patna, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. Solidarity protests were also called by unions at MANUU and UoH.</span></p><div class="gmail-yj6qo gmail-ajU"><div id="gmail-:1am" class="gmail-ajR" tabindex="0"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-48548625566214072012016-10-19T10:56:00.001+05:302016-10-19T10:56:39.023+05:30ML Update | No. 43 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><br><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 43 | 18- 24 October 2016</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Headline2cols" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:16pt;color:red">Fight for Gender Justice and Equality Reject Communally-Defined 'Uniformity'</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The manner in which the Law Commission and the NDA Government frame the issue of Uniform Civil Code and reforms in personal laws suggests that they are concerned more with imposing a communally-defined uniformity on minorities in the country, rather than address concerns of gender justice. The communal framing of the debate does serious damage to the urgent questions of gender justice. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">BJP and RSS propaganda of 'One Nation One Law' is a direct assault on the Constitutional norms of respect for India's religious and cultural diversity. This propaganda implies that it is only the personal laws of the minorities – especially the Muslim minority – that need reform – and that 'Uniform Civil Code' is a matter of bringing Muslim or Christian personal law in line with Hindu Personal Law.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">In fact, most religious and secular personal laws governing marriage, divorce, inheritance and succession are in need of reform to bring them in line with Constitutional norms of gender justice and equality. For instance, the amendment of Hindu inheritance laws to allow the daughter to inherit ancestral property continues to face great hostility and be widely violated, with no safeguards against disinheritance of a daughter.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Under the Hindu Marriage Act, a divorced man can discontinue payment of maintenance if the ex-wife is 'unchaste' or converts to another religion. This provision ties maintenance to patriarchal moral codes and religious identity, rather than the rights of women. The definition of 'cruelty' as grounds for divorce under the Hindu marriage law is loose – leaving room for arbitrary and patriarchal definitions of cruelty. A recent Supreme Court judgement is a shocking instance of this when it declared that a wife demanding that her husband live separately from his parents amounts to 'cruelty' and can be grounds for divorce.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The one-month notice period of the secular Special Marriage Act also requires reform since the prolonged waiting period allows room for parents and communal-casteist outfits to mobilize violence against inter-caste or inter-faith couples. Polygamy enjoys recognition in Muslim Personal Law, while the 'Maitri Karar' (Friendship Pact) practice in Gujarat legitimizes bigamy. It is a communal myth that only the Muslim community enjoys 'special' relaxations when it comes to personal law. In fact, the Hindu Undivided Family enjoys special tax exemptions, exemptions which are extended even to Hindu couples who marry under the Special Marriage Act. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">From within the Muslim community itself, there have for long been demands for scrapping of the practices of triple talaq and halala that are inscribed in Muslim personal law.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Unfortunately, the Indian State and ruling parties have been cynical and opportunist rather than principled in their obligations both towards women's rights and the rights of minority communities. The Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case was overturned by a Congress Government in a bid to pander to conservative leaders of the Muslim community, even as the same Government pandered to Hindutva by opening the locks of the Babri Masjid. The BJP gave the demand for a Uniform Civil Code a distinctly communal tone and colour – leading most women's movement groups to emphasise that they demanded gender-just reform in diverse personal laws – preferably reform from within religious communities themselves – rather than imposition of Hindutva-tinted uniformity. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">In 2015, in the course of a Supreme Court hearing on Hindu women's succession rights, the matter of discrimination faced by Muslim women also came up. In response the SC ordered the filing of a PIL on 'Muslim Women's Quest for Equality.' Subsequently there have been several instances of Muslim women who approached the Supreme Court seeking that the provisions of triple talaq and halala be struck down as unconstitutional. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, responding to these petitions in Court, have argued that the Court cannot encroach on the domain of personal laws. Meanwhile the Law Commission has issued a questionnaire to reopen the debate on the need for a Uniform Civil Code – and the AIMPLB has refused to participate in this process, deeming it to be part of the BJP Government's communal agenda to undermine diverse personal laws and impose uniformity.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The Law Commission questionnaire's format is undoubtedly flawed and biased, and misgivings about its agenda have a strong foundation. By reopening the issue of a Uniform Civil Code and polarising the discussion for or against the UCC, the Law Commission is only furthering the communal agenda of the ruling party. The BJP that sheds crocodile tears for discrimination faced by Muslim women is the same party that colludes in the rape and murder of Muslim women during communal violence in Gujarat and more recently Muzaffarnagar. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The vociferous demands by a variety of Muslim women's groups and individual Muslim women for reforms in personal laws are an extremely welcome development. These groups (such as the Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, Bebaak Collective and others) and individual women have put both the communal BJP as well as the patriarchal AIMPLB on notice. They have made it clear that they will no longer brook any delay in addressing their demands for equality and justice. If the self-proclaimed custodians of Muslim personal law prove unwilling to heed the demands for change, they have asserted their rights to approach the Courts and the State for justice. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The Left and progressive forces in the country, while firmly opposing any agenda of forced imposition of a communally scripted Uniform Civil Code, must support the ongoing women's movements demanding personal laws that uphold women's equality and dignity.<br></span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">On Communal Violence in Bengal</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The CPI(ML) condemns the organized communal attacks on Muharram tazia processions that took place in several districts of Bengal, including North 24 Parganas, Kharagpur, and Malda, and the resulting communal violence. The Hindutva outfits – often in collusion with the police and administration under the TMC regime – have instigated these acts of violence, resulting in ransacking of homes and shops.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">A recent Calcutta High Court order striking down the Government's restrictions on timing of Durga idol immersion processions to prevent clashes with tazia processions is highly unfortunate. The vocabulary adopted by the order had a distinct communal bias, suggesting that Muslims should avoid the tazia procession and observe Muharram mourning at home, and deeming any attempts to regulate Durga idol immersion processions as 'minority appeasement.'</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The CPI(ML) demands arrest of the perpetrators of communal violence and speedy relief and rehabilitation for the victims of such violence, as well as disciplinary action against those police and administrative personnel who colluded with the violence instead of acting to prevent and end it.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">CPI(ML) Marches against Communal Violence in Naihati</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Since 12 October 2016, Communal clashes took place at Hazinagar and Halisahar in North 24 Parganas district which have left several people injured. An estimated 30 homes and several shops, apart from four vehicles, were ransacked or set on fire. The initial violence began in Hazinagar's Naihati Jute Mill area where the Jama Masjid is situated. In wake of these communal clashes, the CPI(ML) took out a march against communal violence and appealing for peace in Naihati.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">On Anti-Dalit Violence in Nashik</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The CPI(ML) expresses deep concern over reports of widespread anti-Dalit violence by mobs of the dominant Maratha caste as well as by the police in Nashik district of Maharashtra. The police in the BJP-Shiv Sena ruled state have failed to register cases against the perpetrators and have instead unleashed violence on Dalits inside their own homes in the name of combing operations. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">In recent times, huge silent processions of Marathas had been witnessed in Maharashtra. While the agrarian crisis, farmers' suicides and joblessness were factors in the Maratha unrest, the agitations had a disturbing anti-Dalit edge right from the start. The agitations began following the gang rape and murder of a Maratha minor girl allegedly by Dalit youth, and the demand for dilution of SC/ST Atrocities Act was raised. In Nashik, again, the alleged molestation of a minor Maratha girl by a Dalit teenager was the pretext for the latest round of anti-Dalit violence accompanied by demands to dilute or scrap the SC/ST Atrocities Act.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">For allegations of rape and molestation to be used as pretexts to raise the bogey of 'misuse' of the SC/ST Atrocities Act is highly condemnable. The issue of justice for women and girls should not be pitted against that of justice and dignity for Dalits and tribals. Incidences of rape in which Dalits happen to be accused must not be used to profile Dalits as sexually predatory. Atrocities against Dalits and tribals – including instances of organized sexual violence and gang rapes – continue to be rampant, and justice is hard to come by in these cases thanks to police collusion with the perpetrators. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The CPI(ML) demands stern and prompt action against all the perpetrators of anti-Dalit violence in Nashik. The BJP-Shiv Sena Government must be held accountable for the safety of the Dalits in the state, and all police and administrative personnel involved in anti-Dalit violence must be punished. Political leaders attempting to instigate the Maratha community against the Dalits must also face action.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">CPI(ML) Decries State Inaction against Communal Tension in Bhojpur</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">In a statement issued on 14 October 2016 on communal tension in Peero and other areas in Bhojpur, CPI(ML) state secretary Kunal said that the continuation of the communal terror tactics of the miscreants on the second consecutive day in Peero in Bhojpur is extremely worrisome. The so called 'social justice' government and the district administration has completely bowed down in front of the communal elements. He further said that besides the BJP, even some of the people associated with RJD were behind the communal tensions prevailing in Peero. On the second day too, RJD backed trouble makers tried to attack the Muslim tola. The communal tension could have been curtailed in Peero and Jagdishpur in Bhojpur and in other regions in the state, however the state administration was never found to be alert. Com. Kunal also said that Lalu Prasad never stops raising the cry of secularism and yet in recent days, his party has been found to be involved in several communal incidents. Recently in the communal riots in Saran district people belonging to RJD were found to be involved to the extent that they looted the houses and property of the Muslims. What kind of behaviour is RJD demonstrating towards the minorities? He said in Bihar, Lalu and Nitish had received votes against the communal forces led by BJP but today these parties are openly walking the path of the BJP. He also expressed concern regarding the communal frenzy witnessed in Sugauli. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">A fact finding team from CPI(ML) comprising of MLA Sudama Prasad, party state committee members Com. Qyamuddin Ansari and Com. Ajit Kushwaha along with Com. Chandradeep Singh visited Peero and Jagdishpur as soon as they heard of the incidents of communal violence and tension.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">17th World Trade Union Congress of WFTU</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-ParagraphStyle1" style="font-size:12.8px"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">6-Member Delegation of AICCTU Participates</span></b></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">The 17th Congress of the WFTU (World Federation of Trade Unions) was held on 5-8 October 2016 at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban city of Republic of South Africa, the land of the heroic liberation and anti-apartheid struggle. The Congress culminated in a spirited rally and a mass meeting at historic Curries Fountain Stadium on 8 October. As part of the closing ceremony, a workers' memorial plaque was unveiled at the entrance of the stadium. The theme of the Congress was "Struggle, Internationalism and Unity, For attainment of the workers' contemporary needs, Against poverty and wars generated by capitalist barbarism".</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">In the country where the people fought hard and victoriously against the apartheid, 1500 workers' and employees' delegates from 111 countries and more than 210 central trade unions and sector based Trade Union Internationals representing 92 million workers from five continents participated in the Congress. The gathering comprised of 340 women trade-unionists and 31% of the delegates were from the Public Sector and 69% were private employees. From India 62 delegates participated from AITUC, CITU, AICCTU, AIUTUC and TUCC. From AICCTU 6-Member Delegation participated namely, Rajiv Dimri (General Secretary), SK Sharma and S. Balan (both vice-presidents), Bhuvaneswari and Uday Bhat (both Secretaries) and AS Kumar (Tamil Nadu state President and national councilor).</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The Congress was greeted by leaders from South Africa, namely, COSATU President Sdumo Dlamini, General Secretary of South African Communist Party Blade Nzimande and ANC leader and President of South Africa Jacob Zuma. Several solidarity messages were also sent to the Congress.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">In total, 112 speakers took the floor and spoke about the international situation and situation of the working people in their countries. On behalf of AICCTU, Rajiv Dimri addressed the Congress. AICCTU moved the resolution for observance of centenary of Russian Revolution. The speeches of delegates comprehensively reflected the growing crisis of global capitalism and its neo-liberal policies and shifting of the burden of this crisis on to the shoulders of working people, in the developed countries, growing attacks on the working people, notably the imperialist machinations to topple the democratically elected socialist-orientated governments in Latin America and in response the growing resistance of the masses. The Congress discussed the ways and means to respond effectively from WFTU to the challenges facing the working class all around the world and also to consolidate and strengthen the principles of working class internationalism.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The Congress was jointly hosted by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) affiliated unions, namely the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), the Police Prisons and Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) and the Chemical Energy Print Paper and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU).</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The Congress elected 47-member Presidential Council. Michael Mzwandile Makwayiba, South African trade union leader was elected as President and George Mavrikos was re-elected as General Secretary of WFTU for next five years.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The Congress wore festive look with dances and spirited peoples' songs performed by South African worker delegates from time to time and reverberated with the slogans "Amandla"- "Awethu" (power to the people) with all delegates joining them.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The Congress adopted many Resolutions including observance of centenary of Russian Revolution throughout the world.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">19th Memorial Day of Com. Nagbhushan Patnaik</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The CPI(ML) Odisha unit observed the 19th Memorial Day of Com. Nagbhushan Patnaik on 9 October 2016. CPI(ML) state committee members Com. Khitish Biswal, Com. Radhakant Sethi, Com. Yudhishtir Mahapatra and Com. Bansidhar Parida shared the life narrative of Com. Nagbhushan Patnaik and their memories of him. They called upon the activists to follow path of Com. Patnaik to strengthen the party in Odisha. Com. Mahendra Pardia, who was presiding of the memorial meeting, condemned the anti-labour policies of both the BJP and the BJD governments in the centre and the state respectively. He recalled the legacy of Com. Patnaik who consistently fought for the working class and called for a fight against these policies of Modi and Naveen Patnaik. <br></span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">CPI(ML)'s Protest in Darbhanga</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Protests were held in front of the Superintendent of Police, Darbhanga, on 5 October, following a brutal assault of a 12 year old boy by a feudal lumpen in the Mekna village in Bahadurpur block. A 12 year old student Dileep Sahni was kept tied for 12 hours and brutally beaten up by a feudal lumpen Parikshan Yadav. The protestors demanded immediate arrest of Parikshan Yadav and other accused, along with withdrawal of false complaints against those who protested against this. Hundreds of protestors took out a march from the Polo ground that culminated in front of the SP's office. The protestors blocked the road to conduct a meeting and raised slogans. Thereafter they held a public meeting which was addressed by CPI(ML)'s Darbhanga district secretary Baidnath Yadav and state committee member Abhishek Kumar. The speakers warned that if the police administration does arrest the accused within a fortnight then this struggle will be further intensified. They also called for a Jan Panchayat to be organised on 19 October in Mekna village.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Against Corruption in Ration Distribution in Hajipur</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Hundreds of consumers from Rasulpur Mubarak Panchayat in Mahua block, took out a demonstration on 1 October 2016 in the streets of Hajipur town to protest against the irregularities in the public distribution centres. They held a demonstration in front of the district officials and handed a memorandum to the Hajipur SDO. The demo was led by CPI(ML) district secretary Yogen Rai, Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha state president Vishweshwar and others. Later a mass meeting was organised. The speakers pointed out that irregularity in the public distribution happened due to the collusion between the block supply officer and the dealers. They said that the protests will continue till the irregularities are addressed.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Rasoiya Sangh's District Conference in East Champaran</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The East Champaran unit of the Bihar State Rasoiya Sangh (Mid-day Meal Workers) held its inaugural district conference on 25 September 2016. Despite the rains nearly one thousand midday meal workers participated in the conference. The conference was inaugurated by state president of AIPWA and the Bihar State Rasoiya Sangh Saroj Chaubey. Addressing the participants, she said that in the last one and a half years the Rasoiya Sangh had established a distinct identity for itself in the east Champaran district on the strength of its struggles. It is due to the movement of the Rasoiya Sangh that a slight increase of Rs. 250 in the honorarium was achieved and an announcement of an amount of Rs. 4 lakh compensation post death, was made. However, the same had not yet been implemented in the state. Though several protests including hunger strike, demonstrations in front of the Chief Minister and dharnas had been organised to press for this, the Chief Minister had still not bothered to meet the representatives of the delegations. Instead, in March this year, a decision was taken to hand over the mid day meal scheme to NGOs. AIPWA and the Rasoiya Sangh have been protesting against this decision and their movement continues. She sharply criticised the anti-people policies of the state and the central governments. Bhairo Dayal Singh called the midday meal workers to intensify their protests. In the delegate session, discussions took place on the report of the Rasoiya Sangh Convenor Dinesh Prasad Kushwaha, after which it was unanimously passed. A ten point demand charter was also passed. In the concluding session, a 33 member committee was elected. Baby Devi was elected as the unit president and Dinesh Prasad Kushwaha as the unit secretary. The new committee comprises of 18 women members. The conference ended with songs and slogans.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Cultural Activists Protest Firing on Farmers in Jharkhand</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">In order to loot the land, forests and natural and mineral resources of Jharkhand, the corporate forces consider it the 'world's one of the easiest places to do business in' and since then the Modi-Raghuvar governments have trying to ensure the same by imposing a police-raj in the state. Two brutal incidents of police firing on farmers protesting against forcible land grab by NTPC have taken place in the last one month in Badkagaon and Gola. On 5 October, a people's protest was held in Ranchi under the banner of Jan Sanskriti Manch. Various cultural activists and intellectuals gathered to raise the questions- "Yeh kiska lahoo hai, kaun maraa?" (Whose blood is this, who died) and "Acche din ki aas mein, log badal rahe hain laash mein?" (In the anticipation of better days, people are turning into corpses). Several social and cultural activists including -veteran filmmaker Shriprakash, Shekhar from Samvaad, Prof. Mithilesh (Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh), M.Z. Khan (Janwadi Lekhak Sangh), Xavier Kujur (JSM, Jharkhand), Gautam Singh Munda, Sonia Tiriya (Prerna, cultural team associated with the Jharkhand unit of Jan Sanskriti Manch), Josephina Panna (a youth social activist), Jagmohan Mahto (RYA), and Saba Parween and Navreen (AISA), participated in the programme. The venue of the programme had various posters with lines from poetry of Brecht, Paash and other revolutionary poets. The activists demanded that the culprits of this planned massacre be punished and also that state oppression being unleashed on the farmers of the region be immediately stopped.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Convening the programme, Anil Anushman of Jan Sanskriti Manch said that this people's protest is cultural activists' warning to the Modi- Raghuvar governments that they should recall how a state government of Bengal tried to forcibly snatch land from the farmers of Nandigram and Singur and began their oppression, cultural and social activists and intellectuals gathered in streets in huge numbers to confront the government. In Jharkhand too, the activists will intensify people's movement in favour of the farmers and the tribals by way of 'Meri Zameen, Meri Kavita' (My land, my poem) campaign. Massacres in the name of development will not be tolerated.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Protests Against the Death of a Woman in Domestic Violence</span></font></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="gmail-m_-8099308791224397782gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB">A 22 year old woman, Mita Das, hailing from Sukantapally, was found hanging from the ceiling of her house in Uluberia (in Howrah District of West Bengal) on 11 October. She had been married for six months. The post mortem report revealed marks on her body indicative of physical fight. Her family have accused her in laws and husband of subjecting her to consistent domestic violence. In a report released in 2015, West Bengal was found to top the list in cases of domestic violence. Voicing resistance against the increasing spate of such incidents, AISA and students of Jadavpur University, of which Mita was an alumni gave a call for observing protest day on 17 October. A large number of students-youth participated in these protests demanding justice for Mita and strong laws against all forms of domestic violence. Students holding placards and shouting slogans took out a massive rally from the Jadavpur to Dhakuria flyover. The students gathered there also raised slogans demanding justice for other victims like Payel of Kirshnanagar who was burnt to death after dowry demands, Nazia, a victim of dowry related torture and Nabamita Biswas who was found hanging from the window of her bathroom. She left a note behind holding responsible her husband for the suicide. The placards carried the slogans- 'Justice for Payel', 'Justice for Nazia', 'Justice for Mita, 'Fight Patriarchy from womb to the world', 'zero tolerance to domestic violence' and with demands to criminalise marital rape. They said that protests against these incidents will continue till justice is ensured for the victims.</span></p><div class="gmail-yj6qo gmail-ajU" style="margin:2px 0px 0px"><div id="gmail-:143" class="gmail-ajR" tabindex="0"><img class="gmail-ajT" src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif"></div></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-39111957464630843572016-10-16T14:15:00.001+05:302016-10-16T14:15:13.990+05:30ML Update | No. 42 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p align="center" style="color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:48pt;color:red">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:36pt;color:blue">Update</span></i></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:36pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p align="center" style="color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;font-family:calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(153,153,153)">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p align="center" style="color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;margin-right:6.5pt;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(153,153,153)">Vol. 19, No. 42, 11 – 17 OCTOBER 2016</span></p><p class="gmail-m_850385196046161599gmail-AABodytextArial95" align="center" style="color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-indent:0mm;text-align:center"><br><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:28.8px;font-family:impact,sans-serif">Resist the Climate of War-Mongering and Hate</span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px"></span></p><div style="color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" hspace="0" vspace="0"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top" style="padding:0mm"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:13.5px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:43.5pt;line-height:43.5px;color:black">T</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">he escalating climate of war-mongering and hate in the wake of the Uri attack and the retaliatory strike announced by the Indian Government is a matter of great concern that is fuelling campaigns of communal hate and censorship in India.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The media is bending over backwards when asked to kneel by the Government. There are shameful instances of self-censorship by the media, where criticism of the Government's lack of transparency when it comes to the surgical strike as well as its blatant attempts to draw political mileage from the strike is being censored by media houses in the name of 'national interest.'</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Amplifying the muscle-flexing by the Modi Government, influential sections of the corporate media is playing dangerous war games, calling upon Indians to boycott of Pakistani cultural artists who fail to publicly condemn their Government. The irony is that Indian cultural figures who have in the past couple of years spoken out against the Indian Government's intolerance – and those who have spoken up courageously against war-mongering - have been attacked as 'anti-national' by the ruling party and Sangh Parivar! Celebrated director MS Sathyu (whose classic Garam Hawa is one of the most powerful films on the Partition) was attacked in Indore recently by an RSS outfit for opposing the call to boycott Pakistani artists and calling for peace between Pakistan and India. It is the height of hypocrisy when Pakistani artists are told they will be boycotted unless they distance themselves from their Government but dissent by Indian artists is branded as 'anti national'! Bullying Pakistani and Indian artists is not 'patriotism' - it is jingoism. In every country in the world, the most courageous citizens have been those who have taken stands for peace in a climate of war-mongering.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The NDA Government is refusing to take any responsibility for its failure to secure its own military bases at Pathankot and Uri. Meanwhile the BJP's Rajasthan Chief Minister herself organized and attended a 'Rashtra Raksha Yagna' – a Brahminical Hindu religious 'Ritual for National Security' at the Indo-Pakistan border, conducted by '21 Brahmins!' Such a ceremony, while making a mockery of India's claims to modernity and development, is calculated to propagate the notion of India as a 'Hindu Nation' with Brahminical values.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The Government-sponsored jingoism is primarily for domestic political consumption – and the dangerous effects of the prevailing climate of jingoism are already showing. It is Indian Muslims who are the target of anti-Pakistan hate campaigns. Even as calls to boycott Pakistani artists gain ground, one of India's finest actors, Nawazuddin Siddiqui was prevented by Hindu right wing groups from playing a role in the 'Ramlila' (enactment of the Ramayana) performance at Muzaffarnagar. It is significant that the Prime Minister himself has hinted that 'Vijayadashami' celebrations this year are 'special' – thus using the image of the Hindu festival celebrating the mythical victory of Rama over Ravana, to symbolise the 'victory' of India over Pakistan.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">An even more chilling instance of the increasing bid of the Sangh Parivar to project India as a 'Hindu nation' with Muslims projected as the enemy, took place in Dadri recently. One of the men accused of lynching a Muslim man Akhlaque to death, died in judicial custody while awaiting trial. At his funeral, his body was draped in India's national flag, as is the custom for the bodies of Indian soldiers, and political leaders gave speeches abusing and threatening Muslims. Clearly, the communal fascist forces are trying to project lynching Muslims as an act of 'patriotism.' Even as India's ruling party draws political mileage from the death of soldiers, it has raised no objection to the use of the national flag to drape the body of a man accused of lynching to death the father of an Indian soldier.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">It is unfortunate that the Opposition too is indulging in competitive war-mongering. The Congress is responding to the Modi Government's claims of surgical strike by pointing out that similar strikes took place during the UPA regime too. A newspaper revealed documents proving that Indian troops carried out a cross-border 'retaliatory' strike in 2011 following a raid by Pakistani military. It emerges that in those raids and retaliations, the Geneva Convention and international norms of military engagement were thrown to the winds. Heads of Pakistani and Indian soldiers were chopped off and carried away as 'trophies' and later destroyed on orders of top military officials to conceal evidence of these war crimes. It is time for Indian and Pakistani citizens to declare that such atrocities and war crimes cannot be a source of 'national pride' for the people of either country. Lasting peace and an end to terror, war-mongering and hatred in the South Asian neighbourhood would be a worthy source of pride.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">There is anger in Punjab's border villages against the irresponsible war-mongering by Indian politicians and media. 15 lakh people of border villages were evacuated in the name of a war-threat. But it emerged later that the Border Security Force had not ordered the evacuation – rather the evacuation ordered by the Akali-BJP Government or India's Home Ministry appeared motivated by political rather than security considerations. Faced with anger by farmers whose crops were endangered by the evacuation, the Government was forced to reverse the decision to evacuate.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The BJP is already displaying advertisements in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh boasting of the 'surgical strike.' The BJP must not be allowed to hide the failures of the Modi Government behind a smokescreen of war-mongering. The Modi Government has failed spectacularly to deliver on its promises to curb price rise, generate employment, make farmers prosperous and secure, or secure military bases. Instead it stands implicated of condoning crimes against minorities and Dalits in the name of protecting cows. Moreover, the Modi Government that is playing politics over soldiers' deaths, has shamelessly failed to meet the soldiers' demands for just disability pensions – including equity between jawans and officers and increased coverage when it comes to disability pensions. Instead there are reports that the Government actually slashed disability pensions for soldiers, days after the surgical strike.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Indian people who value democracy must counter state- and media-fuelled jingoism, promote peace and diplomatic dialogue to resolve issues between Pakistan and India and resolutely resist attempts to cloak communal hate-mongering in 'patriotic' robes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0mm 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0mm 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:black">Reject Roopanwal Commission Report on Rohith Vemula Institutional Murder</span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The one-man Roopanwal Commission set up by the former HRD Minister Smriti Irani to enquire into Rohith Vemula's death has covered up the role of the Hyderabad Central University authorities and Central Government Ministers in victimising Rohith for his political activism. Instead it has chosen to echo the RSS and BJP propaganda, accusing Rohith and his mother Radhika of faking their Dalit status.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The HRD Ministry and Central Government must reject the Roopanwal Report that adds insult to Radhika Vemula's pain while mocking her quest for justice. The struggle for Justice for Rohith will continue with greater determination, undeterred by smear campaigns for which the Roopanwal Report provides fodder.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0mm 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0mm 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:black">National Conference of All India Construction Workers' Federation</span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The 3rd national conference of AICWF concluded in Ranchi on 29-30 September with a call of struggle for 'Higher Wages and Regular Work.' The conference venue was named after recently departed leader Comrade Swapan Mukherjee who played a prominent role in the formation of AICWF. The conference began with a massive Workers' Rights Rally and March through prominent parts of the city. Many local construction workers standing on labour chowks spontaneously joined this march.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The rally was addressed by CPI(ML) MLA in Jharkhand Rajkumar Yadav who called upon this contingent of urban workers to strengthen their organisation and to forge a broader unity of urban and rural workers to oust the pro-corporate governments which have launched an all out attack on basic rights of working class. He said that the Modi and Raghuvar Das governments in centre and state are looting the natural resources and human labour for big companies and basic minimum rights of common people are now very much endangered. A bigger, stronger and broader movement against corporate communal fascist regime is the need of the moment. He called upon the AICWF delegates to continue and intensify the fighting spirit which was manifested during the all India General Strike of 2 September recently and force the government to withdraw anti-labour reforms and legislations which are in the offing.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Subhendu Sen, Jharkhand state General Secretary of AICCTU, expressed concern for expanding and strengthening the Construction workers' Federation in view of major onslaught on basic livelihood rights of this highly vulnerable but one of the biggest sections of workers and called for not remaining limited to, and dependent on, construction workers' welfare boards for every solution. He said that even the present scenario of employment, which is generally 15 days a month only without any labour law benefit, is further going to deteriorate with the coming of big corporate capital in the form of placement agencies. Only a bigger and widespread organisation can sustain any further attacks on labour rights, otherwise there is an imminent danger that even statutory welfare boards in states may go under the control of big companies of this sector.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Comrade SK Sharma presented a work report before the conference. Major issues which were discussed among more than 200 delegates, men and women- mainly masons and navvies, and mining and brick-kiln workers, were non-implementation of Construction Workers' Act 1996 in almost every state in its full spirit, more than 60% construction workers all over the country still are completely out of the ambit of this Act, misuse of Welfare Board Cess and deprivation of deserving construction workers from the benefits of this fund (which now amounts to more than Rs. 40,000 crores in all the states), dangerous work conditions without any safety measures, non-registration of construction workers in these welfare boards, and prevailing castiest and communal atmosphere which is adding manifold deprivations to the workers who are already devoid of any kind of social security.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The Open Session of the conference was also addressed by the General Secretary of All India Municipal Workers Federation Shyamlal Prasad, leader of All India Contract and non-Regular Workers Federation Rambali Prasad, Executive President of Coal Mines Workers Union Baijnath Mistry, Centre of Steel Workers' leader JN Singh, Jharkhand State Employees' Federation's Sushila Tigga, Jharkhand Mid-day meal workers' leader Ajit Prajapati and CITU's Jharkhand General Secretary Prakash Viplab.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The conference, attended by representatives from 16 states, concluded with the election of a 47-member National Executive with a 15-members office bearers team. Comrade Balasubramanian from Pondicherry was elected as National President and Comrade SK Sharma from Bihar as General Secretary. The conference gave a call of struggle for equal benefit in all states, guarantee of registration of every construction worker in the welfare boards in states, and common rules and regulations in all states. The conference also resolved for strengthening organisational structures at local, district and state levels.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Besides a demand charter for construction workers, the conference also passed resolutions condemning repression of Aanganwadi workers in Lucknow terming it a direct attack on workers' democracy and demanding action against guilty police officers, another resolution was passed condemning military repression of Kashmiri people in the name of terrorism and jingoist maneuverings and fake nationalism of Modi government.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The conference chalked out a programme and a detailed plan of action and propaganda for local, district and state levels to be culminated in a national level mobilization which will be held during budget session of Parliament in February 2017 in the national capital.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0mm 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:22.4px;font-family:"berlin sans fb",sans-serif;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0mm 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:22.4px;font-family:"berlin sans fb",sans-serif;color:black">Obituary</span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:black">Comrade Janardan Harijan</span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Comrade Janardan Harijan, State Committee member of CPI(ML)'s Jharkhand Committee, passed away on 8 October. He was 54. He had recently begun working in the Panch Pargana area, determined to expand the party's presence there.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Comrade JD was born in a coal workers' family, and when offered a job in BCCL, he passed it on to his brother instead.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Comrade JD had a special bond with forests, mountains, rivers and nature. He played the mouth organ and the flute, and singing songs he himself had composed. At the recently concluded All India Construction Workers' Federation conference, he had performed a song. One of his favourite songs was about the hills and nature of Jharkhand's Rajmahal.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.05pt">Comrade JD had been a CPI(ML) activist since the 1970s. He organized students in and around Sindri. As a party wholetimer since 1980, he worked in the Dhanbad, Bokaro and Ranchi districts, and also for a while in Giridih and Gandey. He contested as an IPF candidate in Bihar's Aurangabad district, and had also contested elections from Sindri and Chandankyari. He was a leader of anti-feudal struggles in Parasbaniya and also a leader of Sindri's Dalit workers. He organized against the Congress-sponsored anti-Sikh communal violence in 1984.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Comrade Janardan Harijan is deeply missed and remembered with great affection by his comrades.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><b><i><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Red Salute to Comrade Janardan Harijan!</span></i></b><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0mm 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0mm 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:black">Raghubar Must Resign For Badkagaon and Gola Massacres!</span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><b><i><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">CPI(ML) teams visited Badkagaon several times since the massacre and have exposed the facts. Agitations are ongoing, demanding justice and accountability from the State Government that is grabbing land from the poor at gunpoint.</span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">On October 1, the 16th day of the 'Kafan Satyagraha' (Shroud Satyagraha) by farmers, the police attacked sleeping protesters including women and children at the dharna site at 3 am. The protesters fled in panic, with the police firing in the air and brutally lathi charging the protesters, who fled towards nearby villages of Chirudih, Dandikala, Churchu, Sanbarsha, and Kanki Dandikala. The police entered the villages, continuing to spread terror, breaking down doors and entering homes to beat up people and uttering abusive threats. In the face of this terror, some of the villagers and protesters defended themselves with sticks and stones. At dawn, the police sought to preempt the likelihood of a massive protest, by firing randomly on the people at the CO's order. Three teenage schoolboys and a tailor were killed in the firing. There are rumours of more deaths but only four bodies could be found. 72 are injured, many severely.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">There has been a movement since 2004 in Badkagaon and Hazaribagh district against land grab for the NTPC project. The project involves forcible acquisition of 767 acres of raiyyati land and 30.12 acres of government gair mazarua land. The land has been given to NTPC for a 30 year lease for Rs 70000 per month. The 767 acres of raiyyati land is multi-crop land, which is extremely fertile and supports at least three crops every year. This land is being forcibly acquired, without any consideration for taking consent from farmers, nor for due compensation, or for provision of alternate land or livelihood. Farmers are demanding that forced land grab be stopped – no acquisition without consent; and even where land acquisition takes place, it must be according to the 2012 law.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The Badkagaon and Gola firings are not random excesses by the police. They are part of a concerted plan by the Raghubar and Modi Governments to unleash intensified repression on people's movements and dilute laws to appease corporations. The movement against land grab in Godda for an Adani power house is growing, and the Badkagaon and Gola firings are intended to have a chilling effect on the movement in Godda and elsewhere in Jharkhand.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">In the past months the Raghubar Government has sought to evict thousands of adivasis, dalits and poor people of Jharkhand from Government gair mazurua lands. The Government attempted to impose a new domicile policy, that would dilute the rights of Jharkhandis to land and livelihood. The Raghubar Government has also attempted to pass ordinances to subvert Jharkhand's tenancy Acts – the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949. The ordinances proposed to allow diversion of urban and rural lands of ST/SCs and OBCs for commercial use by corporates, real estate brokers and so on. Shamefully, the CM Raghubar Das tried to use communalism to tarnish the protests against this brazen dilution of Jharkhandi people's rights – he recently declared that protests against the ordinances amending CNT and SPT Acts were sponsored by Christians!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">The PMO has also given orders that the civil administration must follow para military orders in Pakri Barwadih (Badkagaon) – a violation of civil liberties and imposition of undeclared Emergency to suppress protests.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">In protest against the Badkagaon firing, the CPI(ML) held a protest march and burnt the CM's effigy on 2 October in Ranchi. On October 3, protests were held in all districts in the State. On the same day, CCM Shubhendu Sen, CPI(ML) MLA Rajkumar Yadav, Dayamani Barla, Xavier Kujur, Pacchu Rana, Baijnath Mistri and others took a fact finding team to Badkagaon and met the victims' families and injured persons. The CPI(ML) team was joined by CPI and CPI(M) teams that held a press conference jointly after the visit. At the Press Conference, a call was given for Justice Marches to be held all over the State on 5 October against the massacre, with the slogan 'Give Us Justice Or Give Us Jail,' and 'Raghubar Das Must Resign.'</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Meanwhile the police and para military continued to unleash terror on villages and violently evict villagers, preventing journalists from covering the violence. Defying the imposition of a 'ban' on visits, a CPI(ML) team comprising Shubhendu Sen, Javed Islam and Xavier Kujur once more visited the area along with teams of other Left and Opposition parties. They were prevented from visiting the affected area but sat on a dharna at the spot where they were stopped.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">On 5 October, spirited protests were held at district headquarters all over the state demanding resignation of Raghubar Das and warning 'Appeasement of Corporates and Betrayal of Jharkhandis Won't Be Allowed!' On 17 October, Left parties and Opposition parties have planned a Badkagaon March and Sankalp Sabha (Pledge Taking Public Meeting.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">Jharkhand Jan Sanskriti Manch (JSM) held a protest programme on 5 October at Albert Ekka Chowk asking 'Whose blood was shed?' and 'Why are we getting corpses instead of the promised 'good days'?' Filmmaker Shriprakash, Shekhar from Samvad, Prof Mithilesh of Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh, MZ Khan of Janvadi Lekhak Sangh, Xavier Kujur of Jharkhand JSM, Gautam Singh Munda, Soni Tiriya of women's cultural team Prerna, young social activist Josephina Panna, RYA's Jagmohan Mahto, Saba Parveen and Navreen of AISA and many others participated in the event, which was conducted by Anil Anshuman of JSM. Posters with lines of poetry were displayed at the event.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0mm 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:black"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0mm 0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:"eras bold itc",sans-serif;color:black">Protest Against Anti-Dalit Atrocity in Kakinada</span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:21.6px;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:black">On October 3, the CPI(ML) Liberation and other Left parties encircled the collectorate at Kakinada in protest against the tonsure of a Dalit youth by a TDP MLA Thota Trimurthulu.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_850385196046161599gmail-AABodytextArial95" style="color:rgb(51,51,255);font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;text-indent:0mm"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px"> </span></p> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-65763456979026787282016-10-16T14:13:00.001+05:302016-10-16T14:13:46.020+05:30ML Update | No. 41 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;line-height:35.2px;color:red">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px;color:rgb(84,141,212)">Update</span></i></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px"></span></i></b></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8pt;line-height:12.8px;color:rgb(0,32,96)">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8pt;line-height:12.8px;font-family:paras-hindi;color:rgb(0,32,96)"></span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-NoParagraphStyle" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-right:6.4pt;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:7pt;line-height:11.2px;color:rgb(0,32,96)">Vol.19 | No. 41 | </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:6pt;line-height:9.6px;color:rgb(0,32,96)">4-10 OCT 2016</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-01Headline2cols" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><font size="6"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Raghubar Das Government's War on Anti-Land-Grab Agitators</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:0.1pt"><b>In the second such incident in two months</b>, firing by police and paramilitary has killed at least 4 people and severely injured 72 who were agitating against land grab by the NTPC at Badkagaon in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. The four killed include three young students Pawan Kumar (16), Abhishek Rai (18), Ranjan Ravidas (18) and a tailor Mohammad Mehtab Alam (29). In late August, Jharkhand police fired on anti-land-grab protestors who had assembled for a meeting with the management of the Inland Power Limited (IPL) at Gola in Ramgarh, Jharkhand, killing two persons, Dashrath Mahto and Premchand Nayak. 47 rounds were fired without warning at 300 protestors at Gola – proving that the force used was deliberately deadly and not merely aimed at controlling or dispersing a protesting crowd. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The BJP's Jharkhand Government headed by Chief Minister Raghubar Das has shamelessly defended the police firing that has claimed 4 young lives. The police and administration are blaming the villagers and claiming that the innocents killed were 'outsiders.' And the Modi Government itself has stepped in to defend the killing, with Union Minister Jayant Sinha, who is also the Hazaribagh MP, blaming the protesting villagers for 'provoking' the firing. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:0.1pt">Outright police and CRPF terror is being unleashed after the firing on the villages of Chipa Khurd, Dadhi Kala and Kanki Dadhi in Hazaribagh – villages that have been protesting land acquisition for mining projects for the past decade. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:0.1pt">Ever since Jharkhand was formed, its rulers have been committed to grabbing land to honour corporate MOUs as well as government projects – spilling the blood of Jharkhand's villagers who resisted the land grab and asserted their rights over land, forests and water. Jharkhand's first CM Babulal Marandi – then in the BJP and now founder of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha – presided over the Tapkara police firing on adivasi protestors against land grab. The Congress-JMM Government also has fired on the anti-NTPC protestors at Hazaribagh itself in 2013, killing one person. The Hazaribagh agitation against NTPC faced another firing that injured several people in 2015.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:0.1pt">Protests began when NTPC began acquiring 8,000 acres across 28 villages for mining in 2006, paying compensation of a mere Rs 2 lakh per acre. The compensation was increased to Rs 20 lakh an acre but that amount also is far below the standards set by the Land Acquisition Act 2013. Moreover, the consent of the village Gram Sabhas has not been obtained.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:0.1pt">The land that the NTPC is seeking to turn into a coal block is some of the most fertile in Jharkhand. Land losers are mostly small farmers, who have been holding 'coal satyagrahas' in protest for the past two years, digging coal by hand and selling directly to traders, paying a royalty to the Gram Sabhas. In the past few months, the protesting farmers had been on a 'kafan satyagraha' (shroud satyagraha) blocking the mining being conducted on forcibly acquired land. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:0.1pt">The recent Singur verdict of the Supreme Court, vindicating the protests against land grab, ought to serve as a warning to the Jharkhand Government and the Modi Government that are unleashing brutal repression on farmers in order to grab fertile agricultural land without the consent of farmers. Villagers stand to lose not only land but livelihood, and diversion of fertile agricultural land should be avoided because this endangers the food security of the country.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:0.1pt">Bulldozing democratic processes of Gram Sabhas and grabbing land at gunpoint cannot be the model of 'development' in a democratic country. Union Minister Jayant Sinha has accused the protesting villagers of pursuing 'vinash' (destruction) instead of 'vikas' (development). In fact, it is his Government at the Centre and his party's Government in Jharkhand which is unleashing destruction in the name of development. The war-mongering at the borders continues even as the Governments wage war against India's own farmers.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0);letter-spacing:-0.1pt">All India Student-Youth March On the 109th Birth Anniversary of Bhagat Singh</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Students and youth from all over the country gathered at Delhi today to March from to Parliament Street, resolving to fight to achieve the India of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar's dreams.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Bhagat Singh's nephew – intellectual and activist Prof Jagmohan flagged off the March. Students and youth marched from Ambedkar Bhawan to Parliament Street, with colourful banners and placards, raising slogans of 'Utho Mere Desh' (Arise My Country) and 'Naye Bharat Ke Vastey, Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Ke Raste' (March for a New India in Bhagat Singh's and Ambedkar's Footsteps). </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">A Public Meeting was held at Parliament Street which was addressed by many noted activists and public figures. The Meeting began with revolutionary songs presented by Hirawal, Patna and Comrade Nirmohi. AISA National President Sucheta De greeted the gathering and the guests and conducted the meeting. She spoke about the spate of 'sedition' cases against students and victimization of Dalit students, arrests of students and young activists from Bastar to Gujarat to Kashmir, the ugly reality of caste-divided and gender-discriminatory hostels on Indian campuses, and the growing resistance of young people defying all attempts to silence and intimidate. She called for a robust resistance to the war-mongering by the ruling class and for the unity of youth and students across South Asia for against bigotry and jingoism. She said that the movement would struggle relentlessly for enacting a law against caste discrimination on campuses, in Rohith Vemula's memory. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Prof Jagmohan spoke of Bhagat Singh's legacy of resisting the colonial rulers and Indian oppressors alike. He said that the dreams of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar inspire today's youth to struggle for social transformation and against imperialism.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Ram Puniyani, noted activist, spoke about how the RSS' fascist project in India is intended to turn India into a Brahminical Hindu nation. He contrasted the legacy of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar with that of Savarkar's betrayal of the freedom struggle and called for all people's movements to join hands to defeat the fascist forces.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Senior journalist Anil Chamaria said that the oppressed and poor students are being asked to chop off their 'thumb' – give up their rights - just as happened with Ekalavya in the myth. It is to prevent this that the Rohith Act is a necessity.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Noted writer and Dalit women's rights activist Anita Bharti spoke of the right wing offensive on the rights of Dalits, women and minorities and called for unity of the Left and Ambedkarite movements.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Urmila Chauhan, leader of sanitation worker' union in JNU, spoke of workers' struggles for their rights and dignity and their unity with the students' movement. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Among the student and youth activists who spoke were Tripura University AISA activist Koushik Das, a Dalit student who was victimized for taking up struggles of contractual workers and justice for Rohith Vemula; Akash, one among the nine BHU students rusticated for demanding a 24/7 library and implementation of reservations, and resisting gender discrimination; JNUSU President Mohit, Joint Secretary Tabrez; former JNUSU GS Rama Naga; Shivani, the activist elected to the Students' Union in Garhwal University; Manoj Manzil, RYA President of Bihar who was jailed for his activism on issues of land and education who participated in the Una March; RYA State President of UP Rakesh who participated in the Una March; and activists from Karbi Anglong, Maharashtra, Odisha, Hyderabad, and many other places.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Former RYA President, now All India Kisan Mahasabha General Secretary Rajaram Singh congratulated students for forcing Smriti Irani to quit as HRD Minister. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Addressing the students and youth, CPI(ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar said that the people's movements and progressive traditions of the country will resist and defeat the threat of fascism in India. Bhagat Singh called to resist the brown rulers as well as colonial rulers and Ambedkar said that freedom could not be genuine without equality and fraternity. It isn't possible to annihilate caste, he said, without fighting for inter-caste marriage and the fullest freedom of women, as well as the unity of peasants and workers. He said that youth all over India are speaking up against the military atrocities and repression in Kashmir and the North East. The Government is indulging in anti-Pakistan war-mongering and hate while it is unable to secure its own military bases in Pathankot and Uri. The fight for the Rohith Act and for campus democracy will definitely be achieved. Students and youth will never allow the Sangh to appropriate Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">RYA National General Secretary Om Prasad, AISA National General Secretary Sandeep Saurav, AIPWA Secretary Kavita Krishnan, AIARLA National President Rameshwar Prasad were also present on the dais. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0);letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Struggle Against Land Grab by Divi's Chemical Industries in Andhra Pradesh</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt";letter-spacing:-0.2pt">People of Thondangi Mandal of East Godavari of AP with the support of Left parties successfully stopped land grab by the government for Divi's Laboratories Limited – a corporation that manufactures chemical ingredients for pharmaceutical companies. Divi's wants to set up their unit with an investment of Rs 500 crores investment at Thondangi Mandal of East Godavari. This Mandal is on the sea coast, so the company wants the site to be able to dump hazardous chemical waste into the sea, just as many other industries are doing on the AP sea coast, reducing their expenditure on chemical waste management/treatment. With the full support of the Chandrababu Naidu government, Divi's want to take 505 acres of land from Thatiyakulapalem, Kothapakala, Pampadipeta and surrounding villages in Thondangi Mandal.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Using the ruling party henchmen, the government was able to coerce villagers into giving 'consent' for 60 acres of 505 acres of land but most of the small and marginal farmers remain opposed the government's move of land grab, which is violating the provisions of the 2013 Act - The Right To Fair Compensation And Transparency In Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation And Resettlement Act. The Chandrababu Government has already been partly successful in violating the 2013 Act in Amaravathi – the state capital region in Krishna district, and has since become a roll model for other Chief Ministers in the country. But the people of Thondangi are resisting the land grab with determination.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">The AP state government mobilized a police force of nearly 300 in the area to create fear in the people (the same strategy they used in Amaravathi) and unleashed a lathi charge on the villagers. On September 6, CPI (ML) Liberation leaders Comrades Bugatha Bangaru Raju, Lachababu, Janadha and others reaching the public meeting site at Panmpadipeta, and the police detained them and registered a criminal case against them. People tried to reach the police station to protest the arrests but the police used force to prevent them. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">The entire area was declared under Section 144 to prevent Left leaders from meeting people, while ruling party agents were allowed to roam the area with police protection. The CPI (ML) Liberation held a protest dharna on September 12th demanding withdrawal of Section 144. On September 12th, Comrades Bangara Raju, Lachababu, and Janardhan were arrested and instead taking them to the local police, they were taken to the Annavaram Police station accompanied by a heavy police force. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Women comrades of CPI (ML) Liberation travelled to the affected villages holding several small group meetings with women to explain the toxic nature of the chemical industries, and mobilizing women for the protests. CPI(ML) Liberation, New Democracy and Jana Shakti together gave a call for dharnas in front of the Tahsildar offices in the district in solidarity with struggling people of Thondagi from 12th to 19th September. In meantime the High Court of Andhra and Telangana gave a 'status quo' order restraining the government from grabbing the land – a victory for the protesting villagers. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0);letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Rallies and Protests in Jharkhand</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Protests were held all over Jharkhand against the police firing at Badkagaon and Gola. Effigies of the CM Raghubar Das were burnt and on 5 October, a 'Fill the Jails' protest was held with the slogan "Raghubar Das, Killer of Badkagaon and Gola, Must Resign!" </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Even before the Badkagaon firing, massive district-level rallies were expressing the growing outrage and anger against the Raghubar Government. On 24 September 2016, CPI(ML) held a People's Assertion Rally in Hazaribagh district. One of the key issues raised at the rally was the police repression unleashed on the villagers protesting land grab for NTPC at Badkagaon. The violence against Muslims by 'Cow protection' goons in Pelawal in Hazaribagh district was also one of the key issues. CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya addressed this rally. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">The rally marched from Mission Grounds through the Main Market to culminate in a massive public meeting at School Grounds. Comrade Dipankar, addressing the rally, called for people's assertion against land grab and state repression as well as communal attacks and hate-mongering against minorities. CPI(ML)'s former MLA Vinod Singh also addressed the rally, demanding that the Government come up with a plan to ensure MNREGA implementation, ration cards and provision of regular rations as well as allocation of GM land (which is being grabbed by land mafias) to the poor for agriculture and housing. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">On 24 September, a Protest March and a day-long dharna at the block headquarters was held by the party in Gandey block of Giridih district, demanding rations, electricity, water and land allocation. A memorandum was submitted to the block and district authorities with these demands, warning of an intensified struggles if the demands were not met in a month's time. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">A huge Janakrosh Rally was held in Garhwa district on 24th September. In Garhwa recently, feudal forces destroyed standing crops ready for harvest in Tiwari Marhatia village. Adivasi villagers began a week-long fast demanding punishment for the guilty, registration of ancestral lands to the adivasis as homestead land and protection for their crops. But far from meeting the demands, the administration looked the other way as feudal forces brutally beat up the villagers. Further, BJP Minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi has with administrative support grabbed forest and Raiyati (government) land and showed a Government teaching institute as a 'new hospital' on paper. In the name of a fresh Government 'survey' of land, Chandravanshi has also managed to loot bhoodan, raiyati and gair mazarua government lands that had been allocated to the poor long ago.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">The rally also protested against proposed amendments in the CNT-SPT Acts that protect adivasi land; demanded a stop to the digitization of ration distribution and to the policy of creating 'land banks' to facilitate corporate land grab. The rally culminated in a public meeting at the Town Hall grounds, addressed by CPI(ML) MLA Rajkumar Yadav, CPI(ML) State Secretary Janardan Prasad, and others. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0);letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Adhikar Rally on Comrade Ibnul Hasan Basru's Memorial Day</span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt";letter-spacing:-0.35pt">The 7th Memorial Day of Comrade Ibnul Hasan Basru was commemorated in Jamua, Giridih of Jharkhand as Pledge Day in the form of a massive rally to assert the basic rights of people and to remember the struggles for which comrade Basru is still fondly remembered by the common masses in that region. Thousands of people rallied with the slogan 'Loot-Daman ka toro jaal, Le kar niklo Jhanda Lal' (To break the shackles of loot and repression, Let's hold high the Red Flag) in the Adhikar Rally and pledged to take forward comrade Basru's unfinished dreams and fight against the attacks on dalits, adivasis and minorities being unleashed by the current BJP government in Jharkhand.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Manoj Bhakta, Politburo member of CPI(ML) recalled numerous struggles of rural poor since 80s which were led by Comrade Basru, whose indomitable spirit and hard work inspired hundreds to join the communist party. Comrade Manoj remembered how Comrade Basru had gradually built up a strong mass movement against feudal forces and how that all culminated into consolidation of a strong left base against reactionary rightist forces led by BJP in the Jamua assembly constituency. Comrade Basru was elected MLA from the same constituency in 1990. Then he was a CPI member who later joined CPI(ML) in 2002.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Comrade Manoj said that the present BJP government is terrified with the growing people's resistance against anti-people policies and called for further intensification of struggles for livelihood and social security. He added that recent incidents of rapes of tribal girls in Jamua and Bengabad areas, like the Gau Rakshak attacks all over the country, are a result of BJP's policies that encourage violence against adivasis, Dalits, minorities and women. He called for a massive movement against the communal and corporate fascist policies of the BJP which will be a true tribute to the comrades like Ibnul Hasan Basru and Mahendra Singh. The meeting was also addressed by Rajesh Yadav, Ashok Paswan, Vijay Pandey, Usman Ansari and many others.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-01Sub-heading" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0);letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Obituary </span></font></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt";letter-spacing:-0.2pt">Comrade Sudha Rani Acharjee passed away on the night of 4th October at Silchar Medical College. She joined the Naxalbari movement as a young woman and was a founder of the CPI(ML) in Cachar district. In the 1980s she joined the All India Kisan Sabha and CPIM.</span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt"">Comrade Sudha Rani was a dynamic and dedicated leader of people's movements and will be remembered with respect by Left movements. </span></p><p class="gmail-m_7932992415053251039gmail-CUpdateeditorial11" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"roboto lt""> Red Salute to Comrade Sudha Rani ! </span></p> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-24503151966893850582016-10-03T19:39:00.001+05:302016-10-03T19:39:53.091+05:30ML Update | No. 40 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 40 | 27 September - 3 October 2016</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:7.2pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:29pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:24pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"><font size="4">Reject Jingoism and Communal Hate-Mongering</font><font size="4"> </font></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">In his speech at Kozhikode, Modi dialed back some of the war-mongering rhetoric of his party colleagues on Uri, but nevertheless intensified the theme of crude anti-Pakistan jingoism. BJP leader Ram Madhav had recently demanded that India 'avenge Uri' by taking 'the whole jaw in exchange for a tooth.' BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy declared that India should be prepared for a nuclear war to wipe out Pakistan even if 10 crore Indians died as a result. Modi avoided the immediate announcement of a war on Pakistan, instead boasting about India's victory over Pakistan in the war on poverty and underdevelopment. Subsequently he declared that "blood and water cannot flow together", and announced his Government's plans to restrict river waters to Pakistan.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">The announcement on river-water sharing is a clear indication that "strategic restraint' is the last thing on the Government's agenda. Restricting water to a neighbouring state in retaliation for a militant attack is a war by non-military means, one that targets the civilian population of the neighbouring country rather than just its military. Moreover, such restrictions would require expensive dam construction that would result in massive displacement and increase the dangers of flooding in Kashmir.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">Modi taunted the people of Pakistan on the fact that Pakistan supposedly lags behind India on economic and social indicators. The fact is that there is very little to choose between India and Pakistan: both countries perform badly when it comes to the social and economic rights of citizens or the respect for human rights and civil liberties.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">Meanwhile, the main Opposition party, the Congress, has only indulged in competitive jingoism, calling for a joint session of Parliament to "declare Pakistan a terror state." Such competitive jingoism can only further vitiate the political climate in the country. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">The war-mongering and shrill anti-Pakistan rhetoric are served up by the BJP for domestic political consumption, but in terms of diplomatic impact, such rhetoric is ineffective. At the UN General Assembly, hardly any other country shared or endorsed the Indian rhetoric against Pakistan. The countries courted so desperately by India have all preferred to keep aloof from endorsing, let alone echoing India's position on Pakistan. Not long ago, Modi became the first Indian PM to avoid a NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) Summit that had been postponed for his own convenience – a move that underlines India's own growing isolation from most other developing countries and much of global opinion. There is no substitute for effective bilateral diplomacy between India and Pakistan – war-mongering and jingoism or attempts to get the US or Western powers to intervene can never be effective. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">In his concluding remarks at the BJP's National Council meeting at Kozhikode, Modi made another speech in which he revealed his own and his party's attitude towards Muslims. Quoting Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, he said Muslims should not be rewarded or rebuffed, they should be "refined/purified." Instead of treating Muslims as "vote banks," he urged that they be treated as "our own."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">Modi's defenders have tried to claim that he meant that the Muslims should be 'empowered.' But a reading of Deen Dayal Upadhyay's own writings can leave us in no doubt that by invoking Upadhyay, Modi was in fact consistent in his communal hate-speech towards Muslims and his commitment not only to making India a 'Hindu Nation' but achieving 'Akhand Bharat' (Undivided India) by annihilating Pakistan.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">Deen Dayal Upadhyay, in the Panchjanya dated 24 August 1953 wrote a piece on 'Undivided India.' There, he declared that the "separatist and anti-national attitude of the Muslim community is the greatest obstruction to Akhand Bharat. The creation of Pakistan is the triumph of this attitude. Those who have doubts about Akhand Bharat feel that the Muslim will not change his policy. If this is so, then the continuance of six crore Muslims in India would be highly detrimental to the interest of India. Would any Congressman say that Muslims should be driven out of India? If not, then they will have to be assimilated into the national life of this country. If this assimilation is possible (of Muslims) within geographically divided India then it won't take long for the rest of the geographical territory to assimilate with India." But, argued Upadhyay, this assimilation required a rejection of the hitherto prevalent policy of 'Hindu Muslim unity.' Instead, he declared, "If we want unity, we must display Indian nationalism which is Hindu nationalism, and Indian culture which is Hindu culture. We must adopt it as our guidin6g principle."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">It is clear from the above quotation that when Deen Dayal Upadhyay called to 'refine' Muslims, he was calling upon Hindus to take up the challenge of changing the "anti-national" attitude of Muslims in India and in Pakistan too, and "assimilate them" into Indian nationalism which is Hindu nationalism! Assimilating Muslims with Hinduism and assimilating Pakistan with a (Hindu) India are central to the RSS ideological and political project. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">In his theses on 'Integral Humanism' also, Upadhyay displayed the communal mindset of the RSS when he approvingly quoted RSS founder Golwalkar as saying that "It is observed that Hindus even if they are rascals [in] individual life, when they come together in a group, they always think of good things…. [But] when two Muslims come together, they propose and approve of things which they themselves in their individual capacity would not even think of."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">In an article in a November 2015 special edition of the <i>Rashtra Dharma </i>magazine founded by Upadhyay, Modi's Culture Minister Mahesh Chand Sharma wrote an article on 'The Muslim Problem In Deen Dayal's Eyes." In this piece he claimed that Upadhyay advocated the "political defeat of the Muslims" and the "political defeat of Pakistan" as a "solution" for the "Muslim problem": "Political defeat will end his [the Muslim's] aggressive attitude and he will return to his original Hindu nature." Can this leave us in any doubt that when the RSS, PM Modi and his Culture Minister call for 'refining' or 'purifying' Muslims, they are calling for "ghar wapsi" – for a return of errant Muslims to their "original Hindu nature"? When they call for the political defeat of Muslims, do they not mean a defeat of Muslims' aspirations to enjoy equality and dignity as Indian citizens? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">Today, the BJP and RSS are, in the name of anti-Pakistan jingoism, stoking hatred and violence against minorities and Dalits inside India. This jingoism and hate-mongering must be decisively rejected and defeated, and India must pursue effective diplomatic efforts to resolve pending issues with Pakistan. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Memorial Meeting For Comrade Swapan Mukherjee in Delhi</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A memorial meeting for Comrade Swapan Mukherjee, the founding General Secretary of AICCTU, was held in Delhi on 23rd September 2016 at GPF auditorium. The meeting was called by All India Central Council of Trade Unions of which he was Vice-President at the time of his demise and also the editor of Shramik Solidarity (central organ of AICCTU in Hindi) since 2005.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The meeting was conducted by Santosh Roy, Delhi state secretary of AICCTU. A tribute to Comrade Swapan Mukherjee was presented by Rajiv Dimri, general secretary of AICCTU. Leaders from various central trade unions attended the meeting and shared their memories of Comrade Swapan and his importance to trade union and left movement and in forging unities in the present juncture when Sangh Parivar's corporate-communal offensive on democracy and workers' rights is increasing.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Comrades Swadesh Devroy from CITU, Harbhajan Singh Sidhu from HMS, DL Sachdev from AITUC, RK Sharma from AIUTUC, Animesh Das from IFTU, Birju Nayak from Mazdoor Ekta Committee and Raju from INTUC were the leaders of central and other trade unions who paid tributes to com. Swapan.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Many worker comrades of Delhi who felt a close relationship and had rich long experience of working with him shared their memories of Comrade Swapan. Comrade Swapan's role had been instrumental in the initial years of making of many AICCTU affiliated trade unions in Delhi where he was also involved in educating many young activists who are now senior leaders in their Unions. The former general secretaries of DTC Workers' Unity Centre (the union in whose formation com. Swapan played leading role in mid 80s) Vidya Singh Shukla, NM Thomas and Rajesh (the present GS); Jagnarain Singh from IPSS Mazdoor union (one of the oldest unions among security guards in Delhi in whose functioning com. Swapan was involved quite actively) and Com. Rooplal, senior party member who worked with com. Swapan since 80s paid their tributes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The cultural team Sangwari sang revolutionary songs in the meeting which ended with the singing of 'International'.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Saamaajik Parivartan Yatra in Bihar</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">From Bihar to Gujarat, the struggle for the liberation of Dalits and poor continues!</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The Bihar state unit of CPI (ML) gave a call for a 'samaajik parivartan yatra' (journey for social change) from 5 to 15 September in the entire state to strengthen the movement for people's dignity and rights. The yatra culminated in the form of People's Convention organized during the 10th state conference of the party in Sasaram.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Several leaders of CPI(ML) and RYA from Bihar had participated in the Dalit Asmita yatra from Ahmedabad to Una from 5 August to 15 August. The voices for liberation of Dalits and poor are in unison from Bihar to Gujarat. On 5 September, the yatra started in all districts of Bihar.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In Patna, CPI (ML) PB member Com. Amar flagged off a rally on 5 September. the yatra started from Bhagat Singh Chowk which was led by the state secretary of AIARLA, Com. Gopal Ravidas, Peasant leader Kripanarayan Singh and others. Addressing a meeting at Bhagat Singh Chowk prior to the yatra, youth leader Com. Abhyuday said that today in continuation to the increasing assaults on minorities, brutal assaults are also being increasingly unleashed on the Dalits. There is a concerted and a frenzied attempt to impose the Manusmriti and establish a Hindu Rashtra. In the name of 'Make in India', an open invitation has been extended to imperialistic foreign companies to loot. A large section of the people today is rising against this attack. In Jehanabad, Com. Ramjatan Sharma, Com. Ramadhar Singh and other leaders led the yatra and also addressed various public meetings during the course of the yatra.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In Shahabad, the yatra received tremendous support from the people. During the yatra numerous nukkad sabhas and rural sabhas were organized in the villages where the party is leading various struggles and also other villages and a dialogue established with the people. During these meetings, the party leaders said that this yatra is being taken out to organize people for the struggle for the dignity and rights of people and against the communal frenzy. In Bhojpur, during the yatra the leaders gave the call to strengthen the struggle for social change for an equitable society of the dreams of Bhagat Singh, Dr. Ambedkar and Com. Ram Naresh Ram. During the yatra several young CPI(ML) leaders and actvists like Raju Yadav, Manoj Manzil, Ajit Kushwaha, and others held numerous sabhas which were enthusiastically joined by students-youth, workers and farmers and women and a dialogue established between all. On 15 September this yatra reached the historic Lasadi Shaheed Mela where peasants and workers had fought a heroic struggle against the British rule and hundreds of people were martyred. Addressing the sabha in Lasadi, the party leaders said that different state and central governments formed after independence have betrayed the dreams of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the independence struggle as even after nearly 70 years of independence, social discrimination and inequality continue.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">During the yatras, the activists brought to the attention of people increasing assaults on Dalits and minorities and the recent incidents in Begusarai, Muzaffarpur, Nawada and others. An uprising against this slavery had begun in 1967 in Naxalbari. Later the Bhojpur movement organized the most oppressed and deprived sections of the society into a formidable political force. This is the reason why Dalits and poor had to face brutal oppression at the hands of feudal criminals, however the Bhojpur movement refused to bow down. Today, on similar lines, struggle of Rohith Vemula is in front of us and the Dalit movement in Gujarat is demanding land for Dalits. Today we can see the same movement building in Gujarat which is being fought in Bihar since several decades and finding an echo in both states.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Samajik Parivartan Jan Sammelan</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">On the occasion of the inauguration of 10th state conference of the Bihar unit of CPI(ML), a 'Samajik Parivartan Jan Sammelan' (people's convention for social change) was organized on 19 September in Sasaram. The convention was addressed by CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary of the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha, Rajaram Singh, General Secretary of AIPWA, Meena Tiwari and other leaders.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Addressing the convention, Com. Dipankar said that prior to the coming for the conference the 'Samaajik Parivartan Yatra' taken out in entire Bihar has worked to carry this message to the villages that the echo of the revolutionary struggles being fought in Bihar are also being heard in Gujarat. The entire country needs liberation from forces like BJP and in Bihar where the government was formed in the name of opposing BJP, the same Nitish government is also consistently oppressing Dalits and the poor. No good of Dalits and poor can come from even a government like the one in Bihar today. The BJP and the sangh brigade are pushing the entire country towards the path of slavery. In economic and international fronts, this government is tailing the USA. It is forming laws like GST and entering military deals by trading the country's sovereignty. On the other hand, within the country, it is trying to impose a new series of social slavery on Dalits and minorities. Brutal atrocities are being unleashed on them and we must strengthen the struggle for change against this. He also said that where on one hand those like RJD leaders Shahabuddin who is considered a synonym for terror and crime, are being released on jail, on the other hand, leaders of people's struggles like the MLA from our party Com. Satyadev Ram and the RYA national president Com. Amarjeet Kushwaha are still being kept in jail on false charges. The release of Shahabuddin is only a continuation in the series of acquittals by Patna High Courts of the killers in Bathe-Bathani-Mianpur. Shahabuddin is openly claiming today that it was only with an aim to end forces like the CPI(ML) that he took the side of the feudal forces. Bail of such people must be immediately revoked.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Com. Dipankar said that the oppression is continuing in Kashmir and pellet guns are being used to kill innocent Kashmiris. This conference demands that instead of military action on the people of Kashmir, the government must take steps towards a political resolution and take forward the process of serious deliberations on the same. On one hand the government claims military strength and yet it is unable to provide security to the army jawans. He said that this was the 50th year of the Naxalbari movement. It is only by walking on the path of Dalit liberation that Naxalbari had shown that a complete social transformation is possible.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Meena Tiwari in her speech said that at a time when the Nitish government is harping on the liquor ban implemented in the state, we must recall that it is here, on the land of Sasaram that our party leader Com. Bhaiyaram Yadav gave his life while taking on the liquor mafia. Which liquor ban is Nitish Kumar talking about given that liquor factories are still operating in Bihar. Dr. P.N.P. Pal said that the stream of Dalit movement that has been going on in Bihar is today illuminating the entire country. The unity between the left and Ambedkarites is an extremely welcome step.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Rajaram Singh said that from the murders of Dalit CPI(ML) leaders Com. Mahesh Ram, Com. Rampravesh Ram and Com. Garo Paswan by BJP supporting feudal forces in Begusarai to the incidents like urinating in the mouth of Dalit youths in Paru in Muzaffarpur, these show the surrender of Nitish government in front of lumpen feudal forces. Com. Rameshwar Prasad said that the Nitish government's claims of social justice stand exposed in the light of brutal oppression unleashed on students demanding scholarships for Dalit and poor students and the steps like stay on reservation in promotions in government jobs. He emphasized on the urgent need to strengthen the struggle against feudal-communal BJP-Sangh forces and also against the anti-social justice of Nitish-Lalu government that has insulted the mandate it received in 2015 elections.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Lucknow Police Prevents Dharna to Protest Against Misbehaviour Against AISA Leader by ABVP</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On 2 September, during the All India General Strike, ABVP goons had misbehaved with AISA leader from lucknow University, Com. Pooja Shukla who was participating in a dharna in the university premises. Though an FIR was lodged in the case against the accused, there has been no action initiated either by the university administration or the district administration. On 18 September a protest was called by AISA against this inaction. However, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's police stopped AISA and other mass organisations to organise a dharna in the GPO park. There were clashes between the activists and the police. As the police prevented the dharna, the activists raised loud slogans against the sangh brigade and also the Akhilesh Yadav government for refusing to act against the misdeeds of sangh's mass organisations. Prevented from holding the dharna, the activists continued to raise slogans and took out a march to expose the inactions of Akhilesh Yadav government against sangh's lumpenism.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Jan Daavedaari Rally</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">A 'Jan Daavedaari' (people's assertion) rally against increasing assaults on the Dalits and minorities in the country and in solidarity with the Dalit movement in Gujarat, was held by the Koderma district unit of CPI(ML) in Jhumri Talaiya. The rally that started in Jhumri Talaiya bus stand and culminated in the form of a public meeting at the Jhanda Chowk. The rally was led by district secretary Mohan Dutta and former MLA from CPI(ML) Vinod Singh. Hundreds of people from Jainagar, Domchanch, Markachho, Chandwara and Koderma blocks participated in the rally. Among the participants, a large number comprised of women construction workers. The protestors raised loud slogans against cow-protection vigilante groups and the BJP governments at the state and centre under whom the assaults on Dalits and minorities have increased. Addressing the public, Com. Vinod Singh said that the Modi and Raghuvar governments were working to destroy agriculture in order to protect the interests of the corporate companies. At a time when struggles are building against revisions in CNT and SPT acts, the government is resorting to newer ways of displacing people such as in the name of wrongful settlement. Recently in Ramgarh two innocent workers were shot dead. He urged people to strengthen the struggles against the oppression unleashed by the government and to take forward the ideology of the party among the Dalits and poor.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Left Parties Protest in Delhi against Spread of Chickengunia, Dengue and Malaria Epidemic</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The seven left parties in Delhi CPI, CPI (M), AIFB, CPI(ML), RSP, SUCI(C) and CGPI organised a demonstration outside the Lieutenant Governor's office to protest against the spread of Chickengunia, Dengue and Malaria in epidemic proportions due to administrative negligence. While the epidemic is spreading rapidly, the response of the local bodies, state government and the government at the centre has been of lack of concern and blame game. The health facilities in nation capital are highly inadequate and unaffordable. A delegation comprising representatives from left parties also met the Delhi LG to apprise him of the situation and urge him to ask the MCDs led by BJP, the Delhi government and other authorities to focus on addressing the challenge at hand and fight against the spread of these diseases.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Hunger Strike For Flood Affected People's Relief</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">In the Maner block in Patna district, dozens of villages along with the Mahavir Tola Primary School were washed away in the floods in Ganga river and the villagers had to found shelter in the schools in Maner. AIARLA national president Rameshwar Prasad, member of the district committee Com. Poonam Devi along with other leaders visited the flood relief camps and found that the government has not made necessary provisions for the flood victims. There was no milk available for the children and no provisions for fodder for animals. The leaders asked the BDO of Maner to make immediate arrangements for the same. Observing no improvement in the district administration's response, peasant leaders Ramkumar Singh and Rameshwar Singh sat for an indefinite hunger strike beginning on 29 August. The support of the flood victims and the zeal of the agitators forced the Maner BDO to visit the site of the strike on the 4th day of the indefinite fast and announce from the podium that the victims will be speedily rehabilitated and the compensation for the lost crops and relief amounts will soon be paid. The hunger strikers broke the strike only after a public announcement of these assurances. The struggle ensured relief for these villages and has also generated an enthusiasm among the masses.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Construction Workers Conference in Uttar Pradesh</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The first state conference of Construction Workers in Uttar Pradesh was held in Darulshafa Hall in Lucknow on 18 September. The conference was attended by construction workers from nearly 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh. The key demands raised during the conference included- fixing a minimum daily wage of Rs. 600/- for construction workers; providing them housing; provisions of tin sheds, drinking water and toilets at the labour sites; and an employment guarantee Act like MNREGA for ensuring employment for urban workers. The conference was chaired by state AICCTU president Com. Hari Singh and the chief speaker was state AICCTU Secretary Anil Verma. The conference was also addressed by AICCTU national councillor Premlata Pandey. The construction workers delegates presented their views in the conference and elected a 33-member state council and an 18-member state executive. Com. Surendra Prasad (Lucknow) was elected as the president and Com. Kamal was elected as the secretary. Three vice presidents and three joint secretaries were also elected.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Construction Workers' Demo in Puducherry</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On the 26th September, the Puducherry state unit of AICWF conducted a massive demonstration in front of Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. AICWF demanded Rs 7000/- as Bonus to all workers enrolled in the welfare board.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The demonstration was led by S. Balasubramanian, All India President of AICWF, P. Murugan, State Secretary, Urushothaman, State Secretary AICCTU, S. Mothilal, Vice-President AICCTU, CPI(ML) leader G. Palani and M.A. Akbar, State Vice-President of AICWF. These leaders addressed the demonstrators and put up many important demands of construction workers including Rs 9000/- pension to all, compensation of Rs 5 lakhs to the wards of construction worker who met with fatal accidents and Rs. 3 lakhs in case of natural death of a worker, Rs 5 lakhs as housing grant and 26 weeks maternity leave to women construction workers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Hundreds of construction workers took part in the militant demonstration. A memorandum was sent to the labour Minister of Puducherry.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">District Conference of Kisan Mahasabha in Mathura</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">The first district conference of Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha was held on 4 September in Baajna in Mathura in which nearly hundred representatives from Baajna, Baldev, Nandgaon and Farah regions participated. The conference began by paying floral tributes to the martyrs. In the inaugural address, Com. Nashir Shah informed about the anti-farmers policies of the government and also the prevailing national and international situation. State committee member of RYA, Com. Saurabh gave a call for defeating casteist and communal forces and keeping ahead the interests of farmers and the poor through people's struggles. Com. Rakesh Verma presented the conference report. A 15-member district executive was elected.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Obituary</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Com. Narayan Ji Shukla</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Com. Narayan ji, a member of the CPI(ML)' s Gonda district unit passed away after a prolonged illness on 19 September 2016 in Lucknow's PGI hospital. Born on 10 May 1937, Com. Narayan completed his Master's degree in Philosophy and also obtained a degree in law. He soon started practising law in Gonda. He became associated with CPI(ML) during the 80's and continued to remain associated to the party till his last. Besides fighting cases for the poor at nominal cost, he also stayed together with workers, farmers and oppressed sections in their struggles and provided leadership in several struggles.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">He was a leading activist of the erstwhile Indian People's Front (IPF). He also served as the president of the Gonda Bar Association. A multilingual and an ever smiling comrade, his home remained a shelter for party activists. He remained active on several fronts of struggles, be it the workers struggle in Gonda or a struggle being fought on other people's issues. He also served as a state committee member of PUCL. Com. Narayan was also a poet and a thinker. He played an active role in 'Pahchaan', a literary-cultural forum founded in 1982 and in 2002 a collection of his songs, poems and gazals, titled 'Kaal ke vaksh par' (On the chest of time) was published.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">On 24 September, a memorial meeting was organised for Com. Narayan by left organisations which was addressed by CPI State Council member Deenanath, CPI(M) District Sec. Rajiv Singh, AIPWA leader Sita Singh, Aanganwadi workers' leader Deepa Tiwary, and others. CPI(ML)'s veteran comrade Awadhesh Kumar Singh shared his memories and works of comrade Narayan Shukla. All those present resolved to strengthen and carry forward the left movement.</span></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle;border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black">Red Salute to Com. Narayan ji Shukla!</span></p></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-38644587214354403572016-09-27T06:20:00.001+05:302016-09-27T06:20:41.933+05:30ML Update | No. 39 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><br clear="all"><div><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:28.8px"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:28.8px;color:rgb(0,176,240)">Update</span></i></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:28.8px"></span></i></b></p><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:19.85pt;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:7pt;line-height:11.2px;color:rgb(166,166,166)">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:7pt;line-height:11.2px;font-family:paras-hindi;color:rgb(166,166,166)"></span></p><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:6pt;line-height:9.6px;color:rgb(166,166,166)">Vol.19 | No. 39</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:5pt;line-height:8px;color:rgb(166,166,166)"> | 20 - 26 SEP 2016</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">The Lives of Muslims, Dalits, Kashmiris and Even Soldiers Are Cheap in Modi Rule </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><b><span lang="EN-GB">'Cow protection mobs' continue to remain absolutely confident of impunity</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> thanks to patronage from the ruling regime in India, even after the Una uprising and the outrage over the Dadri lynching. The latest atrocities in the name of 'protecting cows' include the horrific murder and gangrape in Mewat and the brutal killing of Mohammed Ayyub in Ahmedabad.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Mewat is a region of Haryana where Muslims have a significant presence. In the run-up to Eid, the BJP Government of Haryana launched a series of 'raids' on eateries to check biryani for illegal use of beef. This move was a measure calculated to harass and intimidate the Muslim community on the occasion of their festival, and to create a climate of hatred and violence against Muslims. In the midst of this toxic climate, a gang forced its way into a farmhouse in Mewat and indulged in a brutal assault against a Muslim family. A couple was thrashed to death; another couple assaulted, and a 20-year-old woman and a 14-year old girl gangraped as a warning against 'eating beef.' The two gangrape survivors said that they were asked if they ate beef; and told that the rape was to make sure they stopped eating beef. The assailants were in no hurry; they indulged in prolonged violence, robbed the household and left.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The response of the Haryana Government has left no one in any doubt about why the 'cow-protection' mobs feel such a sense of impunity. The Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar has declared that the murder and gangrape, and the beef-testing raids in Mewat are "trivial issues" compared to the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the State! It was Khattar who, after the lynching of Akhlaque at Dadri, had said, "Muslims can continue to live in this country, but they will have to give up eating beef" because "the cow is an article of faith here." The Haryana police initially did not even book the accused for murder, and have tried to deny any link of the attack to 'cow protection' mobs. We may recall how the Haryana Government tried to trivialize and deny the anti-Dalit atrocity in Faridabad where two Dalit children were burnt alive, and how Union Minister VK Singh compared the children to 'dogs.'</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">It is apparent that the Haryana police has time to raid hotels, and test/taste biryani samples for 'beef', all to 'protect cows' – but protecting the rights of Muslim citizens and Muslim women from murder and rape is a 'trivial issue.'</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Meanwhile in Gujarat, a young man Mohammed Ayub was beaten to death by a mob that accused him of 'transporting calves' in his car. His companion Sameer Sheikh survived the attack – but news reports suggest that the Gujarat police is denying Sheikh's allegations of assault by a 'cow protection' mob, and is instead treating Sheikh as a suspect in a 'cow smuggling' case filed by those accused of killing Ayyub! Dalits and Muslims who came together to protest the killing – continuing the protests that followed the stripping and thrashing of Dalit youth at Una by a 'cow-protection' mob – are being detained by the police.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the assaults in Mewat and his own home ground of Ahmedabad is again, deafening. Modi had commented obliquely on Una, albeit belatedly, due to fear of alienating Dalit voters prior to UP polls. The distinction Modi then made between genuine and fake 'cow protectors' and his calls to State Governments to keep dossiers of cow-protection' groups sound especially hollow in the face of the brazen daylight murder of Ayyub and the brutal murders and gangrapes in Mewat. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Modi's birthday celebrations in Gujarat were marked by the arrest of activists. In Gujarat itself, leader of the Una Dalit uprising Jignesh Mevani was taken into preventive custody to keep Modi's birthday 'free of incident!' And before that, well-known Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez was first prevented from flying to Geneva to attend the UN Human Rights Council, and then arrested and jails for 'breach of peace.' Bastar-based journalist Prabhat Singh known for exposing atrocities against adivasis by the notorious Bastar police and CRPF has gone into hiding, fearing abduction and even murder by the police and anti-Maoist vigilante outfits. He had been booked a few months ago in a criminal case on the pretext of a WhastApp message.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Arrests of activists and witch-hunt of journalists only underlines how fearful the Modi Government and State Governments in BJP-ruled Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and BJP-PDP ruled J&K are of the truth. By preventing a Kashmiri activist from approaching the UNHRC, the Indian Government has ironically proved to the international community that it has something to hide and is gagging activists. Bastar is being 'cleansed' of independent journalists and activists so that a 'war without witnesses' may be unleashed on the adivasis there. And the PM with the '56-inch chest' is so fearful that an activist may disrupt his birthday celebrations that he has the activist arrested!</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The Modi Government that brands every dissenter as 'anti-national' and a 'Pakistani agent' has been left red-faced after a heinous terrorist attack on a military base in Uri killed 17 sleeping soldiers. Not only are the lives of Dalits, Muslims, Kashmiris cheap in Modi's India, even the lives of soldiers whose heroism is invoked to justify every assault on democratic rights and dissent are treated as cheap by this Government. This Government must not be allowed to hide its all-round failures or justify the ongoing assaults on democracy under cover of war-mongering and hate-mongering in the wake of the Uri attack. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">CPI (ML) Statement on Terrorist Attack on Uri Army Camp</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Government Must Shun Jingoist Rhetoric and Ensure Actual Security for Army and Strategic Bases</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The CPI (ML) condemns the terrorist attack at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir that has claimed the lives of 17 Indian soldiers, and extends condolences to the families of the soldiers who have been killed.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The attacks at Pathankot and Uri underline that the Modi Government's rhetoric on national security is in contrast to its failure to secure even the bases and camps of security forces. It has chosen to deploy armed forces to deal with civilian protests in Jammu and Kashmir, while leaving army camps vulnerable to terrorist attacks.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The Indian Government should not use the Uri attack to cover up its own inadequacies and failures to address and resolve the Kashmir situation in a democratic way and to secure military bases from terrorist attacks. Uri attack should not be used as another pretext for violence on Kashmiri civilians.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Instead of war-mongering rhetoric and attempts to justify the repression unleashed on Kashmiri people, what is urgently needed is securing army bases from infiltrators and terrorist attacks without undermining the efforts for democratic dialogue with all sections of Kashmiri people, towards a political solution of the Kashmir dispute.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">A Historic Victory in the Struggle at Bindukhatta </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">A determined and a protracted movement led by CPI (ML) to register an intense protest against the decision to make Bindukhatta in Nainital district in Uttarakhand) into a municipality, resulted in a historic victory as the state government was forced to take back its decision. The revocation of the decision to make Bindukhatta a municipality is a victory of the farmers' struggle. On this occasion, a victory procession was taken out in Haldwani and a meeting organised on the Car Road.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Addressing the meeting, CPI (ML) leader and Uttarakhand state president of Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha, Comrade Puroshottam Sharma termed the revocation of Bindukhatta Muncipality as a victory of the struggle of farmers of this place and called them to stay prepared for larger struggles ahead. He demanded that the state Chief Minister and Labour Minister take back the cases filed against activists and also offer apology to the women and people of Bindukhatta for the oppression and indecency unleashed on the struggling women of Bindukhatta on 14 October. He also expressed gratitude to the struggling farmers of Bindukhatta and also to the journalists, intellectuals and all other well-wishers who supported this struggle. He also remembered the contributions of the departed party leader late Com. Mansingh Pal. Com. Sharma added that this victory was not yet complete and that we needed to continue to the struggle for taking back of cases and for declaring a Bindukhatta a revenue village. He reiterated the demands for a fly over on the Lalkuan crossing, an embankment on Gaula and a bypass. The meeting was also addressed by the senior party leader Com. Bahadur Singh Jangi and district secretary, Com. Kailash Pandey. Post the meeting, the agitators celebrated by distributing sweets. It was followed by a massive victory procession of people on scooters, motorcycles and cars in the villages of Bindukhatta.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">On the strength of the long land struggle waged in the forest land on which Bindukhatta is settled, the poor farmers residing there have for 35 long years been demanding that Bindukhatta be made a revenue village. From the period of the land struggles, these struggles have been led by CPI (ML) and the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha. However, ignoring the demands of the farmers, on 18 December 2014, an interim notification was passed converting Bindukhatta into a municipality, and since 20 December 2014, CPI (ML) and Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha have been mobilising the people of Bindukhatta in the movement initiated against this decision. The struggle on the demand for a revenue village continues.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">'Jan Daavedaari Rally' in Giridih</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">On 8 September, a 'Jan Daavedaari Rally' (Rally for people's claim) was called by CPI (ML) in Giridih against pro-corporate rule of the BJP government that is based on lies and loot. The rally saw an outpour of people flooding to participate in the rally. The rally witnessed spirited sloganeering from the people who raised the slogans of - "Zameen, Rozgaar, ration ke liye hallabol" (raise voices for land, employment and ration), "Hooliganism in the name of Bharat Mata will not be tolerated", "Stop hooliganism in the name of cow protection", "Those who are friends of Ambani and Adani are the traitors of the nation", "Go away saffron government, we will fight for our rights", among others. Thousands of people holding colourful banners and placards flooded the streets of Giridih as they marched in Giridih town raising slogans. The rally was led by district secretary Com. Manoj Bhakt, CPI (ML) MLA Com. Rajkumar Yadav, former MLA Com. Vinod Singh and other leaders. After taking a round of the entire city, the rally culminated in the form of a public meeting in Circus Maidan. The meeting was presided by Com. Usman Ansari. Addressing the meeting, Com. Rajkumar Yadav said that the Raghuvar government had allowed the corporates to loot the land, forests and minerals according to their whims and fancies and this has led to a threat looming on the very existence of Jharkhand. In order to ensure this, the anti-Jharkhand domicile policy has already been introduced. Dilutions have been made in the CNT-SPT acts to make them ineffective. Further, on the pretext of putting an end to wrongful settlement, a plan to snatch the raiyat tribal land and the gair-majrua land on which mainly Dalits and tribals are residing, is being implemented. Com. Rajkumar further cautioned that in order to ensure the continual of corporate loot and to divert the attention from basic issues, the assaults on Dalits, tribals and Muslims were increasing. Just as Dalits were attacked in Una, in Jharkhand, Muslim youths were attacked and killed in Latehar and Hazaribagh. Promising tribal youth like Rupesh are being killed in police lock ups or are being termed terrorists and being killed in fake encounters. Com. Vinod Singh also criticised forces like JVM-Babulal, JMM, AJSU who have been playing power brokers and forming alliances with companies to increase the assaults on the displaced from r=Ramgarh, Hazaribagh to entire Jharkhand. They are working as B-teams of the BJP. At the end of the meeting, district secretary Com. Manoj Bhakt declared that on 15 September, massive block level mobilizations will be undertaken on the issue of land and ration. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Tea Workers' Rally</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">24 tea unions in North Bengal organized a massive rally under the banner of 'Joint Forum' on 24 August 2016. The key demands raised included – i) to reopen the tea gardens that have been lying closed; ii) 20% bonus; and iii) appropriate implementation of the NFSA recommendations. The rally culminated into a gherao of the office of the Joint Labour Commissioner and a submission of memorandum. Several tea workers participated in this rally in the leadership of AICCTU's Darjeeling unit.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protests in Giridih</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">On 15 September, CPI (ML) and Jharkhand Mazdoor Sabha organized protest meetings and dharnas in Bagodar, Sariya, Birni, Rajdhanwar, Tisri, Jamua and other blocks in Giridih to intensify the people's movement against the Raghuvar Das government and to increase the pressure on the government. The key issues on which the programmes were organized were - i) to protest against the forced land grab from farmers in the interest of corporates and the loot of natural resources, ii) to ensure regular and adequate ration for the poor, iii) to ensure that gairmajrua land is handed over to the poor and there is no effort to deny the same under the pretext of ending wrongful settlement, iv) to ensure regular employment under MNREGA, and v) to bring all widows under the ambit of the state widows' pension scheme. Slogans demanding house and land for all dalit families and ration for all poor families echoed in various blocks.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protests against Arrest of Jignesh Mevani, Khurram Parvez and Prabhat Singh</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">On 17 September, minutes before PM Modi arrived in Gujarat, Jignesh Mevani was picked by the Gujarat Police. Though he was released later as a result of the spontaneous protests that erupted soon after, he was placed under house arrest and his movement curtailed. A day earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir police arrested Khurram Parvez, a leading human rights activist from his home in Srinagar. This happened a day after he was prevented from boarding a plane to the Geneva to attend the ongoing session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC). In Chhattisgarh, journalist Prabhat Singh who has been actively reporting stories of state violence from Bastar and dared to question IG Kalluri on a fake encounter was found missing. On 16 September he had shared on whatsapp that he feared being kidnapped and silenced by the police on 'government's cue'.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Condemning the arrests of the Jignesh Mevani, leader of the Una movement, Khurram Parvez, a human rights activist from Kashmir and the continued persecution of Prabhat Singh, a journalist from Chhattisgarh who has been reporting on the atrocities being unleashed on the tribals in Bastar, a national protest day was called by AISA and RYA on 19 September. While on one hand the atrocities on Dalits, tribals and the minorities are increasing at an unprecedented rate, the BJP government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the voices of those speaking for the oppressed are silenced. In Delhi, a protest was called at Jantar Mantar where students, youth and concerned citizens from progressive sections gathered and demanded an end to 'regime of caste oppression and state atrocities' in all parts of the country including Una, Kashmir and Bastar. AISA-RYA also mobilized students and youth in Kolkata, Rajdhanwar, Bagodar, Sariya and several other places. The protestors demanded immediate release of Jignesh and Khurram and an end to the persecution and witch-hunt Prabhat Singh is being subjected to. They demanded that his whereabouts be declared and his security be guaranteed. AISA and RYA leaders addressing the protests pointed out that while on hand Modi in his usual rhetoric was heard urging cow vigilante groups to shoot him instead of shooting Dalits, on the other hand, his government was actively working to silence all voices speaking for Dalits' rights to land and dignity. Similarly, while the BJP-PDP government in J&K on one hand tried to sermonise on 'Kashmiriyat', on the other hand they had gone all out in brutalising people and in crushing down all voices that spoke against the oppression of Kashmiri people. They said that all the oppressed sections must come together to fight against this casteist, communal, pro-corporate fascist government.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protests in Delhi and Bihar against Bail to Shahabuddin</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">A protest outside Bihar Bhawan in New Delhi was called by the AISA on 15 September to protest against the bail granted to RJD leader Shahabuddin. Accused in several cases of murder, he was also responsible for the killing CPI (ML) activist and ex JNUSU president Com. Chandrashekhar in 1997. However, before the protestors could reach Bihar Bhawan, they were detained. As the protestors kept gathering, the police continued to detain them and take them to different police stations. The police tried to convince the activists to shift the venue of protest to Jantar Mantar, however the protestors refused saying that the Bihar state government must be held accountable for its failure to keep Shahabuddin in jail and also for providing him continued political patronage as was visible during the day of his release. The protestors carried placards demanding his arrest. Several placards carried the poem of Faiz Ahmad Faiz- "The sleeves of each assassin are spotless. No sign of blood: no trace of red, not on the edge of the knife, none on the point of the sword." Delhi state secretary of AISA, Com. Ashutosh said that while criminals involved in murders and riots were being granted bail, activists protesting against this were being sent to jail. He added that more such protests will be organised in days to come to ensure justice for com. Chandu.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.3pt">CPI (ML) also called for protest in Siwan on 13 September, birthplace of Com. Chandu and also the place where he was assassinated. The protest was against bail for Shahabuddin, acquittal of Bathani-Bathe convicts and also demanding release of CPI (ML) leaders Satyadeo Ram and Amarjit Kushwaha, who have been framed on false charged for fighting for the rights of rural poor and Dalits in Bihar. On the same day, CPI (ML) also held a memorial meeting for Ghulam Haider' s baby daughter Juhi and his elderly father and a young relative who were killed in Rajpur village, in Andar, 20 years ago to punish him for being a CPIML activist. The protestors pointed out how the perpetrators of violence against the oppressed continued to enjoy political patronage under both the past and present state governments in Bihar.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">AIARLA Demands House Sites And Homes As A Legal Right</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The state level convention of AIARLA demanded house sites and homes for every rural poor family as a basic legal right. The convention was held in Villupuram on Septamber 12 at Comrade Subbu Hall (after a noted peasant leader who had been killed by hired goons in 1994 at Tirunelveli, where Comrade Mariyappan was killed recently induced by castiest and communal forces). The convention was also held as a state level condolence meeting of Com Swapen Mukherjee. The convention was preceded by a silent procession with Com Swapan's portrait reached the convention hall where floral tributes paid to the portrait of Com Swapan kept in front of the hall. The convention stood in two minutes silence as mark of respect to the martyred and departed leaders and activists including Comrades Swapan and Mariyappan. Around 300 rural workers from several districts participated. Com M. Venkatesan, Dy GS of AIARLA presided over the convention.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Com Jankiraman, GS of AIARLA, Com R. Vidyasagar, NCM of AIPF, Com Balasundaram, All India Vice-President of AIARLA and Com S. Kumarasamy, State Secretary of CPIML spoke in the convention. Speakers remembered Com Swapan's service and contributions to the revolutionary struggles and movement of the working class and rural poor. Com Kumarasami explained the political significance of the house site and house movement for the movement of rural workers. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The convention resolved to spearhead the campaign for house site and homes as one of the key demands of the rural poor. As a first step the convention decided to launch a massive 10 lakh signature campaign together with AICCTU on this key demand along with other people's demands of the day.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">The convention strongly condemned the Modi Govt for the incendiary situation both in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and demanded a speedy resolution of the Cauvery waters issue. </span></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p style="border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.2pt">Followed by the convention AIARLA's state council meeting was held. The council meeting was conducted by a presidium of Comrades Ilangovan, Susila, Rajangam, Bharati and Sigamani. Comrade Janakiraman summed up the discussions. The council meeting unanimously selected Com Balasundaram to be the President of the state AIARLA that had fallen vacant due to the death of the late President Comrade TKS Janarthanan. Comrade Balasundaram in his concluding remarks called for AIARLA to intensify efforts to take up spirited struggles of rural workers.</span></p></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-90445653374531953492016-09-14T13:46:00.001+05:302016-09-14T13:46:48.664+05:30ML Update | No. 37-38 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:28pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:28pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:28pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:28pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 37-38 | 13 – 19 Sept 2016</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:normal;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-size:initial;background-repeat:repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14pt;color:gray"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Student Movement Victory: </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.2pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:29pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:20pt;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Left Sweeps JNUSU, AISA Emerges as Third Force in DUSU</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The vicious campaign by the Sangh Parivar, Modi Government and sections of the media to brand JNU as 'anti-national' and 'Shut Down JNU' received a resounding rebuff in the 2016 JNUSU elections, with the Left Unity (AISA-SFI) panel sweeping all the Central Panel seats and most Councillor seats. The ABVP was reduced to a single Councillor post and left far behind on the Central panel posts.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.25pt">The ABVP had used the 'nationalism vs anti-national' plank in both JNUSU and DUSU elections, giving the slogan '9 ka jawab 9 se' (Make 9 September a Reply to 9 February). 9 February was the date of the events in JNU which the Modi Government had sought to project as 'seditious', and students union elections in JNU and Delhi University were held on 9 September - so the ABVP was attempting to turn the elections into a referendum for its campaign against 'anti-nationals'. That plank boomeranged on the ABVP badly. The JNU students did indeed 'Make 9 September a Reply to 9 February' – they trounced the ABVP and overwhelmingly elected those committed to defending JNU against the Sangh Parivar and Modi Government offensive. In DU also, while the ABVP retained three seats, it lost the Joint Secretary post as well as the College Representative posts in 33 out of 40 colleges to the NSUI. Further, the AISA, which the ABVP had attacked as 'anti-national', emerged as the third force yet again and increased its vote share substantially on all seats. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In a case of 'grapes are sour', Union Minister for State for Home Kiren Rijiju blamed ABVP's defeat to the Left in JNU students "getting romanticised by a faulty obsolete and discarded ideology", from which he claimed "fresh-minded DU students" are "insulated." What Rijiju fails to explain is the utter defeat of the concerted campaign by his Government and his party against JNU as an institution and the Left as an ideology. Not only did the Left retain JNU hands down, a larger section than before of "fresh minded" DU students rejected both the ABVP and NSUI and voted for the "fresh" option of AISA!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">AISA and other progressive forces made their mark on other campuses also. Shiwani of AISA won the Girls' Representative post in the central panel of the Students' Union in Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttarakhand. And Tajamul of the Azad National Students' Association that had worked closely with AISA in the Occupy UGC and Justice for Rohith Vemula movements, won the post of President of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Hyderabad. In MANUU also, as in HCU and JNU, students protesting against administrative high-handedness had been unjustly punished.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In JNU, the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association (BAPSA) polled second on the post of President – thus relegating the ABVP to the third place. It is a welcome development that the political contest on the key post of President remained between non-ABVP forces. However, the BAPSA's slogan equating 'red and saffron' and its attempts to brand the Stand With JNU movement as a 'Stand With Janeu (Brahminical sacred thread)' movement are extremely unfortunate. The saffron attack on JNU followed the same pattern as in HCU: just as Rohith Vemula was branded anti-national and rusticated in HCU, JNU students were branded anti-national, rusticated as well as charged with sedition. Most of the JNU AISA leaders including current and former JNUSU office bearers who were victims of the witch-hunt – such as Rama Naga, Anant Prakash Narayan, Ashutosh Kumar, Chintu Kumari and Shweta Raj – were from dalit and backward castes and deprived backgrounds. The need of the hour is to emphasise continuities between the historic and inspiring HCU and JNU movements and unite against the Sangh Parivar and Modi Government, rather than fly in the face of facts and seek to paint the JNU movement as a defence of upper caste privilege. At a time when the whole country is witnessing movements in which red and blue flags are coming together to resist the saffron offensive and struggle for the India of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar's dreams, it is to be hoped that all genuine Left and Ambedkarite currents on campuses too will nurture a healthy debate, dialogue as well as unity in struggles. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The Left victory in JNUSU and AISA assertion in DUSU will strengthen the student movements against commercialisation, privatisation and saffronisation of education and against the crackdown on dissent and democracy on campuses and in the country. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">A Brief Overview of the Left Victory in JNUSU and AISA Performance in DUSU </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.25pt">The Left Unity panel of AISA and SFI registered a landslide victory in the JNUSU elections. Comrade Mohit Kumar Pandey of AISA was elected JNUSU President, polling 1954 votes, and defeating the nearest opponent from BAPSA by a margin of 409 votes. Comrade Satarupa Chakraborty of SFI was elected General Secretary of the JNUSU, polling 2424 votes, and defeating the rival from ABVP by 1094 votes. Comrade Amal P P of SFI was elected JNUSU Vice-President, polling 2461 votes and defeating the ABVP rival by 1304 votes. Comrade Tabrez Hasan of AISA was elected JNUSU Joint Secretary, with 1670 votes and defeating the opponent from DSF by 362 votes. The Left Unity candidates won 14 out of 15 Councillor seats in the Schools of Social Sciences, Language, Literature and Culture Studies and International Studies, as well as the lone Councillor posts in the School of Arts and Aesthetics and the Part-Time constituency. Independent candidates won the Councillor posts in the Science schools and the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance. ABVP won only a single Councillor post in Sanskrit Studies.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Despite lower turnout, AISA put up strong show in DUSU Elections, polling third and increasing its vote percentage on every post. In spite of facing slander and physical assaults by the ABVP, AISA managed to increase its vote share on every post. On the posts of President, Vice President, Secretary and Joint Secretary AISA saw an increase of 2, 9,8 and 2 percents votes respectively. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The polling in DU was at its historical low this year due to administrative failure to resolve the DUTA evaluation boycott agitation on time, which resulted in a failure to complete admissions and readmissions on time. In spite of this, the DU administration issued a notification that only those who had paid fees till 31 August could vote, thus disenfranchising a major section of students. Further the DU Administration made the mistake of replacing the cut-off system with a merit list system mid-way through the admissions, leading to thousands of vacant seats in the First Year. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The DU administration also failed to control the hooliganism and brazen violations of DUSU code of conduct. Students' disgust at the waste of paper, the crass display of money power, and open bribery by ABVP and NSUI also contributed to low voter turnout, and was also reflected in AISA's increased vote share as well as high NOTA votes. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">2nd Sept. All India Strike</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Several trade unions came together to protest against the neo-liberal and anti-workers' policies of the Modi government and ensure the success of the All India General Strike on 2nd September. All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) too campaigned for months and mobilized workers across states for the strike. All India Agricultural Rural Labour Organisation (AIARLA) too extended solidarity to the strikes and actively mobilized for the strike.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and several other states where there are huge industrial sectors and manufacturing units, the strike brought the entire states to a standstill. Governments in several states tried their best to threaten the strikers, for instance, in West Bengal the TMC government unleashed physical attacks on striking workers through police and goons protected and nurtured by the TMC. In several places like Faridabad in Haryana, Noida in UP and Karbi Anglong, section 144 was imposed and workers arrested. In Gurgaon, 12 Maruti workers and 22 transport union leaders were arrested. In Bhilai police forces were deployed in huge numbers to force the workers inside the plant. In Siliguri too, hundreds of activists from AICCTU, AIUTUC, CITU and other trade unions were lathi-charged by the police as they tried to observe strike. Hundreds of activists from different trade unions including 18 activists from AICCTU were arrested. However, these measures failed to dissuade the workers from protesting.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Despite section 144 being imposed, a twelve-hour total bandh was observed in Karbi Anglong by AICCTU, the construction workers' union, the mid-day meal workers and others union. A procession was also taken out in Diphu town that was joined by nearly 200 activists. The workers refused to be deterred by section 144 and instead chose to court arrest. Nearly 300 people also courted arrest in Howraghat. AICCTU and AIARLA also took out processions in Tinisukia in Assam. Effective strikes were also ensured by AICCTU and CPI (ML) activists in Tenali in Guntur and they participated in the general strike in Mangalageri in Andhra Pradesh. AICCTU and CPI(ML) also joined the strike in Nizamabad in Telangana.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In Gujarat ASHA workers were in the forefront in leading the strike in Savarkhanta, Banaskantha, Aravalli, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Surat districts. In Ahmedabad, they blocked the gates of a multi-storey complex where several government offices including the labour court are located. Later a massive rally joined by ASHA workers, forest workers, power loom workers and workers from various unorganised sector led by AICCTU was taken out that culminated in front of the office of the Gujarat Labour Commissioner. Later an AICCTU delegation also met the Deputy Labour Commissioner focusing on the demands of the ASHA workers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">A successful strike was also observed throughout the state in Tamil Nadu. AICCTU and AIARLA along with other central Trade unions took part in Rail and Road roko programmes in 45 centres in 16 districts. More than 3000 workers including factory workers, migrant labourers, construction workers, power-loom workers, beedi workers, civil supplies corporation load men, electricity board employees, defence sector contract labours, agricultural workers, among others took part and more than 2000 workers courted arrest. In Coimbatore Workers of AICCTU affiliated Pricol and Shanthi gear unions went on strike and participated in the Road rolo agitation. In Chennai, workers of major industries such as Ashok Leyland, Ennore foundries and Murugappa group of companies went on strike. There was also an active transport strike. More than 80% of workers took part in BHEL and Ordnance Factory.at Trichy.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In order to ensure the success of the general strike in Bihar, nearly 20 thousand workers of AICCTU and the unions affiliated to it came out on streets and played a crucial role in ensuring a historic success of the strike. The state capital Patna was brought to a complete standstill and trains were also stopped in Masaurhi, Jehanabad, Ara, Rajgir, and Supaul. In Nawada nearly a thousand mid day meal workers, rickshaw pullers, footpath sellers and construction workers kept the Nawada main road block for over two hours under the leadership of AICCTU-AIPWA leaders. Similar bandhs and jams were also ensured in places like Darbhanga, Gaya, Saharsa and Arwal and rallies were taken out in Nalanda, Chapra, betiya, Purnea, Hajipur and several other places.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In Jharkhand, a massive rally was taken out in Ranchi under the banners of AICCTU and Jharkhand Construction Workers Union. In the coal belt of Jharkhand – Dhanbad, Bokaro, Ramgarh, Palamu and others districts the production and distribution was coal was brought to a stop.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In Uttarakhand too, massive demonstrations were held in several places like Dharchula, Ramgarh, Pithoragarh, Haldwani and Srinagar, Garhwal, in the support of the general strike. In Uttar Pradesh, activists of CPI (ML), AICCTU and AIARLA took to streets to participate in the strike. A huge numbers of workers joined the march called by AICCTU from Chaarbagh to Hazratganj GPO. Marches and protests were also organised in Aligarh, Bundelkhand, Chandauli, Mirzapur, Sonebhadra, Kushinagar and other places.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In Odisha, AICCTU along with other trade unions took out a rally in Bhubaneswar. The operations of the East Coast railway were affected by the strike. A protest demonstration against the Steel Authority of India was held in Rourkela. Demonstrations were also held in Gajapti, Kendrapada, Puri, Khurda, Cuttack and other places in which several comrades were arrested. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">During the strike, AIARLA raise the concerns of the agricultural and rural workers as national concerns. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Convention in Moradabad against Communalism </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.25pt">A joint anti-communalism convention organized by six left parties was successfully concluded in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), RSP, SUCI(C) and Forward Bloc participated in the convention. People from Moradabad and nearby districts participated in huge numbers in the convention that was held in the local Panchayat hall.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In the resolutions passed during the convention, a key resolution was to take watchful and strict steps at the local government and administration level to stop the communal tensions being increasingly built in Uttar Pradesh and after identifying the elements responsible for this strict action against them must be taken. The convention condemned the wrong statement issued by the Prime Minister during his speech from Red Fort on 15 August regarding the total outstanding payments of the sugarcane farmers and demanded that the long pending payments of the sugarcane farmers by the sugar mills along with the interests be immediately paid. A resolution demanding that distribution of land, illegally captured and post ceiling to be distributed among the Dalits and other weaker sections of the society.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">It was decided that left parities will jointly initiate struggles at local levels against the communal campaign being run in the state. The next in the series of these anti-communal conventions will held in Mathura on 10 September. A joint left rally has been called on 9 November. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Singur Verdict is a Victory for Peasants, <br>Warning to All Govts Against Land Grab and State Repression </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The Supreme Court verdict setting aside land acquisition for the Tata Nano project in Singur and ordering return of the illegally-acquired land to the peasants of Singur is a historic victory for the peasants' movement.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The verdict vindicates the position argued by the Singur peasants and a range of democratic supporters throughout – that the land acquisition was illegal and immoral and robbed the peasants of their land, livelihood and rights in order to appease the corporate Tata.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The CPI(M)-led Left Front Government that had all along defended the Singur land grab was punished with electoral debacles. The Supreme Court verdict should be an occasion for the introspection and apology that the CPI(M) has resisted till date.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The Singur verdict should serve as a warning to the Modi Government and every other Government in the country that is trying to usher in land grab laws and snatch land from peasants and adivasis to hand over to corporates. It will serve as a boost in the arm for the ongoing struggles to scrap land grab laws and instead enact laws to protect agricultural, fertile, coastal and forest land from grab. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">CPI(ML) Protest Against the Firing in Gola, Jharkhand</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In the Gola block of Ramgarh district in Jharkhand, land was procured for the Inland Power Limited in 2007-2008 by Girirraj Jhanwar and Sanjay Singh. They procured 4-500 acres of lands in Badhani Byang, Tonagaatu and Bariyaatu villages at Rs.1550/- per dismil and also promised employment and development for the villagers. No compensation however was paid to the farmers working on the gairmarjua land and they also illegally captured the Raiyat land. The land was thereafter transferred to Naveen Saagwaani and Maadna and the work on the Inland Power Plant started in 2011-2012 and the production in the factory began in 2013. During this while it has been only CPI (ML) that has consistently raised the issue of compensation, employment, rehabilitation, development and pollution and undertaken movements 4-5 times. Recently the struggle is being fought by forming the 'Naagrik Chetna Manch'. On 22 August several rural farmers had gathered near the factory to raise their genuine demands but at around 4 pm in the evening the police unleashed a brutal assault on them. Two people- Dashrath Nayak and Ramlakhan Mahto died in the police firing and nearly a dozen people were injured. Post this firing the entire Bariyaatu region was turned into a police camp and the police patrolling was increased by imposing section 144. CPI (ML) leaders, activists and supporters gathered in hundreds in Gola Bazaar Main road and Ramgarh city to protest against these killings. They demanded that the genuine demands of the farmers be met, guilty policemen be charged with section 302 and arrested, 25 lakh compensation for the families of the dead and 10 lakh compensation for the families of the injured along with proper medical treatment of the injured. A memorial meeting was also called on 1 September. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Left parties Unite to Fight 2017 UP Polls</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">6 left parties including CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) have agreed to fight the upcoming the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections to be held in 2017 together. Prior to this a state-wide joint left rally will be held on 9 November. This decision was taken in meeting of state secretaries held in Lucknow on 29 August and it was announced during a joint press conference called on 30 August. During the meeting and the press conference, CPI (M) state secretary Com. Hiralal, CPI state secretary Com. Girish Chandra Sharma, CPI (ML) state secretary Com. Ramji Rai, Forward Block state secretary Com. Shiv Narayan Singh Chauhan and a representative from SUCI(C) were present while the state leadership of RSP had conveyed their agreement with these decisions earlier. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"><br></span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Memorial Meeting Held for Comrade Mulkraj</span></font></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="1"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.15pt">A memorial meeting was held for veteran Delhi activist of the party Comrade Mulkraj who passed away early this month. The memorial meeting was attended by party PB member Prabhat Chaudhary, Delhi State Secretary Ravi Rai, State Committee members Comrades Amarnath Tiwary, VKS Gautam, Surendra Panchal, Satbir Shramik, as well as district committee leaders and activists including Satyaprakash Baudh as well as family members of Comrade Mulkraj. Representatives of CPI and CPI(M) also attended the meeting.</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:14pt;line-height:22.4px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0);letter-spacing:0.6pt">Comrade Swapan Mukherjee</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The CPI(ML) Central Committee is deeply shocked and grieved to announce the untimely demise of CPI(ML) Politburo member Comrade Swapan Mukherjee. He suffered an unexpected heart attack and passed away suddenly around 4.15 am this morning at a comrade's home in Chandigarh, where he had gone for a meeting. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Comrade Swapan was born on 17 November 1953. His father was a central government employee. He played football for both for his school and his college, representing the Delhi University team in 1971 when he played as a creative mid-fielder.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">As a B.Sc. student in Kirorimal College, Delhi University in the early 1970s, he was among the many young people inspired by the Naxalbari struggle to join the ML movement. Even as an undergraduate college student, he became a committed revolutionary, working among workers in the Azadpur area and Delhi Transport Corporation as well as among teachers and students.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Even in the midst of the all-pervasive confusion and demoralization in the wake of the setback suffered by the first phase of the CPI(ML) movement, Comrade Swapan stood resolutely for the Party and for the revolutionary orientation and legacy of Comrade Charu Mazumdar.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Before the reorganized CPI(ML) Central Committee with Comrade Jauhar as General Secretary was constituted on 28 July 1974, Comrade Swapan along with some other comrades (led by Com. Ishwarchand Tyagi) had already established contact with the party's Bihar comrades who were working under the leadership of Comrade Jauhar. He was very actively involved in party work in Delhi from the time of reorganization to the 2nd Party Congress held in early 1976.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">For a brief period from mid-1976 to 1978, around the time of the Emergency and its immediate aftermath, Comrade Swapan had to leave Delhi to evade the police witch-hunt. After the Emergency, Comrade Swapan joined the Times of India in Delhi as a member of the clerical staff and worked actively to help build the nascent Party organization in Delhi.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Comrade Swapan was very active in the civil liberties movement (mainly led by PUCL and PUDR) that took shape in the wake of the Emergency, maintaining close contact with Justice VM Tarkunde, Gobind Mukhoty and others. He was very active in the 'Release Nagbhushan Patnaik' and 'Release Nelson Mandela' campaigns. He was also very active on behalf of the CPI(ML) Liberation in the many struggles and campaigns on national and international issues in Delhi in the 1970s and 1980s – including the initiatives against the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984, and protests in support of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist resistance in Vietnam and Africa. He helped organize the Seminar Against Autocracy in Delhi in early 1982, and was a key organizer and living link in the process of formation of the Indian People's Front (IPF) on 26 April 1982. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">All this while, Comrade Swapan was employed with the Times of India, while working as a member of underground Delhi State unit of the Party. In 1984, he left his job at the TOI to become a fulltime organizer once again, becoming the Delhi in-charge of the IPF and taking up the task of organizing amongst Delhi's working class. He took up the challenging task of organizing a trade union centre under CPI(ML) and became its founding General Secretary in May 1989 at the first conference of the AICCTU held in Chennai.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Com. Swapan became a member of Central Committee of the CPI(ML) in 1993. The same year, he became the in-charge of the Party organization in Punjab – where he continued to play a role for the next three decades. Comrade Swapan again became General Secretary of AICCTU in 1998, and continued to discharge this responsibility till May 2015 at the 9th Conference of the AICCTU at Patna, after which he became a Vice President of AICCTU only to take up more direct responsibilities of the Party. At the time of his shocking demise, on behalf of the Politburo he was in charge of Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra and Odisha.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In recent years Comrade Swapan played an important part in the formation of the All India People's Forum (AIPF). He was a brilliant party organizer, always accessible and open to discussions, debates and fresh ideas, with reserves of patience and perseverance in guiding comrades and party units to understand and implement the party's line. He will especially be missed by many young men and women working in the party in Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab and Chandigarh, who benefited enormously from his mentoring and comradeship. As an organizer, he embodied the principle of meticulous planning and was committed to executing all plans while leading from the front. A patient and modest learner and listener, he shared mutual admiration and respect with many activists from a range of other ideological streams, people's movements, intellectual and cultural pursuits, and Left and democratic parties.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Comrade Swapan's loss is an irreparable one – not only for the CPI(ML) but for the entire spectrum of democratic movements. He died as he had lived – active, optimistic, enthusiastic and tireless to the very last.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The CPI(ML) extends condolences to Comrade Swapan's wife Comrade Sharmila, his son Soubhik and daughter Upasana, and all other members of his family.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Red Salute to Comrade Swapan Mukherjee !</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Comrade Swapan Cremated, <br>Memorial Meetings Held </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Leaders and activists of many Left parties, trade unions and democratic organizations, as well as teachers, workers, and students paid homage to Comrade Swapan Mukherjee, CPI(ML) Politburo member and noted leader of the trade union movement, before his funeral on 7 September 2016. Comrade Swapan had passed away on 6 September of a sudden cardiac arrest.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Comrade Swapan's body was laid out in state, wrapped in the red flag and wreathed in flowers, in the CPI(ML)'s Central Office this morning. Among those who paid homage to him were CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI(M) Politburo member Prakash Karat, CPI National Secretariat member Amarjeet Kaur, Mangat Ram Pasla, Secretary CPM (Punjab); Uday Bhat, Lal Nishan Party (Leninist); Amaresh Kumar, Central Committee member, All India Forward Bloc and Dharmendra Verma, Delhi State General Secretary of All India Forward Bloc; CPI(M) Central Committee member Pushpendra Grewal; RK Sharma, SUCI(C) and National Secretary, AIUTUC; noted rights activist John Dayal; ND Pancholi of PUCL; CITU General Secretary Tapan Sen and Swadesh Debroy, CITU; AITUC leaders DL Sachdeva and Vijaylakshmi; TUCC National Secretary AK Mishra; NTUI General Secretary Gautam Mody; CPI(M) Delhi State Secretary KM Tiwary; CITU Delhi State General Secretary Anurag Saxena; Leena Dabiru of AIPF and many others. All expressed condolences to Comrade Swapan's wife Comrade Sharmila, his son Soubhik and daughter Upasana, as well as other members of his family. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Professor Vinod Khurana, journalists Urmilesh, Anand Swaroop Varma and Anil Chamadia, cultural activists Shamsul Islam, Neelima and Shubhendu Sen, Professor Vijay Singh and several others who knew him as an activist since his days as a student of Kirorimal College, Delhi University in the 1970s, also attended the funeral. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">CPI(ML) PB members Swadesh Bhattacharya, Ramji Rai, Kumarasami, Kartick Pal, Prabhat Kumar, and Kavita Krishnan, CCMs Manoj Bhakta, Vinod Singh from Jharkhand, Ravi Rai and Sanjay Sharma from Delhi, Rajendra Pratholi and Raja Bahuguna from Uttarakhand, Mohammad Salim from UP, Gurmeet Singh, Rajvinder Singh Rana from Punjab, AIKM General Secretary Rajaram Singh, AICCTU General Secretary Rajiv Dimri, AISA National President Sucheta De, RYA General Secretary Om Prasad, AIPWA leaders Iqbal Udasi and Jasbir Kaur, Haryana in-charge of CPI(ML) Prem Singh Gehlawat, Chandigarh Secretary of CPI(ML) Kanwaljeet, AIKM leader from Rajasthan Phoolchand Dhewa, Comrades Sukhdarshan Nat and Bhagwant Samaon from Punjab, Kapil Sharma of Sangwari paid homage to Comrade Swapan. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">On his final journey to the cremation grounds, Comrade Swapan's pallbearers included several young women comrades whom he had mentored – Comrades Aditi, Navkiran, Eisha and Abhilasha. All Delhi leaders and cadres of CPI(ML) bid goodbye to Comrade Swapan with rousing slogans.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Comrades Shamsul Islam and Neelima presented revolutionary songs saluting the red flag and the departed and martyred comrades. Comrade Swapan's last journey and cremation were accompanied with the singing of the Internationale.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">On 6 September a memorial meeting was held in the Bihar State CPI(ML) office at Patna, which was addressed by party GS Comrade Dipankar as well as Bihar-based CCMs of the party. A memorial meeting was held in Chandigarh where comrades pledged to take forward Comrade Swapan's unfinished work. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Memorial meetings on 8 September were held by AICCTU and CPI(ML) all over Jharkhand including at Ranchi, Ganday, Dhanbad, Jai Nagar, Bagodar,Garhwa, Jamua, Giridih, Sariya, Rajdhanwar, Vengabad, Kumardhubi, Godda, Bokaro, Domchanch, Koderma as well as by Mugma Area Motor Workers' Union. </span></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle;border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">A silent procession was held at Puducherry from the CPI(ML) State Office at Bharathi Street to Martyrs Square (where 11 Swadeshi Mills Workers were killed by the then French imperialist army while agitating for an 8-hour day). S.Purushothaman, State General Secretary AICCTU, S.Balasubramanian, State Secretary CPI(ML) , Balasundaram, CCM, CPI(ML), R.Viswanathan, State Secretary CPI, Dinesh Ponniah,. AITUC, State General Secretary, Sivandavan, State Secretary LLF (Trade Union Front of VCK), Ramamurthy, BKMU, All India General Secretary, Liaquat Ali, Advisory Council Member AIPF, Gabriel, State President MLF, Ramesh, Leader PMK Trade Union Front spoke at the memorial meeting. R. Rajangam, State Secretary CPI(M) conveyed his condolence message. </span></p></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-37579097358567672072016-08-31T12:30:00.001+05:302016-08-31T12:30:25.147+05:30ML Update | No. 36 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:28pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:28pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:28pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:28pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span style="font-size:9pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 36 | 30 Aug – 5 Sept 2016</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray"> </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px;color:red">Tarun Sagar in Haryana Assembly: </span><span style="color:red"><br></span><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:27.6px;color:red">Arranged Marriage of Religion and Politics</span><span style="color:red"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;line-height:16.1px;font-family:cambria,serif">The BJP government of Haryana led by ML Khattar, already widely discredited for its poor record of governance, systematic promotion of the casteist-communal agenda of the RSS and the open display of a regressive patriarchal mindset, recently set yet another dubious example, this time by openly violating the secular principle of separating religion from politics, a principle which is central to the constitutional foundation of the Indian state. On 26 August, it invited the Jain monk Tarun Sagar to address the Haryana Assembly. Technically speaking, Tarun Sagar's address was not part of the Assembly proceedings as the Assembly had already been adjourned, but the implication of a religious leader being invited to address legislators right within the premises of the state legislature should not be lost on anybody.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;line-height:16.1px;font-family:cambria,serif">Much of the public discussion on the subject, especially in the social media, has been focused on the contrast of a nude monk addressing a fully clothed audience, with supporters of Tarun Sagar defending it in the name of the religious principle and tradition of Digambar Jains, accusing the critics of hurting the religious sentiment of the Jain community and even being insensitive to the religious diversity and cultural pluralism that defines India. Many of those who have commented on the 'nude monk' angle have however not criticised the Jain tradition, they have commented on the hypocrisy of the conservative mindset, now being most aggressively championed and inflicted on the society by the Sangh brigade, which endorses male nudity in the name of religion but oppresses women in the name of dress code, with the culture minister of the Modi cabinet even issuing a veritable dress advisory for foreign tourists.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;line-height:16.1px;font-family:cambria,serif">The open violation of the secular principle and the constitutional requirement of the state not having or promoting any religion is of course a key issue in this case. If it is okay to invite Tarun Sagar to address the Assembly, what is wrong in inviting preachers from other religions? Whether the Haryana Assembly now makes it a policy to invite other religious preachers to strike a 'religious balance' or not, the secular principle has already been violated and Indian democracy cannot ignore or condone this violation. It should moreover be noted that before Haryana, Tarun Sagar has already addressed the MP Assembly (another BJP-ruled state) and was slated to address the Delhi Assembly as well. In fact, when music composer and AAP enthusiast Vishal Dadlani questioned the logic of inviting Tarun Sagar, he was not only attacked by the Sangh brigade and voices from within the Jain community, but also disowned and warned by the AAP leadership, making him quit his open political affiliation with AAP.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;line-height:16.1px;font-family:cambria,serif">Much of what Tarun Sagar said was apparently devoted to Modi's pet theme of 'saving the girl child'. Sagar blamed the adverse sex ratio for sexual violence against women, the spurious 'commonsensical' argument that sees sexual harassment and violence as an upshot of sex deprivation or sexual curiosity among young males and not as an abuse, or rather a ubiquitous expression, of social power in a patriarchal order. He then sought to find some ridiculous solutions to the sex ratio problem – making it mandatory for candidates in an election to have girl children or making sure that groom's families have girl children before a marriage is arranged! He also dabbled into more explicitly political topics and indulged in quite a bit of Pakistan-bashing and Islamophobia in the name of condemning terrorism.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;line-height:16.1px;font-family:cambria,serif">The most telling and profound remark of his address of course came when he described the relation between religion and politics. For him the relation between the two is analogous to the husband-wife relationship, where the husband has to provide security to the wife and the wife has to obey the discipline of the husband. Outside this 'disciplinary framework' the wife (equivalently politics) becomes a mad elephant that is difficult to control! With this revealing analogy, Sagar has at once exposed the deep-seated misogyny that informs the patriarchal notion of marriage and family and the theocratic notion of politics which is deeply resentful of the secular principle of separation of religion and politics.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;line-height:16.1px;font-family:cambria,serif">The BJP is more than happy that it has got a Jain monk to say things that are central to the RSS dream of a Hindu Rashtra, preaching the kind of families and politics that the RSS would love to impose on India in complete subversion and negation of the constitutional principles of liberty, equality and fraternity and the notion of a secular democratic India which upholds religious freedom but keeps the state and governance completely away from the citizen's private domain of religion. Indeed, the Jains are seen as the closest ally of the Sangh among all 'minority' religions in India. If mainstream bourgeois politics has always revolved around declared or undeclared social engineering and caste equations, the BJP has introduced its own model of 'socio-religious engineering' while castigating Muslims in the name of vote-bank politics. The wooing of Jains and now the Haryana Sports Minister's declaration of sanctioning 'discretionary state funds' for the Dera Sachha Sauda in the name of promotion of sports in the state are all part of this saffron politicking.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span style="color:red">Farmers' Resistance Day on 9 August </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">The All India Kisan Mahasabha (AIKM) called for nationwide farmers' resistance day on 9 August, also observed as anti-imperialism day by the party, against the loot of agricultural land and natural resources and the policies responsible for </span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px;font-family:mangal,serif">pledging the<span lang="HI"></span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">country's agriculture in the hands of national and foreign companies, and demanding land reforms and waiving of loans to the farmers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Observing resistance day, a massive protest march was organised in Bagodar, in Giridih district of <b>Jharkhand</b>. A </span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">seminar and a protest meeting was also organised in Bengabaad, also in Giridih district. Dharna and meetings were also organised in Ramgarh, Koderma and Hazaribagh districts of the state. In <b>Odisha</b>, a united protest was organised in Puri district headquarters. Protests were also organised in Bhubaneswar, Kalahandi and other districts of Odisha. In <b>Madhya Pradesh</b>, a dharna was organised in front of the district officials in Bhind and followed by a meeting in which people participated in huge numbers. The farmers' resistance day was also observed in several places in Chambal and Gwalior.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">A seminar was organised in Krishna district of <b>Andhra Pradesh</b> in which a huge number of farmers and youth participated. In<b>Rajasthan, </b>AIKM organised a dharna at the district headquarters in Jhunjhunu. A meeting and a march were organised by AIKM in Gazipur in <b>Uttar Pradesh</b>. Protests and demonstrations were also organised in Jalaun, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Mathura and Meerganj.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">In Kaithal, <b>Haryana</b>, 'Betrayal Day' was observed and a dharna and a meeting organised in front of the local secretariat. A protest march was taken out from Lalkuan station in Nainital district in <b>Uttarakhand</b> and a charter of demand submitted to the Tehsil officer. In<b>West Bengal, </b>protest march were called in Hooghly and Nadia districts.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">In <b>Bihar</b>, protest march took place in Hajipur, where a massive resistance sabha was organised in Baswan Singh Stadium. In Jehanabad too, protest march was held and a meeting held at the railway station. A dharna was organised at district headquarters in Nawada. Protests and other programmes were also organised in Purnea, Arwal, Shukrabad, Agiaon, Buxar, Jamui, Rohtas and Naubatpur. In the Peero block of Bhojpur district, a sabha was organised and PM Modi's effigy burnt.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">In <b>Punjab, </b>dharnas were organised in Sangrur, Barnala and Gurdaspur. In Mansa too, a massive dharna was called in which farmers participated in huge numbers. In <b>Maharashtra</b>, a protest march was taken out in Ahmednagar. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span style="color:red;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat">Protest Against Negligent Medical Practices in Darbhanga </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat">The condition of the prestigious Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) is increasingly becoming pitiable. A state of complete chaos and anarchy prevails in the hospital premises. On several occasions people undergoing eye operation have had to deal with complete loss of vision post operation. People have to undergo as many as three operations for recovery from broken bones. Patients rushing to avail the emergency facilities of the hospital at odd times are subjected to gross negligence by the doctors on duty and if their relations and friends complain about the negligence, there are goons and middlemen to respond by way of physical assault or legal cases. It has become a routine procedure that doctors from the hospital urge the patients to come to their private practice for better treatment after the treatment in hospital is over. On 10 August, the prevailing situation reached its worst level when Janki Devi who had come to the hospital for treatment for broken bones and had to pay with her life. Given the conditions, on 11 August a protest was staged in DMCH with the dead body, under the banner of the CPI (ML). The protest was led by comrades Rohit, Devendra and Nandlal. For several hours they protested against the superintendent. Thereafter, a written agreement was obtained on 6 point charter of demand as per which a case was filed against the negligent doctor and a three member committee was formed to investigate the incident. The protest was widely supported and discussed. The party has planned a series of agitations as a part of a movement to address the anarchic and pitiable state of the DMCH. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span style="color:red">Students demand filling of lecturer posts in Andhra Pradesh</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span style="font-size:10pt">Students pursuing their higher education in government degree and junior colleges in the Eleswaram town in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh have been experiencing severe constraints in their academic pursuits owing to shortage of lecturers. The local unit of AISA has consistently tried to raise this issue and bring it to the notice of education department officials, however, no heed has so far been paid to this very genuine and crucial demand of the student population. On 11 August, nearly 300 students under the leadership of AISA leaders, reached Balaji Chowk and blocked the road. When the vehicles of the local MLE and the District Collector too were stopped during the road block, they were forced to talk to the agitating students. The AISA leaders explained to them the problems of the students and the DC spoke to the education department officials leading to appointment of 5 lecturers in two colleges.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span style="color:red">AIPF Conventions at Puducherry</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">The Puducherry unit of AIPF is holding a series of conventions in the name of "Arise my country". On 16 August, the first convention was organised. It was titled- 'Attacks on Dalits and Muslims and hate speech against them.' </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Com. R. Mamgayarselvan, National campaign committee member, AIPF, presided over the convention in the presence of Com. K. Mohanasundaram, NC member, P.Moorthy, Ex-MLA and M. Muthukannu, Social activist. Com. S. Balasubramanian, state secretary gave the keynote address. In his address he stressed on the need to carry forward the ideas of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in order to contain the offensive of communal fascists.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">S. Pavanan, Assistant General Secretary, Viduthalai Siruthaikal Katchi (VCK) a prominent Dalit party in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry was the guest speaker. He condemned the attacks against Dalits and Muslims. He thoroughly exposed the hate speech of the Sangh Parivar. He called for the unity of left and democratic forces against communal onslaught.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">The next Convention was held on 26th August on "Stop the war on Democracy in Kashmir." </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Com. R. Murugandham National Council member AIPF presided over the convention in the presence of Com. S. Balasubramanian, convener AIPF and state secretary CPI(ML), R. ThanikaiThambi, journalist and V. Murthy of AIPF.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Com. R. Mangayarselvam, National Campaign committee member AIPF gave the keynote address.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Com. S. Kumarasamy, CPI(ML), Polit bureau member was the guest speaker. In his speech he explained the history of the Kashmir conflict and called for early political resolution of the Kashmir dispute as well as an end to the brutal handling of the present people's movement in Kashmir.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">The Convention resolved to demand an end to the use of pellet guns, and firing against civilian agitators,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">immediate withdrawal of AFSPA and military forces from civilian areas; and unconditional political dialogue with all sections of Kashmiri people for a time-bound political solution of the dispute.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span style="color:red">Protest against Attacks on Dalits and Minorities in Andhra Pradesh</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat">On 16 August, in the town of Chatrai of Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh AISA and RYA organized a protest rally to against the attacks on Dalits and minorities in the name of religion. Com Karumanchi Dhanush, Mandal committee secretary of RYA spoke about the inhuman attacks on Dalits and minorities by 'Cow protection' vigilante groups and he expressed solidarity with the victims. Com Durgam Pullarao, party district committee member also addressed the students and youth. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Tea Workers' Rally in Siliguri</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">24 Tea Unions of North Bengal under the banner of 'Joint Forum' held a massive rally in Siliguri on 24 August demanding minimum wage, opening of closed tea gardens, proper implementation of NFSA and 20 % bonus. The rally ended in gheraoing the Joint Labour Commissioner office and submitting a memorandum. AICCTU's Darjeeling District unit participated in large numbers in this rally.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:red">Tribals Protest Land Grab in Tamil Nadu </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:20.7px;color:red"> </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">Tribals under the banner of the Tamil Nadu Scheduled Tribe (Malayali) Peravai held a demonstration on 20<sup>th</sup> August near the bus stand at Karumandurai in Kalvarayan Hills in Tamil Nadu. More than 200 tribal people participated including 5 persons from the Vellimalai area also joined. They demanded a law to protect their lands and restoration of ancestral lands that have been grabbed by non-tribals, including many politicians, ex- and current ministers, ex-bureaucrats and other prominent people. According to an estimate, 9965 acres of tribal land have been grabbed in Chinna Kalvarayan Hills itself.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">Speaking at the demonstration, AIPF TN Convener A Chandramohan pointed out that land alienation paved the way for tribals to be forced into risking their lives and liberty by working as woodcutters for the red sandalwood mafia in the Andhra Pradesh forests. The AIPF had helped release 72 such woodcutters recently from prolonged jail custody. The demonstration was also addressed by V Marimuthu, State President and C Raman, Salem District Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Scheduled Tribe (Malayali) Peravai and ST Rajender, President of the Struggle Committee.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span style="color:red">Cow Vigilantes Strike Again in Jharkhand</span><span style="line-height:20.7px;color:red"></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">Five Muslim men Wasim Ansari, Aftab Ansari, Shahbaz, Naseem Ansari, and Aijaz Ansari on the road from Dumraon village to Pelawal in Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand, were beaten up by a cow-vigilante mob that accused them of transporting cattle for slaughter. They were badly beaten up, and two of them were nearly buried alive, escaping with severe injuries to their eyes and limbs. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">A team of AIPF members headed by Anil Anshuman along with the United Muslim Forum members went to RIMS hospital to meet the injured victims. Subsequently another AIPF team led by former CPI(ML) MLA Vinod Singh visited Pelawal on 29<sup>th</sup> August and met the victims and their families. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">Sahela Khatun of Dumraon told the team that she had set out for her maternal home in Pelawal, taking her Jersey cow, goats and some household items with her in a Tata 407 mini-bus. Her relatives were following her on motorcycles. The relatives were waylaid near Dumraon by cow-vigilantes who not only beat them up but dragged them behind a motorcycle and set the mini-bus on fire. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">The team addressed a press conference demanding justice for the victims, a ban on cow-vigilante groups and also announced a dharna to be held at the Hazaribagh district headquarters on 1 September. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span style="color:red">Police Firing on Villagers Protesting Land Grab in Jharkhand</span><span style="line-height:20.7px;color:red"></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px;font-family:"times new roman",serif">Villagers have been demanding jobs and adequate cash compensation for the grab of their lands due to the expansion of the Inland Power Plant at Ramgarh District in Jharkhand. Officials of the Inland Power Limited (IPL) had called the villagers to discuss their demands. The IPL thermal power plant has been operating its first phase (63 Mega-Watt) since 2014 and a second 63 MW phase is now proposed. Residents of eight villages adjoining the plant have been demanding jobs within the plant and also adequate cash compensation for land acquisition. When the villagers gathered at the gates of the plant in protest demanding that their demands be discussed, police fired on them, killing two persons and injuring seven. CPI(ML) will hold a Jharkhand-wide protest against this police firing on 31<sup>st</sup> August. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span style="color:red">AISA's Hunger Strike in Bihar Ends </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">The indefinite hunger strike begun by AISA's Bihar Unit on 24<sup>th</sup> August ended on 29<sup>th</sup> August following a meeting with the Bihar Education Minister and a one-month ultimatum issued by AISA to the Government to meet the students' demands.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">The students have been agitating against the Bihar Government's move to slash scholarships to SC/ST/OBC/Minority students. The first inkling that such scholarships are being cut came when 60 Dalit students from Champaran (Bihar) who had been receiving a Bihar Government scholarship supporting their education in a medical college in Odisha, were thrown out when the scholarship was withdrawn and they failed to pay their fees. Following protests by AISA, the Government restored the scholarship to those students – but subsequently announced a Rs 15000 cap on the scholarship! This amount is far from enough to cover the costs of education in private engineering and medical colleges. Further, there were indicators that the Bihar Government is also planning to cut back scholarships for SC/ST/OBC/Minority students in Government-run institutions also.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">Along with the issue of the scholarships, AISA also raised the long-pending demand to refurbish the existing Ambedkar Hostels in the State which are in a highly dilapidated and dangerous state, and also construct new hostels for Dalit and other deprived students.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">The hunger strike had also raised the demand for strict action against the police authorities responsible for the brutal lathicharge by Bihar police on a Dalit students' rally in Patna. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">Shivprakash Ranjan, AISA State Secretary accepted juice from the CPI(ML) State Secretary Comrade Kunal; State VP Kazim Irfani from AIKM National General Secretary Rajaram Singh; Pappu Kumar Ram, State Executive member from AIPWA leader Shashi Yadav; Babu Saheb, VP of AISA from Shri Sharadendu, the Head of Department of Hindi at Patna University; Santosh Arya, State Executive member from former Principal of Patna College and former Professor, Patna University Shri Naval Kishor; and Sanjay Sajan, State Executive Member from CPI(ML) PB member Comrade Amar. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Obituary</span></b></p><h4 style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><b><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="color:red">Com. Rajnanadan Sharma</span></span></b></font></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Com. Rajnandan Sharma (Master Sahab), passed away on the 4 August 2016 at the age of 82 years in Paras Hospital in Patna. He had become familiar with communist ideology in the decade of 1950s and in 1964 he joined CPI (M) and started working as an activist. In 1969, he came in contact with CPI (ML) and since then he continued to be a determined soldier of the party. During the party's underground years, his house used to be a safe shelter for party leaders. During the emergency, in 1976, when his police came to know about him, he himself became an underground activist. After the emergency ended in 1978, he again started working as a teacher in a Railway school in Khagaul and his home once again became a trustworthy shelter for party activists. He himself remained involved in the expansion of the party. After his demise, his body was brought to his ancestral village and several hundreds gathered to pay their tributes. Several CPI(ML) leaders including Bihar state secretary Com . Kunal participated in his funeral procession. On 15 August, a memorial meeting was organised in the Mahatma Gandhi library in his village. He is survived by two daughters, two sons and innumerable activists.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Red Salute to Master Sahab!</span></p><h4 style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><font size="4"><span style="color:red">Comrade Mulkraj</span></font></h4><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Veteran CPI(ML) activist Comrade Mulkraj passed away in Delhi on 27 August 2016. Comrade Mulkraj was one of the party's first members in Delhi. His funeral procession from his home in A Block Mongolpuri to the cremation grounds was full of CPI(ML) activists and leaders as well as his family members. CPI(ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya saluted him with flowers and with the party's flag. Other party leaders who paid him the final tributes included Comrades Prabhat Kumar, Sanjay Sharma, Delhi State Secretary Ravi Rai, AIKM National Secretary Purushottam Sharma, senior Delhi party leaders Amarnath Tiwary, Rooplal, Surendra Panchal, as well as members of the Mongolpuri party committee. Comrade Mulkraj was born in Multan district (now in Pakistan) in the Sansi community – a nomadic tribe that is among the Denotified Tribes (DNTs). DNTs had been profiled by the colonial rulers as 'criminal tribes' and subjected to racial and casteist surveillance and oppression – a legacy that continues to this day. Under colonial rule, a member of the DNTs could not travel from one district to another without notifying the police. Growing up under such oppression, Mulkraj developed a strong determination to resist colonial rule and fight for the dignity of his peoples. After independence, these tribes were denotified only in 1952 after a struggle of which the young Mulkraj had been a part.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Comrade Mulkraj's family came to India during Partition. Staying in various parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, they eventually came to Delhi. While working in the Modi Mills in UP, Mulkraj had been sacked for participating in workers' struggles. In Haryana he had come into contact with CPI and CPI(M) also, but being attracted by news of the Naxalbari movement, he kept seeking contact with the CPI(ML). In Delhi, to support his family, Mulkraj worked as a rickshaw puller. In 1978-79, he came into contact with the CPI(ML) which was then underground. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">After the decision taken by the special party conference in 1979 to form mass organisations and build mass struggles, Comrade Mulkraj took up the responsibility of organising Delhi's working class struggles. In 1980, he had the party's first trade union General Kamgar Union registered – which is now Delhi's one of the oldest functional trade unions known today as All India General Kamgar Union. In the same year, he formed a union led by the party in Britannia Industries and in 1981, workers of Britannia waged a long struggle. He helped organise many joint Trade Union struggles in Delhi. He played an important part in the campaigns to free Comrade Nagbhushan Patnaik and Nelson Mandela, and also in building the Indian People's Front. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Comrade Mulkraj's whole life was dedicated to the Indian working class struggle and Indian revolution. He had an insatiable hunger for party literature, reading Lokyuddh avidly. Even in his last days, you could find clippings from party publications and party leaders' writings in his pockets. He would love to read about people's movements and the communist movement in the country and in the world. He would never allow demoralisation to cast even a shadow on him.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Comrade Mulkraj lived a full and happy life dedicated to people – so his passing away and his funeral were an occasion not so much for mourning as for joy and inspiration for all the younger comrades. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt;background-image:none;background-size:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px">Red Salute to Comrade Mulkraj! </span><span class="gmail-HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:15.3333px"></span></font></span></p><div class="gmail-yj6qo gmail-ajU" style="margin:2px 0px 0px;font-size:12.8px"><div id="gmail-:1q5" class="gmail-ajR" tabindex="0"><img class="gmail-ajT" src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif"></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-36570331527187883082016-08-26T22:21:00.001+05:302016-08-26T22:21:18.387+05:30ML Update | No. 34 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><div id=":10d" class="" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-bottom:5px"><div id=":143" class=""><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(51,51,255)"><p align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:48pt;color:red">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:20pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:36pt;color:blue">Update</span></i></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:36pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(153,153,153)">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p align="center" style="margin-right:6.5pt;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(153,153,153)">Vol. 19, No. 35, 23 – 29 AUGUST 2016</span></p><b><span style="font-size:20pt;line-height:32px;font-family:"Berlin Sans FB Demi",sans-serif">Modi's Foreign Policy and <br>the Kashmir-Balochistan Conundrum</span></b><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="1"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top" style="padding:0mm"></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p style="text-indent:0mm"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">The cat is now out of the bag. Towards the end of his long and tiring Independence Day address, Modi let the Balochistan cat jump out of the bag of diplomatic silence. He said he had been getting many messages of gratitude from Balochistan and POK. And we are now told this is the new aggressive foreign policy discourse of the Modi regime. It is not just Modi and not just Balochistan, Mohan Bhagwat says the Modi government should do all that is necessary to reclaim parts of Jammu and Kashmir currently under the control of Pakistan and China. From Rajnath Singh to Arun Jaitley, every senior BJP minister is daily blaming Pakistan for the unrest in Pakistan. Occasionally Modi also invokes the much-touted 'constitutional framework' even as the security forces acknowledge the killing of Kashmiri citizens in 'unsanctioned raids' (like the killing of Shabir Ahmad Monga, a lecturer, and severe injuries inflicted on several others in Pulwama district during the intervening night of August 17 and 18).</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">As far as the international community is concerned, the Balochistan-Gilgit-POK remark of Modi can only mean one thing. Modi believes that he can stop Pakistan from raising the Kashmir issue in international fora by hitting it back with the issue of Balochistan. Whether this blackmail will work or not is anybody's guess (many say it is bound to backfire), but what Modi has already done is to establish an equivalence between Kashmir and Balochistan that can only expose and negate the official Indian narrative on Kashmir. Balochistan is fighting for secession and if India blames Pakistan for suppressing the Balochistan struggle, Pakistan accuses India of doing the same in Kashmir. If India attributes the unrest in Kashmir to Pakistani instigation, Pakistan levels exactly similar charges on India with regard to Balochistan. If Modi expects the world to believe his word about Balochistan, why shouldn't the international community also believe what human rights organizations worldwide say about Kashmir?</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Modi has made the Balochistan remark not in any international forum though. The occasion was India's own Independence Day and he was speaking in front of his audience in India. Viewed in the context of Kashmir, his remark can only further alienate and infuriate the people in the valley who are daily losing lives and limbs and eyes to bullets and now the more indiscriminate pellets of the Indian state. According to the CRPF's own admission made to the judiciary, the force used 1.3 million pellets between July 8 and August 11. When asked when the CRPF would stop using pellet guns, Director General K Durga Prasad says 'this is like asking when will you stop beating your wife'! And now here is the Prime Minister of India talking about the gratitude expressed by the people of Balochistan for raising the issue of repression they face at the hands of the Pakistani state.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">The BJP never tires of claiming that Kashmir is an integral part of India, but it blames Pakistan for the grievances of the Kashmiri people. If the people of Kashmir come out on the streets to protest, the BJP, which now shares power in the state as well, unleashes the brutal might of the state on unarmed protesters even as the PM sheds crocodile tears about the plight of the people in Balochistan and POK. By refusing to talk to the people of Kashmir, the Indian state has all along played ball with Pakistan in treating Kashmir as a bone of bilateral contention ignoring direct communication and dialogue with the Kashmiri people to address their concerns and grievances including the basic question of self-determination of the Kashmiri people. Especially now that the reins of power are in the hands of the ultra-chauvinist BJP, more than ever before Kashmir has become a game of political football between the two permanently sparring and occasionally warring neighbours. By openly tagging Balochistan to Kashmir, Modi has now made sure that the fire of discord between India and Pakistan will keep burning. And this is above all sheer survival strategy for a government which needs weapons of mass distraction to cover up its glaring failure on every front and betrayal on every promise.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">While many former diplomats and foreign policy watchers have questioned the wisdom of Modi's Balochistan-POK discourse, leaders of the Congress have rushed to the defence of this new line. Former UPA Defence Minister and senior Congress leader AK Anthony has endorsed Modi's Balochistan remark, and Karnataka's Siddaramaiah government has acted on an ABVP complaint to slap sedition charges on the Amnesty International India for discussing human rights violations in Kashmir in an Independence Day eve programme in Bengaluru. In the face of nationwide outrage against the sedition charges slapped on JNU students, Rahul Gandhi had expressed his solidarity with the students and teachers of JNU, but here is his party's government in Karnataka leveling sedition charges on noted senior journalist Seema Mustafa for moderating the Amnesty discussion on Kashmir!</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Indeed, the Congress has historically often been complicit with the Sangh in matters of chauvinism and foreign policy. Beginning with Nehru inviting the RSS to join the Republic Day Parade after the 1962 India-China war, and RSS hailing Indira Gandhi in the aftermath of the 1971 Bangladesh war, to this latest occasion, there have been many instances of reciprocity and convergence between the two. The democratic opinion of India must squarely reject this competitive chauvinism along with the anti-people neo-liberal collaboration between the BJP and the Congress (as witnessed at the time of the passage of the SEZ Act a decade ago and the GST Bill the other day) and not let the Modi regime play the Balochistan-POK card to legitimize the ongoing suppression of Kashmiri protests as well as other voices of dissent and struggles for justice elsewhere in the country.</span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px"> </span></p><p align="center" style="text-align:center;text-indent:0mm"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px">RYA Conference in Bihar</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">The 6th Bihar State RYA Conference was held in Jehanabad on 3 August. The conference was attended by over 500 delegates from over 25 districts from Bihar. As a tribute to the recent student-youth upsurge in the country, especially the clarion call of 'Utho Mere Desh', Jehanabad town was named Bhagat Singh-Ambedkar Nagar. The venue of the Conference (Jehanabad Town Hall) was named Rohith Vemula-Chandrasekhar Hall, the stage was named after the progressive author and activist Premchand and the gate was named after Com. Shah Chand who passed away last year after being imprisoned under the draconian TADA and Com. Mariappan, RYA and CPI (ML) activist who was slain by Hindu fundamentalist forces in Tamil Nadu.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">The conference started with an enthusiastic march from the Marwari Dharamshala to the venue of the conference. The march stopped at Ambedkar Chowk to pay tributes and garland the statue of Dr. Ambedkar, before proceeding to the venue where RYA General Secretary Com. Om Prasad hoisted the flag and paid floral tributes to the martyrs.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">The conference started by electing a 5-member presidium and Com. Manoj Manzil conducted the proceedings. The inaugural speaker of the open session was CPI (ML) Central Committee Member, former MLA and General Secretary of AIKMS Com. Rajaram Singh. In his inaugural he emphasized that the student-youth upsurge against the Modi government will turn out to be the death knell for the Sangh Parivar and that the infectious nature of this upsurge will come to haunt Nitish Kumar as he continues to betray the student-youth of Bihar. RYA General Secretary Com. Om Prasad said that in Bihar, RYA can become the synonym of the youth movement as during the recent student-youth movement, RYA was the only youth organization in Bihar which had taken the most prompt and regular initiatives. Com. Raju Yadav, RYA Bihar State President, Com. Ramjantan Sharma Chairperson of Central Commission, Com. Mahanand CPI (ML) Arwal District Secretary, Com. Shriniwas CPI (ML) Jehanabad District Secretary and Com. Ajit Kushwaha AISA Bihar Secretary also addressed the open session.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">This was followed by the delegate session where the draft put forward by the outgoing State Secretary Com. Navin was discussed. At the end of the discussion, an 85-member state council was elected which in turn elected Com. Manoj Manzil as State President and Com. Navin Kumar as State Secretary. The conference also wished farewell to the outgoing State President Com. Raju Yadav from his responsibilities in RYA and wished him all solidarity for his future responsibilities. The conference ended by passing political resolutions especially to launch all-out efforts to make the National Program of AISA-RYA in Delhi on 28 September an outstanding success.</span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px"> </span></p><p align="center" style="text-align:center;text-indent:0mm"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px">Sankalp Sabha at Ranchi</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">On the fourth death anniversary of Com. Khudi Ram Munda, a Sankalp March was organized on 17 August from Rahe Bank Mor till the Bhagat Singh Chowk in Ranchi. Floral tributes were paid to the photo of Com. Munda, and a two-minute silence observed in his remembrance. The Sankalp March was undertaken to protest against the loot of the land being indulged in by the state government in the name of cancelling settlements and against the killing of the Dalit student Rupesh.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Addressing the march, Jharkhand state CPI (ML) secretary Com. Janardhan Prasad said that in a country of such enormous economic disparity where on one hand there were people like Tata, Adani, Ambani and Jindal and on the other hand there was large population of poor Dalits, tribals and farmers, how could one tax system be imposed on the entire country under the GST. Referring to the Raghubar Das government in Jharkhand, he said that oppression on Dalits and tribals had become synonymous to 'governance' in the BJP regime in the state. To ensure that more Rupeshs are not killed, the struggle demanding punishment for guilty police officials will continue.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Former MLA from CPI (ML), Com. Vinod Singh said that the calling of a special session in the Jharkhand legislative assembly on the issue of GST proves that the Jharkhand state government is standing against the interests of the people. Before thinking of implementing GST, the government should first implement minimum wages throughout the country. The Modi government was implementing a uniform tax system to ensure profits for big companies. In a country where 70 to 80% of the population are daily wage workers or MNREGA workers and are reeling under huge inflation, it is shameful that inflation is a matter of no concern for the government. The government must break its silence on this issue. While no amendments are made in the law to provide relief to the poor, amendments are made to provide land to Tata and Adani. The government will now to have to talk about not its own mind but about the people (not 'mann ki baat' but 'jan ki baat'). Com. Vinod also said that in the name of domicile policy, the state was betraying the youth of Jharkhand. Oppression is being unleashed on the Dalits, tribals and the displaced. The wife of late Com. Khudi Ram Munda was also present in the meeting following the sankalp march.</span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px"> </span></p><p align="center" style="text-align:center;text-indent:0mm"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px">Dalits Beaten by 'Cow Vigilantes in AP</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">On August 9th, three Dalits - Mokati Yelush aged 58, Mokati Venkateswara Rao, aged 53 and Mokati Lakshman, aged 23 – were beaten up by a cow vigilante mob in Sudapalem of Uppalaguptham Mandal of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. The Dalits had been disposing of the carcass of a cow that had been electrocution, as requested by owners of a farmhouse. They were severely injured with sticks, rods and knives.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Left party leaders Com Jalli Wilson, MLC, CPI, Com Dadala Subbarao from CPM, Com Bugata Bangaruraju, CC member of CPI ML Liberation, Com U. Venkateswara Rao CPI ML New Democracy and Com Katam Nagaraju, MCPI visited the victims in hospital and protested at the police office. Left parties also held protests on 16 August on this issue. CPI(ML) Liberation held protests in Eleswaram, Tuni, Prathipadu, Jagamepeta in Kakinada also.</span></p><p style="text-indent:0mm"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px">'Democracy? Whose Democracy?': public meeting in London on the eve of Independence Day</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">A public meeting held in London on the eve of Independence Day organized by South Asia Solidarity Group discussed the Indian state's current offensive in Kashmir and its history, the Dalit Asmita Yatra in Gujarat, the background to the rise of Hindutva and other key issues.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Academic, novelist and activist Nitasha Kaul addressed the meeting, titled 'Democracy? Whose Democracy? India on the 69th Anniversary of Independence'. She said that Kashmiris are facing an existential crisis under Indian army occupation: 'It is as though there is a hierarchy of lives – for some, many more have to be lost, before people listen'.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">She said India's relationship with Kashmir—the humiliating attitude towards Kashmiris, the killing, injuring and blinding of innocent people including children, intimidating of journalists, and clamping down on the media and shutting down internet and mobile communication – a form of collective punishment — was like Britain's relationship with India under colonial rule.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Dr Kaul said that the uprising of Kashmiri people has nothing to do either with religion or with Pakistan. Kashmir happens to be a Muslim majority territory and India is using it as a pretext to demonise a people's uprising as terrorist. In today's Islamophobic environment it fits well with the broader narrative, she said.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">She spoke of India's oft repeated claim that Kashmir is an 'integral part of India' and called it a very 'imperial' attitude. 'Why do you have to keep on repeating it? And why do you have to kill people to keep it integral?' She said that Kashmir is not like any other Indian state. It has its own history. She stressed that until 1953 when Sheikh Abdullah was arrested by Jawaharlal Nehru, Kashmir had its own flag and own Prime Minister, not a Chief Minister.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Also speaking at the meeting was the editor of Urdu Media Monitor M. Ghazali Khan. He said that every controversy being used and exploited by the BJP, for example the Babri Mosque, Muslim Personal Law, Urdu and the minority character of Aligarh Muslim University, was created by the Congress. During its tenure Congress engineered anti-Muslim riots. The BJP developed and systematized communal violence which is integral to its Hindutva ideology, leading to the "Gujarat Experiment" and adopting new elements such as "Love Jihad", "Ghar wapsi" and "Gau Raksha" as the situation requires.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Mr Khan added, 'Soon after the partition a totally false and mischievous premise was created in India that Muslims alone were responsible for that historic blunder and was used and continues to be used as a weapon to victimize them. However, the publication between 1970 and 1983 of secret and official documents (Transfer of Power 1942-47) present a different picture of that period: Gandhi, Nehru and particularly Patel appear to be as much responsible for the partition as was Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan.' Mr Khan stressed the importance of an alliance between Dalits, Muslims and all other secular forces in India.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Dalit activist and Chair of CasteWatch UK Satpal Muman who was also due to speak could not personally attend the seminar but sent a written speech that was read out by at the meeting. In his message Mr Muman sent his solidarity with the hugely inspiring and significant Dalit Asmita march taking place across Gujarat, to culminate in a mass rally on Independence Day at Una, the scene of the recent brutal attack on Dalits by self-styled Gau Rakshaks which sparked the movement. He added that the "stinking caste system" had followed Indians to the UK and the current British government was acting undemocratically by ignoring legislation passed by parliament safeguarding Dalits from discrimination in the UK.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Kalpana Wilson, chairing the meeting on behalf of South Asia Solidarity Group, also expressed her solidarity with the Dalit movement in India. She said this was a hugely significant moment with the Dalit movement putting forward the agenda of land redistribution as one of its key demands. As one of the leaders of the movement Jignesh Mevani has said, this hits at the base of Hindutva economic policy of unscrupulously handing over land to corporates like Ambani and Adani. She also highlighted the initiatives for unity between Dalits and Muslims which are being taken by the movement, which is taking place in Gujarat, till now known as the 'laboratory' for the Hindu right, where the genocidal attacks on the Muslim community had taken place in 2002.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">The seminar also heard a powerful narrative on Dalit lives inspired by the Una incident 'Black and Blue' written and read out by actor and story writer, Saunvedan Aparanti.</span></p><p align="center" style="text-align:center;text-indent:0mm"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px"> Statement in Solidarity with the 'Azaadi Kooch' or Freedom March in India</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">(On 21st August, a protest demonstration of various Dalit and other democratic organisations at London expressed solidarity with the Dalit movement in Gujarat and India. The protesters performed a skit with cow-vigilantes wearing Modi masks, killing Dalits and Muslims in the name of 'cow protection.' They displayed placards saying 'We Want Justice' and 'Land for Dalits, Not For Ambanis and Adanis!' They issued the following statement in solidarity.)</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px"> As representatives of Dalit and South Asian organisations in the UK we send warmest solidarity greetings to our Dalit brothers and sisters in struggle in India as they march from Ahmedabad to Una in the 'Azaadi Kooch' (Freedom March), reaching on Independence Day to hoist the Indian flag at the place of the Una atrocity.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">As India enters its 70th year of independence, the country is in turmoil as never before. The Hindu supremacist BJP government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has been in power since May 2014, together with the numerous Hindutva killer gangs who stand behind it, has unleashed an increasingly violent reign of terror and repression on Dalits, Muslims and other minorities.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Dominant castes, who in rural India are the landowners, perpetrate the most heinous crimes of rape, arson, and murder of Dalits, specifically targeting women and children. Dalit women are forced to parade naked sometimes for the most minor of disagreements, or else even for 'not showing respect'. There is also a propensity by the ruling elites to dismiss atrocities as 'law and order' issues. Studies show, however, that Dalits are specifically targeted because of the resentment felt by upper-castes, particularly when Dalits try to rise above the down-trodden status ascribed to them, or when they try to assert their human rights.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">This appalling state of affairs has got far worse in the last two years, deteriorating first during Modi's election campaign in 2013, and then deteriorating, even more acutely, since he has come to power in 2014. The primary reason for this is the BJP's polarising upper-caste Hindu supremacist ideology</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">As official figures show there has been a 44 percent increase in violence against Dalits in 2014 as compared to 2010, with 30 percent of the 47,064 crimes in 2014 committed in four BJP-ruled states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">In the last few months 'Gau Rakshaks' or Cow protection vigilantes have become the latest face of Hindutva's killer gangs. They roam the countryside attacking and killing Muslims and Dalits whom they accuse of cow slaughter, or of consuming or intending to consume beef.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Gujarat has been seen as a 'laboratory' by the Hindu right since the genocidal attacks on Muslims in 2002 and on 11 July this year, in Una, Gujarat, the Cow goons launched a horrific attack on four Dalit men, tying them to a car and beating them brutally with sticks and iron pipes. They accused them of cow slaughter, although in reality, they were skinning a dead cow as part of their work – since this unpleasant task, like that of getting rid of dead animals carcasses, is still regarded as work suitable only and exclusively for Dalits. They filmed the attack (which took place with the collusion of the Gujarat police) and circulated it widely on social media. The aim was clearly to cause intense humiliation and to intimidate the community.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">As we now know the video of the attack, which went viral, had a very different effect. It acted as a spark which ignited the already simmering anger and resistance of Dalits in Gujarat and other parts of India giving rise to a massive Dalit uprising. Dalits refused to clear cow carcasses, and they were left rotting all over towns in Gujarat. Already the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Anandiben Patel, has been forced to resign. The movement has continued to grow and is spreading all over India. Muslim organisations have joined Dalits in solidarity and so have Left and progressive organisations.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">We will urge the Indian Government to meet the demands of the movement:</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">• Arrest and charge all those who participated in the attack on the Dalits in Una under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activity Act (PASA). • Withdraw cases filed against Dalits during recent protests and launch an immediate investigation into the 2012 police firing in Thangadh, Gujarat in which 3 Dalits were killed. • Immediately ban the murderous Gau Raksha Samitis (Cow Protection Vigilante Groups) • pose exemplary punishment to perpetrators of caste violence with national media coverage to act as a deterrent. • Set up Special Courts for offences under the Atrocities Act, as required by the law. • Make the jobs of Safai Kamdars, or sanitation workers, (all exclusively Dalits) secure, by making them permanent posts paid according to the regulations of the 6th Pay Commission. • Allocate Five Acre Plots of land to Dalits forthwith as is required under Section 3(1)(f) of the Atrocities Act. • Immediately enact a Reservation Act in Gujarat (All reservations/affirmative actions in Gujarat are currently at the discretion of the Executive and are initiated or effected only through a government resolution). • Provide housing units to Dalits in urban areas because they continue to be socially boycotted, discriminated against and exploited socially, economically and sexually in villages. • Use budgetary allocations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs/STs) exclusively for these sections and not divert them elsewhere. • The Gujarat Government must apologise publicly to Dalits for withdrawing and pulping the book on Dr Babsaheb Ambedkar which described his radical thoughts on Hindusim and the 22 point oath he took to convert to Buddhism in 1956.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">CasteWatch UK; South Asia Solidarity Group; Ambedkar International Mission, London; Dr Ambedkar Buddhist Action Group Birmingham; Dr Ambedkar Buddhist Organisation; Central Valmik Sabha; Shri Guru Ravidass Cultural Association, Birmingham; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Manor Park, London; Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Wolverhampton; Dr Ambedkar Memorial Committee Great Britain; Voice of Dalit International UK; International Asian Christian Front; South Asian Alliance</span></p><p style="text-indent:0mm"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:22.4px">Com. Ghanshyam Mahto</span></p><p><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px">Com. Ghanshyam Mahto, a dedicated and a fighting leader of the 1990s passed away on 4 August in his ancestral village of Baruhaatu in Bundu in Jharkhand. He was 76 years of age. He became associated with CPI (ML) in the year 1990 and thereafter remained in struggles being fought for the poor and tribals. Despite economic hardships, he never looked back. On 4 July, despite ill health, he participated in the sankalp sabha organised on the martyrdom anniversary of Com. Parmeshwar Singh Munda. Red Salute to Com. Ghanshyam Mahto.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><br></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-63824255479264364822016-08-17T13:58:00.001+05:302016-08-17T13:58:46.628+05:30ML Update | No. 34 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">Vol. 19 | No. 34 | 16 – 22 August 2016</span></p><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">August 15, 2016: Modi's Deceptive Rhetoric versus the Inspiring Una Resolve</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><b><span lang="EN-GB">When the people of India fought</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> for freedom from British colonial rule, there was one ideological-political stream which not only stayed away from that great struggle but tried its best to disrupt and derail it with its thoroughly communal and casteist agenda of Hindutva. Today that stream holds the reins of 'governance' in the country and is bent upon appropriating the mantle of freedom even as it uses the state machinery to the hilt to subvert the values and aspirations of the freedom movement. Halfway through his term, Modi asked the BJP to celebrate a 'festival of freedom' around the Independence Day this year as he delivered his third August 15 lecture from the ramparts of the Red Fort.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">True to his demagogic track record, Modi made a few astoundingly misleading claims in his speech. He said while previous governments were all surrounded by complaints and allegations, his government only has to confront the expectations of the people. Well, to tell the truth, the expectations were based on the promises he had made in the 2014 election campaign, and with his government going back on those promises much of those expectations have today turned into frustration and anger. The much touted promises of 2014 were of course conspicuously missing once again in Modi's Independence Day address.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Modi claimed to have brought down the rate of inflation when the common people are reeling under soaring prices. When the whole world is heaving a sigh of relief over the declining petroleum prices, his government has inflicted steep increases in railway fares. And now in the name of ending 'tax terrorism' on the rich, his government has drawn up a blueprint of hefty regressive taxation on the goods and services consumed by the common people which will add fresh fuel to the fire of price-rise.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Modi talked about the alleged efficiency of governance he has ushered in and called upon the people to match this efficiency by ensuring 'social unity'. A strong economy and a strong society would make India a strong nation. But we have already seen that Modi's 'strong economy' does not care for either the welfare of the common people or the self-reliance and sovereignty of the nation – all it cares for is faster accumulation of corporate wealth and bigger inflow of FDI. Likewise, Modi's 'strong society' is all about maintaining the status quo within a patriarchal-casteist order and that too on lines drawn by an increasingly aggressive and intrusive Sangh brigade which would like to dictate the terms of inter-personal relationships, social interaction, cultural discourse and constitutional liberties in India.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Modi's deceptive phrase of 'strong society' became very clear when he invoked Ambedkar as a champion of 'social unity'. Everybody knows that the Constitution drafted under the leadership of Ambedkar proclaimed the formation of the Indian Republic on the foundations of liberty, equality and fraternity. Without liberty and equality, fraternity becomes an empty word and unity can only mean subjugation. When Modi eulogises the notion of 'strong economy' and 'strong society' – there is of course also the implicit third element of 'strong' or 'hard state' which Modi chooses not to mention in his Independence Day address – he does it by effectively undermining the modern democratic principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">It is significant that Modi used his ID address to mention the so-called gratitude that some people from Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have apparently expressed to him while keeping absolutely silent about the continuing spate of civilian killings and injuries and the anguished cries of pain and anger of the Kashmiri people who are ruled by the Indian state. He talked about social unity rising above caste divisions but said not a word about the oppression being unleashed on Dalits and Muslims in the name of 'cow protection' by cow vigilantes sponsored by the RSS and governments run by his own party in different states.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">But despite elaborate plans to appropriate the mantle of freedom, Modi's Independence Day address and the BJP's so-called 'festival of freedom' only underscored the growing isolation and failure of his government. For the people of India, the real resolve of freedom this year came from Una where Dalits, Muslims and progressive citizens from other sections marched to Una in their thousands, defying physical attacks and threats of more Unas to come, and resolved to intensify their battle for freedom. They resolved to reject the Brahminical code of labour which despises manual labour and reserves all menial jobs for Dalits and demanded five acres of arable land for every landless Dalit family. By linking the question of social dignity and equality for Dalits with the question of land rights, Una has signalled a new direction for the Dalit movement in the country. Following the Una rally, there are reports of renewed attacks on Dalits in Gujarat and progressive democratic forces across the country must unite to overcome this desperate assault by casteist forces.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Fifty years ago the revolutionary peasant uprising of Naxalbari had addressed the agrarian question as the central question of Indian democracy and in the process it had triggered a massive awakening of the landless poor. It inspired a new wave of communist movement in Bihar where the question of freedom from social oppression became the central agenda alongside the issue of land and wages. The Dalit movement too took a radical turn at this juncture with the emergence of the Dalit Panthers and radical Dalit literature in Maharashtra and elsewhere. Today Una has once again galvanized the radical stream of the Dalit movement, squarely placing the agenda of social equality and land reforms at the centre of the radical democratic agenda of Dalit emancipation.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The infamous laboratory of Hindutva fascism is now witnessing a great resistance that has galvanized the entire Dalit community in protests and is also drawing in Muslims and Adivasis to pose a formidable challenge to an increasingly isolated BJP regime. It is also encouraging to note that Una has struck a chord across the country among the oppressed and fighting people who have come out on the streets to express their fullest solidarity and resolve to grasp this new juncture in the battle for real freedom and democracy. The Una exhortation of unity of Dalits and Muslims, women and workers will defeat the RSS-dictated 'social subjugation' camouflaged as 'social unity'.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Anti-Imperialism Day Observed Across the Country on 9 August 2016</span></font></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.15pt">On the anniversary of the August revolution, CPI (ML), AICCTU, All India Kissan Mahasabha and other fronts observed anti-imperialism day throughout the country. In Jharkhand, this day was also celebrated as the world 'Adivasi Day'. Marches were taken out across states in several districts. The purpose of the marches was to expose the anti-people, anti-national, divisive, destructive, pro-corporate, communal and fascist policies of the Modi led central government aimed at forcing India into the stranglehold of imperialism and selling India's natural resources and sovereignty into the hands of the multinational companies.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.15pt">In Patna, AICCTU leaders and activists offered tributes at the Shaheed memorial outside the Bihar assembly and a protest meeting was organised in which slogans were raised against American imperialism and the pro-imperialist policies of the Modi government. Other trade union leaders and activists also joined the protest meeting and pledged to ensure the success of the 2nd September All India General Strike.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.15pt">CPI(ML) and AICCTU organized 'Adhikar March' in Ranchi and Bokaro in Jharkhand on the Adivasi Diwas (International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples) which is observed on 9 August. As the politics of both Jharkhand as well as the country remains captured by the corporate houses, the questions of the workers and the masses are at the margins. The assaults on the rights of the Dalits, tribals, minorities and the workers continue unabated. Addressing the march at Albert Ekka Chowk in Ranchi, CPI (ML) central committee member Com. Shubhendu Sen stressed on the need for another August revolution against the Company Raj. Com. Bhuvaneshwar said that celebration of 'Adivasi Diwas' by the government which had failed to put an end to the loot of water, forests, land, minerals and other natural resources was a farce. In Bokaro, an adhikaar march was jointly organized by trade unions. Besides submitting a charter of demands to the steel plant manager, a call was given to ensure the success of 2nd September All India General Strike. In Koderma, a dharna was organized under the leadership of All India Kisaan Mahasabha to protest against the designs of the state government to snatch the land from the poor in the name of wrong settlement. A march was also taken out under the leadership of All India Kisan Mahasabha in Ramgarh, in which several hundred people participated, raising the slogans "Corporate-Company Raj Down Down", "Waive the loan taken by farmers immediately",etc. The speakers addressing the march said that far from supporting and encouraging farmers, the government was determined to discourage them. Modi's favourite Gautam Adani was procuring several million quintal grains from the farmers at the rate of Rs.30/- per kilo and hoarding the same and the Modi government was selling the same grains at Rs. 100/- per kilo. Several farmers were being forced to commit suicide. In Garhwa district, after years of struggle, tribals of Tiwari Marhatiya village were able to procure their legal rights on the Raiyatti land. Since 3 August 2016, they had sat on an indefinite hunger strike outside the DC office. CPI (ML) activists from Garhwa district committee also joined the hunger strike in support of the tribals. They also demanded that immediate compensation be paid to those whose crops were destroyed and the officers guilty of ensuring the destruction of crops be punished. A mahadharna in support of these demands had earlier been organized on 6 August. After the successful completion of the strike, 'a vijay juloos' of the local tribals was also carried out under the leadership of CPI (ML). In Bagodar, a 'chetaavni' (warning) march was taken out by those who have been displaced due to the policies of the state government. They also protested against the inadequate compensation.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.15pt">CPI (ML) activists also organized protests outside DM offices in several places in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, and other states against the oppression and persecution of Dalits and minorities by the associates of RSS in the name of 'cow protection'. In Gorakhpur, several people and Dalit leaders and activists also joined these protests. The speakers warned the local administration that if the provisions of accommodation, ration and work in MNREGA were not ensured for the Dalits, poor and the workers, a gherao of the district office would be done. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.15pt">9th August also marked the end of the second phase of CPI (ML)'s countrywide campaign- 'Utho Mere Desh, Naye Bharat ke vaaste, Bhagat Singh-Ambedkar ke raaste' (Rise my nation- for a new India, in the path of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar). A huge dharna was organized to in Kanpur as a part of this campaign. The speakers talked about the increasing attacks on Dalits and minorities and the anti-people policies of the government. In Lucknow, a dharna was called near the Ambedkar statue in Hazratganj. The meeting was presided by Com. Kaushal Kishore, state president of Jan Sanskriti Manch (JSM). Addressing the meeting he said today once again slavery was being enforced on us by the Modi government. This slavery, besides being economic, is also social and cultural. However, we are also witnessing an unprecedented resistance. The Dalit upsurge in Gujarat, the resistance from Kashmir to Hyderabad, the coming together of youth and students across states shows that struggle for a new India against the sanghi nationalism is gaining strength. The participants raised slogans against cow protection vigilante groups, demanding a ban on them. Marches were also taken out in Gazipur, Varanasi, Chandauli, Lakhimpur, Badohi, Sitapur, Mirzapur, Faizabad, Allahabad, Baliya, Mau, Muradabad and other places.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.15pt">A pratirodh march was organized in Lalkuan in Nainital, Uttarakhand, against false cases filed against protestors in the struggle against making Bindukhatta a municipality. Several hundreds of people including a large number of women joined this march called by Uttarakhand unit of All India Kisan Mahasabha. CPI (ML) state secretary Com. Rajendra Pratholi urged people to rout out the anti-farmer Rawat government.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Safai Karmchari Sankalp Karvaan in Solidarity with Una upsurge</span></font></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">In solidarity with the massive Una upsurge and standing shoulder to shoulder with fighting sanitation workers in Delhi and in support of 2nd September All India Strike, the Safai Shramik Vikas Morcha (SSVM), affiliated to AICCTU and CPI (ML) Delhi State Committee organised a "Safai Karmchari Sankalp Karvaan", from 10th August to 15th August, 2016. As a part of the campaign, meetings and events were organised with workers in Wazirpur, Kalyanpuri, Jahangirpuri, Narela, Dakshinpuri (Ambedkar Nagar) and Kusumpur Pahari (Vasant Kunj). The main slogan of the campaign was 'Eradicate Dehumanising Occupations and Caste Oppression.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">On 15th August, as Azaadi Kooch reached Una, the Safai Karamchaari Sankalp Karvaan also convened its final pledge taking observance at Kusumpur Pahari in South-West Delhi to vouch against dehumanizing occupations and caste based atrocities. Over the course of the last few days, similar gatherings have been mobilized in East Delhi, Narela and Ambedkar Nagar where several sanitation workers joined the campaign to fight against dehumanizing occupations and caste based atrocities.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">In its concluding gathering at Kusumpur, many residents, most of whom are employed as contractual sanitation workers, came together to take the pledge - pledge to never enter another septic tank or sewer, to stop cleaning animal carcass. Comrade Anju, Vice President of AICCTU, JNU Unit in her address raised many important questions such as why only a particular people are forced to do work that should be done by machine and not by hand. Why, those who claim dire love for the cow shy away from tending to dead carcasses? She recalled the JNU contractual workers movement and how their union fought tooth and nail against the JNU administration to reject being forced to clean up dead carcasses. DUTA President Nandita Narain, also addressed the meeting extending her full support. The meeting ended with the strong resolve to make the upcoming all India general strike, scheduled for 2nd September, a thumping success.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">An Inspiring Victory for the Protracted Struggle of Dalits in an UP Village</span></font></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Comrade Manju has been elected village Pradhan of Ramgarh under Dadri subdivision of district Gautam Budh Nagar in UP. Comrade Shyamveer has been elected for the post of BDC member. This victory brought tears of joy in the eyes of dozens of families who had fought a very difficult struggle for their dignity, equality and for land in this village. The smile they saw on Tinku's face doubled the joy of rest of dalit villagers.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">It is the same Ramgarh where a young B.Ed. student Tinku Ram was forcibly put on railway tracks four years back on 15 July, 2012. He lost both his legs under the wheels of the running train. The reason was that some dalit youth of this village dared to assert for the possession over the lands allocated to dalits but were under the unauthorised possession of the dominant Gujjar landlords who are backed by the Samajwadi Party. Ever since Brahm Jatav, husband of Manju, submitted an application in January of 2012 to the SDM of Dadri demanding distribution of village land allocated to the dalit community, all the families are in a continuous state of battle for life and survival in the face of attacks by the goons led by former village Pradhan Kuldeep Bhati. Members of Dalits families (man and women both) were brutally attacked with swords and axes in broad day light in March 2012 when nearly 30 people were seriously injured. They have been facing, and valiantly resisting regular attacks and false criminal charges forged with the help of the administration by the attackers. Many families have lost their all money in the court cases and to the police, many of them have come under severe debt, the lands belonged to them remained occupied by the goons of the dominant castes. Their complaints never got attention from administration as well by the police and their cases are still pending in the court.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Tinku Ram lost his legs but he and his people continued their struggle. It is because of their struggle and indomitable spirit that won the hearts of many, leading to the victory of comrades Manju and Shyamveer on 31 May, 2016 in the Panchayat Elections. This is certainly a big and inspiring victory for the protracted struggle of dalits of Ramgarh. Tears of joy and happiness on their faces were an inspiration for those who witnessed this long journey. The gram panchayat results were declared between 1-3 AM in the morning amidst loud revolutionary slogans outside the counting center (Mihir Bhoj Inter College, Dadri). A victory rally was held in the village and their joyous slogans of ' Baba Saheb Ambedkar Zindabad, Bhagat Singh Zindabad, CPI(ML) Zindabad, Inquilab Zindabad' resonated throughout the morning.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Joint Trade Unions Demonstration in Puducherry</span></font></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">On 9th August 2016, commemorating the launch of the Quit India Movement, a joint demonstration led by by AICCTU, AITUC, CITU, INTUC, LPF, LLF (an affiliate of Vidulai Siruthaikal Katchi), MLF (an affiliate of MDMK) and PMPTS (an affiliate of PMK) was organised and held at Puducherry. The demonstration focused on highlighting the twelve points charter of Indian working class to the proposed second September all India general strike. The demonstration was held in front of the famous Swadeshi Mill Cottons which has been there for more than hundred years now. Com. Balasubramanian, state president of AICCTU recalled that the twenty-five years old liberalization policy followed by Indian ruling class had been crushing the hard won rights of working class. He appealed to hit back hard with a firm resolve. State leaders of CITU, AITUC, INTUC, LPF, MLF, LLF and PMPTS also addressed the demonstrators. A joint call was given to observe total hartal on 2nd September and to make the 2nd September All India General strike a success in the UT of Puducherry. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protest in Odisha against Construction of Barrages on Mahanadi River</span></font></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">A protest was organised by CPI (ML) on ''Save Mahanadi and Save Odisha''. The BJP led state government in Chhattisgarh has proposed to make barrages on the Mahanadi River in order to ensure storage of water for the use of corporate. Registering a strong protest against this decision, the protestors raised three main demands: (i) maintain status quo on the construction of barrage on Mahanadi by the Chhattisgarh Government (ii) publish white paper on Mahanadi River; and (iii) build pressure on the central government to formulate a River Board as per the River Boards Act 1956.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">Around 300 activists joined the rally which was led by Com Yudhishthir Mahapatra, CC member of CPI (ML), Com. Mahendra Parida, state committee member, Com Radhakant Sethy, Com Ashok Pradhan and Com. Mandakini Sethi of AIPWA. The speakers while addressing the protest meeting besides criticising the decision of the Chhattisgarh government, also criticised the addressed the Naveen Patnaik government for its on callousness on the Mahanadi issue.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Demonstration In Darbhanga Against Police Brutalities</span></font></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB">On 30 July, a demonstration was organised under the banner of CPI (ML) to protest against the police atrocities in Usmamath, in Pator Village in the Bahadurpur block of Darbhanga district. The demonstration was led by block secretary Com. Abhishek Kumar and other leaders. The protestors raised the slogans against the Pator station charge, condemning the police brutalities and interference in land issues. Hundreds of protestors gathered at Usmamath Chowk and marched till the police station raising loud slogans. They entered the police station and met the Sadar inspector, CO Bahadaurpur and others and raised their concerns with them.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Rallies in Punjab by Joint Front on 'Save Farming and Water'</span></font></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.15pt">On 29 July, huge rallies and demonstrations were organized in 20 districts in Punjab and memorandums were submitted to the Punjab CM through district magistrates. The districts included Mansa, Bathinda, Sangrur, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Patiala, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, NavanShahar, Taran Taaran, Amritsar, Pathankot, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Ropar and others. The rallies saw massive participation from the farmers. All India Kisan Sabha, Jamuhri Kisan Sabha, Punjab Kisan Union, Pagdi Sambhal Jatta and several other struggling forces joined the rallies. The first demand of the farmers was that all the demands that have already been accepted by the government be immediately implemented. The agricultural leaders said that both the central and the state government were trying to discourage agriculture and as a result the farmers were being forced to incur huge debts and resort to suicides. First and foremost, the loans of farmers with only about 10 acres of land must be waived irrespective of whether the loans were taken from government or private organizations or individual money lenders. The families of the farmers who had committed suicide should be paid five lakh compensation, the loan be waived and a government job must ensured for a member of the family. They also demanded that the practice of obtaining signatures on blank stamped pronote papers or white papers must be immediately brought to an end. Pro-farmer policies must be formulated for incentivizing farming, making farming debt-free and ensuring food security in the country. The protestors also demanded that land ceiling limit be reduced from 17.5 acres to 10 acres and the additional land be redistributed among the landless farmers. The government must also guarantee procurement of crop yields and the procurement rate must be fixed at least 1.5 times the cost incurred. They also demanded to curb the corruption and monopoly by mill owners who are exploiting the farmers.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.15pt">The farmers also raised the issue of depleting ground water for agriculture. They demanded that large scale government mechanisms for recharging water bodies must be put in place. Steps must also be taken for creating more canals and ensuring that they reach all agricultural lands. The infiltration of national and foreign corporate in procuring and selling seeds must be brought to an end. The other demands included- A monthly pension of Rs. 5000/- must be paid to elders above the age of 60, stable jobs and free education must be guaranteed for the youth, 24 hours electricity, free electricity connection for farmers having 5 acres of less land, compensation in case of natural calamities and provisions for safeguarding agriculture from stray and wild animals. Cases filed against farmers during movements must also be withdrawn.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Midday Meal Workers' Protest</span></font></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.15pt">On 2 August, a huge dharna was staged outside the Bihar Assembly under the banner of Bihar State School Rasoiya Sangh against the plan to hand over midday meal scheme to the NGOs. The dharna was led by state president of the Rasoiya Sangh, Com. Saroj Chaubey and the meeting was moderated by secretary of the Rasoiya Sangh, Com. Sohila Gupta. Addressing the dharna, National general secretary of AIPWA, Com. Meena Tiwari said that the condition of midday meal workers working in Bihar government schools was extremely pitiable. They used to receive only one thousand as monthly honorariums and it was after much struggle that the amount was increased by Rs. 250. The announcement of ex gratia grant of 4 lakh in the case of death of a midday meal worker was not being implemented anywhere. On the contrary two months honorarium is cut in the year and on several occasions, owing to various reasons, honorarium is not paid for several months. There is no provision of accident insurance, health insurance or pension for these workers. Additionally, the workers are often subjected to humiliation at work place. Com. Shashi Yadav said that even as the workers are forced to struggle to demand their basic rights, the government has planned to hand over midday meal schemes to NGOs in around 28 districts. Given that workers' rights are denied by the state, one can imagine their plight under private NGOs. The governments at the centre and state make tall claims about women empowerment but have not bothered once to talk to agitating women workers. The dharna was also addressed by CPI (ML) MLAs Com. Mehboob Alam and Com. Sudama Prasad. The protestors demanded that the government to revoke the move, else, the future of the workers would continue to remain in dark and the students too will not be assured of a healthy and fresh meal. They also warned that they will intensify the struggle.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)"><font size="4">Obituary</font></span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Red Salute to Com. Mitranand Singh</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Com. Mitranand Singh, district secretary of CPI (ML)'s Nalanda district unit passed away in the morning of 14 August. He was in the ICU for past several days after suffering a brain haemorrhage. His body was brought to the CPI (ML) state office and party cadres paid tributes to him. Bihar state secretary Com. Kunal expressed deep condolence at his unfortunate demise and said that his passing away was a loss for the party that could not be filled. The party stands with his family in this hour of grief. In the 80's while working in the private sector in BiharSharif, Com. Mitranand came into the contact of senior CPI (ML) leader Pawan Sharma. He soon became a part member and in 1986 he started working as a whole timer of the party. He was assigned the responsibility of Bihar Sharif and he then became of the Nalanda district secretary of the AIPF. He was the CPI (ML) candidate from Nalanda in the Lok Sabha elections in 1991 and he received huge support from the poor and Dalits. Besides Bihar Sharif he also played a crucial role in the expansion of the party in Jagdishpur in Bhojpur. His presence will always be missed.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Red Salute to Com. Bhura Singh</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Com. Bhura Singh, Mansa block President of All India Kisan Mahasabha, who had been sitting an indefinite dharna led by AIKM president Com. Ruldu Singh for the loan waiver of famers and peasants, passed away on 14 August, 134th day of the dharna owing to heart attack. The comrades sitting with him rushed him to the hospital but doctors declared him dead. AIKM comrades forced the government to realise the gravity of the situation and the government decided to give 5 lakhs to his family, assure job to a family member and promise withdrawal of his loans. Instead of cremation, his whole body was donated to Patiala Hospital. Com. Bhura Singh, besides being the Mansa Block president of the All India Kisan Mahsabha, was also a member of tehsil Committee member of CPI (ML). Revolutionary tribute to Com. Bhura Singh, the great martyr of the ongoing "karja-mafi movement"!</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:rgb(192,0,0)">Red Salute to Com. Manjulaben Patanwadia</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Comrade Manjulaben Patanwadia passed away in the night of 16 August 2016 in Ahmedabad after multiple organ failure. She was 57. She had undergone surgery in her both knees recently which somehow resulted in further complications resulting in her sad demise. Revolutionary tribute to Comrade Manjulaben!</span><span class=""><font color="#888888"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:20.8px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"></span></b></font></span></p><div class="" style="margin:2px 0px 0px;font-size:12.8px"><div id=":11q" class="" tabindex="0"><img class="" src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif"></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-13450281299050832932016-08-09T14:42:00.001+05:302016-08-09T14:42:37.676+05:30ML Update | No. 33 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><br clear="all"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin-top:2.85pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin-top:19.85pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">Vol. 19 | No. 33 | 9 – 15 August 2016</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"> </span></b></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Why Does the Prime Minister Stop Short of Banning Cow-Vigilante Goons? <br> </span></b></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">A month after Dalit youth were stripped and flogged in Gujarat by 'cow-protection' vigilantes, the Prime Minister finally spoke. At a town-hall in Delhi he distinguished between genuine 'Cow Servants' and fake 'Cow Protectors', saiying that 70-80% of Cow Protectors are anti-social elements and such elements make him angry. He asked state governments to prepare "dossiers" on "cow protectors". At a meeting in Hyderabad, he proclaimed "If you must shoot someone, shoot me, don't shoot Dalits." </span></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">These words have been dragged from Modi by the remarkable and contagious upsurge of Dalit anger that is spreading from Gujarat all over the country. The Dalit protests in Gujarat told the Sangh cow protection outfits and BJP Government – 'If the cow is your mother, you take care of her carcasse'. A rattled BJP replaced the Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel but even that move failed to curb the protests. A massive rally of Amit Shah at Agra in UP that had planned to mobilize 40000 Dalits had to be cancelled. Elections in UP and Punjab are upcoming, and the BJP is desperate to control the damage to its Dalit-consolidation strategy caused by the Gujarat protests. </span></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The BJP had planned to repeat its 2014 election strategy of appealing to Dalits to vote as part of a Hindu votebank: essentially a political extension of the RSS' ghar wapsi (return home) campaign that asks converted Dalits to return to the Hindu fold. The attack of the cow-goons and the powerful form the Dalit protests adopted have exposed the fault line between the Dalits and Brahminical, communal Hindutva once again – just as the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula at the instigation of Modi's Ministers did some months ago. </span></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The BJP is especially worried at the growing unity and solidarities displayed between oppressed Muslim minorities and Dalits in Gujarat and elsewhere. Modi's speech is a crude attempt to tell the Dalits that while the 'cow-goons' will still have a free hand to attack Muslims, their attacks on Dalits will be belatedly condemned. </span></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The question is – why did Modi not ask State Governments to act against cow-goons after Akhlaque was lynched to death at Dadri? Had he spoken and acted then, the lynch-mob killings of Muslims at Udhampur and Latehar and the flogging of Dalits at Una might have been averted. Why is Modi silent even now on his Ministers like Sanjeev Balyan and Mahesh Sharma and BJP MLA Sangeet Som who approved of the Dadri lynching, as well as BJP Chief Ministers of Haryana and Jharkhand who have condoned killings by the cow-goons? BJP MLA Raja Singh applauded the "punishment" meted out to Dalits at Una and called Dalits "filthy" for slaughtering cows and consuming beef – will Modi tell us if Raja Singh is a genuine Gau Sevak or a fake Gau Rakshak? The late VHP leader Ashok Singhal had in 2002 justified the lynching of Dalits by cow-goons in Jhajjar, saying 'the shastras hold the life of a cow to be priceless'. Will Modi tell us if Singhal was a genuine or a fake cow-protector? </span></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">In fact, Modi's remarks expose the fact that even after the atrocities at Dadri, Udhampur, Latehar and Una, he is unable to unequivocally condemn the politics of cow-vigilantism and ban such groups. He is unable to say that the very agenda of attacking human beings to 'protect' cows is wrong: he is only able to say that anti-social and criminal elements are posing as 'cow-protectors'. He asks for a dossier on a section of them while continuing to approve of the 'genuine' ones. </span></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Modi himself forgets that his own speeches in the 2014 Parliamentary campaign in Bihar implied that his opponents were betraying Yadav cow-worshippers by allowing 'cow slaughter' and 'Pink Revolution' in order to appease Muslims. In those speeches, Modi made no mention of the dangers plastic poses to cows – because plastic, unlike 'cow-slaughter', has little communally divisive potential. </span></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Modi's 'Shoot Me' rhetoric is typically arrogant, self-centred and dishonest. Why could Modi not simply say, 'Don't kill human beings in the name of the cow?' Why, after Gujarat 2002 or after the Dadri and Latehar lynchings, could Modi not say 'Lynch me, hang me, but don't kill Muslims?' Why is Modi silent on the Cobrapost revelations that expose the BJP and RSS as the force behind the Ranveer Sena that massacred Dalits in Bihar? Why could Modi take no action on his Ministers who called Rohith Vemula anti-national and hounded him to his death? </span></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Modi's belated and dishonest words on Rohith Vemula did not stop the movement inspired by Vemula. His belated and dishonest words on cow-goondaism will not contain the wave of protests that are sweeping Gujarat and the rest of the country – protests that are throwing off the yoke of age-old Brahminism and offering a spirited resistance to the casteist and communal politics of the RSS and BJP. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Release of AIPF Fact Finding Report on Bastar in Delhi </span></b></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">A convention was held on 2 August in Gandhi Peace Foundation, Delhi where the All India People's Forum (AIPF) fact finding report on Bastar, titled- 'Bastar: Where the constitution stands suspended' was released. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The convention was moderated by activist Leena Dabiru, and cultural activists of Sangwari began the convention with a song. Com. Kavita Krishnan, one of the members of the team started by condemning a tweet by Kiran Bedi who had referred to certain tribal communities as criminal and added how the views held by an ex IG of prisons seemed to be shared by the entire State that was determined to criminalise and repress tribes. Human rights activist N.D. Pancholi from PUCL elaborated on how the use of police since colonial times had been to enforce the whim of the rulers. He also critically examined the role of courts in failing to defend the Constitution citing an incident where the courts responded to a PIL filed by an activist, not by examining the plea but by questioning the locus standi of appellant himself.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Noted Human Rights activist John Dayal said that Chhattisgarh had become a laboratory of the sangh and white paper was needed to examine who are at the target of this state sponsored violence. He elaborated on the RSS –police nexus adding that this collusion between the 'khaki half pants and khaki full pants' was only strengthening. Journalist and writer Anand Swaroop Verma highlighted the attack on journalists who were trying to report from Bastar and shared how several journalists had been confined in custody for years by terming them as Maoists or Maoist sympathisers. Activist Himanshu Kumar, who has spent nearly two decades in the region, shared heart wrenching details of violence that the Indian state was inflicting on its own people. He also called the audience to join in the Padyatra beginning from 9 August in Bastar. The convention ended with observing one minute silence as a mark of respect to Mahasweta Devi who had been the voice of oppressed, especially tribals, in several of her writings.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">AICCTU Programmes Onward to 2<sup>nd</sup> September All India Strike</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">AICCTU Convention in Uttarakhand</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">AICCTU organized a convention at Haldwani on 31 July 2016 to protest against the anti-worker policies of the Central and State governments in which all the unions affiliated to AICCTU participated. The convention also formulated strategies in connection with the coming All India General Strike on 2 September. The Convention was addressed by AICCTU National Vice President Com. Raja Bahuguna, AICCTU State General Secretary Com. KK Bora, Uttarakhand Anganwadi Workers' Union State President Com. Deepa Pandey and Uttarakhand ASHA Health Workers' Union State President Com. Kamla Kunjwal.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:4.5pt;text-align:justify;line-height:14.5pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">AIGKU meeting in JNU</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:4.5pt;text-align:justify;line-height:14.5pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">All India Central Council of Trade Unions affiliated unit of JNU contract workers (AIGKU, JNU UNIT) held its meeting today on 4 August announcing their full support to the All India Strike of 2nd September, 2016. Comrade Urmila (President, AIGKU, JNU UNIT) and Comrade <a href="https://www.facebook.com/agnitra.ghosh.9"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">Agnitra Ghosh</span></a> from AICCTU, Delhi addressed the meeting and called for taking the campaign for strike to all nearby colonies. Comrades from Sangwari performed the famous play 'Machine' which was appreciated by all present in the meeting and promised to keep up their support and participation throughout the campaign.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0cm;text-align:justify;line-height:12.05pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Workers Convention to be held in Noida ahead of 2<sup>nd</sup> September Strike</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0cm;text-align:justify;line-height:12.05pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Noida workers will also hold a Workers Convention on 14th of August in sector 10 in solidarity with the September strike. Film screening and street plays will be organized. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Convention in Puducherry</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">All Trade Unions Convention was held at Puducherry on 6<sup>th</sup> August 2016 in AITUC Conference Hall. AICCTU, AITUC, CITU, INTUC, LPF, Marumalarchi Labour Front (MLF) an affiliate of MDMK Party, Liberation labour Front (LLF) an affiliate of Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi and other local trade unions were part of the convention. It was jointly led by the Presidents of these Central Trade Unions.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Com. Balasundaram, National Vice President (AIARLA) spoke on behalf of AICCTU. He remembered the martyrdom of Agricultural workers- Com. Nagooran and Com Anjaan as they were killed by Tamil Nadu Police during the first strike against liberalization in eighties. Resolutions on the following were passed unanimously in the convention: (i) Call to the workers, rural poor, agricultural labour, farmers, students and youth of Puducherry to ensure a total bandh in Puducherry on the 2<sup>nd</sup> September All India General Strikes; (ii) Decision to hold a big demonstration on 9<sup>th</sup> August 2016 (Quit India Day) against Modi-raj; and (iii) decision to hold street meetings to highlight the twelve point charter of workers of 2<sup>nd</sup> September general strike. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">State Level Panchayat Representatives Conference in Patna</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The CPI (ML) Bihar State unit organized a Panchayat Representatives Conference to welcome the newly elected panchayat representatives and discuss their work and the direction it should take. Party State and district committee members and activists also attended the conference. Party General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya was the main speaker at the conference. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Addressing the convention, CPI (ML) Politburo member Com. Dhirendra Jha said that panchayats are supposed to be a tool for decentralization, but they have instead become agents for implementing the decisions of the State governments. They have no rights to make policy decisions, and even where they do make decisions, there is no participation or monitoring by the people. Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya said that the Party has started a new tradition in people's representatives—Com. Ram Naresh Ram, Com. Mahendra Singh, and Com. Shah Chand are representatives of this tradition. As people's representatives, they must raise their voice on all people's problems and issues.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Mangal,serif"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Bihar State Secretary Com. Kunal said that it is the responsibility of the Party not only to monitor the work of the Mukhiya and other panchayat representatives, but also to play a leading role in resisting the dominance of feudal and dominant forces bureaucrats and officials at the panchayat level. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Speaking at the conference, the victorious panchayat representatives from the party (Pappu Kumar, Jaiprakash Paswan, Susheela Devi, Sohila Gupta, Madan Singh and others) said that they would form "Monitoring Committees" to ensure people's participation in decision making and implementation. They would not limit themselves to conventional issues but would take up issues like gairmajrua land, sharecroppers' identity cards etc. They would also take up health and education issues in the village and work to end corruption and loot in all welfare schemes.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The conference was also addressed by MLA Com. Sudama Prasad, Kisan Mahasabha General Secretary Com. Rajaram Singh and AIPWA General Secretary Com. Meena Tiwari. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">CPI (ML) State Cadre Convention in Lucknow</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The CPI (ML) Uttar Pradesh unit held a State level cadre convention on 29 July in Lucknow attended by about 450 activists from 27 districts. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Addressing the convention, Party General Secretary Com. Dipankar said that people across the country are protesting against the joint fascist attacks of the Modi government and the RSS. An extraordinary uprising of struggle can be seen among students, youth, women, farmers, workers, and dalits. The CPI (ML) will strive to lead this uprising and take it in the correct direction. After Gujarat, the BJP-RSS have made Uttar Pradesh the new laboratory for their communal-fascist project. Enthused by their success in the Lok Sabha elections they want to fight the Assembly election with a communal-fascist agenda, but we shall make the UP Assembly election an election of resistance against this agenda.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Addressing the convention earlier, PB member and UP State Secretary Com. Ramji Rai called on the Party activists to make new members, reach each and every member, and work for the formation of booth-based branches. He said that the coming Assembly election in UP will be no ordinary election; it will mark the beginning of the preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The convention, addressed by other Party leaders and activists, discussed the "Uthho Mere Desh" campaign, the Party's work with agrarian workers and farmers, and preparations for the 2017 UP Assembly elections.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">CPI (ML) Dharna in Front of Bihar Vidhan Sabha</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">After an effective Bihar Bandh called by CPI (ML) on 12 July against the Toppers' Scam, the party continues to build the pressure for setting up of a judicial enquiry into the political patronage of the toppers' scam. On 1 August, CPI (ML) staged a one-day dharna in front of the Bihar Assembly. Besides judicial enquiry into toppers' scam, the dharna also raised the following demands: </span></p> <p class="" style="margin-left:54pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">i.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">An end to the increasing violence against dalits and women in the country and in Bihar;</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"></span></b></p> <p class="" style="margin-left:54pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">ii.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Revocation of the the cash-for-food grains scheme;</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"></span></b></p> <p class="" style="margin-left:54pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">iii.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Revocation of handing over of the midday meal scheme to NGOs;</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"></span></b></p> <p class="" style="margin-left:54pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">iv.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Starting the Kadvan reservoir project should be started; </span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"></span></b></p> <p class="" style="margin-left:54pt;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">v.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Closing down of all liquor factories in Bihar </span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The dharna was addressed by </span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Mangal,serif">leaders from </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">AIARLA, Kisan Mahasabha, AIPWA, State party committee and CPI (ML) legislators. </span></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 4.5pt;text-align:justify;line-height:14.5pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">CPI (ML) activists meets family of Kashmiri youth </span></b></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 4.5pt;text-align:justify;line-height:14.5pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">charged with sedition for sharing Facebook post<br> </span></b></p> <p style="text-align:justify;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Representatives from the CPI (ML), CPI, Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, AICCTU, AITUC, All India Progressive Women's Association, and All India Youth Federation met the Superintendent of Police, Durg, Chhattisgarh with regard to the arrest on sedition charges of a Kashmiri youth Tauseef Ahmad for liking, sharing, and forwarding Facebook posts on Kashmir. Tauseef had studied in Rungta College of Engineering, Bhilai and then gone on to do his MBA in Srinagar, after which he returned to Bhilai and had been working in the marketing section of Vivo (an electronics and mobile company) for the last few months. Recently he had liked and shared some posts and cartoons critical of India's Kashmir policy on Facebook. On a complaint by Ratan Yadav, Bhilai coordinator of Bajrang Dal, the Chhattisgarh police registered a complaint against him on charges of sedition.<span class=""> </span>On coming to know about the complaint Tauseef boarded a train to return to Kashmir but was apprehended and arrested at Sagar station, Madhya Pradesh. He was then remanded to 15 days judicial custody and is currently lodged in Durg Central Jail.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><br> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Com. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/brijendra.tiwari.144" target="_blank">Brijendra Tiwari</a><span class=""> </span>of CPI (ML) and Com.<span class=""> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/lakshmi.krishnan.5836" target="_blank">Lakshmi Krishnan</a><span class=""> of AIPWA </span>visited the father and cousin of Tauseef who have come down to Durg after the arrest of their son. His father, who was in a state of dazed bewilderment informed them that Tauseef had of late been in an emotional state and disturbed by the violence in Kashmir, due to which he had shared the post. He said that he had met his son in the jail and found him in a very depressed mood. The family of Tauseef is not well-off and their financial condition is not such that they can afford expensive legal aid. Like Tauseef, a large number of Kashmiri youngsters come to Chhattisgarh to study and work, and many of them told the activists that they had always felt safe in the State but this incident will deter Kashmiri youth from coming to Chhattisgarh.<span class=""> </span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;text-align:justify;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><br> On 8 August a delegation with representatives from various Left organizations met the Additional. Superintendent of Police, Durg, Vivek Shukla and conveyed to him that liking or sharing a post or a cartoon on social media does not constitute any legal ground for sedition charges. Citing the Mumbai High Court's verdict in the Aseem Trivedi case, they pointed out that the court had dismissed the grounds for Aseem Trivedi's arrest on sedition charges for a cartoon he himself had made as "arbitrary and frivolous" and said that the grounds against Tauseef are even more arbitrary and frivolous, since he shared a cartoon made by someone else. Cartoons are not seditious since they do not incite violence, they merely express satire. They demanded the sedition charges on Tauseef should be revoked and he should be released from jail without delay. They also expressed serious concern for his safety from violence inside jail and demanded that his safety be ensured. The delegation submitted a memorandum to the SP, Durg through the Addl. Superintendent with the above demands.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The delegation also went to meet the Superintendent of Durg Central Jail but was told that they could meet him only at 10 AM on 9 August. The delegation has planned to meet him on 9 August and will also attempt to meet Tauseef.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Mangal,serif"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The memorandums were signed by Brijendra Tiwari (CPI (ML)), Ramesh Kumar Das (CPI), AG Qureshi (CMM), VK Soni (AITUC), Ashok Miri (AICCTU), Shamim Qureshi (AIYF), and Lakshmi Krishnan (AIPWA).</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Party Initiatives in Jharkhand </span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Koderma - </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The CPI (ML) Koderma district committee organized a people's protest march from Jhumritilaiyya on 5 July led by district Secretary Com. Mohan Datta and other committee members to protest on the following issues: </span></p> <p class="" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">i.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Grabbing of land from rural poor by the Raghuvar government on pretext of wrong settlement in order to facilitate free loot of Jharkhand's water, forests and land by corporate houses; <b></b></span></p> <p class="" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Against amendments in </span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">Chhotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) and Santhal Paragana Tenancy (SPT)<span class=""> Acts </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">and the anti-people domicile policy; <b></b></span></p> <p class="" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">ii.<span style="font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">loot and irregularities related to food security. <b></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The march culminated in a meeting at Jhanda Chowk. Addressing the meeting, CPI (ML) MLA Com. Rajkumar Yadav said that the BJP government is working in the direction of rapidly handing over Jharkhand's natural and human resources to corporate houses. The very rationale behind the formation and existence of Jharkhand is in jeopardy and we must make the struggle against this sharper and more pervasive. All sections—workers, farmers, adivasis, dalits, minorities and others—must be united in this struggle. On 23 July a protest meeting was held in Kurah village, Kurah Panchayat, Ichak Block, to demand the arrest of the killers of Banwari Mehta. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Giridih - </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">A minor adivasi girl student was gang-raped on 27 July in Bengabad (Giridih district). A protest march against the rape and demanding arrest of the perpetrators was taken out on 29 July in Bagodar after the AIPWA State committee meeting. The march was led by Comrades Meena Tiwari, Geeta Mandal, Sabita Singh, Poonam Mahto, Jayanti Choudhury and others. AISA took out a protest march against the gang rape on 31 July at Rajdhanwar. The march culminated in a meeting where speakers said that the police were in cahoots with the perpetrators of the rape. They strongly condemned the failure of the police to arrest the culprits even 72 hours after the incident and demanded their arrest without delay. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Palamu</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">- Middle, small and poor farmers from many blocks were mobilized and came together under the leadership of CPI ML) Palamu district committee to protest on issues of land for housing, eviction from agricultural land, loot in construction of Dobhas (farm ponds/irrigation points), loot in ration distribution, irregularities in issue of ration cards, food security and other related issues. The issues raised also included renovation of canals and dams for a long term solution to drought and distribution of pending rations.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">A protest march and meeting were held on 14 July at Panki block HQ. The protest demanded the proper construction of 3 canals—Vanarchua, Klonwa and Satura—for irrigation to provide a sustainable solution to drought. On the same day, protests were organized at Mohammadganj and Chainpur Block HQs with all the above demands and also the issue of people settled on <i>gairmajrua</i> land for 20-25 years who have got legal parchas for their land but have not yet been given <i>dakhal-kabja</i> of the land. This issue was added in the memorandum submitted. A protest and meeting was held on 5 July at the Lesliganj Block office (Palamu district). Protests and meetings on the above demands were also held in Sangma and Dhurki Blocks (Garhwa district). These protests generated a lot of enthusiasm in the district. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">AISA's Campaign for 'Right to Accommodation' Delhi University</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">DU unit of AISA has started a campaign to assert students' right to accommodation in which students are being mobilized to pressurise the University administration and the government to ensure accommodation to the students who come to DU from various parts of the country. The campaign- 'A Room of My Own' is also a campaign against the exploitation of students by inflated rents, electricity bills and brokerage. Luggage march at DU North Campus!! Several programmes have been undertaken as a part of this campaign. On 6 August, </span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">h<span style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">undreds of students joined the "Luggage March" as a part this campaign. The students marched from Vijay Nagar to nearby student areas carrying their Luggage, Beddings, utensils as a mark of protest against the skyrocketing rates of PGs and scarcity of hostels in DU. The campaign has received tremendous support from the students. More than 9000 students have already written their experience and expressed support to the demands in a postcard addressed to the DU Vice Chancellor. A right to accommodation march has also been called on 9 August. </span></span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></b></p> <div style="border-style:none none solid;border-bottom-width:1pt;border-bottom-color:windowtext;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;border:none;padding:0cm"><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Top of Form</span></p> </div> <div style="border-style:solid none none;border-top-width:1pt;border-top-color:windowtext;padding:1pt 0cm 0cm"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;border:none;padding:0cm"><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;border:none;padding:0cm"><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Bottom of Form</span></p> </div> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-3360104697367377802016-08-03T16:02:00.001+05:302016-08-03T16:02:56.203+05:30ML Update | No. 32 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:28pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:28pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:28pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:28pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 32 | 2-8 August 2016</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:7.2pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:29pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:16pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0);letter-spacing:-0.2pt">Anandiben Resignation Is Not Enough: The BJP Government in Gujarat Must Go</span></b></p><div style="font-size:12.8px"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" hspace="0" vspace="0"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top" style="padding:0cm"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt"> Countrywide condemnation of the recent incident of RSS-led state-sponsored cow-vigilantism against dalit youths in Una and the dalit upsurge that erupted in its wake as much within Gujarat as across the country has pushed the BJP on the back-foot and Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has had to resign. With the crucial UP elections round the corner, the BJP's desperation is quite palpable. In a similar damage-control exercise, the party has already shunted Smriti Irani out of the education ministry, cries for whose resignation had been rending the air since the institutional murder of young dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in mid-January this year.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">It is significant that even though dalits do not have much numerical strength in Gujarat except in Surendranagar district, it is the assertion of dalit power which has brought the powerful BJP government in Gujarat down to its knees. Since Advani's rathyatra, the Sangh brigade has treated Gujarat as the safest laboratory for its Hindutva fascist project. Within Gujarat, they have got away with the 2002 post-Godhra genocide and the subsequent string of fake encounters and all kinds of state-sponsored social atrocities even as the Modi government has been discredited and indicted on an international scale. Modi's May 2014 victory has been propagated as a validation of the 'Gujarat model' whether in terms of the Adani-Ambani paradigm of corporate plunder or the macabre display of Hindutva offensive. In a remarkable turnaround, we now have a powerful resistance challenging the Hindutva project right within its strongest citadel.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">The Gujarat protests have found a powerful resonance across the country, most particularly in neighbouring Maharashtra, where dalits have been protesting the demolition of a building intimately associated with the life and legacy of Ambedkar. The BJP talks of building Ambedkar memorials and museums, while its government in Maharashtra unleashes the bulldozers of state-power to demolish an Ambedkar heritage building. Together the incidents of Mumbai and Una have ignited a powerful dalit resistance. On July 31, dalit organisations and other progressive forces of Gujarat organised a huge rally in Ahmedabad and came out with a charter of struggle that strikes at the root of the Brahminical order and an action call of a people's march from Ahmedbad that would reach Una on the eve of the forthcoming Independence Day.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">Unlike the LJP-BSP model of dalit politics which has reduced the dalit agenda to one of power-sharing with champions of the Brahminical order, utterly neglecting, nay rejecting, the radical socio-economic vision of Ambedkar and his revolutionary call for annihilation of castes, the ongoing dalit resistance has the potential to reignite the radical vision of Ambedkar and resurrect the agenda of emancipation from the social regimentation of the Brahiminical order championed by the RSS and the BJP. In Gujarat, it has also made it clear that the Una incident does not just mark an administrative failure on the part of Anandiben Patel as CM, but it epitomises the crisis of legitimacy of the Gujarat government itself. The movement for justice for the Una victims of the Sangh brigade's politics of social persecution and terror politics has therefore demanded the resignation of the entire government and the holding of fresh elections as early as possible. Anandiben's symbolic resignation is not enough, the whole government must go.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">Before Una, the Muslim community had been at the receiving end of the BJP's aggressive politics in the name of cow-protection. Before Bihar elections we had seen the brutal midnight lynching of Mohammad Ikhlaq in Dadri near Delhi, and after the BJP's politics of cow-vigilantism met with a roaring rebuff by the Bihar electorate, we saw Latehar happen in Jharkhand where two young Muslim men were killed and their bodies left hanging from a tree. Taking advantage of the SP government's ambivalence and inaction, the BJP has also continued to justify and invoke the Dadri lynching as an 'exemplary lesson'. Muslim organisations have therefore wholeheartedly welcomed the post-Una dalit resistance and contrary to the Sanghi conspiracy of co-opting dalits and using them as cogs in the Hindutva wheel and pitting them against Muslims, we now see welcome signs of a developing bond of unity and cooperation linking the two segments of the Indian society who are being simultaneously attacked by the Sangh brigade.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">As we approach the historic month of August that saw India rise and ask the British colonialists to 'Quit India' in 1942 and witnessed the eventual departure of the colonial rulers five years later, Una holds a mirror to the real state of our freedom after nearly seven decades. The shared dreams of a truly free and democratic India with equal rights and opportunities for all that had inspired millions of Indians to give their all in the freedom movement are today being haunted by a renewed spectre of bondage and regimentation. After a quarter century of uninterrupted pursuit of the neoliberal agenda of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation we find every notion of sovereignty and self-reliance being subjected to a FDI-driven 'Make in India' regime where the resources and rights of the Indian people are being trampled underfoot by a predatory 'company raj' with the fullest backing of the Indian state. And with the installation of the Modi government at the Centre, an emboldened RSS now seeks to dictate the terms of our social existence with intrusive policing in every sphere of life, from dress and food to education and culture.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.15pt">Against this backdrop, the spirit and strength of resistance displayed by Gujarat dalits in their historic July 31 Ahmedabad rally reflects the shared urge and resolve of all sections of the people of India who are fighting for democracy and dignity, for real freedom from all kinds of oppression and injustice. Let the resignation of Anandiben Patel mark the beginning of the end of the Modi regime and the entire RSS project of subjecting India to a retrograde and repressive Brahiminical order in the name of Hindutva.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">CPI(ML) Reaffirm Pledge to Strengthen Revolutionary Democratic Movement Across the Country</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">On 28th July, CPI (ML) activists all over the country organized sankalp (pledge) sabhas, dharnas and other programmes on the 45th anniversary of the martyrdom of party's founder Com. Charu Mazumdar. Tributes were paid to Comrade Charu Mazumdar in party offices by comrades. They also renewed their pledge to strengthen revolutionary democratic movement in all spheres against communal-corporate fascism in the 50th year of the Naxalbari.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">CPI (ML) activists organized a one-day dharna in Karnal against the atrocities on Dalits, poor and women, on the occasion. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Pledge meetings were held in Puducherry and Karaikal. The CPI (ML) Ranchi city committee paid held a condolence meeting to pay tribute to writer Mahasweta Devi, the inspiration for the Jangal Mahal movement, who passed away on 28 July, and to Charu Mazumdar, the founder of the Naxalbari movement. The meeting began with 2 minutes' silence to honour their memory. A meeting was also organised at Bagodar in Giridih, Palamu, Garhwa and other places in Jharkhand.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Party activists also gathered Siliguri to reaffirm the party pledge and pay tributes to the heroic revolutionary legacy of Com. Charu Mazumdar.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">In East Godavari, the occasion was observed at many places. There was a meeting at the East Godavari party office. At Prathipadu, RYA activists marched up to the statue of Alluri Seetharamaraju. At Tuni, agricultural workers and Dalits held a rally. A meeting was also held at Rothulapdi Mandal, the Kakinda district capital. RYA also held a march on 29 July at Balaji centre. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">In the Delhi party office, activists renewed their commitment to the ongoing struggles and the spirit of the Naxalbari movement. In JNU, JNU unit party activists along with AICCTU comrades from Delhi held a pledge meeting.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">In Hazaribagh Central Jail too, political activists who have been imprisoned for their participation in people's movements paid tributes to Com. Charu Mazumdar at a meeting.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Demonstration Against Beheading of CPI(ML) Activist at Tirunelveli</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Com. Mariappan, CPI(ML) activist and son of Com. Shankar, Branch secretary of 44th ward in Tirunelveli municipal corporation, was beheaded by communal, casteist lumpen forces on 20 July for defying their dictates. Com. Mariappan aged 24 years, belonged to the most backward washerman community.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">An AIPFfact-finding team visited Tirunelveli on 26.07.2016. The team included AIPF Tamilnadu campaign committee member and Vice President of state PUCL Prof. Murali, Dr. Laxmi Narayanan, state President of Karnataka PUCL and AIPF National Campaign Committee member, Mr. G. Ramesh, National council member of AIPF, Mr.Vidya Sagar , state campaign committee member of AIPF, Prof.Fathima Babu, state Joint Secretary of PUCL, P Kanmani, Treasurer of state PUCL, Mr Prasad, state secretary of AISA, Karnataka, and Com.Balasundaram, Central Committee member of CPI(ML). The team met the family of Mariappan and his comrades, and demanded that the State recognize the matter to be a caste atrocity and take appropriate measures for the safety and dignity of the oppressed castes. It emerged that the wife of Mariappan has also been threatened with the killing of her unborn baby. The team demanded protection for her. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">CPI(ML) called for a massive protest on 29 July 2016 and it was attended by people of that area including his pregnant wife. Com. Sundarrajan, City secretary of CPI(ML) presided the protest demonstration. The demonstration was addressed by state secretary Com. Kumarasamy, Central committee member Com. Shankar, AIPF National council member Com. Ramesh and several other district leaders from other left organizations. CPI(ML) activists from all over Tamil Nadu also took part. After the demonstration, hundreds of people went to the collector's office and submitted a memorandum to the District Collector demanding Rs.25 lakh as compensation to the family, Government job to the wife of deceased Com. Mariappan, protection to the people from casteist lumpen elements backed by Hindu Munnani and a stringent punishment to the perpetrators of the heinous murder, and stern action against the casteist-communal outfits. Demonstrations were also held in several other places across Tamil Nadu to condemn the murder.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Massive Protest against Demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan in Mumbai</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">The assembling together of 35,000 people in pouring rain in front of Mumbai's CST on 19 July was no ordinary occurrence. They were there to protest against the illegal demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan in Dadar on the night of 24 June. Ambedkar Bhavan was not only the venue for many meetings and programmes of progressive organizations; it also housed a bookshop and an archive of books which included some rare handwritten manuscripts of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The illegal demolition enraged the dalits who idolize Dr. Ambedkar and brought them out on the streets in protest. Protests were also held in Maharashtra on 25 July in support of the dalit agitation going on in Una.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">The recent incidents in the country underline the need for all oppressed communities to come together and unite in the fight against oppression. All the organizations which participated in the march on 19 July realized that this is the need of the hour. The Republican Party of India led by Prakash Ambedkar, Lal Nishan Party, several student organizations, and the CPI (ML) also participated in this protest.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protest against Gang Rape of a Minor in Nagpur</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">On 21 July a 12 year old minor girl was abducted and gang raped in Nagpur. On 23 July, AISA, AIPWA, CPI (ML), AIDWA and several other progressive women's organizations protested outside the Imamwada Police station. The protestors demanded that cases be immediately booked against the assaulters and the case be tried in fast track court so that the assaulters can be punished without delay.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">CPI(ML) Team's Report on Dalit Oppression in Muzaffarpur</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">A CPI (ML) enquiry team visited the site of the incident on 21 July where feudal forces from the Bhumihar caste, protected by the BJP, urinated into the mouths of 2 dalit youths. The team reported that 2 dalit youths Rajiv Paswan and Munna Paswan (who are related to each other through marriage) went on a motorbike to witness a yagya in Babutola. When they returned from the yagya, they found their bike missing from the place where they had parked it. While they were searching for their bike, Suman Thakur and Sushil Thakur appeared and asked them what they were looking for. When the youths said they were looking for their bike, Suman Thakur and Sushil Thakur showed them the bike and demanded to see the papers for the vehicle. They then alleged that the bike was stolen and started beating the 2 dalit youths with rods and then locked them up in a room.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">After that, the village head Mukesh alias Mukul Thakur came there and ordered that urination should be done into the mouths of the 2 dalit youths. When the father of the youths came to save them, his neck was tied with a cloth and he was also beaten. After that, the police personnel posted for the security of the yagya came there and advised the dalit youths to run away from there.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">When the youths arrived at the thana, the thana in-charge, under pressure from local BJP MLA, Ashok Singh, refused to register the case; he even tore up the application submitted by the youths. A case was registered later only after strong protest demonstrations.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">The enquiry team stated that the real cause behind the incident was that these people had not voted for candidates from the Bhumihar dominant caste in the Panchayat elections, and this bestial attack was a revenge for that. This is truly an insult to democracy.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">The enquiry team has called for immediate suspension of the thana in-charge and arrest of all the accused. It has also demanded that the Bihar government should take stern measures to stop such bestial occurrences. The team comprised of CPI (ML) district committee members Shatrughan Sahni and Parshuram Pathak, Paroo Party in-charge Jaleshwar Patel, Khet Mazdoor Sangh district Secretary Sitaram Paswan, and Saraiyya Party in-charge Pankaj Kumar.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">PM Modi's Effigy Burnt Across Bihar</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">The CPI (ML) Bihar State unit led protests across Bihar and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Modi in protest on 23 July 2016 against the several atrocities committed on dalits, including the incident in Paroo, Muzaffarpur district. Protest marches and effigy burnings were held in the capital Patna, Muzaffarpur, Ara, Sahar, Siwan, Raghunathpur, Mairwa, Darauli, Guthni, Andar Nautan, Hasanpura, Hussainganj, Daraunda, Siswan, Betiya, Biharsharif, Gaya, Kaimur, Daudnagar in Aurangabad, Saran, Jamui, Vaishali, Saharsa, Purnea, Bhagalpur, Samastipur, Madhubani, Jhanjharpur, Arariya, Beguserai, , Masaurhi, Naubatpur, Gopalganj, Western Champaran, Nalanda, Supaul, Gopalganj, Buxar, Rohtas, Eastern Champaran and Katihar. Protests in Jehanabad, Arwal, Darbhanga and Nawada were held on 20 July in support of the Gujarat bandh. People including activists from the CPI (ML), RYA, AISA, AIPWA and other people's organizations participated in large numbers in the protest marches, raised slogans against dalit atrocities and questioned the Prime Minister's silence and free rein provided to the "gau-rakshak goons". They also pointed out Jitan Ram and Ram Vilas' treachery in supporting the BJP.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">The speakers also pointed out anti-dalit and anti-minority character of Lalu and Nitish. On the one hand they talk about social justice, but on the other the actions of the Paroo thana in-charge show that the administration sides with the dominant castes. What kind of social justice is this where FIRs by dalits are not registered and feudal-criminals roam free?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">People's Protest against Police Raj in Jharkhand</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Since July this year a series of police atrocities has taken place in quick succession in Jharkhand State: brutal beating and death of Rupesh Swansi, a minor, in the Bundu thana police lock-up; beating up and killing of another minor youth on charges of mobile theft in the Hazaribagh police lock-up; brutal beating and forcible driving away of three villagers from a village because they were agitating against forcible land grab by NTPC in Badkagaon (Hazaribagh); beating of a journalist in Bokaro; the bestial beating and torture of a minor girl in Manika thana (Latehar district) after which a judge of the High Court called the police "an organized goonda gang" and others. The Jharkhand government has even refused to comply with a Ranchi High Court order in connection with the cruel and inhumane incident at Manika thana. All these incidents are confirmation of the indication that the State is heading towards Police Raj.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">On 14 July a CPI(ML) team comprising Com. Janardan Prasad, MLA Com. Rajkumar Yadav, Com. Bhuneshwar Kewat and Com. Xavier Kujur visited Bundu, met the bereaved family, and held a mass meeting. As per the findings of the team, Rupesh Swansi of Adarsh Nagar, Bundu (Ranchi district) used to work as a newspaper boy and a cloth shop salesman to earn money for his and his sisters' studies. He was 16 years of age. The police had made a group of informers who, instigated by SDPO Pawan Kumar, used to implicate innocent people for the benefit of both police as well as informers. On 7 July two bodyguards of Pawan Kumar picked up Rupesh at 5 pm from the cloth shop, repeatedly beat him brutally at Pawan Kumar's residence and in two different thanas and charged him with possession of a kata (type of knife) and Rs 12,000. They took him to Bogda forest on the pretext of finding the weapon, where he fell unconscious and died. The police wanted to throw away his body in the forest, but the alertness of his family forced them to take him to RIMS where a post mortem was done which said that he died of several injuries to the body.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">The family members along with thousands of people blocked the Ranchi-Tata Nagar road for 7 hours on 9 July demanding the arrest of Pawan Kumar, the 2 bodyguards and the 2 thana-incharges of Rahe and Dasham Falls. Under pressure from the people's outrage, an FIR under Section 302 was finally registered against the accused.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">The CPI (ML) was at the forefront of the 9 July road block. The Party took out a protest march in Ranchi on 10 July demanding the arrest and trial of the 4 police personnel. MLA Rajkumar Yadav demanded a CBI enquiry headed by a retired HC judge with special representatives from the Vidhan Sabha. A people's protest meeting was also called on 21 July at Bundu against the making of Jharkhand into a Police Raj. The meeting was addressed by Rajkumar Yadav.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Kashmir Solidarity Protest at Siliguri</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">CPI(ML) activists burnt the effigy of Rajnath Singh at Hashmi Chowk, Siliguri on 25 July 2016 against the Indian State's killing of Kashmiri civilians. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Com. Rameshwar Ravidas' Martyrdom Day Observed</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">The 12th martyrdom day of popular CPI (ML) leader Com. Rameshwar Ravidas was observed on 18 June 2016 at his native village Surunga in Dhanbad district. CCW member Com. Shubhendu and hundreds of comrades and villagers garlanded the life-size statue of the martyr and paid tributes to his memory while resolving to carry forward his work and vision. Earlier, a rally was taken out through several neighbouring villages which, raising spirited slogans against the BJP government, mafia, and feudal forces, reached the venue of the event in the Surunga school grounds.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Com. Rameshwar Ravidas was a dedicated member of the Dhanbad district committee who used to lead people's struggles from the days of the IPF. While working as an organized worker in BCCL he became a CPI(ML) activist. He was killed on 18 June 2004, by those forces who felt threatened by his activism. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">OBITUARY</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Tributes to Mahasweta Devi, the unflinching voice of resistance</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Mahasweta Devi, whose pen was committed to the cause of India's most oppressed, passed away at the age of 90. In her sixtyyear long career, Mahasweta Devi penned more than one hundred novels, twenty collections of short stories and authored innumerable articles.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">She sketched the saga of anguish and rebellion, often offering precious insights into the lives of the most oppressed, in her iconic works like Aranyer Adhikar (Right to Forest) , Rudali , Chotti Munda and His Arrow, Bashai Tudu and Breast Stories. Her lifetime commitment was to the adivasis of India – not as subjects of anthropological study, but as heroes and heroines of their lives and struggles. She told the stories of the Rudalis and Stanadayinis of the oppressed castes, who were forced to place their tears and breast-milk at the service of the exploiting castes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Mahasweta Devi remains by far the most faithful and seminal chronicler of the Naxalbari rebellion. Her voice undertook to introduce '1084's Mother' to her Naxalite son, killed in police custody. Her writing sketched the character of Jagdeesh Master – the immortal co-founder of the CPI (ML) movement in Bhojpur. In her chronicling of the "Spring Thunder", unlike most others Bengali literary figures, Devi said it loud and clear – "Naxalbari is not about a few brave lives lost in a futile battle, but a political task which must be fulfilled."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Her powerful writing spoke of the Madkam Hidmes, the Thaangjam Manoramas, the Ishrat Jehans 'encountered' by the state machinery, the police, the armed forces. In her iconic short story Dopdi, the confrontation between 'Senanayak' – the Special Forces officer – and the adivasi Naxalite activist Dopdi Mejhen who is gang raped in an 'encounter' is like an open wound in literature. This confrontation reminds us of Manipur's women who stripped naked in front of the Assam Rifles headquarters crying 'Indian Army Rape Us'. Devi's culling of narratives from the horrific times of state repression of Naxalbari days seems even more prophetic today.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Mahasweta Devi will be remembered as a fearless activist. During the Singur-Nandigram agitation, she had stridently criticized the CPM government's acquisition of fertile agricultural land from farmers to set up industrial plants. Again, during the Mamata Banerjee regime, Devi vehemently protested police atrocities in the state. Just as Senanayak cannot stand face to face with the naked and defiant Dopdi, Modi or Mamata Banerjee and several other politician who hailed the 'great writer' on her death, cannot look her literature in the face – cannot face a literature that speaks such devastating truth to power.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Once in an interview, a journalist asked Mahasweta Devi how she keeps activism away from writing. Devi replied, "My writing is my activism".</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Adieu, Mahasweta Devi! We will fight together to keep your dream alive!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Tributes to Writer-Journalist Neelabh Ashk</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Neelabh Ashk, born on 16 August 1945 in Mumbai and brought up in Allahabad, passed away on 23 July 2016. His contribution to the revolutionary Left cultural stream as a poet, journalist, playwright, critic, publisher, organizer and fighting cultural activist will always be remembered. He played active leadership roles in the Jan Sanskriti Manch for a decade after its inception in 1885. It was Neelabhji who played the chief role in the collection, editing and publication of poet Gorakh Pandey's first anthology- "Loha Garam Ho Gaya Hai" by JASAM, after his death. In 1991 he took great pains to publish the first collections of poems by Left revolutionary poets Viren Dangwal and Balli Singh Cheema.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">In 1988-89 he led the memorable movement for the autonomy of the North-Central Regional Cultural Centre in Allahabad. He had a strong relationship with the Progressive Students' Organization and workers' and human rights movements.</span></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle;border:medium none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:8.5pt;line-height:13.6px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">He translated Brecht's "Exception and Rule" under the title "Niyam ka Randa, Apvaad ka Phanda" and directed it himself for the "Dasta" team. His translations of Pablo Neruda's poems and Lermetyov's novel "Hero of our Times" are gems of translation literature. He also translated "King Lear" and Brecht's "Mother Courage". Seven or eight years ago he was nominated for the Sahitya Akademi award for translation but he refused the award as a protest against the suppressive policies of the government. He also translated Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things into Hindi.</span></p></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-14892138926209450352016-07-27T14:57:00.001+05:302016-07-27T14:57:22.508+05:30ML Update | No. 31 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:19.85pt;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"></span></p><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-position:0% 0%;background-repeat:repeat"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 31 | 26 July – 1 August 2016</span></p><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:7.2pt;text-align:center;line-height:29pt;vertical-align:middle"><font size="4"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Beheading of a CPI(ML) Activist in Tami Nadu: Resist Atrocities by Casteist-Communal Outfits </span></b></font></p><div style="font-size:12.8px"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" hspace="0" vspace="0"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top" style="padding:0cm"><br></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:15.36px;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:black">Even as the whole country protested the stripping and thrashing of Dalit youth in Gujarat by a 'cow protection' gang, the casteist-communal forces perpetrated yet another shocking caste atrocity, this time in Tamil Nadu. A young comrade of the CPI(ML), Mariappan, from the oppressed Vannar (washerman) caste, was beheaded by members of the Hindu Munnani for having challenged casteist norms. </span></div><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:15.36px;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:black">Comrade Mariappan had filed a complaint against Hindu Munnani members in 2013, for having attacked people of the Vannar community in a bid to prevent them from using the public corporation road for a funeral procession. On July 20, when he had gone to attend a Court hearing in the same case, the Hindu Munnani members threatened to behead him. The same day he disappeared, and his decapitated body and severed head were found the next day.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:15.36px;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:black">Local dominant caste leaders had also been incensed by the CPI(ML)'s fielding candidates from the oppressed caste in the ward elections, thereby flouting an unspoken 'ban' on such candidates. All four accused in Mariappan's beheading have now been arrested. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:15.36px;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:black">As has been witnessed elsewhere in the country as well, people from Dalit and oppressed castes are routinely denied the right to vote or contest elections – and their assertion of this right, of what Ambedkar called the principle of 'one man, one vote' and 'one man, one value', is seen as a social and political challenge to dominant caste 'honour' and clout.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:15.36px;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:black">The dominant caste and Hindu Munnai wished to 'warn' the oppressed Vannar community of the consequences of asserting their civil and political rights – hence the barbaric beheading of Comrade Mariappan, a young activist from that community. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:15.36px;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The barbaric decapitation reeks of casteism. The incident is reminiscent of the manner in which CPI(ML)'s Comrade Bant Singh's limbs were chopped off in Punjab because his daughter demanded justice against rapists.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:15.36px;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:black">Even as the Dalits' protests in Gujarat have brought the barbaric casteist-communal 'cow protection' outfits into focus, the killing of Mariappan reminds us that this nexus between casteism and communal Hindutva is country-wide.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:15.36px;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.2pt">In Tamil Nadu, perpetrators of caste and communal atrocities have been enjoying a free reign with Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister. There have been a series of killings of young Dalit men who married non-Dalit women, as well as attacks on Dalit villages as reprisals for such marriages. In March this year, a Dalit youth and his wife were hacked by swords on a public road, leading to the death of the young man. Various caste outfits as well as the PMK political party have publicly justified such killings and instigated hatred against Dalits and oppressed castes. Yet, the ruling AIADMK as well as the main Opposition DMK remain silent on such atrocities. The Sangh Parivar and outfits like the Hindu Munnani have often made common cause with such casteist outfits – a prominent instance being the violent mob censorship of the writer Perumal Murugan, whose right to write was recently upheld by the Madras High Court. The series of barbaric attacks perpetrated by a nexus of Hindutva groups and casteist groups underline, again and again, the essentially Brahminical character of Hindutva. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:15.36px;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:black">It is time to launch a countrywide offensive against violent casteist, communal and patriarchal outfits – including the 'Cow Protection' groups, Hindu Munnani as well as various casteist formations. Such outfits cannot be allowed to get away with their barbaric attacks on democratic values, and the ruling political formations at Centre and State must stop their tacit patronage of such outfits. Annihilate caste, resist atrocities by casteist-communal outfits! <br></span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><br><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:15.36px;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:black"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;color:black"></span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Team Visits Victims of Gujarat Anti-Dalit Atrocity</span></b></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">Modi rule has unleashed repression and atrocities on dalits, adivasis, women and Muslims. The latest such episode has been the incident of brutal stripping and thrashing of dalit youths in Gujarat, and the incidents of Chikmagaluru (Karnataka) where cow-vigilantes beat up Dalits and Tirunelveli (Tamilnadu) with casteist and Hindutva elements beheaded a CPI(ML) comrade.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">The 11 July incident of Mota Samadhiyala village of Una town in Gir Somnath district of Gujarat was a case of atrocity against dalits on the pretext of 'cow protection'. In this village with a population of 3000, there are just 26-27 dalit households, most of them surviving on agricultural labour which generally earns them Rs. 100-150 per day in the seasons when their labour is required by the land holders. There are a few educated youth from among dalit families too. Only one family now continues with the traditional work of skinning of the dead animals. This family used to earn Rs. 150-200 for the skinning of a dead cow. It was members of this family that were the victims of the atrocity.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">The Incident:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black"></span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">7 members of the family of Balubhai Veerabhai Sarvaiya were severely brutalised and publicly beaten up by the members of so-called Gau Rakshak Dal (Cow Protection Gang) on 11 July. These Dalit young men had been called by a farmer to dispose of the remains of two dead cows that had been probably been mauled to death by a lion.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">Nearly 35-40 people who were led by Najabhai Danabhai Beria of a nearby village accused them "Tum jinda gaay ko katate ho, tumhe nahin chhorenge" (you slaughter live cows, we won't spare you), stripped them and beat them up with pipes for 3-4 hours. The entire beating was video-taped by the assailants and uploaded online as a 'warning' – standard practice of the Gau Raksha Dals. The incident was reported to the Una police within five minutes of the beginning of the beating, but the police took no action and let the brutality continue.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">After beating them for nearly four hours the perpetrators of 'Gau Rakshak Dal' who are associated with the RSS and Shiv Sena according to the villagers, forcibly took all the victims towards Una town. As they passed the village boundary there was a police team who shook hands with the perpetrators in a congratulatory way. Mota Samadhiyala village is 17-18 kilometers from Una, but the police team took 3-4 hours to reach Una only to shake hands with the 'Gau Rakshaks'.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">The victims were taken to Una at a place just in front of the police station where they were tied to a Xylo car which dragged them for a fairly long distance along the road. Their beatings continued even in front of the police station. At the police station, the police detained the victims for several hours, and made no attempt to detain the assailants. Eventually when an FIR was lodged, the police named only 6 of the 35-40 perpetrators.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">The visit of Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel angered the dalit villagers of Mota Samadhiyala especially, because the CM and her team sat on chairs specially hired for them, while the dalit villagers sat on the floor at a distance! She had announced for Rs. 4 lakh compensation for each victim; by 24 July 7 persons got a payment of Rs. 1 lakh each instead of the whole amount, as if the government was doing a favour to the dalit victims.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">Balubhai Veerabhai Sarvaiya has a head injury by the iron pipes used in the attack. Vasrambhai, Rameshbhai, Ashokbhai and Vaijalbhai have now been admitted in a hospital in Rajkot which is 200 km from Mota Samadhiyala.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">After the wave of revolt and resistance by the Dalits of Gujarat – who threw cow carcasses in Government offices and said 'Let the Cow Protectors take care of their 'mother'' - only 17 persons out of 35-40 perpetrators have been arrested. A whole police thana witnessed the atrocity – but only three policemen have been suspended. Moreover, out of 17 arrested, charges have been filed against only 6 persons under Sections 307, 395, 324, 323, 504, Gujarat Police Act, 135 IPC and Section 3 (2)(5) of SC/ST Atrocities Act.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">Notable among the protests in Gujarat was the Dhikkar Rally (Condemnation Rally) in Prime Minister Modi's home district which condemned Modi for his silence on anti-Dalit atrocities. All over Gujarat, Muslim people and groups have joined the Dalit protests against cow-vigilantism and casteist atrocities. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">All these protests and rallies demanded an immediate ban on cow vigilantism and organisations like Gau Rakshak Dals. People are also demanding the resignation of the Anandiben government of Gujarat whose rhetoric of 'development' has become synonymous with the repression of dalit, adivasis, women and all oppressed sections.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">A team comprised of CPI(ML) Politburo member Prabhat Kumar, All India Rural and Agricultural Labour Association (AIRLA) national President and ex-Member of Parliament Rameshwar Prasad, AIPF's Tushar Parmar, National Secretary of Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) Amit Patanwadia and Abhishek Parmar of Black Panther visited Mota Samadhiyala village on 24 July and met the victims and their families.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">The team has demanded that the Gujarat government (1) ban 'Gau Rakshak Dals' and similar organisations throughout the state; (2) All the police personnel and officers of Gir-Somnath District involved in the incident must immediately be suspended and be charged under SC/ST Atrocities Act. (3 identify and arrest all the attackers based on the video footage and ensure a fast track trial (4) proper compensation, best medical treatment, and full security to all the victims and their families.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">This team also joined a protest demonstration in Chandkhera in Ahmedabad organised by various dalit organisations where people signed on a 56-yards long cloth (mocking the Modi's tall talk of 56" chest).</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Sankalp Sabha On 20th Anniversary of Bathani Tola Carnage</span></b></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">On 11 July 1996 the feudal-communal Ranveer Sena brutally massacred women and children of Bathani Tola. The CPI (ML) organized a Sankalp Sabha in Bathani Tola on the 20th anniversary of the carnage. AIARLA district Secretary Com. Kamta Prasad Singh, Comrades Madan Singh, Ramkishore Rai, Ramesh Singh, Ram Dutt Ram, Ramanand Thakur, Naeemuddin Ansari and others offered floral tribute to the martyrs and reiterated their resolve to continue the struggle for justice.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">AISA Protests in Chandigarh</span></b></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">AISA and the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sttudents' Union (SBSU) commenced the dharna protests for their demands on the opening day of the College situated in Sector-11, Chandigarh. In spite of the Sector-11 College being the most expensive college in Chandigarh, it does not provide adequate water in the hostels, and library facilities are highly inadequate. Only 3 computer systems are in working condition; the college does not have wi-fi despite it being shown in the prospectus. The students' have been struggling to ensure that these demands are met. On the day of the dharna, when the College Principal came to the dharna venue and started moving out the protesting students, the student leaders resisted and insisted that first their demands be addressed. However, the Principal tried to snatch the posters from their hands, called the police and gave orders for the students to be arrested. The college unit of ABVP is opposing the students' demands. Anisha Negi, Joint President of AISA and SBSU said that the students' organizations which are opposing struggles for facilities for students fight elections on the strength of money and muscle power but betray the interests of students. The students will surely give a fitting reply to this. AISA National Executive member Vijay Kumar said that the dictatorial behavior of the Principal will not be tolerated and the struggle will continue.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Tribute to Comrade Jeeta Kaur</span></b></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">The CPI (ML) organized a "Jagriti" convention in Mansa, Punjab on 23 June 2016, the 9th death anniversary of Com. Jeeta Kaur. Com. Jeeta, a prominent CPI (ML) and AIPWA leader, lost her life to cancer at the untimely age of 48 on 23 June 2007. The convention was presided over by Comrades Iqbal Kaur Udasi, Chhoti Kaur, Beant Kaur, Amandeep Kaur, Kuldeep Kaur, Paramjeet Kaur and Amarjeet. Speakers at the convention recalled Com. Jeeta's life dedicated to people's struggles and social change and discussed the "role of women in people's struggles". </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">The convention was also addressed by comrades Balwinder Kaur, Jasbir Kaur, Bhagwant Singh Samaon, Gurmeet Singh, Nikka Singh, Gurjant Singh, Punjab Kisan Union President Raldu Singh, and Rajvindr Singh Rana. People's singers presented revolutionary songs. The convention passed a resolution condemning the Badal government's atrocities, arrests, and false cases on dalits, workers, farmers and unemployed people who are fighting in various districts on issues of debt waiver, employment generation, and one-third share of panchayati land on residential plots, and stressed the need for a united political struggle on these issues.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Protest Demo at Kanpur Income Tax Office</span></b></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">Protests were staged at the Income Tax Office on 30 June 2016 by Karmachari Mahasangh Uttar Pradesh (W) Circle, Kanpur, in response to the call by the Rashtriya Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti and the Central Gazetted Officers' Association to protest against the implementation of the anti-officer and anti-worker recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission without any amendments. It is to be noted that not only workers but officers in government bodies also come under the scope of wage revision and they are also unhappy with the recommendations of the Pay Commission. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Block Level Protests in Darbhanga against Forced Evications of Mahadalits</span></b></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">265 families of the mahadalit community have been living in Kataya Musahari of Biraul panchayat (Darbhanga district) for the past 45 years. At present there are 25 Indira Awas houses, 12 hand pumps and 45 toilets in this Tola. This land used to be in the name of the Ram Janaki temple whose sewait Rambahadur Gupta is now no more. The poor-mahadalits have about 30 bighas of the temple land. In the new survey this land has been entered in the name of Sri Sri 108 Ram Janaki Mahadev. The grandson of Rambahadur Gupta's brother Shyam Bahadur Gupta has staked a false claim to this land. These feudal forces used money and muscle power to pressurize the Biraul block officials to displace the poor-mahadalits and give them possession. The matter went up to the High Court but the mahadalits, being unorganized, could not put up their case effectively. The HC ruled in favour of the feudal forces, proving the extent to which our courts are anti-poor.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">On 9 July the administration resorted to force and started forcible eviction of the mahadalits, during which Jagmaya Devi was killed and 4 people were injured. However, the insensitive block officials maintained that Jagmaya Devi was not killed by police oppression but died of an illness. The administration did not even conduct a post-mortem on Jagmaya Devi. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">The CPI(ML) Darbhanga district committee has planned to file an appeal in the High Court in this matter. Protests were held at all block HQs on 17 July 2016 demanding proper compensation and government job for Jagmaya Devi's kin, a high level enquiry into the attack by the administration on the Tola, land parchas for all poor-mahadalits, along with other demands. The effigy of the Biraul SDO was burnt at the protest which led by district Secretary Com. Baidnath Yadav.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Initiatives in Jharkhand</span></b></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">The CPI (ML) Giridih district committee held an Akrosh rally at the Sariya block HQ on 5 July 2016, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Com. Arun Pandey who was killed on this day last year in the Koiridih jungles of Bagodar district. Of the 10 accused, only one has been arrested so far. In protest against the negligence of the police, the Sariya block SDPO office was gheraoed on 5 July 2016. Thousands of people participated in the gherao, led by former MLA Vinod Singh and demanded the arrest of all the accused. Arun Pandey was a senior Party leader who had played a significant role in mobilizing the people of the Sariya-Koiridih area in favour of the CPI (ML). </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">A Sankalp Sabha was organized on 4 July at Bundu Chowk, Ranchi district, on the 26th martyrdom anniversary of Com. Parmshwar Singh Munda, that resolved to fight corporate land grab and the anti-adivasi and anti-democratic domicile policy.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">Khorimahya block HQ was gheraoed under the leadership of MLA Com. Rajkumar Yadav on 1 July. The gherao lasted till 2 July and reports are that 22,000 ration cards in Rajdhanwar and 16,000 ration cards in Jamua were made as a result of the gherao. Food grain distribution was also speeded up in Rajdhanwar, Ganwa, Tisri and Jamua as a result of the pressure thus built.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">Midday meal workers held dharnas in Godda and Dhanbad under the banner of the Jharkhand Pradesh Vidyalaya Rasoiya Sanyojika Adhyaksh Sangh to protest against the privatization of midday meal workers and laying off of Assistant Sanyojikas. AICCTU and Rasoiya Sangh protested strongly on 3 and 5 July forcing a stay on the reconstitution of the Vidyalaya management committee (the first step in privatization). If the reconstitution plan is not revoked before 10 July, a dharna will be staged in front of the Collectorate.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">Large scale protests were held in Markaccho block of Koderma district on 2 July against the police firing on a CPI(ML) protest there on 22 January 2003, that killed 3 comrades under the false charge that they were 'militants.' After strong protests led by the late Com. Mahendra Singh, the Babulal Marandi government had been forced to release all the falsely arrested comrades, and take back all the false cases. However, now after 13 years Koderma district Party workers are being threatened with arrest in connection with the same case. The 2 July protest was also to protest against this conspiracy and demanded that the findings of the enquiry report on the Markacho police firing incident be published and witch hunt of innocent activists be stopped immediately.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Citizen's Protest Vigil in Delhi against atrocities on Dalits and Muslims in the name of 'Cow Protection'</span></b></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">A citizens protest vigil was called in Delhi at Jantar Mantar on 23 July against the atrocities on Dalits and Muslims in by cow protection vigilante groups in the name of cow protection. The vigilante groups that have sprung up all over the country enjoy the patronage of the ruling establishment. The protest was joined by CPI(ML), AISA, AICCTU, AIPWA and RYA along with prominent activists like Bezwada Wilson, Nandita Narain, N D Pancholi and others. Protesters demanded a ban on all 'cow protection' vigilante groups. They also demanded immediate action against the vigilante groups who attacked Dalits in Una, Gujarat and also against their political patrons. Several speakers spoke about the urgent need to strike at the root of casteism and Brahminism. Holding placards and banners expressing solidarity with the ongoing Dalit movement in Gujarat, the protestors demanded prohibition of all forms of manual scavenging and hazardous and demeaning work along with immediate rehabilitation of all the Dalits engaged in such work. The vigil was addressed by like Bezwada Wilson, Nandita Narain, N D Pancholi, Bhasha Singh, Com. Ramayana Ram, RYA National Secretary Com. Om Prasad and JNUSU VP Shehla Rashid. The cultural group Sangwari also presented songs expressing solidarity with the ongoing movement against oppression of the Dalits and the minorities. </span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">ASHA Workers' Protest In Haldwani</span></b></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">Uttarakhand ASHA Health Workers' Union affiliated to AICCTU held a vociferous protest in Haldwani as part of a state-wide programme and burnt the effigy of the Central government. The ASHA workers are paid a monthly honorarium in 9 States in the country, but in Uttarakhand they do not get any monthly wages or honorarium. The Central government must implement an equal policy for ASHA workers across the country. Uttarakhand ASHA workers under the leadership of the ASHA Health Workers' Union have been boycotting work since 11 July 2016 but the government has so far been deaf to their demands. Additionally, the ASHA workers in Uttarakhand have been burdened with a large number of tasks and duties such as reduction in mother-infant mortality rate, pulse polio campaign, family welfare, malaria survey, ORS distribution, keeping vigilance on violence against women, Mukhyamantri Health Insurance Scheme, disaster training etc. The following demands were made during the protest:</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">1. ASHA workers should be given the status of "worker" and all ASHA workers across the country should be paid an equal minimum wage of Rs 18000 per month as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. Till such time as this is done, they should be paid minimum wages as per the recommendations of the 45th Labour Conference.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">2. ASHA workers should be regularized and given the status of State government employees.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:11pt;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;color:black">3. The fund cuts made by the Central government in the budget for the National Health Mission should be revoked.</span></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:13.696px;border-width:medium;border-style:none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:12.84px;color:black">During the protest, the police tried to forcibly stop the ASHA workers from burning the effigy and tried to remove them from the road in front of the Women's Hospital, causing a sharp confrontation between the City Magistrate and police and the workers. After the effigy burning and rally in front of the Women's Hospital, the police registered a case against Com. Kailash Pandey and 11 ASHA workers for blocking the Highway. On the same day, the BJP had also staged a rally and effigy burning, during which there was a blockage for about 25 minutes in front of the Deputy Collector's office; whereas, the effigy burning by the ASHA workers took place in front of the Women's Hospital, and the blockage lasted for a much shorter period. However, in the eyes of the police and the administration the ASHA workers' protest and blockage was sufficient grounds for registering a case; no case was registered in connection with the BJP's rally, effigy burning and road block. Apart from Haldwani, the ASHA workers also held strong protests and burnt the effigy of the Central government at Nainital, Garampani, Ramnagar, Bajpur, Ranikhet, Didihat, Pithoragarh, Gangolihat, Champawat, Bageshwar, Lohaghat, Pati, Tanakpur, and other places.</span></p></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-1089561846780058612016-07-20T14:17:00.001+05:302016-07-20T14:17:34.358+05:30ML Update | No. 30 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 30 | 19- 25 July 2016</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:27.6px;color:red">No More Una Or Dadri Style Atrocities </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18pt;line-height:27.6px;color:red">Ban Casteist And Communal 'Cow Protection' Mobs </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px">For the past several years, 'cow-protection' vigilantism has been the pretext for casteist and communal violence. Akhlaque was killed in Dadri by such a mob; two Muslim cattle herders were lynched and hung from trees in Jharkhand by such mobs. Such mobs, acting closely with RSS outfits, have routinely stripped, paraded and thrashed their victims in the presence of police, and uploaded videos of the violence online. But they have done so once too often in Una in Gujarat's Somnath District.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px">The job of skinning and tanning cow leather and disposing of cow carcasses is assigned by the oppressive caste system to Dalits, who face untouchability for doing this work that is considered 'dirty.' On July 11<sup>th</sup>, a Shiv Sena 'cow protection' mob caught hold of four Dalit men who had been called by a farmer to dispose of a dead cow. Accusing the Dalits of being 'cow leather smugglers,' the cow-vigilantes brutally stripped and thrashed them for four hours, and released a video of the atrocity as a 'warning' to 'cow smugglers.' The Gujarat police, far from intervening to prevent the violence and arrest the perpetrators, detained the victims and questioned them. This is reminiscent of the shocking manner in which a UP Court has ordered that a FIR of 'cow slaughter' be registered against the family of the Dadri lynch-mob victim Akhlaque.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px">The Dalits of Gujarat have erupted in protest against the atrocity. They have adopted an innovative means of protest: they are dumping cow carcasses at Government offices, saying that Dalits refuse to dispose of cow carcasses any more. They have declared that those of the RSS, Shiv Sena and other 'cow protection' outfits who claim the cow to be their mother, can in future take on the responsibility of conducting the 'last rites' of their 'mother'. This form of protest has most effectively exposed the sheer hypocrisy of the casteist and communal 'cow protection' groups that refer to cows as their 'mother', but consider the 'mother's' carcass to be too 'polluting' to be handled by anyone except Dalits. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px">Some 16 Dalits of Gujarat have attempted suicide in the wake of the atrocity, reflecting the sense of outrage and humiliation felt by Dalits in the State. The Gujarat Government, in an attempt to contain the protest, has suspended some of the concerned police personnel. But suspension is far from adequate: all the perpetrators, identified on the basis of the videos, must be arrested and the responsible police personnel arrested and prosecuted for their complicity in an atrocity against Dalits.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px">A study titled "Understanding Untouchability: A Comprehensive Study of Practices and Conditions in 1,589 villages", conducted in Gujarat by the Navsarjan Trust between 2007-2010, had found evidence of widespread untouchability, tacitly approved and encouraged by the Government, in 98% of the villages. And Gujarat is unlikely to be an exception – untouchability and anti-Dalit atrocities are common all over rural and urban India.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px">What needs to be emphasized is the fact that casteist anti-Dalit discrimination and violence is joined at the hip to communal discrimination and violence. Strategies used to stoke hatred and violence against Muslims today, have long been used against Dalits. Both Dalits and Muslims are the targets of organized violence in the name of 'cow protection'; Dalits, like Muslims, do not share the taboo on consumption of beef imposed by caste Hindus. Dalit communities face violence when Dalit men marry 'caste Hindu' women; Muslim communities face violence when Muslim men marry Hindu women. In other words, 'cow protection', as well as inter-caste and inter-faith marriage are common pretexts for casteist and communal politics as well as mob violence. Modi himself, during the Parliamentary and Assembly election campaign speeches in Bihar, repeatedly used the 'cow protection' motif in a vain attempt to stoke communal hatred and consolidate caste and religious vote-banks in Bihar. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px">Today, the BJP and Sangh Parivar are caught in a wedge. They are the champions of the 'cow protection' politics and the casteist and communal violence that go with it. At the same time, they seek to woo Dalits to identify with communal, anti-Muslim politics. Their 'ghar wapsi' (homecoming) campaign is essentially a campaign to ask Dalits to embrace their subordinate position in the Hindu casteist status quo, without complaint. They also seek to appropriate Ambedkar, minus his radical anti-caste and anti-communal democratic politics. But time and again, actions and words of the BJP, Sangh and Hindutva leaders and groups reveal them to the Dalits to be 'wolves in sheep's clothing.'</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px">When Modi was Gujarat Chief Minister, he referred in a book titled 'Karmayog' to manual scavenging as a 'spiritual activity' done voluntarily by Dalits to serve society. After facing huge protests, he has since changed his tune. But his original remarks throw light on the Sangh's own ideology that disguises and glorifies anti-Dalit atrocities as part of a desirable social order. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px"> Even as the Dalits of Gujarat – Narendra Modi's supposedly 'model' home state – are up in arms against a shamelessly casteist administration and Government, Mumbai has witnessed a massive rally of Dalit and Left groups against the BJP Government's shocking demolition of Ambedkar's historic office at Dadar.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:36pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px">The Dalits' protests in Gujarat must resonate across the country. Democratic groups all over India must unite to demand a ban on cow protection vigilantist outfits that indulge in, promote or glorify mob violence in the name of 'cow protection.' </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:18.4px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px"><font size="4"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height:20.7px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Bihar Bandh</span></b></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Against Political Patronage of Toppers' Scam</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The Bihar bandh called by the CPI(ML) Bihar State committee for 12 July on the following issues—high level judicial enquiry into the political patronage of the toppers' scam; inclusion of educationists in the committee; implementation of common school system; revoking of SC-ST scholarship cuts; revoking of stay on provisions for reservation in government job promotions; revoking of non-aided education policy; confiscation of the scamsters' properties; and review of matric and inter exam results—was very effective across the State. Train services, roads, schools, colleges, banks, shops, block offices etc. remained closed for several hours at various places. Congratulating the people of Bihar on the success of the bandh, the Bihar state unit of CPI (ML) shared that the widespread participation of people from all walks of life is an indication that education is a priority on the people's agenda and they will not tolerate a corrupt and anti-people education policy. The bandh got full support from students, intellectuals, dalits, non-aided teachers and others.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">In Patna a march in support of the bandh led by State Secretary Com. Kunal was taken out from Gandhi Maidan to Dak Bangla chowk where hundreds including senior leaders of the Party were arrested. Speakers at the meeting castigated Nitish for destroying the education system in the State and ruining the future of Bihar's young, making a mockery of his promise to bring social justice. Merely a criminal enquiry into the toppers' scam will not do; the political patronage must also be probed, as there are clear links between Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, Giriraj Singh (BJP) and main scam accused education mafia leader Bacchca Singh. They added that the two-faced and non-aided policy has replaced affordable government education with profiteering private schools and has ruined Bihar's education.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The leaders also pointed that cuts in SC-ST scholarships and stay on reservations SC- ST reservations in government job promotions are ironically contrary to the promise of "social justice". The purpose is clearly to stop the weaker sections from advancing in society. Holding all 3 parties—JDU, RJD, and BJP—responsible, the speakers demanded a judicial enquiry into the political patronage of the scam and also rejected the current education policy which deepened social inequalities.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">School children participated in large numbers in the rallies at Jehanabad and Arwal. The students said that the government schools are in dire condition with extreme shortage of teachers, resulting in those who could afford it to go for private schools. The poor are left in the pathetic government schools.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The working of banks and blocks in Buxar and Kesath were affected by the bandh and non-aided teachers came out in large numbers at Motihari. CPI (ML), RYA, AISA activists and bandh supporters stopped trains across the State for varying lengths of time which included Sampark Kranti, Sealdah Sapt Kranti, Vaishali, Jamalpur-Gaya Passenger, Patna-Sasaram Fast Passenger, 565 Uo Local, Ranchi-Patna Janshatabdi, Patna-Ara Passenger, Shramjeevi, Bhagalpur-Dana Express, and Janshatabdi Express in Masaurhi.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Roads and National Highways were also blocked at various parts of the State: GT Road, NH 57, NH 30, NH 98, NH 83, NH 28, Muzaffarpur-Shivhar Road, Dumraon-Vikramgarh Road, Buxar-Dinara Road, JP Chowk and Gopalganj crossing in Siwan. The bandh was also effective and widely participated in Motihari, Eastern Champaran, Saran, Buxar, Sasaram, Vikramganj, Kaimur, Darbhanga, Bhagalpur, Madhepura, Supoul, and Saharsa. In Ara different groups marched at block HQs across the district. Koilvar bridge and Ara bus stand were blocked for hours by the bandh supporters led by MLA Com. Sudama Prasad and other leaders. About 60 supporters were arrested in Jagdishpur.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Road and rail traffic were obstructed and effective marches were also taken out in Navada, Aurangabad, Nalanda, Jamui, Shekhpura, Katihar and Arariya.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px"><b><span style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px"><b><span style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Protests in Solidarity With Kashmir </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Citizens and several progressive, democratic and left individuals and organisations have held protests in different parts of the country against the <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat">brutal assault by police, paramilitaries and armed forces in the Kashmir valley that have left over 40 dead</span>, and several blinded and severely injured. These sections have come together in large numbers to condemn the violence unleashed by the state.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Delhi:</span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> On 13 July, several hundred including right civil rights activists, students, youth, artists, women's organizations, left organisations and individuals, and several others gathered at Jantar Mantar for a silent protest march and protest meeting. Wearing black bands and holding banners and placards that carried names of those who had been killed during the protests, the protestors demanded an immediate end to these brutalities. Addressing the protest meeting, activist Shabnam Hashmi emphasized on the urgent need to end the 'climate of impunity' in Kashmir that allowed the state to become a murderer. She also pointed out the contrast in the way in which the violent, armed mobs were dealt in Harayana and Gujarat and the way the unarmed protestors were dealt with in Kashmir. Com. Kavita Krishnan, PB member of CPI (ML) <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat">spoke about the need to immediately repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the urgent necessity to initiate dialogue without preconditions with all sections of society in Jammu and Kashmir. She also stressed the need for all Indian citizens to come out and say that the Indian state cannot continue to butcher the people of Kashmir in their name. AISA leader and JNUSU VP, Com. Shehla Rashid also spoke about how the continued violence unleashed by the state and the humiliation meted out to the Kashmiris had led to young generations of Kashmiris feeling alienated. She stressed on the urgent need to demilitarize Kashmir.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat">Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu</span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat">: On 17 July, </span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">CPI(ML) and AICCTU jointly organized a demonstration in Tirunelveli, demanding justice for Kashmiri people. Demonstrators held placards that read- "No to Bullets and Pellets and YES to political resolution of Kashmir issue"; "No peace without Justice", and "AFSPA should go". Com. Kumarasamy, while addressing the protestors said that even as the Modi government says that Kashmir is a part of India, the people of Kashmir cannot be seen as enemies. The grievances of the Kashmiris demanded a political solution and not the army.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Patna</span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">: In Patna too, a protest of citizens led by CPI (ML) demanded an end to state violence in Kashmir. The protestors strongly condemned the barbaric killings of innocent citizens in Kashmir. The police responded to the protestors with the use of force </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Kolkata</span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">: Hundreds of protestors participated in a rally in Kolkata on 15 July <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat">to protest the ongoing killings in Kashmir by the Indian State. In Kolkata too the protestors carried placards with the names of civilians recently killed in Kashmir inscribed on it. Protestors raised slogans demanding withdrawal of AFSPA, PSA and the presence of the armed forces in Kashmir. Protestors expressed solidarity with the people of Kashmir and demanded that the Kashmiri demand for self-determination be addressed politically, not by repression. <br></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><br></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Towards September 2<sup>nd</sup> All India Strike</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The Tamil Nadu state council of AICCTU met at Tirunelveli on 17 July to chart out a plan for successful 'All India Strike' on September 2. A four-member Presidium consisting of Comrades N. K. Natarajan, A. S. Kumar, Bhuvana and Sankarapandian conducted the proceedings. Leaders representing various sectors such as Civil supplies corporation, electricity board, Co-optex, construction, power loom, defence, conservancy workers and also workers from organized and unorganized private sector industries put forth their demands and shared details pertaining to preparations for the strike. The council also decided to approach Industry-wise independent unions to call them for their participation. A massive signature campaign on the demands and fund mobilization campaign were also planned. It was also decided to organize two workshops at Chennai and Coimbatore to equip workers comprehensively during August. Com A.S. Kumar took the mantle as state President which was ratified by the council. Com. Kumarasamy, All India President of AICCTU addressed the council covering all aspects of International and National situation and the role of the working class in the present juncture. The Council meet ended with a firm resolve to make the September 2 strike successful. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">AIARLA Protest for Tribal Land Rights in Vishakhapatnam</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Chatarjipuram is a small habitation in M.K. Patanam revenue village of Rolugunta Mandal in Vishakhapatnam district. 'Gadaba' are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) living there who cultivate nearly 25 acres' dry land since a long time. The tribal cultivators name was recorded in the old village revenue records.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">After Mr. Chandrababu Naidu's TDP government came to power in the state of Andhra Pradesh, he started digitalization of village revenue records and opened the flood gate to the land mafia. Using the digitization drive to their advantage and with active cooperation from present Revenue Divisional officer and the Tehsildar, the land mafia were able to remove the names of the tribals and incorporated the names of the non-tribal non-cultivators as cultivators in computerized land records.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">'Losingi' is another PVTG village on situated on a hilltop in Rolungunta Mandal, where 'Kondh' tribe resides. However, some non-tribal belonging to 'Sarabavaram' a village in the plains, bribed the revenue officers and were able to get the pattas (titles) of the government land on which crops are being grown by the Kondh tribe farmers, assigned to their names. The non-tribal using these titles are getting huge loans from national banks along with funds for 'land development program' under MGNREGS. The tribal people of Losingi submitted complaints for cancellation of these pattas to the Tehsildar, RDO and the Collector, but no action was taken. Several tribal villages like 'Pedapeta', 'Konthalam' and others village are facing similar land problems. On 11 July, AIARLA organized the tribal communities and conducted a rally in the Divisional headquarter of Narsipatanam from RTC complex to the RDO office. AIARLA demanded an in-depth enquiry by Project Officer of Integrated Tribal Development Agency of Paderu and it also demanded action against the Tehsildar of Rolugunta who changed the revenue records to favor the non-tribal non-cultivators. Nearly a hundred tribals and Dalits participated in the rally. Com Janardhan and Com. Chanti lead the rally which was addressed by Com. Bugatha Bangaru Rao, Central Committee Member of CPI (ML).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px"><b><span style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Demonstration against Nuclear Plant by AIPF and PMANE at Tirunelveli</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Even as the unit 1 of the Koodankulam Nuclear plant is in doldrums, the Indian government has declared the successful establishment of unit 2. AIPF and Peoples' Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMNAE) organized a Demonstration on 16 July at Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, demanding complete closure of all nuclear plants. Demonstrators demanded a white paper on Nuclear deals. They also demanded that the government say 'No' to further Nuclear parks. Government's claim of production of electricity from unit 1 itself was ridiculed by the demonstrators. Com. Ramesh, National Council member of AIPF presided over the demonstration. The demonstration was addressed by Com. Kumarasamy, state secretary of CPI(ML) and Com. S.P. Udayakumar, Convenor of PMANE and also the National campaign committee member of AIPF. The protest demonstration was also attended by Com. Kalai Kannan of Aadhi Tamilar Katchi, Mr.Abdul Jabbar of Tamil Nadu Peoples' Democratic party, Com. Sankara Pandian, state General secretary of AICCTU, Com. Desikan, state campaign committee member of AIPF, Com. Ganesan of AICCTU and Com. Sundarrajan of RYA.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">AIPWA March in Ramgarh on Hul Diwas</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The Ramgarh district unit of AIPWA rook out a rally on 30 June (Hul Diwas) against the atrocities by the Raghuvar Das government on women, especially dalit and adivasi women. Women participating in the rally raised their voice against the government on the following issues: rape and murder of Chandmuni Soren and Priya Murmu of Ramgarh district; failure to arrest killers of B.Ed student Sonali Murmu; police atrocities on a young girl at Manika thana; and the police lathi charge on women protesters against land-grabbing by NTPC at Badkagaon in Hazaribagh district. They said that the government had failed to protect the safety and dignity of women in the State. Hundreds of women marched 3 km on foot from the Party office raising slogans for women's safety, dignity, work, and pay. The march was followed by the district conference at Tulsi Devi Dharmashala which began by paying tributes to Sidu, Kanhu, Chand, Bhairav, Phulo, Jhano, Rijhni Devi, Balkahiya Devi and other martyrs.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">In his inaugural address, Ramgarh district secretary Com. Bhuneshwar Bediya said that women must unite and come forward to fight for their rights against molestation, rape, murder, and police atrocity, and they must decisively establish their identity. Presiding over the conference, Com. Nita Bediya said that the governments at the centre and the State have given the call for "Beti Bachao-Beti-Padhao", but the greatest oppression of women is taking place here. Many "Betis" are forced to migrate from Jharkhand in search of livelihood. They are being physically and economically exploited by brokers, but the government shows no interest in stopping this. Com. Karuna Kumari, leader from Badkagaon block said that women are fighting against land grab by NTPC despite being lathi-charged by the police. She stressed that women must unite and fight to protect their dignity, water, forest, and land. Many other women also expressed their views. At the conclusion, a 25 member AIPWA district committee was constituted with comrades Sarita Devi and Nita Bediya being elected President and Secretary respectively.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">ASHA Health Workers Protest </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Uttarakhand ASHA Health Workers' Union, affiliated to AICCTU, has strongly condemned the government's act of distributing "ASHA Nirodh" at several places during the Diarrhoea and Family Planning Fortnight, and has termed it extremely insulting to ASHA workers and to all women. On 15 July, the ASHA workers' union burnt the effigy of the Health Minister at many places across the State including in Pithoragarh district headquarters.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Com. Vimal Philip of the CPI (ML) said that on the one hand the government is not willing to give the ASHA workers even a monthly honorarium in spite of extracting all manner of work from them and continues to exploit them thoroughly, against which the workers are protesting by boycotting the Diarrhoea and Family Planning Fortnight. The government by naming the condoms "ASHA Nirodh" will be exposing the ASHA workers to sexist remarks and taunts. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Union District President Com. Indra Deupa said that punitive action should be taken against the Minister, officials, manufacturing company, and programme director involved in this insulting project. If action is not taken, other women's organizations and unions will also be mobilized on this issue of respect and dignity for women. She said that the if the government does not apologize without delay and revoke the condoms, the union will confront the government on this issue and the ruling party MLAs will be gheraoed at all places.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Forcible Land Grab and Police Atrocities in Jharkhand</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">An inquiry team comprising human rights activist Fr Stan Swamy, anti-displacement activist Arvind Avinash, Prashant Rahi, and Anil Anshuman from the AIPF visited different villages in the main region of the Pakri-Barwadih Coal Project in Barkagaon block in Hazaribagh district on 18 June to inquire into the atrocities unleashed by the police and administration on villagers who were protesting against the forcible land grab by NTPC under their Karnapura (Pakri-Barwadih) project. They met villagers who were victims of the police oppression and spoke in detail to them. They also spoke to activists from people's organizations fighting against the land grab and displacement of the villagers, on whom false cases have been slapped. The findings of the team have been presented in brief below:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Villagers from Sonbarsa, Sinduari, Churchu, and Dadikala said that the villagers of this area had been continuously protesting against the illegal means adopted by NTPC management for the coal project. Despite this, when the coal mining contract was given to private companies and work was first started at Chirudih Talia Tand, the neighbouring farmers (raiyyats) started an indefinite peaceful dharna from 31 March at the mining venue. On 16 May when the companies started using bulldozers, the farmers intensified their stir. On 17 May, when hundreds of farmers were participating in the dharna. Barkagaon thana in-charge Ramdayal Munda came with some policemen and asked the farmers why they had lathis if their protest was peaceful. Hearing this, the farmers put aside their lathis. Then suddenly without warning hundreds of policemen attacked them with lathis, injuring many.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">After the above attack, according to 300 to 400 eyewitnesses, armed policemen attacked many nearby villages also, beating up the old, young, women, children, and anyone they could get hold of. Houses were broken into and in the absence of male members, women were obscenely abused and beaten. Household goods were destroyed. Several people were left with cracked heads and broken limbs. Even pregnant women were not spared. Wherever the inquiry team went, they could see visible proof of the police brutality.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Mukesh, an inter student from Sonbarsa village, said even the British would not have inflicted brutalities as inflicted by these policemen. 60-year-old Bhuvaneshwar Sao shared that he was beaten up so brutally that he had to get admitted in Ranchi for 5 days. Sudama Kumar, a class five student was beaten so badly that he got fever and still walks with a limp. Several children shared the brutalities they were subjected to. Similar reports came from Dadikala and Sinduari. Villagers across villages shared that for several days after the attack they were fearful and could not sleep for the police had threatened further violence unless they cleared out. The villagers told the team that the government says that this land is fallow and wants to take it away on that excuse; but in reality it is very fertile and yields good vegetable and paddy crops.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.5pt;line-height:14.5667px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The administration has slapped false cases on activists who raise their voices for the farmers' rights and land including Com. Mithilesh Dangi, Rajeev Ranjan, Mohd Ansari and others, who are still in the Hazaribagh Central Jail. Their hearing is being done not through physical presence but through video conferencing. Cases have been registered against 31 named persons and hundreds of unnamed persons under sections such as stone-pelting, snatching rifles from policemen, and obstructing government work. 3 members of the family of Baija Rana, struggling for their 40-acre multi-crop land are in jail. Clearly, the situation in Jharkhand is even worse than during the Emergency in 1975 as this time fascist rule is being imposed for the benefit of corporate companies. The reality is that the BJP government wishes to make Jharkhand a heaven for corporate companies and a graveyard for democracy.</span></p><div class="" style="margin:2px 0px 0px;font-size:12.8px"><div id=":12h" class="" tabindex="0"><img class="" src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif"></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-71830457944034073212016-07-13T20:41:00.000+05:302016-07-13T20:42:00.508+05:30ML Update | No. 29 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">ML</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:22pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Update</span></i></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:19.85pt;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;text-align:center;background-image:none;background-repeat:repeat"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">Vol. 19 | No. 29 | 12- 18 July 2016</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13pt;line-height:19.9333px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:7.2pt;text-align:center;line-height:29pt;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:24pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Stop Repression on <br>Kashmir's People</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.1pt">Kashmir has been plunged into yet another cycle of massive civilian protests met with brutal state repression that claimed 32 lives till now and severely injured many more. The crisis has been precipitated this time by the killing of a young militant, Burhan Wani. Wani had been a popular figure in Kashmir, adept in addressing youth on social media. Vast numbers of Kashmiri people gathered to mourn at his funeral. Mourners and protesters alike are being subjected to repression by paramilitary forces on Kashmir's streets, in a repeat of the events of 2010, when 112 civilian protesters were killed in a period of four months.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.1pt">There are many unanswered questions about Burhan Wani's killing. The Supreme Court's recent order, reiterating that every encounter must be subjected to criminal investigation and prosecution, whether the person killed is a militant or a civilian, ought to be respected and followed here. But Burhan Wani's killing also raises other questions about the Indian State's policy vis a vis Kashmir. In 2010, on the heels of the spate of killings of civilian protesters, Wani and his brother and friends were subjected to a casual, brutal beating by security forces. Such humiliations are part of the daily experience of most Kashmiris, as a result of the military and paramilitary deployment in civilian areas. Months after the beating, the 16 year-old Wani left home to join a separatist outfit and emerge as a well-known face of the Kashmiri insurgency. In Kashmir, youth who do not take up arms and engage only in street protests, are routinely killed or maimed by security forces. By choking off all spaces for peaceful resistance and delegitimising even seminars and slogans that reflect Kashmiri sentiments, by routinely cracking down on internet services, and subjecting youth to brutal, arbitrary beating even when they are not protesting, the Indian establishment itself is creating the soil in which militancy takes root. Moreover, Wani was not charged with participating in any specific instance of terrorism, and is on record assuring that Amarnath pilgrims would not be attacked and appealing to Kashmiri Pandits to return to the Valley. There could have been many ways of engaging youth like him – and separatist organisations like his – in talks about Kashmir's political future rather than killing them. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.1pt">What the Central Government and the BJP-PDP Government in J&K are unable to reckon with is the scale of the spontaneous civilian mourning and protests that have broken out following Wani's killing. Attempts to blame the protests on instigation by Pakistan, and justify the killing of Wani as well as the repression on civilians as a war on terror, only point to the colossal political failure of the Governments to engage respectfully with the voices and aspirations of Kashmiri people. Kashmir is primarily a political issue calling for a political solution that is in keeping with the wishes of the Kashmiri people, their self-respect and dignity.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.1pt">The Sangh Parivar and BJP have for long vitiated the discourse on Kashmir by demanding abrogation of Article 370. But even the Congress and the UPA, that stood by Article 370, had much the same militarised policy towards Kashmir. Both Congress and BJP-led governments at the Centre have insisted on tame state governments in J&K, have branded every instance of Kashmiri mass resistance and protests as 'instigated by Pakistan', and unleashed brutal repression on such protests. The NCP leader Omar Abdullah has been blaming Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for her failure to stop the killings of civilians – forgetting perhaps that he himself presided over a spate of such killings in 2010 when he was Chief Minister. The fact that the NCP and PDP utterly fail to command any credibility, trust and respect among Kashmir's people is brought home by the fact that the Chief Minister, Ministers and elected MLAs are yet to feel confident enough even to meet the injured in hospital and the families of the victims!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.1pt">The coverage of the crisis in Kashmir by influential sections of the Indian media is a recipe for further alienation of the Kashmiri people. Any calls for restraint, for sympathy with Kashmir's grief and rage, for Supreme Court-mandated enquiries into encounter killings, are equated with 'support for terrorism' or 'support for Pakistan.' The question of the killings of civilian protesters and use of pellet guns to blind scores of protesters is either rendered virtually invisible. The political issues are obscured and Kashmir is seen entirely through the prism of 'Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.'</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.1pt">Indian leaders talk now and then of 'winning the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people'. PV Narasimha Rao had promised that 'the sky is the limit' in talks with separatist groups on Kashmir. Vajpayee had, in response to a question about whether talks with separatist groups would take place 'within the scope of the Indian Constitution', had countered that they would take place 'within the scope of humanity.' But such promises seem to have remained in the domain of phrase-mongering. The average Kashmiri finds that far from the 'sky' being the limit, political self-expression of Kashmiris on the question of self-determination is pushed underground. Rather than talks 'within the scope of humanity', the template for dealing with Kashmiri resentments, mournings and protests remains within the grim and inhuman scope of pellets and bullets. It is of course, asserted that 'Kashmir is an integral part of India', but the Kashmiri people are subjected to brutalisation and humiliation on a scale and intensity that few other parts of India have experienced. Above all, the Indian establishment as well as most political parties and the media, fail to display even the most basic respect for Kashmiri sentiments and aspirations. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.1pt">It is urgent for the democratic-minded Indian citizens to open their hearts and minds to the voices of Kashmiri people, and to tell Indian Governments at the Centre and State that the brutal military handling of Kashmiri resistance must stop. To create a conducive climate where a genuine dialogue on solutions for Kashmir can be discussed where Kashmiri people can freely express themselves and be heard with respect, it is a must for the AFSPA to be withdrawn, and or all encounters and alleged rapes by security forces to be subjected to credible and timely investigations. The right of Kashmiris to a political solution in keeping with their wishes and sense of autonomy and dignity, must be articulated strongly not just in Kashmir but in every corner of India</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Indefinite Dharna in Zamania, Ghazipur</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.1pt">An indefinite dharna is in progress since 10 May at Zamania tehsil in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh on the issues pertaining to: removal of rich ineligible people and inclusion of poor working people in the food security list; distribution of wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg; regularization of kabja by dalits and vanvasis on village, government and banjar lands and their registration in tehsil records; housing pattas to all landless poor; assured work under MNREGA or allowance in lieu of it; availability of medicines in government hospitals; and resolution of land disputes. The SDM initially refused permission for dharna on the account of elections in Jangipur assemble and some villages in Zamania tehsil. However, with protestors refusing to end dharna, the administration was forced to enter into negotiations, a week after the dharna was started. Representatives of the CPI(ML) and AIARLA were also included in the meeting, where they were assured that their demands would be fulfilled in one week's time. Under the 'Uttho Mere Desh' campaign too village sabhas were held in various villages in the Zamania Assembly constituency on these issues. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.1pt">However, despite assurances, the actions of the officials have been on the contrary. As eligible people from different villages whose names were not earlier included in the food security list started filling in and submitting their forms and more and more people started participating in the dharna, the concerned SDM arranged for his transfer and left the place on a day the protestors had called for a lockout in the tehsil office. Meanwhile in Tiyari village, people from the Kushwaha community had been given pattas for some housing land on which dominant caste people had taken illegal kabja. The patta holders started their construction work on the land but the police repeatedly obstructed the process. In another instance, the tehsil police and administration, acting on behalf of a feudally powerful person, tried to destroy a vanvasi basti and establish kabja dakhal on that land. They were forced to turn back in the face of the agitation, however this did not stop the administration from attempting to implement their nefarious plans again. The block and municipal officials refused to verify and forward the food security list amendment forms which had been filled in from 28 villages. The continued anti-poor actions of the administration have led to the movement getting intensified. On 21 June the poor villagers marched in large numbers with lathis, sickles and other tools from the thana chowk to Pandey chowk and staged a chakka jam in front of the tehsil HQ. The BDO and SDM were forced to accept the memorandum. On 22 June a meeting of all the panchayat officials and the BDO took place during which the SDM pulled up the officials for negligence in work and directed them to meet all the demands within one week. However, given the past actions of the administration, the protestors have continued the two month long dharna to keep up the pressure.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Against Police Atrocities in Ranchi</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.1pt">On 8 July, Rupesh Sanwaasi, a minor hailing from Bundu, a town in Ranchi district, died in police custody after being subjected to third degree torture by the police. On 10 July, a protest march was called by Ranchi district unit of CPI (ML) to protest against this custodial death and also the increasing police rule of Raghuvar government. The march started from Mahendra Singh Bhawan and culminated in Albert Ekka Chowk with the burning of Chief Minister's effigy. The party demanded that the Bundu DSP who had got his bodyguard to take Rupesh into custody be arrested along with others who were present with him during the torturing and they be booked for murder. Despite the recent order issued by the state High Court, the minor was killed in custody. CM Raghuvar must apologize and ensure compensation and job for the family of Rupesh. Given the increasing spate of custodial torture of minors in the state, the government must fix the responsibility of the concerned police officers and take action against them. The protest march was led by Ranchi district secretary, Com. Bhuvaneswar Kewat and state committee member, Com. Janardan Harijan. The leaders declared that if the government does not heed to the demands immediately, a justice march would be taken out in Rahe and Bundu on 21 July and the issue will also be raised strongly in the state assembly.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Fact Finding Report on the Devastation Caused by Cloudburst in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">Huge damage has been caused by the cloudburst in the ghat region on 1 July and the rising river waters. 5 people were killed, 2 are missing, and a dozen shops and buildings were either badly damaged or washed away in the river. The ghat is 43 km from the headquarters of Chamoli district. While the single narrow road from Nandprayag to the ghat was never in good condition, it has now become particularly filled with holes and stones following the disaster.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">The access road to Jakhni, a village of 150 families on the other side has been totally destroyed. The Nandakini is still flooded. Debris-filled shops and buildings half-hanging in the river and half washed away tell the tale of the destruction. The rivers in spate and the homes with their backyards practically opening on to the river clearly indicate that rising water, rain or cloudbursts can again pose a grave danger. Though the CM Harish Rawat, Congress MLA and leader of opposition have visited the ghat, there is no visible improvement in the conditions. The wilting vegetables in the ghat bazaar are indicative of the enormous shortage of food, vegetables, and essential goods in the coming days if the road is not opened soon. Medical services have been badly affected by the lack of road access. There is a primary health centre in the ghat with an allopathic doctor, an ayurvedic doctor and a pharmacist but this is not adequate as several patients need to be referred to Dehradun for treatment.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">The administrative machinery is moves at an extremely slow pace which even a disaster of such impact has failed to change. On 4 July, Garhwal Commissioner issued a statement that it would take 20 days to complete the road. A couple of days later Chamoli stated that it would take 7 days. The PWD does not appear bothered as the political leaders travel by helicopter and not road. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">After the 2013 disaster, embankments had to be built as the ghat had been eroded by the flooding rivers. The irrigation department started building embankments, but on the side where there was no habitation. When the people agitated, they were assured that embankments on the inhabited side would be built within 15 days. Even after 6 months the embankmets were not built. Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha leader and ghat resident Mohan Singh has filed a petition in the Chamoli police station demanding a case to be registered under section 188 against the supervising engineer and junior engineer of the irrigation department. Com. Bhoopal Singh Rawat informed that the Chamoli DM had twice directed the supervising engineer of the irrigation department to construct the embankment but still it was not done. The Uttarakhand government as always appears unfazed by disasters and unwilling to adopt any measures to prevent them in future.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Hul Diwas Observed in Jharkhand</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">The tradition of celebrating Hul Diwas on 30 June began in 1855. It was on this date 161 years ago that the Hul revolution led by Sido, Kanho and Chand Bhairvav began in Bhognadih village of Dumka. The movement which was initially against exploitative money lenders later turned into a revolution against the British rule following brutal police oppression. However, even 161 years later, the descendants of the Hul revolutionaries have not been able to obtain their complete rights.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">This year on Hul Diwas, Ulgulan march was taken out in Dumka city under the leadership of CPI (ML) MLA Com. Rajkumar Yadav, Comrades Rameshwar Soren, Subhash Mandal, Babulal Rai and others to protest against the attempts of the state government to rob the rural and urban poor of Jharkhand of their lands under the pretext of 'wrong settlement' and raise the demands for – (i) ensuring the legality of the land held by rural and urban poor (ii) demarcation and distribution of Gair Majarua land and land exceeding ceiling among the landless poor and for the purpose of providing necessary services like education and health; (iii) revoking the recently announced domicile policy; (iv) making no changes in SPT CNT Act and implementing it strictly; (v) ensuring food security . A memorandum on the aforementioned demands was also handed over to the district officials.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">In Nagarutari in Garhwa district, a march of nearly one thousand people was taken out from Bhavnathpur Mod that culminated into a huge public meeting in Gosainbagh Maidan. The leaders addressing the meeting said that in several places ration had not been given since two to three months and several deprived families were yet to get ration cards. Far from addressing these concerns, the state government was instead conspiring to snatch whatever little land they had under the pretext of 'double settlement'. The government had failed to provide any relief to the people of this region that has been under severe drought conditions since past few years. On the occasion of Hul Diwas, a pledge was taken to renew a massive people's movements on the aforementioned issues. Marches and protest events were also organized in Jamtara city, Deori block in Giridih district, Dhanbad, Lohardaga and Hazaribagh .</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">In Julu Park in Hazaribagh, a one day youth convention was organized by AISA-RYA on 'Hul Diwas- Yesterday and Today'. The convention was addressed by DU AISA leader, Com. Niraj Kumar, ex CPI (ML) MLA Com. Vinod Singh, state AISA convenor com. Akhilesh Raj and State RYA secretary Com. Amal Ghosh. The leaders emphasized the need for understanding the relevance of Hul Diwas in today's context. The student movements were spreading across the country and it is now the time for students and youth of Jharkhand to carry forward the legacy of Hul Diwas and strengthen the ongoing movement.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Statewide Protests in Bihar Under the 'Save Education- Provide Employment' Campaign</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">A three day protest programme from 26 to 28 June, was organized in Bihar under the joint banner of CPI (ML), AISA and RYA as a part of the 'Save Education- Provide Employment' campaign. On 27 June, a protest march was called in Patna. The march started from Patna University and culminated in a public meeting Bhagat Singh Chowk located in Gandhi maidan. The march was led by RYA state secretary Com. Naveen Kumar. In Darbhanga, a student-youth convention on 'Change Education, Provide Employment' was organized in which the CPI (ML) PB member Com. Dhirendra Jha was the chief speaker. Com. Dhirendra Jha said that the Topper Scam that took place in the state was Bihar's version of Vyapam. He demanded that Nitish Kumar apologise to the people for destroying education in the state. A convention was also organized in Nawada, in which Com. Manmohan Kumar participated as the chief speaker. Several youth along with 6 teachers participated in the convention.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">On 26 June, the Emergency Day, marches were taken out in Jehanabad city and Modanganj. On 27-28 June, Nukkad Sabhas were held in 20 places in the Jehanabad district in which nearly 2,500 people participated. In the meetings held in Bandhuganj Bazaar and Nawaabganj Bazaar, some parents openly expressed their anger against the government. In the meeting held in Hulaasganj bazaar, whatever is happening in the area of education came out clearly through this scam. A campaign vehicle was also taken which was led by state CPI (ML) committee member Com. Rambali Yadav. In Bhojpur, AISA activists took out a march from CPI (ML) office to Golamber station. A protest march was also taken out in Gaya.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">Jugaad Drivers Demonstration in Bhagalpur </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">The jugaad (locally manufactured transport vehicles) driver's union (AICCTU) organized a demonstration under its banner on 15 June, the day the CM was to come to Bhagalpur demanding- removal of ban on Jugaad vehicles, legal approval for the jugaad vehicles and bringing the jugaad drivers under the purview of Unorganized Workers' Social Security Act. On the day of the demonstration, the Jugaad vehicle drivers started gathering at the Bhagalpur station since morning. The procession left the station premises at around 11 am, carrying red flags, banners, placards stating their demands and raising slogans the government and the state administration. As the Procession was about to reach Ghuran -Peer, the police stopped them from proceeding further. There were sharp confrontations between the protestors and the administration. Eventually, the administration had to bow down in front of the unrelenting spirit of the protestors and allow them to reach the Commissioner's office. AICCTU State Secretary Com. Mukesh Mukt, who was leading the demonstration, also addressed the protestors. He said that under the misinformation being spread by the advocates of the capital, the attack on the livelihood of the poor only exposes the class character of the ruling establishment. We are not ready to die hungry. We will fight at every stage to defend our lives and livelihoods. He warned the administration that if they tried to take any administrative decision to stop the Jugaad vehicles, Bhagalpur would be brought to a standstill. Under no circumstances will the ban on Jugaad vehicles be allowed. Expressing solidarity with the drivers, district CPI (ML) and AIARLA leaders also participated in the demonstration.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:red">6th National Congress of Confederation of Nepalese Professionals</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">The 6th National Congress of Confederation of Nepalese Professionals (CONEP) was held from 17-19 June 2016 in Nepal Academy Hall, Kamaladi, Kathmandu. The congress began on 17 June with a colourful procession which was led CONEP leaders along with invited international guests. On behalf of AICCTU, the procession was led by AICCTU National Vice President, com. S. K. Sharma. Inaugurating the 6th National Congress, the Prime Minister of Nepal K.P. Sharma Oli called the workers to play a significant role in the economic development of the country. In Nepal, the reactionary forces were trying to join the capitalist and the feudal remnants to push the country back. There was a need for the working class to consistently struggle against this and to defeat these forces along with the imperialist capital and meet the challenges of economic development. Though the Constitution has been passed, the real challenge is to ensure its implementation.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">Nine trade unions from seven countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Malaysia and Egypt participated in the Congress. The World Federation of Trade Unions was represented by Com. Dev Ranjan Chakravarti. 800 representatives from 26 unions across 75 districts participated in the Congress which was chaired by Com. Vishwanath Pakurel. CONEP is primarily a federation of unions of workers working in the intellectual domain- such as teahcers' unions, public service workers union, auditors union etc. CONEP had played an important role in the struggle against monarchy and thereafter in the struggle for establishing democracy and Constitution. During the Congress most of the speakers including the General Secretary criticized the role played by the Modi government during the passing of the Constitution and the subsequent economic blockade.</span></p><div style="border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle;border:medium none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">AICCTU National VP, Com. S. K. Sharma on behalf of AICCTU conveyed the best wishes for the Congress and also congratulated the people of Nepal for passing a secular, democratic Constitution and rejecting the attempts of the Modi government to try make Nepal a Hindu nation. He added that nearly 80% population of the world has been adversely affected by attack unleashed by neo liberal policies. In India too the Modi government has intensified the attack on workers, students, youth and democracy. 15 crore workers of the country were gearing for a massive strike on 2 September against the pro-corporate, communal, fascist and anti-workers' policies of the government. He concluded by saying that the working class of India has always shared friendly relations with people of Nepal, especially the workers. We are together with you in your struggles. We will unitedly fight against neo liberalism and imperialism. We will fight and we will win. Long live unity of the workers of India and Nepal, workers of the world unite.</span></p><div class="" style="margin:2px 0px 0px;font-size:12.8px"></div></div> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-780154092323067628.post-61653167225982498932016-07-09T19:11:00.001+05:302016-07-09T19:11:43.865+05:30ML Update | No. 28 | 2016<div dir="ltr"><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:2.85pt;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:26pt;line-height:41.6px;color:red"><span class="">ML</span></span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;line-height:38.4px"> </span></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;line-height:38.4px;color:rgb(54,95,145)">Update</span></i></b><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:24pt;line-height:38.4px"></span></i></b></p><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin-top:19.85pt;text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">A <span class="">CPI</span>(<span class="">ML</span>) Weekly News Magazine</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;line-height:16px;font-family:Paras-Hindi;color:gray"></span></p><p align="center" style="font-size:12.8px;margin:19.85pt 6.4pt 0.0001pt 0cm;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray">Vol.19 | No. 28</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:8pt;line-height:12.8px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:gray"> | 5 - 11 JULY 2016</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Bangladesh Terror Attack:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:7.2pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:center;line-height:29pt;vertical-align:middle"><font size="4"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Bangladesh Government Must Take Responsibility For Its Refusal to Tackle Religious Extremism </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The heinous massacre of diners at a Dhaka cafe by terrorists in the name of Islam has shocked people across the world. The terrorists stormed the café shouting Islamic slogans, and took the diners hostage. They brutally tortured and killed those who failed to or refused to recite verses from the Quran. 20 patrons of the cafe were killed in the bloodbath, and two policemen were also killed. Of the six attackers, five were killed and a sixth has reportedly been arrested. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Rival terrorist outfits have claimed responsibility for the attack - Ansar-al-Islam, affiliated to the Al-Qaeda , and the ISIS. From photographers of the attackers posted by the ISIS online, it appears that most of them are well-educated youth from Bangladesh's affluent and influential families. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The Dhaka café massacre is no isolated instance of terrorism. Bangladesh's Government has had ample warning signs of the dangerously escalating radicalisation and violence by terrorist groups. For the past several years, Bangladesh has witnessed a spate of brutal killings of secularists, rationalists, bloggers, writers, gay rights activists, Hindu priests and individuals from the minority Hindu and Christian communities. Bangladesh's Awami League Government had no effective or purposeful response to these attacks. Instead, responsible leaders of the Government indulged in victim-blaming.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">Just a month ago, the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, speaking on the occasion of the Bengali New Year, preached 'tolerance' as essential for development. But in the same breath she said, "But if anyone writes filthy words against our religion, why should we tolerate that? Why should the government take responsibility if such writings lead to any untoward incidents?" Similarly, after Bangladeshi atheist blogger Nazimuddin Samad was hacked to death, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had said that Samad's writings "needed to be scrutinized to see whether he wrote anything objectionable about religion." Such remarks, like those of communal politicians in India who want to investigate if the lynch-mob victim Akhlaque ate beef, amount to victim blaming and a rationalisation of bigotry and religious fundamentalist violence. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The roots of Islamic extremism in Bangladesh lie in the Jamaat-e-Islami, the fountainhead of horrendous war crimes during the Bangladesh war of independence. In the period when military dictatorships ruled Bangladesh, the Jamaat-e-Islami was rehabilitated and political Islam instated as a part of mainstream Bangladesh politics. The Jamaat-e-Islami is now an ally of Bangladesh's main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), both of whom make no secret of their espousal of a political Islamism. The Awami League, in spite of its secular posturing, has allowed the Islamic outfits a free rein, trivialising each communal murder as an isolated aberration. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The refusal of Bangladesh's mainstream political parties to nip political Islam and a growing communal discourse in the bud has much to answer for in the unchecked proliferation of terrorist attacks. The only ray of hope lies in the fact that a considerable section of Bangladeshi society continues to be committed to fighting attempts to turn the country into an Islamic state. The Shahbag movement of 2013, a huge popular uprising demanding punishment for Islamist perpetrators of war crimes, also raised its voice strongly against religion-based politics. In spite of the barbaric killings, young activists continue to courageously raise their voices in support of a robust secularism. During the latest terror attack, a 20-year old Bangladeshi man Faraaz Hossain was offered a chance to save his life and leave, after he recited the Quran verses. But he chose, instead, to stay back with his two young woman friends, one of them an Indian teenager Tarishi Jain, and was killed with them. Another Bangladeshi woman Ishrat Akhond, refused to recite the verses and was hacked to death.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The events in Bangladesh must also push us to reflect on the growing politicisation of religion and resultant communal and terrorist violence in the whole of the subcontinent. In India, outfits espousing political Hindutva have killed writers for their secular writings; and murdered Muslims on charges that they 'eat beef.' They have issued threats against all those who refuse to chant slogans in favour of 'Bharat Mata' – India visualised as a Hindu goddess. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, murders and massacres in the name of Islam refuse to abate. In Sri Lanka, the genocide Tamil had a definite core of communal politics, with anti-Tamil bigotry merging with a political discourse of Buddhist majoritarianism. In Myanmar also, military dictators and mainstream 'democratic' politicians alike have appeased Buddhist bigotry and organised violence against the minority Rohingya Muslims. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The Bangladesh Government must be held accountable for the spate of terrorist attacks including the latest attack in the Dhaka café. The Awami League and the Government cannot look the other way and condone killings. We stand with the people of Bangladesh who are fighting the forces of political Islam and demanding an end to terrorism. Secular forces across the subcontinent must speak up and unite against the dangerous forces that are politicising religion and promoting intolerance and violence in the name of religion. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Pay Hikes Announced by Government are Paltry </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">The pay hikes for Central Government employees announced by the Modi Government in keeping with the 7th Pay Commission recommendations are paltry and shamefully inadequate. The real increase over the previously set minimum pay is only 14.29%, which is lowest in the last fifty years. The minimum wage calculated by the 7th Pay Commission at Rs 18000 is grossly distorted and inadequate. The Central Trade Unions are demanding a minimum wage of Rs 26000. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">The pay hike announced by the Modi Government also adds insult to injury by failing to take into the account the steep increase of prices of essential food items, such as dal and other items of daily consumption. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">The <span class="">CPI</span>(<span class="">ML</span>) extends support and solidarity to the employees organisations and central Trade Unions that are agitating to demand a revised announcement in keeping with their demands.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protests against Corruption</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">A protest meeting was held in front of the Zonal office, Patratu on 14 June 2016 under the leadership of the Jharkhand Gramin Mazdoor Sabha (Patratu block) on the issue of corruption in disbursement of ration-kerosene. A 22-point charter of demands was submitted to the Jharkhand government. Ration-kerosene has not been disbursed by the dealer for the last 3 to 8 months in the villages of Baridih and Kadru in the remote hilly adivasi areas of Baridih panchayat. The Gramin Mazdoor Sabha had submitted a petition protesting against this, signed by 150 consumers from Baridih and 100 from Kadru village, to the Zonal officer and the Deputy Commissioner. Thereafter, 65 consumers of Baridih village were given rations. However, the rest have still not been given ration and no action has been taken against the dealer. This had created much dissatisfaction among the villagers, hundreds of whom joined the protest.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">In another protest, a rally was taken out through the Patratu bazaar to demand "dakhal" (possession) on lands given to adivasis through Bhoodaan in the Hudumgarh village of Jawahar Nagar panchayat and against illegal capture of these lands by dominant forces. The protest was also against the sale of rural raiyati lands to corporate companies by the land mafia in Kurse village (Kurse panchayat), further demanding that the legitimate peasants should be given possession of these lands. The protestors warned that if the issues of the poor were not adequately addressed and if the corruption in the issuance of caste and domicile certificates, dakhal-kharij of lands and distribution of ration-kerosene was not ended, the Gramin Sabha would launch a big and sustained agitation against this.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Women Workers' National Workshop</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">AICCTU held its national women workers' workshop in Tata Nagar on 25–26 June 2016. The workshop was held in Munniji Sabhagar, Mahendra Singh Nagar. The theme of the workshop was: "Organising Working Women: Challenges and Tasks".</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">The open session held on 25 June was presided over by AICCTU vice president Com. Shashi Yadav. AICCTU national secretary Com. Suvendu Sen welcomed the participants and AIPWA national secretary Com. Kavita Krishnan inaugurated the workshop. AICCTU General Secretary Com. Rajiv Dimri gave the concluding speech in the open session. The solidarity message sent by Com. Kalpana Wilson of the South Asia Solidarity Group was read out in the workshop. AIPWA National Secretary Com. Chaitali Sen also sent her solidarity wishes for the workshop. 66 comrades from 12 states participated in the workshop. There were ASHA, Anganwadi, mid-day meal, domestic, garment, construction and beedi workers among the participants. Nursing students from Bihar too attended the workshop.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">Comrades Bhuvana, Shashi Yadav, Saroj Chaubey, Meena Pal and Premlata Pandey, AICCTU National Council members, presented papers on various challenges facing women workers and discussing in detail the need to organize women workers. There was a lively discussion on these papers and the participants shared their experiences in organizing various sections of women workers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">As a part of the efforts to make the 2 September general strike a success, the workshop decided to organize a campaign in the month of July on the following demands of women workers in the country, apart from state/sector specific demands:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 8pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">• Stop budgetary cuts for welfare programs such as the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and mid-day meal. Stop privatisation of the ICDS and NRHM (under which anganwadi and ASHA workers are employed), as well as the mid-day meal schemes and stop handing these schemes to NGOs.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 8pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">• ASHA, anganwadi, mid-day meal workers, etc. should be granted the status of government employees. and monthly wages of Rs. 20,000 should be fixed for them.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 8pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">• Ensure equal wages for equal work.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 8pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">• Ensure maternity and child care benefits for women workers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 8pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">• Strict implementation of Prevention of Sexual Harassment in Workplaces Act.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 8pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">• Meaningful social security measures for women workers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 8pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">• Enumeration of women workers in various sectors in the country.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 8pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">• Formation of a national-level committee which will investigate into women workers' demands and come forward with recommendations which are to be implemented in a time-bound manner.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.25pt">The workshop formed a 16- member cell with comrades Bhuvana and Shashi Yadav as joint convenors. This cell of AICCTU will take up further work on this front.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Advocates' Struggle in Tamil Nadu</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">Tamil Nadu advocates are on the warpath against the draconian undemocratic amendments to the rule 34(1) of the Advocates' Act 1961, which empowers High court and District judges the powers to debar advocates from practicing in any court without even an enquiry. Already about 50 advocates have been suspended by the Bar Council of India on various charges for fighting against corruption in the Judiciary and for demanding that Tamil be made the official language of the Madras High Court. Contempt proceedings were also initiated against some of the advocates leading the struggle. These draconian amendments to the Advocates' Act have come as the latest in the series of attempts to curb the democratic voices of dissent.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">In spite of the repeated attacks on advocates (Ex-President of the Madurai bench of the High Court Advocates Association was even jailed in a contempt case), the Democratic Advocates Association (DAA) took the initiative and organized a one-day fasting programme in Chennai. <span class="">CPI</span>(<span class="">ML</span>) central committee member Com. Balasundaram addressed the advocates on this occassion. DAA also organized a Convention at the Bar Council, which Senior counsels of Madras High court Ms. R. Vaigai, Mr. Vijayakumar and Com. Kumarasamy (also Politburo member of <span class="">CPI</span>(<span class="">ML</span>)) addressed along with retired High Court Judge Justice Hari Paranthaman.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt"><span class="">CPI</span>(<span class="">ML</span>) and DAA have been campaigning against the draconian amendments to the Advocates' Act, demanding its total withdrawal, participating in several state-level meetings of Bar associations on this issue. Protests have also been independently organized defying orders and rules. <span class="">CPI</span>(<span class="">ML</span>) and DAA published a pamphlet which was well received by advocates. <span class="">CPI</span>(<span class="">ML</span>) took the initiative at the earliest to organize demonstrations in support of the cause of the advocates throughout the state. Programmes at the Madras High court involving various streams of progressive and democratic forces have been organised, which was instrumental in galvanising successful protest actions. A day-long fast at Chennai was also organised in which state leaders of <span class="">CPI</span>, <span class="">CPI</span>(M) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi took part.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">Com. Bharathi, state organizer of DAA, was part of the team that met with the Chief Justice of Tamil Nadu on this issue. The matter could not be resolved at this meeting, and so protests continued. A day-long fasting programme was organized at various district headquarters on 24 June 2016. A 'Rail Roko' was organized on 28 June 2016, in which thousands of advocates courted arrest. Advocates and <span class="">CPI</span>(<span class="">ML</span>) state committee members Bharathi, Ramesh and Desikan courted arrest at Chennai, Tirunelveli and Trichy respectively. Copies of the amendments were burnt on 1 July 2016. A state-level conference of advocates was held at Tiruppur on 3 July 2016, in which eminent retired Judges of the Supreme Court and the Madras High Court participated. A continuous sit–in inside the court complexes was also organized, starting from 4 July 2016 onwards.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:0.2pt">Meanwhile advocates are on total boycott of the courts throughout Tamil Nadu. Seeing the mood of the advocates, a 5-member High Court Judges' committee has now been formed to prescribe further amendments in the Advocates Act. But Tamil Nadu advocates are determined to get all the undemocratic provisions completely withdrawn.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">Protest against Eviction of Street Vendors in Puducherry</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">As soon as the new Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi assumed office in the Raj Nivas of Puducherry, she issued orders for eviction of street vendors in the Puducherry and Karaikal towns, in the name of 'beautification'. This invoked much resentment amongst street vendors and other small businesses in the area.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">In solidarity with agitating street vendors, the Puducherry unit of AICCTU took out a demonstration on 23 June 2016. The demonstration asserted that street vendors are not encroachers, rather big shops and malls owned by the rich are the real encroachers. The demonstration demanded that the central NDA government repeal the draconian Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014. The demonstration was held in the main road of Puducherry town and led by the State AICCTU secretary S. Purushothaman. AICCTU Karnataka state general secretary Clifton D' Rozario, AICCTU National vice president S. Balasubramanian, Jananayaga Kattumana Thozhilalar Sangam (AICEF) Puducherry state secretary Murugan, <span class="">CPI</span>(<span class="">ML</span>) Puducherry rural secretary A. Sakthivelu spoke at the demonstration. The other main demands raised in the protest were:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> i) Sanction Rs.10,000/- to all rain and flood affected street vendors affected in the last year's heavy rains and with 50% subsidy without interest. Loans of all street vendors should be waived.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> ii) Upgrade Unorganized Workers' Welfare Society into a Welfare Board.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> Iii) Implement Right to Education Act in the current academic year so as to benefit all street vendors and workers in industries which have been shut down. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> iv) Implement Rs. 7500/- as pension to unorganized workers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> v) Allocation of 1% welfare fund to street vendors in the Municipalities budget.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> vi) Free supply of power upto 100 units to all street vendors</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> vii) Drop the proposal of 'No vendors Zone' in the main thorough fares.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> viii) Provide free godowns, toilets, drinking water and rest rooms to all street vendors.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> ix) Strictly implement ban of plastic bags, and plant tree saplings in all streets.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> x) Take stringent actions against those officials (municipal, Police) who misbehave with street vendors.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 12pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> xi) Provide basic amenities to Sunday Market vendors.</span></p><b style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">AICCTU convention in Rudrapur</span></b><span style="font-size:12.8px"></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.2pt">AICCTU organized a convention at Rudrapur (Uttarakhand) on 26 June against the State government's repressive anti-worker stance and the undeclared labour policy of the Uttarakhand government (no labour laws, no unions, no democratic rights, no adherence to the minimum wages law, and no right to strike), and to demand restoration of democracy in SIDCUL and the arrest of the attackers of labour leader KK Bora.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.2pt">The convention was attended by AICCTU National Vice President Com. Raja Bahuguna, <span class="">CPI</span> (<span class="">ML</span>) State Secretary Com. Rajendra Pratholi, CITU State President Com. Satyaprakash, Uttarakhand Transport Party President PC Tiwari, North-Eastern Railway Workers' Union President Kulwant Singh, Munish Kumar, Qaisar Rana from RDF, Akhil Bharatiya Kisan National Executive member Afroz Alam,<span class="">CPI</span>(<span class="">ML</span>) Uttarakhand State President Purushottam Sharma, Kumaoni writer Ratan Singh Chirmoliya, progressive intellectual Ajit Sahni, writer and cartoonist Suresh Lal, senior farmer leader Bahadur Singh Jangi, Mukul from Mazdoor Sahyog Kendra, AICCTU State secretary KK Bora, Lattha Mazdoor Union President Mubarak Shah, Lalit Matiyali, Kamal Joshi, Gopal Gadiya, Kishan Baghri, and workers and activists from the unions in Mantri Metals, RML, MK, Delphi-TVS, MINDA, Auto Line, Mahindra CIE, Century Pulp and Paper Mills and other unions. The convention was presided over by AICCTU State President Com. Nishan Singh and conducted by District secretary Dinesh Tiwari.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.5pt 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19.2px;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;color:rgb(192,0,0)">AISA Leader Assaulted by ABVP Goons in Delhi University</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.2pt">On 1 July 2016, AISA Delhi University unit leader Abhinav Kumar was brutally beaten up in the premises of his college, Deshbandhu college, by ABVP goons including Himanshu Bidhuri (son of BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri), Rajat Choudhary and three more ABVP cadres. In the previous DUSU elections, Comrade Abhinav was AISA's DUSU Joint Secretary candidate. He had secured more than 10,000 votes, thus providing a massive challenge to the ABVP's politics of money and muscle power, and to their fascist agenda and propaganda. On 1 July, Comrade Abhinav was helping new students with admission formalities. Without any provocation, Abhinav was surrounded by these goons from ABVP, who asked him to stop admission assistance in his own college. When he refused, they demanded that he shout 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'. When Abhinav ignored them and continued with assisting students with admission-related queries and formalities, the ABVP goons slapped him so many times that now his hearing in his left ear is severely impaired.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-size:12.8px;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.2pt">Following this assault, AISA as well as other student organisations in DU have been demanding action against those who perpetrated this assault. More than three hundred students participated in a massive protest held outside the Delhi Police Headquarters. AISA, CYSS, DSU as well as Disha participated in this protest. After the protest a delegation consisting of JNUSU Vice President Shehla, AISA national president Sucheta, AISA leaders Sudhanshu and Abhinav met the DCP of South East District Mr. Randhawa. He refused to act on the demand for the immediate registration of an FIR to investigate the violence, claiming that "further investigation by doctors" is necessary. He also promised that a doctor would contact Abhinav regarding the same. However, some days have passed now since this promise, and no FIR has been filed despite repeated demands from AISA. Clearly, the Delhi Police is trying its level best to protect the perpetrators of the violence, especially given their political connections with well-known BJP leaders. Bureaucratic hassles are being created, and even though copies of the MLC clearly mention injuries to Abhinav, the Delhi Police appears to be succumbing to political pressure.</span></p><div style="font-size:12.8px;border-width:medium medium 1pt;border-style:none none solid;padding:0cm 0cm 1pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:11.9pt;line-height:15.36px;vertical-align:middle;border:medium none;padding:0cm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9pt;line-height:14.4px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:-0.2pt">Forced by a spirited protest against its hooliganism, the ABVP has launched a vicious tirade of threats, intimidation and lies against AISA leaders. Himanshu Bidhuri's father Ramesh Bidhuri has jumped to his son's defence and claims that Himanshu is being politically targeted because he is a BJP MP's son. ABVP's DU leadership too is defending Himanshu and is threatening to file defamation cases against AISA leaders including JNUSU Vice President Shehla. The ABVP-RSS-BJP's entire PR machinery is being used to claim that Ramesh Bidhuri's son is innocent. Last year, when AISA activists were campaigning against the imposition of the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) in DU, they had been attacked by ABVP activists. Progressive and democratic minded forces in DU have been opposing this culture, and hence have been at the receiving end of ABVP violence.</span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12.8px"><span lang="EN-GB"> </span> </p> </div> CPIMLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171735226589825128noreply@blogger.com0