ML Update 33-34 / 2013

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.  16                          No. 33-34                                                                                                        13-19 AUG 2013

Be Alert to Rebuff Communal Violence

Instances of communal violence are flaring up in various parts of the country, and it is important to remain alert to and rebuff the efforts of certain political forces to make communal capital by fomenting violence. 

In Kishwar in Jammu and Kashmir, a communal conflagration has claimed four lives, left many injured, and devastation of houses, shops, and property. In spite of intelligence alerts warning of communal violence, the J&K Government failed to take steps to avert the violence. The Home Minister of the State, Sajjad Kitchloo, who is also the MLA from Kishtwar, has rightly had to resign in the wake of the violence.

Whether the initial clashes with an Id procession were spontaneous or engineered by political forces must be investigated. It is all too clear that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are making an all out effort to fan the flames of communal violence. The BJP's effort is to capitalise on the J&K clashes in order to put communal wind in the sails of its election campaign towards the next Lok Sabha polls. Every communal conflagration for the BJP, especially one in J&K, is an occasion to boost its hate campaign that paints the Muslims as 'enemies of the nation.' Anti-Pakistan jingoism therefore goes hand in hand with their attempts to foment communal hatred by identifying Muslim minorities with Pakistan.    

In other states as well, there is a rise in instances of communal violence. In Nawada in Bihar, communal violence has flared up in an organized way, and is still ongoing. In Bhojpur too, there was an incident of communal mischief recently, where CPI(ML) comrades played an important role in resisting the communal campaign and maintaining harmony. There have been other instances of communal violence in Bettiah, Khagaria and Jamui. 

A news daily has reported that in the six weeks since the JD(U)-BJP split, two dozen instances of communal clashes have been reported in Bihar, several times the average for the state in recent years. In July alone, Bihar reported 16 cases of communal violence. It is impossible to ignore the political implication of this sharp rise in communal violence. When the JD(U) and BJP were in alliance for the past 8 years, the BJP ran a calculated and concerted campaign of communalization in the state, especially in North-east Bihar, with the approval and patronage of its ally the JD(U). The Sangh held several conferences of backward and even adivasi and dalit communities during this period, seeking to communalise. The police brutality in Forbesganj, backed fully by local BJP leaders, bore the stamp of this communal campaign. The spate of arrests, torture, and even custodial death of Muslim youth of Darbhanga on extremely flimsy and questionable terror charges went without protest by the Bihar CM, who failed to speak for the rights of these sons of Bihar. The Sangh Parivar's student wing ABVP ran a vicious campaign against the proposal to set up a branch of the Aligarh Muslim University in Bihar. Just last year, Nitish Kumar, contrary to his secular posturing today, inaugurated a Sangh-backed event at Srikrishna Memorial Hall in Patna to commemorate the centenary of Sangh founder Golwalkar. Now, after the split, the BJP has intensified its communal offensive, while the JD(U) hopes to benefit from the communal polarisation and the resulting insecurity of the minorities.

In Uttar Pradesh too, there has been a recent instance of communal violence at Meerut, and an escalation in communal violence ever since the Samajwadi Party Government came to power. The Samajwadi Party's own politics of opportunist hobnobbing with communal forces and attempts to foster communal polarisation are to blame, as are the efforts of the Sangh Parivar and BJP – including its top national leadership – to revive its cow protection and Ram Mandir campaigns. There were 27 instances of communal violence in UP between March and December 2012, and 24 instances between January and March 2013. The Samajwadi Party's complete failure to act against communal forces and curb communal violence can be contrasted with their opportunist attempts to give an anti-communal spin to their vindictive action against an IAS officer who had been acting against the sand-mining mafia.        

Those responsible for fomenting communal violence in J&K, Bihar and UP must be identified and brought to book. With the Lok Sabha polls approaching, it is important for all people to remain alert to expose and rebuff any attempts to whip up communal tensions and engineer communal violence by vested interests.   

Convention Held To Commemorate
the Centenary of the Ghadar  Movement

With Independence Day approaching, a National Convention was held in Delhi to commemorate the Centenary of a unique chapter in India's freedom struggle – the Ghadar Movement. The Convention, organised by the All India Left Coordination (AILC) at Mavalankar Hall, was marked by the presence of descendants of the Ghadarites, audio-visual presentations by historians on the Ghadar Movement, and addresses by Left leaders of the CPI(ML) and CPM Punjab on the contemporary relevance of the Ghadar legacy for people's movements in India today. 

A cultural group from the Deshbhakt Yadgar Committee, Jalandhar, presented revolutionary songs at the outset. Among those on the stage were renowned and veteran Marxist scholar and political scientist Prof. Randhir Singh, Justice (Retd) Rajinder Sachar, Savitri Sawhney, daughter of Ghadar Party leader Pandurang Khankhoje, and JPS Kohli, grandson of Ghadar Party leader Dr. Mathura Singh.

Prof. Chaman Lal made an impressive presentation of the remarkable history of the Ghadar movement, with the help of slides with historic photographs. He showed how a 100 years ago, Indian revolutionaries living as immigrants in North America and Canada formed the Ghadar Party to fight for India's independence from British rule. The movement intensified in mid-1914 when a ship, the Kamagata Maru, full of Indian immigrants was turned back at Canada, and several of the passengers killed and arrested on its return to India in the clash with the colonial police. The Ghadar Party declared the Ailan-e-jang (Proclamation of War) in this backdrop, inspiring thousands of Indian immigrants to return to the homeland to organize an armed rebellion. But in spite of widespread support, the movement was ruthlessly crushed. In Singapore, 37 Ghadar supporters were executed and 41 transported for life. In the conspiracy trials, 45 Ghadar leaders were sentenced to death and more than 200 to long prison terms. The Ghadar movement's legacy was carried forward by revolutionaries like Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, and many Ghadarites became communist party organisers.     

Historian Prof. Shamsul Islam spoke about the anti-imperialist and staunchly secular legacy of the Ghadar movement, which is in glaring contrast to the role of the Hindutva forces which remained aloof from the freedom struggle.

CPM Punjab Secretary Mangat Ram Pasla said that today, the Ghadar movement's anti-imperialist legacy has more relevance than ever, when India's Government shamefully serves the interests of American imperialism, opening up India to plunder through FDI, and telling Indian people to eat meals on Rs 5 a day. He called upon India's people to complete the unfinished task of the Ghadar movement.

CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya asked if India could really call itself free when the US Government can spy on India, and when India's is the only Government in the world that is loyal enough to American masters to defend US spying?

Comrade Dipankar said that the Ghadar movement's legacy shows us that true patriotism can only be secular and anti-imperialist, in stark contrast to the communal and corporate-backed fascist agenda being peddled by Narendra Modi and the BJP.

A film in memory of the Ghadar movement was screened at the end of the Convention, and a resolution was adopted vowing to hold events commemorating the Ghadar legacy all over the country, and to continue the Ghadar revolutionaries' struggle for a truly free, self-respecting, and democratic India. Resolutions were also adopted condemning the repression unleashed on people's movements in Uttarakhand and Karbi Anglong, and supporting the struggles of the Indian Gorkhas of Darjeeling for Gorkhaland, and of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao for an autonomous state under Article 244A.   

Resolution Adopted At Ghadar Centenary Convention

1. This Convention calls upon the people of India to celebrate 2013 as the centenary year of a glorious chapter in our freedom struggle: the great Ghadar movement. It was a unique agitation that emerged from the Indian, mainly Punjabi, immigrant community in North America and spread back to India with a heroic passion to liberate the enslaved motherland. As our country continues to suffer from stark colonial hangovers and remains to be emancipated from the oppressive alliance of imperialism, big capital and stubborn feudal remnants, Ghadar di goonj (the call of rebellion) still rings in our ears and enjoins on us to speed up our struggle for liberation. This Convention appreciates the consistent efforts of various individuals and groups in Punjab and in the world who have striven to preserve and promote the historical legacy of the Ghadar movement, and resolves to intensify these efforts   

2. During the first decade of the 20th century, a large number of poor but highly enterprising Punjabi peasants, agrarian labourers and workers went to the USA and Canada in search of livelihood. Many were refused entry; those who managed to settle there were routinely subjected to all sorts of racial contempt, discrimination and even physical attacks which are so common today, but on a much larger scale than at present. Repeated appeals were made to the British authorities to take up these matters with the US and Canadian governments on behalf of the migrants, but in vain. The British authorities actually encouraged these restrictions and attacks, because they did not like the prospect of more and more of their subjects going to Europe and America and get 'infected' with ideas of liberty and socialism.

3. Learning from experience and aroused by intensification of activities of national revolutionaries back home (in particular, a bomb attack on Lord Hardinge, Viceroy of India, in Delhi on 23 December, 1913) the immigrant community came to feel more strongly about armed rebellion as the only path of liberating the motherland. Among the first preachers of this doctrine was Bhagwan Singh, who came to Vancouver in the early 1913, but only to be externed by the Canadian government very soon.

4. A more sustained and broad-based agitation was started in the USA under the leadership of Sohan Singh Bhakna, Lala Har Dayal, Bhai Premanand and others. In the inaugural meeting of the Hindi Association of Pacific Coast held in May 1913 in Portland, Har Dayal, who had served as Secretary of the San Francisco branch of the Industrial Workers of the World and was probably the first Indian to write an article on Karl Marx (published in the Modern Review, Calcutta, in March 1912), set forth a plan of action: "Do not fight the Americans, but use the freedom that is available in the US to fight the British; you will never be treated as equals by the Americans until you are free in your own land; the root cause of Indian poverty and degradation is British rule and it must be overthrown, not by petitions but by armed revolt; carry this message to the masses and to the soldiers in the Indian Army; go to India in large numbers and enlist their support." Everybody agreed and a headquarters called Yugantar Ashram was set up in San Francisco and a weekly paper – Ghadar – began to roll out from November that year, first in Urdu and Gurumukhi and gradually in some other Indian languages too. Soon the movement came to be known by the name of this highly popular magazine.

5. The Ghadar systematically exposed British rule in India and propagated the views and activities of revolutionary nationalists. It also highlighted the daring deeds of revolutionary nationalist groups in Bengal and other parts of India. Over and above revolutionary zeal, the articles and the many poems (also published separately as Ghadar di goonj) conveyed a robust secularism that stood in bright contrast against the Hindu religious overtones which often marked the nationalist discourse.

6. When World War I broke out in 1914, the Ghadarites decided to utilise Britain's difficulty as India's opportunity. Their passions were inflamed further by the Kamagata Maru episode in mid-1914. A ship bearing this name and carrying 376 Indian (mainly Punjabi – Sikhs and Muslims) would- be immigrants to Canada were turned back from Vancouver Port. During the ship's months-long journey to Canada and back, lectures and agitations were organised by Ghadar activists and others at various ports of call voicing solidarity with the harassed passengers. After a tiring continuous journey back home, the ship reached Budge Budge on the Ganga near Calcutta on 29 September 1914. A clash with the police ensued, nearly 20 passengers were killed and 202 arrested.

7. It was in a charged situation like this that an Ailan e -jang (Proclamation of War) was declared. Ghadar leaders addressed a series of public meetings, urging Indians to go back to India and organise an armed rebellion there. Capable organisers were also sent to countries like Japan, China, the Philippines etc to persuade Indians to do the same. Responding to this call, around 8000 immigrants returned to India. The Government of India arrested the "most dangerous" among them and restricted a good many to their villages. Others toured and lectured a lot to rouse the people but the response of ordinary Punjabi peasants to the call of armed insurrection was rather lukewarm. To make matters worse, the Chief Khalsa Diwan declared the Ghadar followers to be 'fallen' Sikhs and criminals and helped the authorities to find them out. A few attempts made in late 1914 to rouse Sikh Army units to revolt also did not succeed.

8. Ghadar leaders then invited Rash Bihari Bose to help organise a coordinated mutiny in several army units in Punjab, UP and certain other places on a single day. But the plan was leaked out and most of the leaders got arrested, although Bose made good his escape to Japan. A few scattered mutinies were ruthlessly crushed, e.g., in Singapore where 37 were executed and 41 transported for life. Conspiracy trials were held, 45 Ghadar leaders were sentenced to death and more than 200 to long prison terms. Some attempts were then made to organise a revolt in Indian troops stationed abroad, but again in vain.

9. Despite the apparent failure, the Ghadar was eminently successful in spreading an intense patriotism and spirit of sacrifice among all Indian immigrants – not only in North America but also in other countries – and that on a strong secular, democratic and egalitarian foundation. Among the leaders and martyrs of the Ghadar movement there were Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus from different regions of India. As Sohan Singh Bhakna, one of the top leaders who would become an important leader of CPI, said later, "We were not Sikhs or Punjabis. Our religion was patriotism." The same feeling was expressed by the young Abdullah, one of the rebel sepoys executed in Ambala, who when lured by the authorities to betray his kafir (non-Muslim) comrades, retorted: "It is with these men alone that the gates of heaven shall open to me."

10. Ghadar leaders and activists held the first war of independence in high esteem. They were imbued with a broad internationalist outlook, drawing inspiration from Irish, Mexican and Russian as well as Indian revolutionaries. The movement based itself on the fine revolutionary traditions of Indian freedom struggle and left for future generations of Indians within the country and abroad a noble legacy of uncompromising struggle against colonialism and imperialism. Among those who carried the torch forward even after the movement was physically annihilated were the Kirti Kisan Party, Babar Akali movement, and the Naujawan Bharat Sabha led by Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, while many of the Ghadar leaders and activists later developed into peasant organisers and communists.

11. The Ghadar movement has more relevance than ever, when India's Government shamefully serves the interests of American imperialism, while its leaders tell Indian people to eat meals on Rs 5 a day. The Government is hell bent on opening up every sector to FDI, allowing foreign and Indian corporations to plunder the country's resources and rob people of land, forests, and livelihood, and brutally repress every people's movement. Edward Snowden revealed that the America Government spies on the world, including India – but India is shamefully the only Government in the world that is loyal enough to American masters to defend US spying. At such times, we know that the battle of the Ghadar heroes is far from over – and this Convention resolves to continue their struggle for a truly free and self-respecting India.

12. Today, we see politicians of India's ruling parties defending massacres of Muslim, Sikh and Christian minorities. Narendra Modi, directly implicated in massacres and fake encounters, is being promoted as a potential PM. Corporations are backing Modi because his rule in Gujarat represents a 'successful' model of corruption, corporate plunder and repression, while his aggressive politics of communal hatred has helped him to avoid the political consequences that other corrupt and repressive governments have faced. The Sangh Parivar projects itself and its representative Modi as 'nationalist' heroes. The fact, though, is that the RSS never played any role in the freedom movement, and true revolutionaries in the freedom movement – including the historic Ghadar movement, resolutely rejected any notion of 'Hindu nationalism', and robustly defended secular values. This Convention calls upon democratic people of India to resist communal and corporate fascism with all their might, doing justice to the principles of secularism, democracy and anti-imperialism that we have inherited from the Ghadar revolutionaries.   

On the occasion of the centenary of this great movement, we pay deep tributes to the courage, commitment and self-sacrifice of Ghadar fighters and rededicate ourselves to the great cause they fought for.

Further Resolutions Adopted at Ghadar Centenary Convention

1.       This Convention holds the devastating natural calamity in Uttarakhand to be the result primarily of the policies of corporate plunder followed by its successive governments. This Convention condemns the Uttarakhand Government's complete apathy towards the urgent question of relief work, due to which the affected are yet to receive comprehensive medical care, relief and rehabilitation. This Convention condemns the repressive approach of the Uttarakhand Government towards people's movements, especially the move by the Nainital police and administration to brand the popular peasant leader and CPI(ML) leader Bahadur Singh Jangi as a Maoist and threaten to charge his associates with sedition; and to book AISA activists for a draconian 1932 law against effigy-burning. The Convention demands the immediate suspension of Nainital SSP Sadanand Date and withdrawal of the cases lodged against AISA activists.

2.       This Convention condemns the repression unleashed on the people's movement for autonomous statehood in Karbi Anglong, and demands the immediate release of all arrested activists including CPI(ML) CCM Rabi Kumar Phangcho. This Convention demands that the UPA Government without further delay honour the aspirations of the people of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao for an autonomous state under Article 244A and of the people of Darjeeling and Indian Gorkhas for a separate state of Gorkhaland.     

Repression on People's Movement for Autonomous Statehood in Karbi Anglong

The repression unleashed by the Assam Government on people's movement activists, especially CPI(ML) activists, in Karbi Anglong continues. Meanwhile the local unit of the Congress party poses as a supporter of the cause of autonomous statehood, remaining unscathed by repression, even as its governments at Assam and at the Centre reject the demand for autonomous statehood, provision for which already exists in the Constitution under Article 244A! 

On 1st August, Comrades Laichan Engleng, President, KSA, Binod Rongphar, General Secretary, KSA and Sander Terong, Finance Secretary, KSA were arrested and beaten badly in custody. Subsequently, Comrade Rabi Kumar Phancho, Central Committee Member of the CPI(ML) went to the DC office to submit a memorandum for their release, and was arrested on his way back! Not only that, the CPI(ML) office was raided in the night, and all those present in the office were arrested and jailed, including Comrade Rabi Phancho's teenage son Jeebo, who was merely waiting in the hope of his father's return.

A total of 18 comrades of Karbi Anglong are now in Assam jails. Many of them have been transferred from Diphu jail to Nagaon jail, outside the district, far from their families. On 13th August, Comrade Rabi Phangcho (still in Diphu jail) was produced in Court, where 6 additional sections were added to the 12 sections under which he had already been booked.

On 8th August, severe repression was unleashed on the CPI(ML)'s silent procession in Diphu. The police lathicharged the protesters, more than 80% of whom were women, and fired blanks. Assam State Secretary Bibek Das, Polit Bureau member Rubul Sarma, Assam State Committee Member Arup Mahanta, and Hill Party Committee members Khorsing Sinner and Sam Kiling were among the 27 comrades including 15 women who were severely lathicharged. Comrade Bibek Das was arrested and jailed, and released the next day.

To protest the repression, a procession was held in the Assam capital Guwahati on the 12th, in which 500 people marched from Guwahati Railway Station to the DC office at Kamrup. A memorandum was submitted to the Governor and Union Home Minister demanding the unconditional release of all arrested activists and leaders, autonomous statehood for Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts under Article 244A, and immediate tripartite talks between Assam and Central Governments and movement leaders on the question of autonomous statehood. 

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication,
R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22518248, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org

 

--
ML Update A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine U-90 Shakarpur Delhi - 110092 INDIA PHONE: 91 11 22521067 FAX: 91 11 22442790 Web: http://cpiml.org

ML Update 32 / 2013

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.  16        No. 32                                           30 JUL-5 AUG 2013

UPA Government:

Stop Appeasing US Bosses!

The Parliament is scheduled to meet for the monsoon session in August and the government says it wants to transact serious legislative business in this last major session before the forthcoming general elections. As many as 99 Bills are pending in the two Houses of Parliament including the much talked about Food Security Bill which has already been promulgated as an ordinance. With the Parliament session just round the corner, parliamentary convention required the government to come up with the Bill first and not circumvent the parliamentary process by resorting to a Presidential Ordinance. Yet in its desperation to make electoral capital of the chronic problem of mass hunger, the UPA government has done precisely that.

The real moves of an utterly discredited and desperate UPA government are however not limited to the pretentious tokenism of a food security legislation. The government is working overtime to appease the American bosses hoping to impress the angry Indian electorate with an American certificate of 'good conduct and excellent performance'. With the exchange value of the Indian rupee nose-diving to 60 per dollar, India's import bill is becoming increasingly unmanageable. Short-term compulsions of debt repayment are also exerting great pressure on India's forex reserves. It was a similar scenario in early 1990s that led the Indian policy establishment to opt for the neoliberal package of liberalization, privatization and globalization. And after twenty-two years as the Indian economy finds itself in a deeper mess, Indian policymakers can think of no other course but to extend still greater concessions to global capital.

As elections draw nearer and the shadow of economic crisis grows darker and longer, frantic parleys are on between key architects of the Indian policy establishment and their American counterparts. Just as Chidambaram, Anand Sharma and Montek Singh Ahluwalia returned from their appeasement mission to the US, there came the announcement of an across-the-board hike in FDI limits in a dozen sectors of strategic importance including telecommunications, insurance and defence. This has of course made the US establishment hungry for more, as became glaringly evident from the wish list presented by US Vice-President Joe Biden during his recent visit to India. Biden's visit was preceded by the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry and will be followed by another Manmohan-Obama meet in Washington later this year.

The Congress had signed the Indo-US strategic partnership and the subsequent nuclear deal during its first tenure. Before the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, it now seeks to push the country deeper into the policy trap laid by the US. Biden's wish list gives us an idea of the kind of concessions the Americans are demanding and the Congress may well end up extending. The US wants not only greater FDI concessions in every sector but a lenient tax regime and still greater Indian reliance on American imports. In particular, the US wants India to completely open up the insurance sector, accept the intellectual property right claims of US pharmaceutical companies and weaken, if not altogether waive, the liability clause in civilian nuclear trade. The US-India Business Council has also written to President Barack Obama complaining about India's 'archaic laws in land acquisition'.

Economic interests apart, the US wants assured Indian assistance in implementing its AfPak policy. As the US and its NATO allies contemplate 'withdrawal' of their combat forces from Afghanistan by 2014, the US wants India to step in and fill the void. Indian involvement in Afghanistan in compliance with the US game-plan is fraught with dangerous consequences. It will make India an automatic target of Taliban resistance and terrorist attacks. And it will invariably open up another front of tension and possible conflict with Pakistan. It is one thing for India to extend assistance to Afghanistan within a framework of bilateral as well as South Asian cooperation, but India footing the economic, political and military bill of US design in Afghanistan is a completely different proposition.

The pro-corporate pro-US policies pursued by successive governments over the last two decades have already landed India into a deep economic and foreign policy crisis. The frantic election-eve measures now being taken by the UPA government can only aggravate the crisis. The country must resist these disastrous moves tooth and nail and get ready to vote out the discredited UPA government along with its entire policy baggage.

W Bengal Panchayat Polls: A Report

The spate of violence unleashed by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leading to the death of at least 24 people in poll-related clashes in the nomination and voting phases continued in the counting phase too, as the blood-soaked five-phased Panchayat elections in West Bengal rolled to a close. Amidst widespread instances of booth jamming, snatching of valid votes, beating up counting agents of political opponents, the use of force, violence and terror seems to have been normalized, being fueled up by hate speeches from the TMC leadership perched on podiums. As results started emerging, it is clear that the TMC is all set to form Zila Parishads (upper tier of the 3-tiered Panchayati Raj) in 13 out of 17 districts - Nadia, West Midnapore, Howrah, Cooch Behar, South Dinajpur, Bankura, Burdwan, Birbhum, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Purulia, East Midnapore and Hooghly. The CPI(M) and the Left parties are in a position to win ZPs of North Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri. The Congress is set to capture Murshidabad ZP, whereas in Malda, it's a hung verdict. There the Congress and CPI(M) are tied with 16 ZP seats each, whereas TMC has got just 6 ZPs in this district.

As overall trends, it is clear that the TMC has summarily routed the CPI(M) from its traditional rural citadels in South Bengal, which remained practically resistance-less in face of terror unleashed by the TMC during the entire run-up and election period. With the consolidation of Birbhum, the TMC completes its sweep that begun in the State Assembly elections of 2011. The Left Front partners are also confronted with major crisis. In Cooch Behar, Forward Bloc lost a lion's share of GPs to TMC, whereas the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) conceded its hold over South 24-Parganas and South Dinajpur. The CPI, which had already lost grip over its areas of influence in North 24-Parganas and Midnapore, has no encouraging results either. The Congress is able to retain majority in Murshidabad only, amongst its traditional footholds.

CPI(ML) has been able to form the Gram Panchayat in Naupara 2 (in Dhubulia block of Nadia district), winning 7 out of 12 GP seats. In the Panchayat Samiti level (middle-tier), the party has won a seat in the same block and lost in another by a narrow margin of 12 votes. Naupara GP is witness to an ongoing land struggle. When the CPI(ML) was in power during 2003-2008 in this GP, people under the Party's leadership had distributed river banks among villagers. But after the change of guard in the state, TMC had captured the banks, and ever since CPI(ML) has been leading a struggle to wrest back the land that belongs to the people. The Party has also won six GP seats in Hooghly, but has lost the lone GP that it had formed in Goswami-Malopara in Hooghly. Apart from Nadia and Hooghly, CPI(ML) has won a new GP seat (Kelai-2) in Murshidabad - this area also witness to a long history of political struggle and sacrifice by activists - and two GP seats (Kalna-2 and Memari-2) in Burdwan. In North 24-Parganas, CPI(ML) candidates were leading and all set to win three GP seats (Khanarhat, Sibdaspur/VI and Sibdaspur/VII) in Sibdaspur Gram Panchayat of Barackpore-1 block. But armed TMC goons attacked CPI(ML)'s counting agents and forced them out while trashing a portion of the party's valid votes into the box of invalid ballots. A classic example of state power backing grassroots cadres to turn a democratic process into a complete farce. The candidates and district and state leadership of the party have registered complaints with the Election Commission and Regional and State administration demanding redress.

CPI(ML) Holds Protest In Front Of Bihar Assembly 

Holding the State government entirely responsible for the Mashrakh mid-day meal tragedy, CPI(ML) avers that the Government has no right to remain in power in Bihar. Instead of taking responsibility, Nitish Kumar is indulging in mischievous political blame games. This Government has attained the peak of irresponsibility, injustice, and insensitivity. Due to lack of rain, the whole of Bihar today is reeling under drought, but the Government shows no concern for this. Bihar must be declared a drought hit state without delay and farmers must be given immediate relief. These were some of the points raised by the leaders of the CPI(ML) addressing a one-day protest rally in front of the Assembly on R Block crossroads. The rally was addressed by CPI(ML) State secretary Com. Kunal, Politbureau member Dhirendra Jha, Chairman of Central Control Commission Ramjatan Sharma, Central Committee member Com. K.D. Yadav, General Secretary of All India Kisan Mahasabha and former MLA Rajaram Singh, AIPWA General Secretary Meena Tiwari, AIPWA State President and Secretary Saroj Choubey and Shashi Yadav, State Committee member and former MLA Arun Singh, Kamlesh Sharma, Com. Anita Sinha, Rita Baranwal, Chhapra District Secretary Com. Ram Iqbal, Sabhapati Rai, AIALA leader Gopal Ravidas and others. The meeting was chaired by State standing committee member Com. Rajaram and conducted by Com. Rambali Yadav.

CPI(ML) leaders pointed out that the Chief Minister has no compunctions about wasting public money in various yatras like Sewa Yatra, Nyay Yatra etc but he could not be bothered about reaching the scene of the tragedy in Mashrakh or visiting the victims in Patna Medical College Hospital in spite of being in Patna at the time. This is not the first time the Nitish Government has refused to accept accountability; rather, it has a long track record for this. They said that the Bihar Government has shown the greatest possible insensitivity in the Forbesganj, Madhubani,Paraiyya (Gaya), Bagaha, Purnea,and many other instances of brutal  Police firing cases. Till date no action has been taken on the police which is brutal and trigger-happy in dealing with common citizens, women demanding punishment for rapists, students and youth demanding educational and employment rights, teachers demanding regular wages, Mahadalits and tribals demanding their rightful  land, and minority youth; on the contrary the guilty police personnel have been rewarded with promotions. False cases have been slapped against AIPWA and CPI(ML) leaders protesting and demanding the release of hundreds of adivasis languishing in jail in Purnea. False cases have been lodged in Siwan against former CPI(ML) MLA Satyadev Ram and RYA National President Amarjeet Kushwaha whereas no action has been taken against the BJP MLA who brutally attacked Dalit landless people in Chilmakha village (Guthni), Siwan. The Bihar Human Rights Commission has found the Government guilty in the Aurangabad police firing case but instead of taking action against the guilty SP, this shameless Government is bent on oppressing the leaders of the protest. This Government has never acknowledged its accountability in any of the cases like deaths due to hunger, carnages, custodial killings, the tragedy during Chhat festival in Patna.

On the one hand the poor, dalits and minorities are being given injustice in the name of 'justice'; on the other hand, agricultural land is being taken away from farmers and adivasis and they are being jailed on false charges when they fight for their traditional rights. Crimes like jailing on false charges, rape, gang rape (even of children as young as 6 months), gouging out eyes, acid attacks, have become common in Bihar.

The Government is boasting about development in education and health fields but the Mashrakh incident has brought out the true and horrific conditions of these sectors. The school system is in tatters. 8600 schools in the State are without school buildings and open to the risk of major tragedy any day. This incident has also thoroughly exposed the failure of the medical and disaster management services of the Government. From the inspection of the mid-day meals to disaster management, the ugly truth of the bad governance of the Bihar Government stands exposed. The speakers pointed out that the Nitish Government surpassed even the previous Governments in corruption. Extensive and gigantic looting is going on through BIADA land scams, residential lands for mahadalits, MNREGA, and other development projects. The Mashrakh mid-day meal tragedy also indicates corruption and a scam of enormous proportions. The mid-day meals had a big part in the recent AC/DC scam. The Chhapra incident is not surprising; such incidents can occur any time anywhere in Bihar, for there is no Government worth the name in the State. The people of Bihar have long struggled against this unjust, irresponsible, and insensitive Government but the murder of the school children in Mashrakh has brought the failure of the Government into sharp focus. The Bihar Government has no right to remain in power as it has lost all credibility.

Comrade Charu Mazumdar Martyrdom Day

On 28th July this year, Com. Charu Mazumdar's martyrdom day was observed in Delhi and neighbouring States Rajasthan and Haryana as a Pledge-Taking Day.

A public meeting was organized in East Delhi and Party workers' meetings were conducted in Narela and Wazirpur areas of Delhi.

Addressing the meeting in Mandavali (East Delhi) Party Polit Bureau member Kavita Krishnan called upon the comrades of the East Delhi Party committee to make full preparations for organizing a people's resistance movement on issues concerning the common citizens. The meeting was also addressed by Delhi State Secretary Com. Sanjay Sharma, RYA General Secretary Ravi Rai, Surendra Panchal, Om Prakash Sharma, and was conducted by Com. VKS Gautam. 

In the Narela Party workers' meet a plan was put forward for strengthening the Party and people's organizations and also for organizing people's movements against the Congress' anti-people policies. In the Wazirpur Party workers' meet it was resolved to fulfill the objectives of increasing party membership, fixing accountability and gherao of errant people's representatives, increasing membership of general labour unions, and organizing a conference on August 28.

Addressing the party activists' meet in Asand block of Karnal district in Haryana, the Party in-charge of Haryana State Com.Prem Singh Gehlawat garlanded the portrait of Com. Charu Mazumdar. He said that proactive political steps have to be taken to counter the anti farmer-worker policies of the Congress for solutions to the present problems cannot be achieved without a strong organization. In this context a plan to strengthen the activities of the Party through the Asand block organization. Krishna Saini, Ishwar Pal, Satyavan, Johnny Kashyap, Ram Kumar, Lalit Saini, Prem Singh, Com. Balkar and others were present at the meet.

A convention was organized in Vuhana tehsil of Jhunjhunu  district in Rajasthan to commemorate the martyrdom day of Com. Charu Mazumdar. Attended in large numbers by activists and citizens the convention began with garlanding and paying tributes to Charu Mazumdar and other revolutionaries who were martyred for the cause of people's struggles. Conducted under the leadership of a 5 member board, the chief guest of the convention was Polit Bureau member Com. Prabhat Choudhary. The convention was also addressed by District Secretary Com. Phoolchand Dheba, national councilor of All India Kisan Mahasabha Ramchandra Kulahari and Om Prakash Jhadoda. On this occasion it was resolved to achieve the objective of forming 20 Party branch organizations for undertaking future work. The Party office in Vuhana tahsil was also inaugurated on this occasion.

AICCTU holds its First Punjab Level Convention

The Punjab unit of AICCTU held its first state level convention and a state level body was formed on 28th July, the Martyrdom Day of Com Charu Majumdar and Baba Bujha Singh. The session started with a minute long silence for the martyred comrades.

The twenty one member body was elected by a house of nearly one hundred fifty leading comrades representing various unions affiliated to AICCTU, namely The Sugar Mill Workers Union Punjab, The Textile Majdoor Union, The Foundry Workers Union, Krantikari Kamkazi Mahila Sangathan, Chandiagarh, PGI contract Workers Union, PEC Mess Employees Union, TBRL contract Workers Union, PGI Safayi Karamchari Contract Union, the Lal Jhanda Bhattha Majdoor Union, Construction Workers Union, apart from our groups working among the paramedical health workers, postal employees, palledars. The convention was inaugurated by AICCTU General Secretary Com. Swapan Mukherjee and was addressed by the leaders of various fraternal organizations including Ruldu Singh Mansa, president,

AIKMS, Jasbir Kaur Natt of AIPWA, Harvinder Singh Sema of Majdoor Mukti Morcha. Others among the speakers were Gurmeet Singh Bakhtpura, Gurpreet Singh Rureke, Kanwaljeet Singh, Gulzar Singh, Satish Kumar, Sukhdev Singh, Om Parkash, Eisha, Pritpal Singh, Gurjant Singh Mansa. The convention was also addressed by Com. Rajvinder Singh Rana, State Secretary of CPI(ML).

The convention elected Com Gurmeet Singh Bakhtpura as President, Gurpreet Singh Rureke as General Secretary and com Satish kumar as the treasurer.

Citizen's Gathering At Jantar Mantar Demands Truth and Justice for Batla House

Students from Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University and concerned citizens gathered today at Jantar Mantar at the call of AISA and RYA. Campus Front of India also joined the gathering. A march at the Jantar Mantar road also took place. Protesters also lit candles, symbolizing that the struggle for truth and justice would refuse to be extinguished.

Protesters said that the court's verdict on the involvement of Shehzad in the Batla 'encounter' case ignores the glaring gap in the prosecution story and leaves many questions unanswered. We still do not have a satisfactory answer – that meets all the facts - to the question of who killed Atif, Sajid, and Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma.

The prosecution failed to show any proof of Shehzad's presence in the L-18 flat on the day of the 'encounter.' They failed to show any spent bullet that could match with a gun that was not already accounted for among the guns attributed to Atif and Sajid (the two boys killed that day) and the police officers. Moreover, the prosecution's claim about how Shehzad 'escaped' from the flat unseen by anyone is ridiculous. He would have to be Spiderman to be able to leap from the fifth floor building. The defence asked the judge to come and view the building himself. The police testified that no one was seen coming down the stairs – how, then, could Shehzad have passed them, armed with his gun?     

The gathering was addressed by CPI(ML) Polit Bureau member Kavita Krishnan, Sandipan, AISA Delhi President, Sandeep, AISA National President, Shakeel, JNUSU General Secretary and others. The protesters, pointing out that the Supreme Court had set up a Commission to enquire into fake encounters in Manipur, asked that a similar Commission be set up to enquire into the Batla House 'encounter'. They condemned the doublespeak of the Congress party, whose leaders shed crocodile tears for the victims of the 'encounter', and demand a judicial probe, while their own Government and Home Ministry block the possibility of a probe and defend the 'encounter'!

Celebrate 100 years of the Great Ghadar Movement!

Uphold the Ghadar Movement's Legacy of Anti-Imperialism and Secularism!

 Join

  Convention

To Commemorate the Centenary of the 

Ghadar  Movement

 11th August 2013

Mavalankar Auditorium

(Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi)

 4 pm – 8 pm

 To be addressed by

Prof. Chaman Lal

Justice (Retd) Rajinder Sachar

JPS Kohli, Grandson of Ghadar Party leader Dr. Mathura Singh 

Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI(ML)

Mangat Ram Pasla, Secretary, CPM Punjab,

Bhimrao Bansod, Lal Nishan Party (L)

and other scholars, activists, and Left leaders

(Posters and photographs of the Ghadar movement's glorious history will be displayed)

As we resist the anti-poor, anti-people, pro-imperialist policies today

As we fight for justice, truth, and the rights of all Indian citizens

As we fight for an India where minorities can have respect and equality, not fear and abuse,

Ghadar di goonj

still rings in our ears,

and strengthens our resolve to struggle for a truly free, democratic and secular India!

Please join a Convention to commemorate the Centenary of the Ghadar  Movement on 11th August 2013 at Mavalankar Auditorium, (Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi), 4 pm – 8 pm.
- All India Left Coordination (AILC)

--
ML Update A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine U-90 Shakarpur Delhi - 110092 INDIA PHONE: 91 11 22521067 FAX: 91 11 22442790 Web: http://cpiml.org

ML Update 31/2013

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 16, No. 31, 23 – 29 JULY 2013

Midday Meal Tragedy in Bihar – Innocent Victims of Callous Governance

T

he midday meal tragedy at Gandaman village of Masrakh block of Bihar's Chhapra district has come as a severe blow to the tall claims of the powers that be in both Delhi and Patna. The central government treats the midday meal (MDM) scheme as a great innovation that has improved enrolment and retention rate of students at primary level in rural areas while ensuring some basic nutrition to children. And Nitish Kumar is always busy congratulating himself for the great turnaround he claims to have brought about in Bihar. Both these claims lie shattered in the wake of the Masrakh MDM massacre of at least 25 kids (some local people however claim the figure is no less than 29).

The state government instituted a routine probe but even before the probe could reach any conclusion, the education minister of Bihar who recently lost in the Lok Sabha by-poll in the same area, started invoking the conspiracy theory. The school principal who fled away the moment children began to fall ill is apparently related to some leader of the RJD and the minister would want us to believe that the whole tragedy was actually a grand conspiracy hatched by the opposition to discredit and destabilise the government of Bihar. Forensic reports have indicated the presence of a pesticide in the food served to the children, and chances are that the soyabean curry served to the children was actually cooked in pesticide and not edible oil.

The probe must get to the bottom of the tragedy and everybody found guilty or negligent must be punished. But it will clearly be wrong to treat it as an isolated instance – in fact, the very next day there were reports from Madhubani of a similar incident, where children fell ill after taking their midday meal apparently because a lizard had fallen into the food, and from Gaya, where a student died after being administered Vitamin A. The MDM malady is not confined to Bihar – Tamil Nadu too reported a major MDM mishap even as Bihar was reeling under the shock of the Gandaman tragedy. Clearly, the entire MDM scheme is designed and administered in such a flawed and irresponsible manner that the scheme has turned into a scam and tragedies like the Gandaman one can happen almost anywhere anytime.

The Masrakh massacre must lead to a thorough overhauling of the MDM scheme. The midday meal scheme is a key component of the Union government's flagship education programme Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA). Yet there is no guarantee that that the materials used for cooking are fresh and the cooking takes place in a hygienic environment. It is also time the school system, and especially teachers, were freed from the MDM burden. Critics of the MDM scheme rightly point out that education has taken a back seat while the whole focus is on implementing the MDM scheme. And above all, there is this all-important question of how the system deals with the people, especially the poor. The utter contempt with which the poor are treated in every sphere of life can be seen most glaringly in schemes like MDM. It is the rural poor who are forced to send their children to MDM schools and the governments think the poor will put up with anything.

As far as the Bihar government is concerned, it has long been known that like the NRHM in UP, MDM has become a victim of official negligence and pervasive corruption. A few years ago when the government was found guilty of a huge mismatch between its withdrawal and expenditure accounts, considerable irregularities were found in the realm of MDM and SSA. Recently the state government returned an unspent sum of Rs. 462.78 crore received between 2006-07 and 2009-10 ostensibly for building kitchen sheds and purchasing utensils for the MDM scheme. Now in the wake of the Masrakh tragedy, the Union HRD Ministry has started talking of systemic failure in monitoring the MDM project in Bihar.

It is not just the MDM scheme and the education system that have nearly collapsed in Bihar, the systems of healthcare and disaster management also stand brutally exposed. The children had fallen ill at midday on 16 July and effective medical care for critical cases could begin only in Patna and that too after an unpardonable lapse of more than twelve hours by which time the death toll had already reached near twenty, and four more died on the way and two more patients died soon after being admitted in the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). This shows the state of the healthcare system in districts and the quality of the disaster management response of the state government. Could not the government rush a well equipped medical team to Chhapra from elsewhere? Could not the government use helicopters to airlift critical cases patients to Patna?

The biggest crisis that is being felt in Bihar today is the crisis of governance – the very plank that had brought Nitish Kumar to power. And underlying this crisis of governance is a total absence of sensitivity and accountability. Nitish Kumar who treats the people as subjects who must come to him in the 'Darbars' he holds in Patna or in the course of his periodic 'yatras' (the petitions submitted in such 'darbars' seldom yield any result though) is never to be seen by the side of the people when they are aggrieved, be it a case of police repression or any disaster or calamity, natural or man-made. And ever since the BJP ministers were 'dismissed' it is Nitish Kumar who is holding on to all those ministries and that includes the crucial department of health. Pushed into the opposition, the BJP is now obviously desperate to make political capital of every failure of the government, but it has had an equal share in promoting the official culture of apathy, arrogance, negligence and non-performance masked by phrases like 'good governance' and 'development with justice'. It is significant that the people of Masrakh turned away BJP leader Sushil Modi.

Redesigning of the MDM scheme, a thorough overhaul of the welfare mechanism, and fixing of appropriate accountability for the enormous crime that led to the MDM tragedy at Masrakh – that's the least that we owe to the innocent children whose lives were cut short so tragically by the 'welfare' arm of the state.

CPI(ML) GS Attends Dharna Against Custodial Killing in UP

CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on 22nd July attended and addressed a dharna organized by the Rihai Manch, a platform struggling for the release of innocent Muslims framed in false terror charges and demanding probe into the role of security agencies in it. This indefinite dharna that completed 62 days on the 22nd July, has been demanding justice for Khalid Mujahid, a youth jailed on terror charges and killed in police custody even after the UP Government had recommended his release.

Addressing the dharna Comrade Dipankar said that after killing Khalid Mujahid, the UP government is trying to bury the report of RD Nimesh Commission, which had found discrepancies in arrest of Khalid Mujahid and Tariq Qasmi, accused in 2007 serial blasts.

Questioning the role of security agencies, he said there are many instances in which the security agencies have framed innocent people in fake terror charges, and demanded more transparency and reform in functioning of police and security agencies.

Accusing BJP and RSS of trying to polarize people on communal lines, he said that the country cannot be run on Modi's model of mass murders and culture of fake encounters, which were a smokescreen to draw attention away from Modi's policies promoting corporate plunder.

He also said the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, like the Congress nationally, is also hoping to benefit from the polarisation of communities in the state. This explained the SP's collusion with communal forces. "There is Khalid Mujahid in UP, Ishrat Jahan in Gujarat, Qateel Siddiqui in Congress-ruled Maharshtra; the pattern everywhere is the same, regardless of the party in power. It has become a pattern of the Government of India, which only highlights its pro-US policy of Islamophobia," he said.

He also said that Rihai Manch's protest is a "fight not just about the release of innocents who are locked in jails, it is as much about the release of democracy".

 AICCTU's Country wide protests held on 18 July

Picketing in front of showrooms/offices of Maruti Suzuki

All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) held Country-wide protest demonstrations by Picketing in front of showrooms/offices of Maruti Suzuki and organizing rallies in several major cities on 18 July 2013- the day which marks the completion of one year of the determined resistance of workers Maruti Suzuki, Manesar against all out repression and blatant attack on their rights by nexus of Haryana's Hooda government and Maruti management.

On 18th July, several workers of AICCTU and students and youth of AISA and RYA from Delhi and NCR participated in the call of "Manesar Chalo" (Go to Manesar) given by Maruti worker. On this day again the Haryana government and administration exhibited their loyalty to the Maruti administration by imposing section-144 in Manesar region and several parts of Gurgaon. In this situation a mass meeting and demonstration was held near IFFCO Chowk, Gurgaon in which large number of people from civil society also participated. A memorandum was submitted to DC of Gurgaon from this demonstration.

Notably, at the initiative of AICCTU, in Chennai, a massive all-TU joint demonstration was held in which members of AICCTU, CITU, AITUC, HMS, LPF, INTUC, AIUTUC and WPTUC took part. Also, in Mumbai, workers from various trade unions and mass organizations including AICCTU, Sarva Shramik Sangathan, AISA and unions of Blue Star, Reliance Energy, Godrej, Jagruk Kamgar Manch, Kamgar Aghadi, Kachara Vahatuk Sangathan held a rally and convention.

The Chennai demonstration was presided over by Com. Kumaresh, state VP of AICCTU and was addressed by Com. Iraniappan, state secretary of AICCTU, among others. More than 500 workers participated including workers from sectors like Railways, State transport, Electricity board, Ashok Leyland, TI Diamond chain, Carborendum, Gymkhana Club, and some Hospitals and Hotels and also from unorganised sector. In rest of Tamil Nadu, programmes were held in 12 districts. There was a public meeting at Sriperumputhur of Kanji district in which workers including Hyundai participated. At Coimbatore, there was a demonstration at gate of both plants 1 and 3 with a large participation of workers. A strong demonstration was held at Salem with participation of HMS, AITUC and TUI and addressed by Com. Chandramohan, state VP of AICCTU. Also, there were demonstrations at Namakkal and Kanyakumari. In Tanjore construction workers wore demand badges when they assembled for the day's work. In Tirunelveli too, workers of unorganised sector like auto drivers, washer men and others wore demand badges. In Tiruchi Ordnance factory, both permanent and contract workers wore badges in support of Maruti workers' demands.

On 18 July, Bangalore City Committee of AICCTU organized an impressive demonstration in the city centre in solidarity with struggling Maruti workers as a part of the all-India call. The demo was addressed by AICCTU leader Comrade Shankar said that the case of Maruti is the worst example of central and state governments openly siding with MNCs and corporate capital against the working class in the era of globalization and liberalization. Com. Appanna, state secretary, district leaders Krishna Golla, Ashok Gowda and Raghavendra also addressed the demonstrators. Com. Puttegowda, district secretary led the demonstration.

On the same day, another demonstration was organized at Ganagavati in front of Maruti Show Room. Com. Bharadwaj, state president hailed Maruti struggle as a symbol of unity of entire working class defying artificial divisions of contract and permanent. Com. Basavangowda, NCM, Virupakshappa, taluk president and Raghavendra of RYA addressed the demonstrators among others.

In Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand, a strong demonstration and a mass meeting, preceded by a rally, was held in front of show-room of Maruti company, led by leaders of AICCTU including Shubhendu Sen, Sukhdev Prasad and Bhuneshwar Kewat. The demonstrations were also held at steel city of Bokaro and coal belt of Dhanbad and Ramgarh.

In Bhagalpur, Bihar a big demonstration, led by Com. SK Sharma, national VP of AICCTU, was held and an effigy of Hooda government and Maurti management was burnt with participation of hundreds of workers, particularly unorganized workers. In Puduchery, a massive demonstration was held in front of Maruti Showroom in the leadership of AICCTU state secretary, Com. S. Motilal and national secretary, S. Balasubramanian.

The demonstrations were also held in front of Maruti showrooms in Kanpur in U.P. in the leadership of AICCTU's national VP, Hari Singh and in Bhilai, Chattisgarh in the leadership of national leaders of AICCTU JP Nair and Rajendra Parganiha.

Memoranda were sent to CM and Governor of Haryana, Union Labour Minister and Chief Labour Commissioners (Central) from various states.

The demands raised in these country-wide demonstrations were:

Immediately reinstate all terminated workers of Maruti Suzuki Manesar Plant, Suzuki, Powertrain India and Suzuki Motorcycles; unconditional release of the 147 workers lodged in Gurgaon Jail for the past one year and 10 workers and other people lodged in Kaithal jail since 18th May 2013 and withdrawal of all fabricated charges against them; a high level Judicial probe into the violation of labour laws by Maruti and other employers in Gurgaon Manesar belt; an independent, high level Judicial enquiry into the incident of 18 July 2012; Prohibition of the employment of bouncers by employers and regularization of contract labour and other non-regular workers who are engaged in works of a perennial nature and equal pay for equal work.

Mashrakh MDM Massacre:

Nitish Government Has Blood of Children on Its Hands

(A report by CPI(ML)'s Bihar State Secretary Kunal)

The massacre of 23 school children through the mid-day meal on 16th July in Dharmasati Gandaman village of Mashrakh block in Saran district has not only completely exposed the Nitish Government's empty boasts about development, it has also brought to the fore the total insensitivity and irresponsibility of the Government.

When the CPI(ML) team led by General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya reached the place on 17th July afternoon, the village was grief-stricken and also seething with anger. 4 government vehicles had been torched and reduced to cinders by the roadside. In the open maidan of the Dharmasati temple, JCB cranes had been employed to dig graves for the burial of the children. Two children had already been buried and 21 had been placed in the burial pits.

As soon as we entered the village we came upon the house of cook Manju Kunwar whose family was wailing for their dead. 9 children from the family had been killed. We were told that immediately upon consuming the meal, the children tottered, fell to the floor and lost consciousness. They were immediately taken to the Block level hospital at Mashrakh. Seeing no facilities for treatment there, the children were taken to the District HQ in Chhapra. By evening a dozen children had lost their lives. 4 more children died on the way to Patna Medical College Hospital. 27 children were admitted to the hospital, of whom 2 died on the morning of 17th July. 25 children survived the tragedy.

Dharmasati Gandaman village has a population of about 200 families, most of whom are poor and small farmers from the Yadav and Noniya castes. The primary school has no building of its own and is run in the small community hall situated in the open temple complex. Meals were prepared and eaten in the open. On the day of the incident, the cook complained about the foul smell of the oil, and many children refused to eat the food due to its bad smell and poison-like taste but the Principal Meena Devi threatened the children and forced them to eat the food. Now the forensic report has confirmed the presence of large quantities of the pesticide organo-phosphorus in the meal. This pesticide has been banned in 50 countries including the USA but it is still widely used in India. It is so poisonous that it can even enter the body through the pores of the skin and cause death. The villagers tell us that one of them, Bigeshwar Mishra, had submitted a written complaint 6 months ago to the district education officer regarding the pathetic state of the mid-day meals but the authorities took no notice.

The incident has exposed the wretched condition of school education in Bihar. The school education system has failed completely due to lack of an independent system for organizing the mid-day meal scheme, as this has now become one of the main duties of the schools themselves. The State has 8600 primary schools which have no buildings but function under trees, in dilapidated houses, community halls, back yards etc. Moreover, these schools are open to the risk of tragedy at any time through the mid-day meal. There are no arrangements for hygienic cooking and serving of food to the children. There is also huge corruption and scams involved in the scheme.

The mid-day meal played a big role in the recent AC/DC scams which flourish under the politician-bureaucrat-village chief-Principal nexus. The meal is cooked for 100 children but the attendance register records show 200-300 children. Nowhere is the meal cooked according to the prescribed menu. Neither is the directive followed that the cook and teachers must taste the food before it is served to the children. Nowhere in the implementation of the scheme is there any sense that the purpose of the scheme is to feed nutritious food to little children. That is why from all across Bihar (and other states) we get reports of worms in the food, children falling ill and even dying from eating the food.

After this incident children in hundreds of State government schools have refused to eat the food and the mid-day meal scheme is closed at present. What is needed is to develop a system (independent from the teaching work) to cook and serve hygienic and nutritious meals to the children. The administration should be made accountable and stringent action should be taken where regulations are violated.

This incident has also exposed the poor state of the medical system in the State. Apart from the capital (Patna), there are no basic life-saving emergency facilities available anywhere. There were no facilities even for a saline drip in the District hospital at Chhapra and no compounder was available to administer drips. Even in the Patna MCH, the leakage of gas in the AC system caused a panic and the parents/guardians of the children from Mashrakh had to run out of the hospital with the sick children in their arms. Nitish Kumar has repeatedly made announcements of opening a new medical college and increasing the number of seats but these remain on paper only. The Mashrakh incident has thoroughly exposed the sorry state of the medical facilities in Bihar.

The Mashrakh incident has also exposed the pathetic state of Disaster Management in Bihar. Nitish Kumar boasts of having constructed good roads by which one can reach the capital from any corner of Bihar within 4 hours. Then why did it take over 14 hours to bring these children to Patna? Helicopters are available for the CM and his Ministers to tour extensively but not for saving the lives of the poor children of the State. A team of doctors could have been sent to the place or the children could have been shifted to Patna without delay, saving many lives.

The whole of Bihar falls within the risk-prone earthquake zone. There had been a destructive earthquake in 1934. Geologists have warned that at any time Bihar could be the epicentre of a future earthquake. Floods occur and boats capsize every year but the Disaster Management of the State works not to save lives but to fish out dead bodies and is unsuccessful even in this endeavour.

This incident has also exposed the utter heartlessness of the Nitish govt. The CM, who embarks on various yatras at the drop of a hat, neither visited Dharmasati to console the victims nor went to the Patna hospital to meet them. All his Ministers were busy in preparing for the coming elections. All limits were crossed when the Education Minister shamelessly put forward the theory of the incident being the result of a political conspiracy to malign the government. Nitish Kumar considered his duty over when he announced a compensation of 2 lakhs each to the victims.

In all, the repeated acquittal of perpetrators of carnages, the incidents at Forbesganj, Aurangabad, Madhubani, Bagaha and Purnea and now the murder of school children at Mashrakh have brought out the total failure of the Nitish govt. Nitish Kumar has no right to continue to remain in the seat of power in Bihar.

Women Protesters Arrested in Purnea

On 20th July, 1000 women under the banner of AIPWA had protested in Purnea demanding schooling, education for girls who are rape survivors, and freeing of Purnea's adivasi women who remain in jail. The SDO stopped the procession by force, snatched AIPWA flags and banners and beat up the protesters. Following this the women surrounded and soundly beat the SDO, broke the gates of the DM's office and entered the DM's office in full strength. The administration did not have the courage to arrest the women then. But when the women were returning from the city, police picked up some 150 women from various places on their way home! Most of the women resisted the arrest boldly, and were eventually released under pressure from local people. As we go to press, around 50 women are still in custody.

 

 

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