ML Update 28 / 2013

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.  16               No. 28                                                                                                                              2-8 JUL 2013

Bagaha Firing:

Resist Police Raj in Nitish's Bihar!

Less than a week after Nitish Kumar had secured the trust vote for his government with the help of the Congress, CPI and four independent MLAs, Bihar experienced yet another shocking case of police brutality.  On 24 June as many as six persons belonging to the Tharu community in Bagaha district near Nepal border in North-Western Bihar were gunned down by the trigger-happy Bihar police. At least 15 people have been seriously injured.

Agitated by the lack of police response to find a local youth who had gone missing since June 15, people had thronged the nearby police station at Naurangiya and once again the police knew no other way of tackling the agitated people except opening fire. They opened fire without any warning and they did it not to disperse the people but to kill. All the people killed had bullet injuries above the waist level.

The Naurangiya firing is by no means an isolated case in Nitish Kumar's Bihar. His track record of 'good governance' has been routinely punctuated by periodic instances of police brutality. Batraha, Bhajanpur (Forbesganj), Aurangabad, Madhubani and now Naurangiya – there have been several major cases of police brutality during Nitish Kumar's second term. The pattern is reinforced by the impunity enjoyed by the police. In the case of the infamous Forbesganj firing, some of the guilty officials actually received a promotion. More than two years since the firing, the judicial inquiry commission is yet to submit its report and the survivors are being prevented by all means from deposing before the commission.

In the Aurangabad case of 2 May 2012, in which hundreds of people were brutally beaten up by the police with CPI(ML) leader and ex-MLA Rajaram Singh being singled out for a brutal physical assault led directly by the SP, the state human rights commission (SHRC) has indicted the administration for police excesses and slapped a fine of Rs 200,000 on the state government. But instead of complying with the order of the SHRC the state government is busy pursuing a false case against Rajaram Singh and many others. In Madhubani, CPI(ML) leader Dhruv Narayan Karn and scores of students and activists belonging to various opposition parties have been in jail for months together since the police went berserk on 12-13 October 2012.

The other feature that stands out in all these cases of police brutality is the arrogant disdain with which Nitish Kumar has been justifying the police brutality without ever bothering to visit any place of police firing or talking to the aggrieved people. In 2005 Kumar had launched his statewide 'Nyay Yatra' from the Tharu-dominated areas of Champaran, appealing to the people of Bihar to ensure justice by bringing him to power. Now ensconced in power for nearly eight long years, he is paying back his 'debt' by imposing a veritable police raj on the people of Bihar.

Yet the changed political equations in Bihar have made it difficult for the arrogant and authoritarian regime to ignore the voice of the people with its characteristic contemptuous nonchalance. On 27 June Bihar observed a day's bandh at the call of CPI(ML) and other Left forces demanding immediate institution of a judicial probe, and prosecution of all guilty police officials under section 302 of IPC and adequate provision of compensation and rehabilitation for the families of those killed and injured in police firing. For the first time in recent history, the government has announced some primary level action against some officials and compensation worth Rs 4 lakh for every victim while agreeing to set up a judicial probe. Equally interesting has been the BJP's response – the party that has routinely justified every police action while in power is now talking of police high-handedness. Some BJP leaders are now demanding compensation for the victims of Forbesganj firing as well.

The Bagaha firing once again corroborated the authoritarian nature of the Nirish Kumar government. At the same time now that this government has been reduced to a minority with the split in the ruling alliance it has visibly also become susceptible to popular pressure. The government that has betrayed and failed the people on almost every count must now be encircled by surging waves of popular resistance.

Bihar Bandh Against Bagaha Firing

 CPI(ML) and other Left parties including CPI, CPI(M), Forward Bloc called a Bihar Bandh on 27 June 2013 in protest against the Bagaha police firing which killed 7 Tharu people including 3 school children in West Champaran.

CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya led the party activists in implementing the Bandh on the streets of Bihar's capital Patna. Thousands of CPI(ML) supporters marched from Gandhi Maidan, led by GS Comrade Dipankar, Bihar Secretary Comrade Kunal, Central Control Commission head Ramjatan Sharma, Central Committee members KD Yadav, Meena Tiwari, Saroj Chaubey and others. They broke the police cordon at Dakbangla Chouraha and marched towards the Station. On returning to Dakbangla Shouraha, there was a prolonged clash with the police, following which the leaders and bandh supporters were arrested and detained in the local police station. At Siwan and Darbhanga also, CPI(ML) leaders and supporters were arrested.

The bandh received widespread popular support, with people coming on to the streets in large numbers to make it a success. Trains were blockaded at Darbhanga, Ara, Siwan, Biharsharif, Begusarai, Jehanabad, Nawada, Muzaffarpur, Betia, and Araria. At Bhojpur, the NH-30 was blockaded and the Ara-Sasaram highway was blockaded at 3 spots. The NH-30 was blockaded at Rohtas also. Roads and railways were blockaded all over Bihar, and markets remained closed.  

Bagaha Firing: The Facts

 A CPI(ML) fact-finding team visited Bagaha immediately after the firing and ascertained the facts. The team comprosed State Standing Committee member Viendra Prasad Gupta, State Standing Committee member and former MLA Amarnath Yadav, RYA National President Amarjit Kushwaha, and CPI(ML) leaders from Champaran Vishnudev Yadav, Sunil Rav, Dayanand, Dwivedi, Rahim Miyan. Mohd. Kalam and others. A brief summary of the report follows.

On 15^th June this year, Chandeshwar Kaji, a young singer (of Dardari village, Naurangiya thana, W Champaran), went to Devtaha with his music system. The same night, people from Amva village called him to their village. He did not return home after this. On 16^th June, after he went missing, police were alerted. A week passed, and the police's apathy was apparent. They failed to locate Kaji, or even his corpse. On the night of 25^th June, the police arrested a father and son from Amva. Villagers from Dardari reached Naurangiya on the 25^th, demanding that the arrested duo be jailed. The villagers said that blood stains and a torch had been found near Ghutri bridge in Kataharva, leading them to suspect that the body might be found in that area. When the police reached Kataharva, villagers asked why the arrested duo had not been brought along, to help locate the corpse. A heated exchange with the police ensued, and police responded by summoning extra forces including Bagaha DSP Shailesh Kumar. Meanwhile school kids of Harnatand were returning from coaching classes. As soon as the DSP reached, an indiscriminate lathicharge was unleashed on the villagers, and when villagers resisted this, the police began to fire. 6 were killed on the spot, a 7^th died in Gorakhpur hospital subsequently.          

12-year old Anil Rai, 10-year old Shivmohan Kumar, and 16-year old Anup Kumar, are the young boys killed by the police bullets. Other victims of the firing included Brahmadev Khatait (35), Dharmvir Khatait (31), Bhukdev Kumar (23), and Tulsi Rai (24). 

Bhahmadev Khatait had been shot in the leg. When his younger brother Dharmvir Khatait tried to rescue him, police shot Dharmvir dead and brutally stamped on Brahmadev, taking his life. 15 people are injured in this attack, and those grievously injured include Ritwik Kumar (14), Kamlesh Rai (22), Ganesh (24) and Madan Mahto (28). The families say that the injured are not getting proper treatment. Madan Mahto, a tailor, who took bullets in his left leg and right hand, still had mere bandages on his body: even the blood stains on his body are yet to be cleaned. Bihar State Standing Committee member Comrade Rajaram visited the injured people who are admitted to PMCH.    

The bodies of those killed are in Valmikinagar Guest House. Police are refusing to hand over the bodies to the families. The police wants to cremate the bodies without giving the families a chance to see the bodies.  

 Sankalp Sabha on Land Rights in Purnea 

Recently, an oppressive landlord was burnt alive in a spontaneous protest by adivasi women in Kukrain No.1, Purnea district of Bihar. Severe police repression had followed. CPI(ML) has maintained that the feudal oppression, denial of land rights, and exploitation of labourers lay at the bottom of the incident. 

On 25^th June, CPI(ML), defying the repressive and defensive atmosphere imposed by the administration, held a Bhumi Adhikar Sankalp Sabha, demanding unconditional release of arrested adivasis, and withdrawal of false cases against CPI(ML) District Secretary Lalan Singh and other local activists as well as 96 adivasis; and setting up of a special tribunal to distribute ceiling surplus, bhoodan, Bihar Government and sikmi land among the landless.     

The impressive mass meeting was held at the Shaheed Maidan, which had been named Reema Devi Maidan. A martyrs' memorial at the grounds was dedicated to Comrade Brajesh Mohan Thakur. The meeting was presided over by Comrade Lalan Singh, and addressed by party GS Comrade Dipankar, PB member and AIALA GS Dhirendra Jha, former MP and AIALA National President Rameshwar Prasad, CCM and AIPWA GS Meena Tiwari, as well as many district leaders. More than 5000 participated in the Sabha.         

Speakers stressed the fact that 3 lakh acres of land in Purnea were illegally occupied by landlords and feudal forces. They condemned the Nitish Government for backtracking shamelessly on the recommendations of the Land Reforms Commission.    

 Cinema of Resistance marks black anniversary of Emergency through documentary screening in Kolkata

To mark the 38th year of imposition of Emergency, the Cinema of Resistance campaign organized a film-screening at Pratapgarh Primary School in Jadavpur, Kolkata, on 29th June. About 80 people attended the the screening. Anand Patwardhan's 'Prisoners of Conscience' which relives the dark days of Emergency through interviews of political prisoners from that period was screened, followed by Haobam Paban Kumar's 'AFSPA 1958' which documents five tumultous months following Thangjam Manorama Devi's rape and murder by Assam Rifles personnel in Manipur, and Surya Shankar Dash's short films 'Dhinki' and 'The Lament of Niyamraja' made respectively on the struggles in Dhinkia around the POSCO project and Vedanta's devastating mining in Niyamgiri hills in Odisha. The last three films portrayed damning proof of the ravages caused by the prevailing undeclared Emergency across the length and breadth of the country. The screening was mostly attended by young people and students along with veterans who had lived through the period of Indira Gandhi's total suspension of all vestiges of democratic rights. After the screening, a short discussion followed, with several people signing up to become a part of the Cinema of Resistance campaign and take it forward in the days ahead.

Women Workers' Convention In TN

 AICCTU held a state level Women Workers' Convention in Tirunelveli on June 30. The convention paid homage to the army jawans and others who lost their lives in the rescue operations in Uttrakhand and those died in the manmade disaster.

The convention raised the following demands:

·         Enumeration of permanent and non-permanent, organized and unorganized women workers in the public sector, private sector and in the government departments in the state.

·         The state government should take immediate efforts to get Presidential assent for L.A.Bill 47/2008 which will protect the rights of women workers of sumangali scheme at least to a certain extent.

·         Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 should be implemented immediately in the state.

·         Women workers should be paid equal wages for equal work.

·         Meaningful social security measures for women workers.

·         Revision of minimum wages for garment workers in the state. (It was last revised in 2004).

·         Fixing minimum wages for domestic workers.

The convention was held in a background where lakhs and lakhs of beedi women workers are missing from the records of District Labour Commissioner's office and there by those lakhs of beedi women workers are denied of their statutory rights. Around Rs.73 crores is lying in the PF office unclaimed. When the Supreme Court asked why the TN government should not raise the cess from the construction work to 1% instead of the existing 0.3% to give more benefits for the construction workers, the State government has replied that the construction wokers' welfare board has enough funds left after  giving enough benefits for the construction workers and hence the question of raising the cess does not arise. But the ground situation in TN is that not all construction workers, majority of them women are registered under the welfare board and that even those registered are not getting and welfare benefits.

Vahida Nizam, National Vice President, AITUC, Malathi Chittibabu, National Vice President CITU and Sujatha Modi, President, Women Workres Trade Union addressed the convention.

The convention was presided over by Com. Anbuselvi, AICCTU State Council Member. Com.Thenmozhi, State Vice President, AICCTU placed the resolutions. Com.T.Sankarapandian, General Secretary, AICCTU, inaugurated the convention. Com.Bhuvaneswari, State Deputy General Secretary, AICCTU addressed the convention. Over 100 women workers participated in the convention.

The convention decided to organize demonstrations all over the state stressing the demands raised in the convention.

Uttarkhand flood relief fund collection efforts in Tamilnadu

The Chennai district committee of the party mobilised Rs.75000 in 4 days of flood relief campaign.

Donations were collected among workers door to door in their residential areas in Ambattur and among Advocates in their champers by Democratic Advocates Association members led by Com.Bharathi. About Rs.40000 were collected among Advocates who generously contributed. One 60 Year old advocate Ayyadurai enthusiastically participated along with a team of advocates.

At Villupuram, Party cadres with flags and banners collected donation among public in bazars and bus-stands. They have collected Rs.5000 in 6 hours of campaigning. Comrades Venkatesan and Shenbagavalli led the campaigns.

At Nagai in Tanjore district, party cadres led by party's district secretary Com.Elangovan collected donations among public in Bazars and bus terminals holding party flags. They collected Rs.4000  in 2 days for few hours of campaigning. At Salem, cComrades collected Rs.5000 as flood relief. Comrades Chandramohan and Mohanasundaram led the campaign. Efforts are on in other centres of Tamilnadu.

Protests Demanding Arrest of Comrade Gangaram Kol's Killers Continue

 As part of the ongoing protests demanding Justice for Comrade Gangaram Kol, the party held a protest procession in Dibrugarh district (Tingkhong area). The procession began from the party's office at Rajgarh through the main market to the Revenue Office. 500 people marched in the procession raising slogans demanding arrest of the main accused, Congress MLA Raju Sahu, without delay, and a CBI enquiry into the killing. When the procession reached the main market, a protest meeting was held and an effigy of Raju Sahu was burnt. The procession was led by Assam State Committee member Comrade Arup Mahanta. At the Revenue Office, another protest meeting was held which was addressed by Assam State Secretary of the party Comrade Bibek Das. A memorandum to the Governor was submitted via the Revenue Officer. The procession was led by Comrade Balindra Saikia, Mira Tanti, Suraj Garai, Maitreyi Bagchi, Punti Tanti, Shashi Modha, Bitupon Bokoliyal, Lakshyadhar Kalita, and other CPI(ML) leaders. 

Anti-Repression Day at Delhi to Mark Emergency Anniversary

 Jan Sanskriti Manch, AICCTU and RYA held a protest programme at Jantar Mantar on the evening of 26 June to mark the 38^th anniversary of the infamous Emergency and to protest the ongoing 'undeclared' Emergency in the country.

Cultural activists, writers, poets, workers, youth and students participated in the programme, declaring their protest against the ongoing policies of government surveillance and intrusion, violation of civil liberties and trampling of freedom of thought and expression. The arrest of workers and activists of people's movements as well as voices of dissent using draconian laws and false cases was vigorously protested.  The protest meeting was addressed by JSM President Prof. Manager Pandey, Janvadi Lekhak Sangh General Secretary Murli Manohar Prasad Singh (who recounted his own experiences of being arrested during the Emergency), Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh General Secretary Ali Javed, CPI(ML) Politburo member Kavita Krishnan, Aslam Khan of RYA and Sunny of AISA. Shyam Kishor, AICCTU leader and CPI(ML)'s Delhi State Committee member, just released from jail a day before, recounted his experience of being arrested on trumped up charges following the February All India Strike.

The meeting began by keeping a minute's silence in memory of those who lost their lives in the Uttarakhand tragedy, and JLS President Shiv Kumar Mishra who passed away recently.    

Lokesh Jain and his team sang on the occasion. Artists Anupam and Ashwini Agrawal did a live painting at the venue.  

The program was conducted by Awadhesh, and conceptualized by noted artist Ashok Bhowmick.

 Participants included teacher Ravindra Goyal, writers Noor Zaheer, Dinesh Mishra, cultural activist Rekha Awasthi, critic Ashutosh, Gopal Pradhan, filmmakers Imran and Vijay and many others.

Bagaha police firing:
were bullets the answer to stones?

(Excerpts from a report by Rahi Gaikwad in The Hindu, 30 June 2013)

As with the proverbial bogeyman, the mere mention of the word 'police' struck fear into Leelavati Devi and she reached out to her family for some comforting.

"They beat me black and blue with a rifle butt, in the back, in the waist," she said, after much goading. Deeply disturbed, she got startled even by the sound of passing vehicles.

Her village of Deotaha in Bagaha, West Champaran district, is one among several villages with a concentration of nearly three lakh people of the close-knit Tharu tribe. On June 24, Bagaha became a bloody chapter in Bihar's history when the police opened fire on agitating Tharus, killing six and injuring 15.

According to the police, the firing was "unavoidable" but the situation that led to the firing was avoidable.

Initial delay

Bagaha was simmering with discontent ever since a local youth, Chandeshwar Kaji, went missing on June 15. The police's dilly-dallying over taking action caused the initial delay.

"First we looked for Chandeshwar ourselves," Suhas Kaji of Dardari told The Hindu . "Three days later, we went to lodge a missing complaint, but were turned away as it was the wrong police station. Our village comes under one police station, but the spot where the boy was last seen comes under another."

Going back and forth to police stations took three more days. On June 21, the police took a complaint. The same day, blood stains and a torch, which Chandeshwar was carrying, were found in the fields. Suspecting foul play, the locals went to the police again to register a case of kidnapping.

On June 24, the day of the firing, hundreds of men and women surrounded the Naurangiya police station demanding action. In this melee, a phone call from a police man said the body had been found.

The information turned out to be false, but the damage was done.

News of the possible recovery of the body spread across the villages of Bagaha and people turned out in large numbers to see the body. "I went to see the exhumation. The people were telling the police to dig out the body," Ritik Kumar (14), injured in the left arm, told The Hindu .

Victims said the police were digging in several places in vain. Seeing this, a group of nearly 400 women surrounded the police and demanded that they summon the accused, Ravikesh, arrested in the case, to the spot.

"The women said the police could not leave without discovering the body. The police assured them the accused would be summoned but instead started calling additional forces from other police stations. The women started screaming and heckling the police," Suhas Kaji said.

At this point the police lathi-charged the women, and even assaulting them with rifle butts. The brutal assault on the women incensed the villagers — nearly 2,500 in number as per the police. They began throwing stones, at which the police opened fire. As per the police probe, 33 rounds were fired from various rifles.

"The police first fired in the air. The people were still under the impression the police would not fire at them. But they did," said Ritik.

Brutality

Many innocent bystanders and students became the target of the bullets. The Khatjit family of Deotaha village lost two bothers, Brahmadev (40) and Dharamjeet (32). With the breadwinners gone, the wives and children of the deceased duo now face a bleak future.

"My husband had gone to buy fertilizers. I rushed to the spot when I heard he was shot. When I saw his blood-stained body, I went weak in the knees, but still thought of picking him up. The police came to attack me. I ran to the nearby Mushahar [a low caste] quarters. But the police came looking for me there, asking who was wearing yellow clothes. I was in a yellow sari. I had to change my clothes and make my escape," Hemanti Devi, Dharamjeet's wife, told The Hindu .

Hemanti saw her brother-in-law Brahmadev trying to get up despite being shot in the loin. "As he was trying to get up, he was shot in the chest. When he still did not die, the police crushed him under their jeep," she said.

The police denied running over anyone.

Madan Mahato was shot twice while trying to flee. His mobile was snatched away when he tried to receive a call. "When I fell down, the police said, 'Should we kill you?' I told them to go ahead. They then dumped me in the jeep like a gunny bag."

Bhupdev Mahato, an engineering student, was on his way to the market. He stopped on seeing the crowd and before he knew what was happening, was shot in the chest.

Many of the deceased and those seriously hurt have been shot in the back. 

Lack of aid

The gross lack of medical facilities has put those seriously injured at further risk. 

Five days later, Ganesh Mahato (20) still had three bullets lodged in his body — one in his spine and two in the ribs. All were shot from the back. Apart from the acute pain, he had difficulty in breathing. With lack of facilities to operate on him, he would be taken to Delhi for treatment, his family said.

Asleem Miya (25) was unable to speak and only gestured to communicate. He had one bullet lodged in the back. The family had no news about his further treatment.

In Bettiah, Madan's wound was cleaned and one stitch given without administering anaesthesia. "In Patna, I had to spend one day in the emergency ward as no bed was available," he said.

Shattered lives

The bullets have left behind a trail of shattered lives. Chandeshwar's wife Geeta Devi has lost all hope. The duo was married only last month. With her husband's case now sidelined, there was focus on her plight. Having received only school education, she desperately needs a job to keep afloat.

"I am not scared of the police; I am angry at them. They started battamizi [misbehaviour] first. They fired on people who were running away," Ritik said from his bed at the Patna hospital.

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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 27 / 2013

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.  16             No. 27                                                                     25 JUN- 1 JUL 2013

Uttarakhand's Himalayan Tragedy:

Natural Disaster of Man-Made Origin

The unusually high rainfall and flash floods devastating the Uttarakhand region have cost lives that are yet to be fully counted. Thousands of local people, pilgrims and tourists still await rescue even as the heroic rescue efforts by Armed forces, and relief efforts by local people who are putting aside their own adversity to help others in distress, continue. As we go to press, one rescue helicopter has crashed, tragically killing several people including 8 armed forces personnel. 

At the same time, India's ruling class politics has cut a sorry figure, with a sordid drama of one-upmanship. The macho boasts made by Narendra Modi's spin doctors of 'rescuing 15000 Gujaratis' are not only unsubstantiated, they stand in stark contrast to the modesty of those on the ground who are truly risking lives to save people, without unseemly boasts of body-counts. They are also a shameful display of regionalism at a time when people's concerns for the disaster-affected are overcoming boundaries of states and nations. The helicopter trips by various political 'VIPs' and photo ops by Congress and UPA leaders 'flagging off' relief trucks are no less unseemly and shameful.   

The inescapable fact of the matter is that both the BJP and the Congress that have ruled Uttarakhand and the Centre are implicated in this disaster. To call it a 'natural' disaster is only a half-truth. The unfolding tragedy of Himalayan proportions has been caused by decades of criminal policies of plundering hills and rivers in the name of 'development'.

Environmentalists and people of Uttarakhand have pointed out time and again that the Himalayas are young mountains, prone to high intensity rainfall events, cloud bursts, flash floods, and landslides. The rivers in the region are silt-laden and capable of great destruction. Yet the model of 'development' imposed on the State – riding rough-shod over the struggles of the local people – has been one of hundreds of hydro-electric projects, big dams, illegal sand mining in river beds, deforestation, unregulated tourism, indiscriminate real estate activity and urbanisation on mountainsides and river-beds in the absence of any zoning laws, and indiscriminate blasting of mountains for roadways. All this has happened without any assessment of the carrying capacity of the region's delicate environment. And all this brutal ravaging has rendered 'nature' less able to cope with cloudbursts and rainfall.

Those who have raised environmental concerns have been derided and branded as 'anti-development.' Resistance to environmental regulations has been guided, not by the purported concern for local people's development, but by the powerful public and private sector hydel power and real estate contractors whose interests are threatened by regulations. One glaring fact is the failure to issue a timely warning against the disaster, and the delay in beginning effective rescue operations. In spite of disaster after disaster, India is yet to invest in proper mechanisms to predict disasters and cope with disasters.

The Uttarakhand CM has pooh-poohed the criticisms linking the disaster with the development policy of the State, claiming that all projects commissioned by his predecessor governments as well as in his tenure, enjoyed the approval of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The CM's claims are belied by the facts. A CAG report has pointed out that Uttarakhand's disaster management authority formed in 2007 did not hold even a single meeting till date, and had warned that the 53 hydel power projects proposed on the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers would damage the mountains, dry up the riverbeds, and increase chances of flash floods. The CAG report was flouted – and there are now around 680 dams in various stages of commissioning, construction, or planning in Uttarakhand. The CM has claimed that the dams have actually helped to control the floods – but this claim is yet to be substantiated. Instead, there are reports from some areas – such as Srinagar town and Rudraprayag – that release of water from hydropower projects, along with the illegally dumped muck in the river beds resulting in diversion of the river course, contributed to the force of the disaster.

Moreover, the State Government stubbornly refused to learn lessons from past disasters. Just last year, when Uttarkashi witnessed devastation due to flash floods, the State's Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre report had recommended legislation to "strictly regulate developmental initiatives in close vicinity of streams and rivers." Needless to say, no steps have been taken in this direction. Similarly, following landslides in Rudraprayag last year, the State's DMMC had recommended a ban on the use of explosives in the fragile Himalayan terrain for infrastructure developmental works. In spite of this, the use of explosives is rampant. Reports from the ground by CPI(ML) activists indicate that even now, in the midst of the disaster, the Border Roads Organisation is using explosives to clear the roads blocked by landslides. The possibility of the extreme climate events being linked to climate change is also strong – and calls for urgent investigation and corrective action.  

While media attention and that of the ruling political class has focused almost exclusively on the pilgrims and tourists, the plight of the people of Uttarakhand has been criminally neglected. Many of the local people working as guides or running shops in the affected areas, agricultural workers, as well as those eking out a living gathering rare herbs and fungi, are yet to be rescued. The numbers of such people missing or killed is yet to be estimated. Their homes and sources of livelihood – cars, transport animals, shops etc – have been washed away. While those pilgrims being rescued are starting to see an end to their ordeal, the local people's struggle for survival and rehabilitation is just to begin.     

Relief and rehabilitation will of course be a priority for people's movements at this juncture. At the same time, it is equally urgent to struggle to ensure a reversal of the policies that lead to such tragedies in the first place. The State and Central Governments must immediately halt the construction of ongoing hydel power projects and declare a moratorium on new ones, until a comprehensive review of the existing projects and of projected environmental impacts is carried out by an impartial agency. Similarly the use of explosives in construction projects must be stopped, and laws enacted and implemented to regulate constructions in ecologically sensitive areas. The local people must be consulted and their approval taken before initiating any new development project. The only true homage we can pay to the countless people who lost their lives in this tragedy can be to ensure that such a tragedy is never repeated again, and that the right lessons are taken from it.  

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Contribute Generously to Support the Flood Devastated People in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand is suffering a calamity of Himalayan proportions, with heavy rains and cloudbursts causing devastating floods. Thousands of lives are likely to have been lost, and thousands remain stranded, deprived of homes, loved ones, and means of livelihood. CPI(ML) shares the grief of the bereaved families.
Activists of CPI(ML) on the ground, especially in the worst-affected Garhwal and Pithoragarh regions, are organising rescue and relief operations, working closely with rescue teams.
We are launching a nationwide campaign for flood relief in Uttarakhand. We appeal to you to make your contributions by cheque/draft in favour of "CPIML". Please indicate that the donation is for "Uttarakhand Flood Relief".
Please send your donations to:
U-90, Shakarpur Delhi 110 092, India

The tragedy in Uttarakhand today is more man-made than natural, linked directly with the corporate-driven, anti-people model of 'development' undertaken in the State, involving indiscriminate deforestation, big dams in ecologically sensitive areas, plunder of natural resources and rampant absence or violation of environment protection laws. The consequences today are being borne by the poorest people in Uttarakhand. In the days to come, CPI(ML) will also seek your support and cooperation in the struggle to ensure that Uttarakhand's poor receive the compensation and rehabilitation measures that they need, and that immediate steps are taken to reverse the disastrous course of environmental devastation in the name of development.

Contact numbers of comrades organising relief work in Uttarakhand:
Jagat Martoliya: 09411308833
Indresh Maikhuri: 09412120571

CPI(ML)'s Uttarakhand State Secretary Rajendra Pratholi can also be contacted at 09456188623 for more details.

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Left Parties to Hold Bihar Bandh Against Bagaha Firing

New Delhi, 25 June 2013

In a heinous instance of police barbarity, police firing on peaceful protesters in Bagaha (West Champaran district of Bihar) and killed 6. Those killed were from the scheduled tribes, and had been protesting against the suspected killing of a missing young man from their village.

State repression, unleashing bullets and batons on protesters, especially on those from oppressed communities and minorities, has become the order of the day for the Nitish Government. In 2011, police firing and brutality at Forbesganj killed 4 people from the poor minority community. In 2012, police firing on protesting students at Madhubani claimed one life. And in 2012, the police brutally beat up peaceful protesters at Aurangabad, who were protesting against the murder of a popular panchayat mukhiya. The Bihar police also brutally lathicharged a teachers' protest in Patna, inviting censure from the Supreme Court. The Bagaha firing is the latest in this long line of police atrocities.

The CPI(ML) demands arrest and prosecution of the guilty police officials, suspension of the DM and the SP, and compensation of Rs 10 lakh for each victim's family. The CPI(ML) along with other Left parties CPI, CPI(M) and Forward Bloc has called for a Bihar Bandh against the firing on 27 June.

The BJP's call for a bandh against the firing smacks of hypocrisy. Till the other day, BJP was a loyal part of the same Government, and never raised its voice against any of the firings and brutality that took place. In fact, the Forbesganj firing took place at the instance of the local BJP MLC, who unleashed the police to protest his own corrupt bid at grabbing public land. The BJP's opportunistic claim of resisting state repression must be thoroughly exposed. 

- Prabhat Kumar,

For CPI(ML) Central Committee     

The Stage Is Set for the Lok Sabha Elections

The stage is almost set for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and battle lines are nearly drawn. Major parties of the ruling classes – whether 'national' parties like the Congress and the BJP or the host of regional parties wielding power in various states – are giving finishing touches to their battle plans. The contours of potential pre- or post-poll coalitions have also begun suggesting themselves amidst ongoing political realignments. Several possibilities that were being speculated for quite some time have started taking shape, setting off a chain of rapid political developments.

The only point that now remains to be settled is the schedule - whether elections are to be held ahead of schedule along with the next round of Assembly elections due later this year or we have to wait till early next year when the present Lok Sabha completes its five-year term. Considering the current pace of political developments, it is entirely possible that the Congress may go for elections ahead of the scheduled time.

The BJP has made up its mind to have Modi as its mascot for the coming Lok Sabha elections. The BJP leadership must have anticipated the consequences that followed, like the revolt of Advani and the exit of the JD(U) from the NDA, but the fact that the party still fell for the Modi gamble clearly shows the party's desperation. Almost all poll surveys have been pointing to the fact that while the Congress is surely losing ground, the BJP is not gaining in proportion. It now remains to be seen whether the Sangh Parivar's desperate gamble to play the Modi tune to improve the party's poll prospect pays off or proves counterproductive. Advani and his supporters are openly apprehensive that the BJP's decision to act in haste in pressing the Modi button may only leave the party with the destiny of repenting at leisure.

As far as the Congress is concerned, the only way the party can really hope to gain or salvage anything is by cornering or isolating the BJP or damaging its prospects. In states where there are multi-corner contests or where the Congress has to contend primarily with non-BJP parties, the Congress has little chances of improving its position. So far, the Congress has been successful in dethroning the BJP in as many as four states, directly in Uttarakhand and Karnataka and indirectly in Jharkhand and Bihar. Unlike the BJP, the Congress also has developed the skill of doing business with mutually opposed parties in several states – like the SP and BSP in UP, and now the RJD and JD(U) in Bihar, or for that matter, the TMC and CPI(M) in West Bengal.

Between the Congress and the BJP, or a possible UPA-III and NDA-III if you will, hangs the prospect of the mythical 'third front'. The two traditional pillars of a third front – a sizable non-Congress non-BJP party of the Janata Dal variety and a numerically significant Left bloc – have weakened over the years. While the Janata Dal has been splintered into as many as four parties, the Left bloc has lost in numbers. Moreover, having failed miserably in its 2009 attempt to cobble a 'third front', the CPI(M) has now become wary of making another experiment. The new noise of a 'federal front' comprising a disparate group of ruling regional parties like the TMC in West Bengal, JD(U) in Bihar and BJD in Odisha is more 'sound and fury' with little substance. Of course, with the chances of an NDA-III or a UPA-III looking rather slim at the moment, the rise of a somewhat different post-poll coalition arrangement cannot be ruled out.

With the possibilities of multipolar contests in many states and the Congress, BJP and many ruling regional parties all suffering from serious crisis of credibility, the coming Lok Sabha elections promise to be much more competitive than most of our bourgeois ideologues would like. Of course, the BJP and the Congress would try their level best in the coming days to reduce the election to a pro- and anti-Modi contest. The revolutionary Left must counter this game-plan of the ruling classes with vigorous preparations for a well-organised election campaign that must assert the growing strength of people's struggles as the most reliable bulwark of resistance against corporate fascism. The determination to roll back the plundering pro-corporate policies and secure greater rights for the deprived and oppressed people must be the defining spirit of Left intervention in the coming electoral battle.

Protests Continue on the Streets of Tinsukia

Since the assassination of Com. Gangaram Koul, on 25th March 2013, not a single day has passed without protests in the Tinsukia district and Assam, demanding the arrest of the accused, all of whom are Congress leaders, the prime accused among them being Mr. Raju Sahu - one of the Parliamentary Secretaries and an MLA from Chabua Legislative Assembly Constituency and also a member of the faction within the Congress that is opposed to the Chief Minister of Assam.

On 12th June 2000 protesters took part in a street march in Tinsukia, and slogans of 'Arrest Raju Sahu immediately, Tarun Gogoi down down, oust Tarun Gogoi to save democracy, to save Assam, down with Gogoi's killers' raj and mafiadom' reverberated.

The march, which started from the Durgabari Hall, Tinsukia was led by Com. Subhas Sen, Rubul Sharma, Vivek Das, Arup Mahanta, Shubhrajyoti Bardhan, Balindra Saikia, Haripada Sarkar, Shikha Das, Gangaram Koul's life-partner Shakeela Munda, Subhas Singh, Pawan Majhi, Gobin Proja, Sunil Tanti, Govinda Namashudra, Chandan Handique,(Brihattar Asamiya Juba Manch) and others. The march became a road-blockade that lasted for more than an hour at Tinsukia, the busiest spot of the town. The protesters, braving the scorching heat, demanded that the D.C. come to the spot of the road blockade to accept the memorandum addressed to the Governor of Assam. At this spot the effigy of Raju Sahu was burnt. Then the marchers pushed in though the main gate of the Circle Office (S.D.C.) who accepted the memorandum. Inside the complex of the Circle Office, a protest meeting was held which was addressed by Comrades Subhas Sen and party State Secretary Bibek Das. The processionists then again marched back to the Durgabari Hall where a mass meeting was held which was presided over by Com. Harendra Nath Borthakur – the veteran CPI (ML )member and the President of the Sodou Asom Janasangskritik Parishad.

A Souvenir named "Uttaran" (Transformation) in memory of Com. Koul was released by noted intellectualual and economist Dr. Jyoti Prasad Chatiha, and party Polit Bureau member Rubul Sharma, State Secretary Bibek Das, Shakeela Munda, Raju Bhumij, Gobin Proja, Bojen Konwar and others addressed the gathering. Com. Balindra Saikia Sang a popular song composed by Com. Bibek Das depicting the arduous life of tea workers and a Jhumair song was also sung by Shri Suman Tanti. The leaders gave a call to the gathering to come in large numbers to join CPI (ML) to take Com. Koul's struggles forward. A resolution was passed in the house asking the Govt. to arrest Raju Sahu by the 15th of August (Independence Day) 2013 or the people will have the right to gherao Raju Sahu when and where he will be available after that date, and administer a fitting punishment.

Black Day Observed Against POSCO

On 22nd June, a Protest Day was held by four Left parties, the CPI(ML)Liberation, CPI ML), CPI(ML)ND and SUCI (C) throughout Odisha, demanding to scrap the POSCO project and withdrawal of all police cases against the anti-POSCO farmers.

The protest day was observed at Bhubaneswar, Angul, Berhampur, Rayagada , Kendrapara, Bhadrak and at the POSCO project sites at Patna and Govindpur areas. This is the first time the protest was organized as a black day in different places.

A big rally of about 500 protesters started from Bhubaneswar railway station to Odisha Vidhan Sabha Marg, raising slogans against corporate land grab and police atrocities, and against the Naveen Patnaik and Manmohan Singh Governments. 

The meeting was addressed by Comrade Radhakanta Sethi, State Committee member of the CPI(ML) Liberation and the meeting was presided by Comrade Yudhistir Mohapatra, CCM of CPI(ML) Liberation, Comrade Sivram of CPI(ML) and Comrade Santosh Rath of SUCI spoke, declaring that the Naveen Government was acting as MNC agent in the state. All speakers congratulated the anti-POSCO movement on completing 8 years of heroic struggle.

Rally and Convention in Srikakulam

On the morning of 17th June, a dharna was held by the CPI(ML) before Revenue Divisional office at Palakonda in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh and a memorandum given on the burning issues of land, PDS, support prices and opposing the 'elephant zone.' An impressive rally was held in the town. In the afternoon a Convention was held on the theme of "Corporate destruction of people's lives and tasks of the revolutionary left". P Bhaskar, member of Vutharandhra (northern Andhra comprising Visakha, Vijayanagaram and Srikakulam districts) regional leading team presided over the meeting and chief guest N Murthy and central leaders M Malleswara Rao, B Bangar Rao, State leaders B Vasudeva Rao, Sanyasi Rao, district leaders M Rama Rao, Dushyanth, Raju, Naidu and local advocate Chandramouliswara Rao addressed the Convention. Around 250 people attended the Convention, mostly youth from the old struggle area. The JSM unit of Boddapadu inspired people with their cultural performances.

Palakonda, a divisional headquarter of Srikakulam district was an important centre of Srikakulam struggle. Preceding the Convention, a good campaign was undertaken in four mandals in Vijayanagaram district and eight mandals of Srikakulam. 8000 leaflets were widely distributed and 500 posters put up. A mass fund campaign was conducted in mandal towns of Palakonda, Parvathipuram, and Veeraghattam.

Adivasis in Gujarat Protest Against Corporates and Land Mafia Protected by Modi Govt

On 19th June, the CPI(ML)'s Valsad unit in Gujarat held a demonstration at the DM's office in which a large number of poor adivasi workers and peasants demanded their rights to forests, land and proper wages. In spite of heavy rains for the past 10 days, the participation in the Rally was impressive, with people from far-off hilly and forest areas like Kaprada, Dharampur, and Umbergaon. The rally began from Valsad station, with scores of adivasi men and women raising red flags and slogans against plunder of land and rights by corporations and land mafia protected by the Gujarat Government.

The rally was led by the party's Valsad in-charge Lakshman Bhai Varia, and among the leaders who participated were PB member Prabhat Kumar, Gujarat's state in-charge Ranjan Ganguly, RYA National Secretary Amit Patanvaria, adivasi youth leader and the party's Kaprada unit's secretary Kamlesh Bhai, Comrade Mohan Bhai of Bhilad, Comrade Santu Bhai, Comrade Mohan Bhai Dubhada of Sarigam Industrial Area, and Comrade Jayanti Ben.

A 7-member delegation met the DM at the end of the Rally and submitted a memorandum with the following issues:

Land mafia in collusion with the Government machinery is grabbing the traditional land of the adivasis by force or deceit. The police is not filing the complaints of adivasis in this regard, falsely claiming the matter to be a civil rather than criminal one. Police harassment of adivasis is rampant in the area. GIDC (Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation) is colluding with land mafia to falsely obtain NOCs for company owners from panchayats and gram sabhas. Adivasi villages in coastal areas are being cleared out to make way for ports.

Valsad district, especially the Kaprada taluka, has vast forest areas. Under the Forest Rights Act 2005 the adivasis cultivating this land have the right to the land. Yet they are being evicted by the Forest Department in collusion with the land mafia, by using ploys such as fencing off land in the name of plantation nursery, demarcation line etc and handing it over to land mafias to 'develop logistic centres'. According to a survey conducted by party comrades recently, 234 adivasi families are cultivating 987 acres of land in Kaprada taluka, and have been doing so for generations, yet they have no papers to prove their ownership.

Vapi, Sarigam and Unbergaon GIDCs in the Umbergaon taluka are the hub of massive chemical industries. Violating all pollution control laws, these industries are polluting the fields, rivers, ponds and soil in the adivasis' villages. The Government turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to any complaints.

Those who raise the above issues, especially CPI(ML) activists are booked under false cases or attacked physically by land mafia forces. In the last Assembly polls, party leader Lakshman Bhai Varia's name was deleted from the voter list.   

Party leaders who addressed the demonstration said that the plight of adivasis in Valsad illustrated the true face of Modi's claims of 'development', which was nothing but open plunder by corporate and powerful vested interests, and repression of forces of resistance. Copies of the memo were sent to the Governor of Gujarat and the Central Ministers for Social Welfare and Home Affairs. 

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 26 / 2013

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.  16             No. 26                                                                           18-24 JUN 2013

 

The JD(U)-BJP Split: 

 Opportunities and Challenges for the Left in Bihar

The JD(U)-BJP alliance has finally come to an end. According to Nitish Kumar, the alliance was no longer tenable and the time had come when it had to be 'sacrificed' for the sake of 'principle'. What triggered this sudden pang of 'principle' was the elevation of Modi as the chief of the BJP's poll campaign for the coming Lok Sabha elections and the tame surrender of Advani.

If it is a matter of 'principle' now for Nitish Kumar, clearly he has a thoroughly opportunist yardstick to measure it. Nitish Kumar has no problem with the BJP. He has shared power with it at the Centre and then in Bihar since 2005. He has no problem with Narendra Modi either. He had never said anything when Narendra Modi's government orchestrated the Gujarat genocide in 2002. It now turns out that while inaugurating a railway project in Gujarat in 2003, Nitish Kumar as union railway minister had even foreseen a greater role for 'Narendrabhai' in the service of the nation. Even in 2009 Nitish Kumar had no problem flashing the victory sign together with Narendra Modi in an NDA meeting in Punjab.

His problem started when some Bihari businessman with business interests in Gujarat sponsored an advertisement in newspapers in Bihar flashing that photograph of bonhomie between the two chief ministers. Nitish Kumar did not want Modi to spoil his show in Bihar. He had kept Modi away from any kind of electioneering in Bihar. But now that the BJP has chosen Modi as its poll mascot, a prelude to or an equivalent of his formal projection as the party's prime ministerial candidate, Nitish Kumar could not possibly keep him out of the Bihar scheme of things any longer. So he decided to call off the alliance now, making it into a matter of 'principle'.

Clearly Nitish Kumar's assessment is that while initially he needed the BJP to gain and consolidate power in Bihar, he could now afford to come out of the BJP's embrace and seek some other alliance. While striking deals with the Congress over 'special category status' for Bihar, he also seems ready to contribute to the chorus for a 'federal front' by reaching out to his counterparts in Odisha and West Bengal. On June 12, while a JD(U) emissary was present at the Naveen Patnaik show in Delhi demanding 'special status' for Odisha, another JD(U) leader came to Kolkata to have a talk with Mamata Banerjee. 

There is also a pressing need for Nitish Kumar to seek a new context for himself in Bihar. He is aware that the social and political coalition that catapulted him to power was born under extraordinary circumstances and cannot be sustained for any indefinite length of time. In 2005 February he emerged as a key player but without a clear mandate. In November 2005 he got a mandate to usher in 'regime change' in a chaotic and stagnant Bihar. In 2010 he played on the danger of a possible return of Lalu Prasad, but what fetched him a bigger mandate was Bihar's aspiration for development.

But now in 2013 when the dream of development has visibly begun to turn sour, and social oppression, police repression and the highhandedness of a corrupt bureaucracy have become the hallmarks of his government, Nitish Kumar evidently needs to shift the goalpost. Hence his sudden rediscovery of the secular principle! And unlike VP Singh who had to sacrifice his government at the Centre by parting ways with the BJP, Nitish Kumar has the comfort of playing the 'secular' card without risking the safety of his government as his own party is just a few short of the majority mark!

How should the Left respond to this split in the ruling alliance in Bihar? The fact that the ruling alliance has split under the weight of its own unsustainable opportunism is certainly welcome and the Left must use this welcome turn of events to intensify the ongoing struggles on the host of people's issues and sharpen and strengthen its own intervention in the increasingly competitive political situation of Bihar.

It must be understood that the Left in Bihar has not come together only to oppose the impact of central policies on Bihar – the joint actions of the Left in Bihar have primarily been directed against the policies and measures of the Bihar government, against the latter's comprehensive failure and betrayal in keeping its poll promises and fulfilling the demands of the people. The people of Bihar will not shed tears over the loss of trust between the BJP and JD(U), but there is no way the people can condone the betrayal by the Nitish Kumar government of the interests of the toiling masses of Bihar and of the very aspiration for 'development with justice'.

At every turn of event and on every issue of importance, the Nitish Kumar government has proved to be a handmaiden of the feudal forces and if the BJP has succeeded in almost doubling its strength in Bihar Assembly, it is very much a result of Nitish Kumar's politics of appeasement of feudal-communal forces in Bihar. This historical reality cannot be erased by the belated and opportunist split on the question of elevation of Narendra Modi as the chief of the BJP's election campaign committee. With the BJP pushed into the opposition space, opposition politics will become much more competitive in Bihar and the Left will have to assert its agenda by intervening in this competition with all its strength. It must be understood that this is an important part of the Left's battle against the BJP in this new phase in Bihar.

The Odisha model where a section of the Left ran into the embrace of Naveen Patnaik the moment he severed ties with the BJP must serve as a negative reference point for the Left in Bihar. The Odisha model may have helped the CPI win a Lok Sabha seat with the blessing of the ruling party but today Odisha is a hotbed of corporate plunder and the people are forced to fight hard against the government that the CPI continues to support. In Bihar, the CPI has already declared the support of its lone MLA for the June 19 vote of confidence sought by Nitish Kumar, of course adding that this stand should not be construed as an expression of general support for the government. The future of understanding and cooperation between the CPI and CPI(ML) will depend on the course the CPI takes vis-a-vis the JD(U) and the Nitish Kumar government.

The Left ranks in Bihar need not learn only from Odisha. The CPI has its own experience in Bihar to learn from. The early 1970s were a period of great advance for the CPI in Bihar but the Emergency era blunder of partnership with Indira Gandhi stunted its growth and discredited its politics. After years of determined anti-feudal struggle, when the Congress was ousted from power, the CPI once again repeated the blunder by getting into an uncritical alliance with Lalu Prasad. By the time the party leadership woke up to the danger of this perilous partnership, it was too late and the CPI could never regain the strength, credibility and initiative it once enjoyed in Bihar.

Now that Nitish Kumar has been forced to end the extraordinary and unsustainable alliance in Bihar, the political situation in the state has surely opened up. The revolutionary Left must take the fullest advantage of the new situation to rejuvenate the resistance of the working people, sharpen the struggle on every question of democracy, justice and development and forcefully intervene in the developing ideological-political churning in the society in Bihar.

Nitish Kumar had reduced whatever ideology he had inherited from the 1974 movement to a pursuit of power marked by utter political opportunism and total appeasement of feudal forces. Today when the Congress faces its deepest crisis of credibility, ironically enough, both Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, the two self-styled legatees of the 1974 movement are busy in a competitive bid to court the thoroughly discredited Congress. The revolutionary Left must take the lead to unify the Left and other democratic forces in Bihar in a determined and powerful bid to emerge as a pole not only against the Congress and the BJP but also in contrast to the corrupt and opportunist political culture symbolised by the JD(U) and the RJD.

CPI(ML) Statement on BJP-JD(U) Break Up

Patna, 16 June 2013

The CPI(ML) had for long demanded that the JD(U) part ways with the communal fascist BJP, and in this context, the party welcomes the break-up of the JD(U) with the BJP. At the same time, we must point out that the alliance between the JD(U) and the BJP was formed on the basis of opportunism, and has now broken up on the basis of opportunism. 

Nitish Kumar and his party have been responsible for giving strength and legitimacy to BJP and Narendra Modi for 17 years, with Nitish Kumar remaining a Minister in the NDA Government even in the immediate aftermath of the Gujarat massacre masterminded by Modi in 2002. It is very apparent that the break-up is not inspired by a genuine concern for secularism and democracy, but out of Nitish Kumar's opportunist political calculations.

In Bihar, too, Nitish Kumar's Government has adopted much of the BJP's feudal-communal agenda and bias whether on the question of justice for dalits and minorities or land reform. The police firing and atrocities on minorities at Forbesganj and the Government's role in allowing the supporters of Ranveer Sena's Brahmeshwar Singh to 'vent their anger' on dalit students and common people after his killing are prominent instances of Nitish Kumar following in Narendra Modi's footsteps.

While welcoming the break-up of the JD(U)-BJP alliance, we will not let Nitish Kumar shift the agenda in Bihar, and will hold his Government responsible for all its betrayals and failures on the question of land reform, justice, corruption and people's rights. 

Having finally pulled out of the long and opportunist alliance with the BJP, Nitish Kumar is hobnobbing in an equally opportunist way with authoritarian and corrupt forces like Congress and TMC. Nitish Kumar is now competing with Laloo Prasad to appease the Congress.

Narendra Modi has come to represent the agenda of communal as well as corporate fascism. This agenda can be resisted only by a people's movement and a politics firmly committed to defending democracy against the corporate stranglehold and state repression. Nitish Kumar's Government in Bihar, and the Congress Government at the Centre and in various states, have proved to be a miserable failure on this count.

The CPI(ML) will oppose the BJP's Bihar Bandh called on 18 June, calling for people of Bihar to firmly reject and resist the feudal-communal politics and corporate-communal agenda of the BJP and the JDU alike.

- Kunal

Secretary,

CPI(ML) Bihar State Committee

Statewide Protests Held in Jharkhand

On June 11 CPI(ML) organised demonstrations and protests throughout Jharkhand demanding immediate dissolution of the Jharkhand Assembly and fresh elections.  In the capital Ranchi protests were held at Albert Ekka Chowk.  Braving the incessant monsoon rains, about a hundred protesters stood their ground and remained firm in their demands, addressed the people and raised slogans. Addressing the rally Central Committee member and MLA Vinod Singh said that the Congress can never be in a position to form a government in Jharkhand on its own strength and yet it cannot give up the desire for power and therefore it uses all underhand means to grab power. President's Rule is an excuse hiding behind which the Congress is ruling in Jharkhand. The Congress is serving its own ends by keeping the Assembly suspended for such a long period and by keeping the JMM and the RJD under pressure. Com. Vinod stressed that the people of Jharkhand had become wise to the deceit of the Congress and is not prepared to suffer Congress rule any longer. If the Assembly is not dissolved and fresh elections held immediately, the people of Jharkhand will intensify their struggle on the streets. State secretary Janardan Prasad, CC member Anant Prasad Gupta, State Standing Committee member Parmeshwar Mahto, State Committee member Sukhdev Munda, AIPWA leaders Guni Oraon and Sarojini Bisht, youth leader Bhishma Mahto and others participated in the rally. 

In Garhwa district protesters demonstrated in front of the district Collectorate under the leadership of State committee members Mohan Dutta, Kalicharan Mehta, and Sushma Mehta. At the Palamu district headquarters a protest was held where the speakers also also condemned the incident where shops of minorities were burnt down in Chhatarpur while the administration tried to evade the issue by refusing to enter into talks but the CPI-ML leaders stood their ground and the Deputy Commissioner finally spoke to them and assured them that the matter would be conveyed to the proper authorities and all efforts would be made to find a positive solution to the problems. This protest was led by District secretary R. N. Singh, Ravindra Ram and all others. 

In Giridih, protesters participated in the demonstration in front of the district deputy commissioner led by District Secretary Manoj Bhakt, State Committee members Rajkumar Yadav, Rajesh Yadav, Usman Ansari and other leaders. A protest in Kodarma was led by State Committee members Prem Prakash and Shyamdev Yadav.  In Dhanbad, protesters gathered at Randhir Verma Chowk. In Bokaro protesters rallied in front of District deputy commissioner's office led by District Secretary Devdeep Singh Diwakar, State Committee members Janardan Harijan, J. N. Singh, Baleshwar Yadav and other leaders.

In Ramgarh, protesters led by district secretary Bhuneshwar Bediya and state committee member Devkinandan Bediya raised the issue of forcible capture of land by Jindal. In Hazaribagh state committee member Baijnath Mistry, AICCTU leader Pachchu Rana led the protesters against the illegal  capture of thousands of acres of land by Reliance, NTPC and several other companies in the name of coal mining and power plants in the district. In Godda, demonstrators protested against the grabbing of Adivasi land by Jindal and declared that if action was not taken against Jindal and other corporate looting the people, the district headquarters would be gheraoed on July 15. The protest was led by Arun Sahay, Motilal and others.  In Deogarh demonstrators sat in protest against the incidents of violence against women.  It may be noted that even a month after the rape and murder of two minor girls in Deogarh, no arrests have so far been made. This protest was led by district secretary Gita Mandal and Sahdev Yadav.  Protesters put forward their demands in Kundohit sector of Jamtara district. In Tata, people participated in the protest and raised their demands, led by state committee member and former MLA Bahadur Oraon, state committee member Om Prakash Singh and district secretary S. K. Rai.  Protests were also organized in Dumka and Lohardaga and an effigy of the Central government was burnt in Gumla.

AISA-RYA Protest Violation of Sovereignty and Right to Privacy and Internet Freedom

After whistleblower Edward Snowden's courageous leak citizens world over are enraged with the criminal audacity of the surveillance programmes run by US which violate the minimum democratic rights of free individuals. It's a shame that such colonization of free spaces and sovereignty is done in the name of preventing terrorism and providing security. Obama's US believes itself to be the self proclaimed dispenser of global security. Every common individual is being treated as a potential terrorist automatically warranting US surveillance and any dissent, like that of Edward Snowden, deserves extreme punishment. This huge organised terror reign under the pretext of fighting disparate terrorist attacks cannot be accepted.

It is shocking how Indian state has responded so meekly after it is exposed that its big brother has ranked her among top five mistrustful and spied nations. The response of other nations which boasts of defending democracy and sovereignty globally has been muted as well.

Addressing the protest held on 15 June at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, Sunny Kumar, AISA state secretary said, the sham of America's imperialist interference and war-mongering in the name of defending the rights and democratic aspirations of people around the globe is now exposed to the people of US and world over as it got exposed to Edward Snowden. US must realise that that last decade has been the decade of youth movements asserting their democratic rights in many countries including their own. Right to Internet freedom and privacy is something which citizens endear globally and unless US shuts down its surveillance programme it is risking a global mass movement against itself which even its partner and puppet governments would not be able to stem. Aslam Khan, RYA leader said, we have repeatedly warned that tremendous data collection UID scheme involves foreign companies like US biometric technology companies, L1 Identity Solutions Operating Company and Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd for de-duplication. Both these companies admittedly work with US intelligence agencies and US Homeland Security respectively as privatized gatekeepers of national security. The details are available on their websites. It is the Indian Government policies which is making its citizens susceptible to surveillance.  

AISA and RYA demand that Indian Government spearhead the global democratic community in pressurising the US to stop all such surveillance programmes and till then snap all sorts of ties with US. Also the US should handover its criminal CIA agent David Headly to India and also ensures that no harm is being done secretly or openly to Edward Snowden.

Forest Dwellers Demonstrate to Demand Panchayat Elections in Forest Villages (Khattas).

All India Kisan Mahasabha has been waging struggle on the basic civil rights of forest dwellers (Khattavasis) in Uttarakhand for last many years achieving some victories. But the atrocities and nefarious designs to displace them by administration continue. Continuing their struggle the Kisan Mahasabha held demonstration before district magistrate in Nainital on 10 June 2013 demanding holding of Panchayat election in Khattas.

A mass meeting was held on the occasion which began with the recitation of Gorakh Pandey's poem by com. Pankaj Inqalabi, and addressed among others by Bahadur Singh Jangi, Nainital District President of Kisan Mahsabha and Kailash Pandey, district secretary of CPI(ML).

The speakers lambasted the Congress government and the previous BJP government for ignoring these forest dwellers and denying them their basic rights like electricity, family registers, medical facilities, schools and panchayats. They charged the forest department of repeatedly harassing them and attacking their livelihood in violation of earlier agreement reached with Nainital district administration. They also criticised the central and state governments of conspiring to displace them from their forest lands under the garb of environment and eco-sensitive zone and demanded holding of panchayat elections in Khattas (forest areas where they live) to ensure basic rights and their development and called for waging a powerful movement for achieving their demands.

The other speakers were Kamala Kunjwal, ASHA workers' leader and Lalit Matiyali, Gulam Navi, Gopal Dutt and Hayat Ram. After holding the mass meeting in Tallital, a procession was taken out to the DM office where the leaders of Kisan Mahasabha submitted a memorandum demanding holding of Panchayat elections in Khattas, to stop creating eco-sensitive zones, to stop atrocities on Khattavasis and to register murder charges against accused in the murder of Sangita Malda. The demonstrators in solidarity with workers of SIDCUL, Uddham Singh Nagar also demanded unconditional release of all arrested workers of Tata-Asal plant and withdrawal of all cases against them.

Demonstration against Murder of Anti-liquor Activist in Uttarakhand

Sangita Malda was murdered on 29 May 2013. She was spearheading a movement against liquor smugglers in Uttarakhand – the land of anti-liquor movement with the slogan of "Nasha Nahin, Rozgar Do". She was an ASHA worker in Mandalsera village of district Bageshwar. On 20th May, she led a protest demonstration of women at SDM office, Bageshwar demanding action against liquor smugglers in the village. Then on 24 May she submitted a memorandum with DM in which she gave the names of liquor smugglers and demanded protection for her and other women comrades. But the district administration ignored her demands. As a result of the callous and apathetic attitude of district administration, on 29th May she was murdered in her house by liquor mafia when she was alone. After murdering her, the culprits tried to convert the murder into a suicide scene by forcing pesticide into her mouth, and their agents went on to propagate that she has committed suicide owing to financial fraud done by her with women group and lodged a case of suicide. But these concocted charges were refuted by the treasurer of women group Ramuli Devi who informed that the entire fund is safely lying in bank.

Demanding punishment to the murderers of the martyred Sangita, who bravely fought against liquor mafia and for the dignity of women, hundreds of women, members of ASHA union, anganwadi workers and villagers under the leadership of CPI (ML) and AICCTU staged a militant demonstration on 4 June at DM office. They demanded lodging of murder cases against the accused, immediate arresting of the fourth accused, punishment to administrative officers and policemen who did not take any action despite repeated submission of memorandum and information, prohibition of legal and illegal sale of liquor in the entire district, arrest of all liquor smugglers and compensation and job to the dependent of the deceased. The militant demonstration forced the DM and SP to come out of office to face the demonstrators and to give clarification to every demand raised. They had to confess in front of the demonstrators that the police ignored the facts and were also conceded to the demands raised in the demonstration and declared that the case of murder will be registered after the enquiry into this incident by high officials. The district administration was given an ultimatum of 10 days with a warning of Chakka Jam if the demands are not met. 

AIALA Conference in Puducherry

Save Puducherry- Karaikal rural workers! Save Peasants, agriculture and lands!! Such were slogans of the special Conference organised by rural workers affiliated to AIALA on 13 June at Kaikalampakkam, Puducherry. Large numbers of rural workers especially woman workers participated with much enthusiasm. Workers from Karaikal region took part in good numbers.

The conference was presided by R.V Lenin, Puducherry district leader of AIALA and P. Murugan, co-organiser of AIALA. P. Sankaran made the welcome address. Dhirendra Jha, CPI(ML) Politburo member and All India General Secretary of AIALA, Balasundaram, CPI(ML) Tamil Nadu State Secretary; So. Balasubramanian, CPI(ML) in-charge of Puducherry; S. Mothilal,  State Secretary AICCTU, Puducherry and A.S Singarevelu, Secretary  CPI(ML), Karaikal, addressed the Conference. The participants took part in lively deliberations.

While addressing the Conference Com. Dhirender Jha said "Workers are neither getting 100 days of work nor are they getting notified wages of MNRGES in Puducherry. Under the pressures of industrialists and kulak lobbies, Central and State governments are conspiring to kill MNRGES. It is being done through fixing less wages than market rates and non-implementation of MNRGES provisions in totality".

The following resolutions were passed in the Conference and sent to the ANR Congress government in Puducherry State and Central UPA government at the centre.

I)        Concrete steps should be taken to save agriculture, rural workers and lands.

II)       Free supply of 70 kg rice, and sufficient quantities of oil, pulses and other essential items should be made compulsorily to all families.

III)      Implementation of MNRGES with full swing without deduction of notified wages of Rs 148/- per day to a worker.

IV)      Waiver of all debts to marginal, small and medium farmers.

V)       Pension of Rs 3000/- to all rural workers; and

VI)           Cauvery Delta farmers should be saved, and appropriate relief measures should be undertaken for farmers and agricultural workers.

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