ML UPDATE 51 / 2010

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 13, No. 51, 14 – 20 DECEMBER 2010

 

Nobel Prize and the Price of Peace

This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. China termed the award a calculated affront, and with Liu Xiaobo in prison serving an 11-year sentence and his wife under house arrest, the prize was awarded to an empty chair.

 

That the Nobel Peace Prize more often than not carried a political charged message is nothing new. Last year's award to US President Barack Obama was calculated to boost the US' bid for renewed prestige and credibility after the universally condemned Bush era. The choice of Xiaobo is very likely inspired by the intention to delegitimize Communist Party-ruled China as an authoritarian regime. If so, however, China has walked headlong into that trap.

 

Liu Xiaobo, associated with the Tianenmen protests of 1989, is an advocate of political reforms to bring China in line with Western-style liberal democracy. His Charter 08, for which he was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009, advocates a gradual path of reform including property rights and multi-party democracy. In a media interview in Hong Kong in the late 1980s, Xiaobo is also said to have spoken approvingly of colonialism's role in Hong Kong's development and prescribed "300 years of colonialism" for China.

 

In China, spectacular capitalist growth in the economy is accompanied by continuing oversight and direction as well as political control by the CPC. Behind the clamour by the US and other capitalist countries for 'democracy' in China is the hope that this contradiction between China's increasingly neoliberal economic trajectory and its communist-ruled political structure could be sharpened to push for wholesale capitalist restoration in that country. However it must also be recognised that China's market reforms in the economy are providing a material basis for demands of commensurate political reforms as well. For China to deal with that contradiction by muzzling the advocates of such change is to play into the hands of its detractors. By imprisoning Xiaobo, pressurising various other countries to boycott the Nobel ceremony and preventing Xiaobo's wife from receiving the award in his stead, China has obliged its opponents with the most potent symbolic weapon they could have hoped for.

 

It must also be recognised that it is not only advocates of capitalist political reform that have been muzzled in China – it appears that even voices highlighting the growing social disparities too have been similarly suppressed. Not long ago, a man whose five-year-old son was poisoned by toxic milk in China was sentenced to jail for setting up a website to organise other parents against melamine poisoning. Workers' protests too are known to meet with repression. The same repressive stick has been wielded to deal with popular outbursts at regional and cultural disparities in Xinjiang and Tibet.

 

The Nobel episode also unavoidably highlights the hypocrisy and double standards of capitalist liberal democracies. Even as Obama and others express pious outrage at how China treats its dissidents, they have all participated in the manhunt for Julian Assange, the founder of whistleblower website Wikileaks which blew the lid off the horrific war crimes that were the daily feature of the wars and occupation in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world. A 22-year old US solider, Private Bradley Manning, languishes in prison on suspicion of having leaked documentary evidence of war crimes to Wikileaks, including a video of US soldiers deliberately firing from the air to kill unarmed civilians in Baghdad. Even as the Nobel ceremony was underway in Norway, neighbouring Sweden was partnering the US in its bid to hunt down and silence Assange. Had the Nobel Committee really wanted to give a powerful contemporary message of peace, surely a more suitable candidate for the Peace Prize would have been Manning or Assange, for exposing the real face of war to people all over the world at the cost of personal liberty?

 

The double standards are no less visible here in India. How would the Indian state and mainstream media, quick to castigate China on Xiaobo and Tibet, have responded were Irom Sharmila, that powerful icon of protest against the Indian state's war on its people, to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?

 

The Resolve of December 18:

We Must Rise to the Occasion

As 2010 draws to a close, the country is witnessing an unprecedented spate of mega scams. The 2G spectrum scam alone is estimated to be of the order of Rs. 176,000 crore – 2,750 times the size of the Bofors scam which had once rocked the country and led to the downfall of the Rajiv Gandhi government which enjoyed a massive 400-plus majority in Parliament.

 

What however makes the current spate of scams unprecedented is not just their enormous magnitude, but the range of institutions afflicted by the spreading rot. The Delhi Commonwealth Games turned out to be a mega circus of corruption. The Adarsh Society scam in Mumbai has exposed the corrupt nexus involving chief ministers, top bureaucrats and the Army top brass. The Radia tapes have revealed the intimate links between governments, big corporations and influential mediapersons. The Supreme Court has objected to the appointment of a tainted official as the Central Vigilance Commissioner. Accusing fingers have also been raised against the judiciary itself, both from within the judiciary and without. From the Prime Minister's Office to Chief Ministers in key states – be it Congress-ruled Maharashtra or BJP-ruled Karnataka, from the Army to the judiciary and corporate media, all ruling class parties and pillars of the state-system are today under the scanner.

 

This clearly shows that corruption has emerged as the essential bridge between bourgeois economics and politics in the era of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. This is the lubricating oil that runs the machine of state-power and corporate power in India today. The rulers had of course made a contrary claim while initiating the new policies two decades ago. We were told that market-driven policies would clean up the system by abolishing the licence-quota-permit raj. But there is now overwhelming evidence to show that the market is gobbling up everything, subjecting the entire decision-making process to a shadowy market mechanism where every law of the land is thrown to the winds and all resources of the country and rights of the people are sacrificed at the altar of corporate power and greed.

 

An all-pervasive agrarian crisis which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives of Indian peasants, sky-rocketing prices that are daily pauperising large sections of the toiling masses, draconian laws and repressive campaigns that are bent upon throttling every voice of reason and dissent, and now this epidemic of corruption which is fast landing the system into its worst crisis of credibility – this is the big picture of today's India. The ruling classes and the UPA government are trying to combat this crisis with American certificates declaring India as a 'key strategic partner' and an 'emerged power' and promises of a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. But as the recent Obama visit clearly showed, India's partnership with the US may guarantee a bailout package for a crisis-ridden America, but for India it is certainly no passport to prosperity.

 

The more the Indian ruling classes cling to the US imperialism in the name of a strategic partnership, the more the US deepens its intervention in India and seeks to use India as a vehicle of American interest and influence in Asia. This only weakens our independence and vitiates our security environment. A recent study has also estimated that more and more Indian wealth is fleeing the country in search of grener pastures and safer havens abroad. Between 1948 and 2008, the country has been drained of an estimated Rs. 20,000 billion, and this outward flow has only been accelerating in recent years.

 

It goes without saying that this unfolding situation calls for a much bigger and much more assertive role of revolutionary communists to strengthen people's struggles on different fronts. In 2010, the Party took a couple of important initiatives in this direction – the launch of the All India Kisan Mahasabha in May and the formation of the All India Left Coordination in August. Together with the agricultural labour front, the peasant front is going to play a crucial role in the coming days not only from the point of view of resisting the agrarian crisis and advancing the campaign for land reforms, but also in terms of strengthening the anti-imperialist battle of the Indian people. The AILC too has made a good beginning, and it has already demonstrated some potential to attract the attention of serious Left forces in different parts of the country. In the coming days, we must make every effort to strengthen the AILC and carry it forward in the cherished direction of radicalization and rejuvenation of Left politics in India.

 

While most of our efforts and initiatives in 2010 yielded encouraging results, the results of Bihar Assembly elections have certainly come as a rude shock to the entire Party and all our friends and well-wishers. The continued presence of the Party in the legislative arena was the source of an added political profile for the Party not only in Bihar but in Left circles all over the country. Now that the NDA has swept the Bihar polls, rightwing forces and dominant sections of the media will surely try to use this sweeping victory of the NDA to mount an anti-Left offensive. The BJP having tasted extraordinary success in Bihar is bound to step up its role in Bihar and also try and use its success in Bihar for a countrywide rejuvenation of the BJP and the NDA. This will undoubtedly introduce new elements of tension in the political situation and we must boldly face every eventuality with our consistent anti-feudal anti-communal role.

 

The Party will surely learn every lesson that needs to be learnt and take every measure that needs to be taken, but electoral reverses cannot and must not be allowed to dampen the spirit and weaken the role and initiative of a revolutionary communist party like the CPI(ML). The Party will take the electoral shock in its strides and even use it as a "shock therapy" to strengthen the movement and streamline the organisation, and in no way will it allow reactionary forces to rob the people of the hard-won gains of decades of revolutionary struggle.

 

This 18th of December, along with Comrade Vinod Mishra we also remember Comrade Ramnaresh Ram (Parasji) who breathed his last on October 26 after giving his very best to the communist movement and the people for more than sixty years that changed the face of Bhojpur and much of erstwhile central Bihar. Comrade Ramnaresh Ram's long political journey from the days of freedom struggle through the historic struggle of Ekwari (his native village in Sahar block of Bhojpur district) to the glorious assertion of the rural poor against feudal oppression and domination will remain a treasure house of inspiration for generations to come.

 

Comrade VM and Comrade Parasji played a historic role in reorganising and reviving the CPI(ML) after the setback of the early 1970s and also in upholding the revolutionary banner of Marxism and communist movement in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union when weak-hearted communists had started wavering and deserting the communist movement. This 18th of December, the entire Party takes a collective vow to carry forward their glorious and inspiring legacy. This 18th of December, we rededicate ourselves to the revolutionary communist mission of the CPI(ML) and to the challenge of fulfilling the unfinished tasks of all our martyrs and departed leaders. We inherit the legacy of learning from mistakes and turning defeats into victories. Let us rise to the occasion with renewed and stronger resolve and take the Party forward with bold and energetic steps.

 

Massive Demonstration in Patna by Sand Labourers

 

Thousands of labourers employed by big businesses in sand extraction in the Ganga-Son river belt of central Bihar held a massive demonstration in front of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha on 8th December 2010. This demonstration was led by the Balu Mazdoor Sangathan (sand workers' association) and CPI(ML). Comrades Gopal Singh, Secretary of Balu Mazdoor Sangathan and Rameshwar Prasad, President of All India Agricultural Labourers' Association (AIALA) led the militant demonstration. The rally caused the blockade of most main streets of Patna.

 

Recently, the contractors, who are mainly patronised by the JD(U), BJP and RJD have brought huge machines for sand extraction purposes thereby rendering jobless thousands of workers in the Bikram, Bihta Maner block of Patna district and Sandesh and Koilwar blocks of Bhojpur dist. Most of the thrown out workers had to migrate to other states to earn livelihood. The demonstration, first of this strength after the formation of Nitish Kumar's Govt. in Bihar demanded withdrawal of the big machines creating unemployment, besides other demands of balu mazdoors.

 

Senior Govt. officials met a delegation of Sand Workers' Association and CPI(ML) leaders and have given a verbal impression that the workers rendered jobless will be given employment either by withdrawing of machines or MG-NREGA. If the promises that the officials made are not respected by them, the Party will launch a bigger movement.

 

Condemn P Chidambaram's Anti-Migrant Slander

 

The national capital has been witness to four shocking rapes of women in the past month. Faced with this evidence of the Delhi Police's inability to curb the growing rise of crimes against women in the capital and nab the perpetrators, the Home Minister has resorted to blaming the culture of migrants living in unauthorised colonies! Not surprisingly, although Chidambaram was forced to withdraw his remarks, the Shiv Sena has welcomed this legitimisation of their anti-migrant hate campaign from no less than the Home Minister from the Congress party.

 

Migrants in Delhi and other cities are themselves the most vulnerable to exploitation and violence. In Mumbai, for instance, the Congress Government miserably failed to curb organised violence by the Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena brigades. In Delhi too, the collapse of a building in Laxminagar that claimed the lives of 70 migrant workers is a comment on the shameful callousness of the Congress Government of Delhi towards migrants and the question of their housing. To blame this vulnerable section of people for the growing violence against women in the city is to add insult to injury.

 

It must also be remembered that in Delhi, migrant women from the North East face discriminatory attitudes from the police and administration in addition to sexual violence, and migrant women working as domestic workers are especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation and violence.

 

It is urgently needed that rape, sexual harassment and violence against women in Delhi be dealt with sternly, and this cannot be done without challenging and changing the patriarchal attitudes and racial/regional prejudices of the Delhi Police and authorities.

 

 8th CPI(ML) Assam State Conference

 

The 8th CPI(ML) Assam State Conference took place on 11-12 December, 2010 at Ramnaresh Ram Auditorium (Samhati Bhawan) of Swahid Mukul Baruah Nagar (Dibrugarh). The manch was named after Shaheed Comrade Kshitipati Das, who had laid down his life along with 7 comrades in Tripura in the Huruwa massacre in the 1980s. On the first day of the Conference an impressive mass rally was organized in the main streets of Dibrugarh town, where more than 3000 people, from both Dibrugarh district and nearby Tinsukia district participated. Most of the participants were Tea Garden and rural workers.

 

After the procession a mass meeting was held in the premise of Samhati Bhawan. Mass singer and leader of Sadou Asom Janasanskritik Parishad Comrade Loknath Goswami presided over the meeting. Party's State Secretary Com. Rubul Sarma, Party leader from Karbi Anglong Com. Chandra Kanta Terang, Com. Mira Tanti, Com. Premchand Singh (Manipur), Com. Vivek Das and Com. Gangaram Kol addressed the mass meeting. In the open session a Souvenir was released by Com. Hasan Swarif Ahmed, former IPTA leader and associate of Jyotiprashad Agarwala.

 

PB member and central observer Com. D. P. Buxi hoisted the party flag and after that Com. Chandra Kanta Terang started Shaheed Tarpan and leaders, delegates and guests paid homage to the martyrs.

 

A presidium comprising of Com. Subhas Sen, Anju Borkatoky, Chandrakanta Terang, Gangaram Kol, Subhasis Bhadra was formed to conduct the Delegate Session, which began with the welcome address by the secretary of Dibrugarh district committee of the party Com. Partha Dey. Thereafter, central observer Com. D. P. Buxi delivered the inaugural address of the conference.

 

Party State Secretary Com. Rubul Sarma placed the Draft report which was discussed by delegates on the first and second days. Following this the draft report was unanimously adopted by the house.

 

The conference resolved to strengthen mass movements and rise in the occasion with a campaign from the month of January itself. The conference decided to implement the call of 18 December by mobilizing all cadres and members of the party. The call will be linked up with specific issues of the state. The conference resolved to come forward with a new vision to develop and expand party work in the state as well as in the rest of the North East.

 

Thereafter a 17-member Assam State Committee comprising of Com. Rubul Sarma, Vibek Das, Pankaj Das, Subhas Sen, Arup Mahanta, Naren Borah, Partha Dey, Shrubhrajyoti Bardhan, Gangaram Kol, Lila Sarma, Mrinali Devi, Rajiv Dutta, Balindra Saikia, Jiten Tanti, Mira Tanti, Bhadrawati Gogoi and Swapna Sarma was unanimously elected by the house. Com. Rubul Sarma was re-elected as the state secretary.

 

Central observer Com D P Buxi placed his observation in detail and called upon the house to take up the challenge of strengthening the revolutionary movement in the state.

 

Why WikiLeaks Must be Protected

(Excerpt from article by John Pilger)

The case of the Afghanistan war logs and the hounding of Julian Assange prove that there's never been greater need to speak truth to power than today.

 

On 26 July, WikiLeaks released thousands of secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan. Cover-ups, a secret assassination unit and the killing of civilians are documented. In file after file, the brutalities echo the colonial past. From Malaya and Vietnam to Bloody Sunday and Basra, little has changed. The difference is that today there is an extraordinary way of knowing how faraway societies are routinely ravaged in our name. WikiLeaks has acquired records of six years of civilian killing in both Afghanistan and Iraq, of which those published in the Guardian are a fraction.

 

There is understandably hysteria on high, with demands that the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, be "hunted down" and "rendered". A senior official in the Washinton defence department referred me to the "ongoing criminal investigation" of a US soldier, Bradley Manning, an alleged whistleblower. In a nation that claims its constitution protects truth-tellers, the Obama administration is pursuing and prosecuting more whistleblowers than any of its modern predecessors. A Pentagon document states bluntly that US intelligence intends to "fatally marginalise" WikiLeaks. The preferred tactic is smear, with corporate journalists ever ready to play their part.

 

The Pentagon line - On 31 July, the American celebrity reporter Christiane Amanpour interviewed the US secretary of defence, Robert Gates, on the ABC network. She invited him to describe to her viewers his "anger" at WikiLeaks. She echoed the Pentagon line that "this leak has blood on its hands", cueing Gates to find WikiLeaks "guilty" of "moral culpability". Such hypocrisy coming from a regime drenched in the blood of the people of Afghanistan and Iraq - as its own files make clear - is apparently not for journalistic inquiry. This is hardly surprising now that a new and fearless form of public accountability, which WikiLeaks represents, threatens not only the warmakers but also their apologists.

 

Their current propaganda is that WikiLeaks is "irresponsible". Earlier this year, before it released the cockpit video of a US Apache gunship killing 19 civilians in Iraq, including journalists and children, WikiLeaks sent people to Baghdad to find the victims' families in order to prepare them. Before the release of last month's Afghanistan war logs, WikiLeaks wrote to the White House asking that it identify Afghan names that might draw reprisals. There was no reply. More than 15,000 files were withheld and these, Assange says, will not be released until they have been scrutinised "line by line" so that the names of those at risk can be deleted.

 

A duty to publish - On 16 August, the Guardian, citing Daniel Ellsberg, described the great Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu as "the pre-eminent hero of the nuclear age". Vanunu, who alerted the world to Israel's secret nuclear weapons, was kidnapped by the Israelis and incarcerated for 18 years after he was left unprotected by the Sunday Times, which had published the documents he supplied. In 1983, another heroic whistleblower, Sarah Tisdall, a Foreign Office clerical officer, sent documents to the Guardian disclosing how the Thatcher government planned to spin the arrival of US cruise missiles in Britain. The Guardian complied with a court order to hand over the documents, and Tisdall went to prison.

 

The WikiLeaks revelations shame the dominant section of journalism, devoted merely to taking down what cynical and malign power tells it. This is state stenography, not journalism. Look on the WikiLeaks site and read a Ministry of Defence document that describes the "threat" of real journalism. And so it should be a threat.

 

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

ML UPDATE 50 / 2010

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 13, No. 50, 07 – 13 DECEMBER 2010

 

Justice for 6 December 1992 -

Punish the Perpetrators of the Babri Masjid Demolition!

On 6 December 1992, Sangh Parivar mobs demolished the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. They were led by the top leaders of the BJP – including Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti. Each blow struck at the historic structure of the mosque was a deliberate, grievous blow to the secular fabric of India. 

In the 18 years since the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the perpetrators of that dastardly act have never been punished. The Liberhan committee came out with its belated report indicting BJP and Sangh leaders, but even after the report was tabled, the UPA Government has done nothing to ensure justice for the demolition.      

On 30 September this year, just a few months before the 18th anniversary of the demolition, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court came out with a verdict in the title suit case that in fact rewarded the very same forces who demolished the Masjid! The judgment, throwing the principles of evidence and justice to the winds, awarded 2/3rds of the land to the Hindu claimants.

It is true that the verdict awards one third of the land to the Muslims. Some try to tell us that this verdict should be accepted in the interests of "peace" and "harmony." Can peace ever be had without justice? Can the demolishers of the Masjid share the land with the victims of the demolition who had occupied it for 400 years? Can secular and democratic Indian citizens ever rest if the perpetrators of the Babri Masjid demolition are rewarded rather than punished? Such a verdict will only end up emboldening the communal fascists who will seek to repeat Ayodhya all over the country, destroy secularism and equality, and turn minorities into second-class citizens.

The Congress party, which watched mutely as the idols were smuggled by communal forces into the Masjid, which facilitated the opening of the locks on the Masjid, and whose Prime Minister presided over the demolition of the Masjid, would like to bury the memory of the demolition. The Congress and its UPA Government is neither interested in acting on the Liberhan report and punishing the guilty, nor in ensuring that justice is done in the title suit case. It is Congress' vacillations and double standards that have emboldened the Sangh Parivar time and again.       

On 6 December 2010, let us assert that no peace is possible until justice is done and the demolishers of the Babri Masjid punished! Let us resist the attempts (both judicial and political) to erase the memory of the demolition of India's secular values. Let us demand that the Supreme Court does justice in the title suit case, and let us demand that both the Courts and the Central Government initiate action against the perpetrators of the Babri Masjid demolition. 

CPI(ML) Protests Demanding Justice for 6 December 1992

On the occassion of 18 anniversary of demolition of the Babri Masjid the Communist Party of India (ML) and its affiliated organisations organised various programmes throughout the country. In Delhi, a march was held from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar to press for the demand of justice for the crime perpetrated eighteen years ago against democratic and secular fabric of the country. The activists of AISA and AICCTU also took part in the march. The march was concluded at Jantar Mantar in a mass meeting which was addressed by CPI(ML) State Secretary Sanjay Sharma, AICCTU Delhi General Secretary Santosh Rai, AISA General Secretary Ravi Rai, JNU Students Union ex-President Sandip Singh, AISA leaders from JNU Piyush Raj, Jeeshan and Hamid from Jamia and from DU Sunny and many others.

In Uttar Pradesh, dharna, marches and meetings were organised at various places. A dharna was held in Lucknow at Shahid Memorial while a march was organised in Varanasi which started from Cant. Station. Nearly a hundred Party activists were arrested by the administration in Gazipur and 40 in Chandauli when they were starting marches from the Party offices. Dharna were held in Sitapur and Lakhimpur Kheri districts. In Balia and Nichlaul of Maharajganj district mass meeting were organised. Similar programmes were also held at many other places. The speakers appealed to the Supreme Court to do justice with the Babri Masjid and secular democratic fabric of the country.

In Rajasthan programmes were held in Jaipur, Udaipur, Jhunjhunu, Wuhana and some other places. In Jaipur a mass meeting was organised at Khona Gauriyan which was also attended by the members of various mass organisations. Comrade Srilata Swaminathan, CC member, was the main speaker. She criticized the UP High Court decision which is nothing but a reward to the communal fascists. The meeting was conducted by AIPWA leader Manjulata. AICCTU leader Anand Dheva and AIKM district incharge Ramjilal Chalwaria addressed the meeting besides comrades Hina, Jamila Bano, Manju Rathaur, Usha Yadav, Manju Bagum and other.

A march was organised in Udaipur, from Town Hall  to Collectorate, on this day and a memorandum was sent to the President of India with the demand of punishing the guilty of Babri Masjid without any further delay. Comrade Chandradev Aula, District Secretary of the Party, addressed the marchers where he criticized the role of Congress party in strengthening of the communal fascist forces in the country. He also condemned the UPA Govt. for various mega-scams and demanded speedy justice. The meeting was also addressed by Nathulal Gameti, L. Ram Jat, and AISA Incharge Yogesh Rawal. A mass meeing was held in Jhunjhunu.

In Haryana, a protest was held in Kurukshetra which was addressed by Comrade Prem Singh Gahalawat and BKU leader Sube Singh Rana.

In Gujarat, a good public gathering was organised in Bhilad which was addressed by Party's CC member Prabhat Kumar and State Incharge Ranjan Ganguly.

Programmes were also held at many places in other states.

Convention on Women Agricultural Labourers in Mysore

A state-level convention on 'Women Agricultural Labourers – Challenges and Resistance', was jointly organized by AIPWA and Samata Vedike on 5 Dec at Mysore. Nearly 500 women from the rural belts of Davangere, Koppal, Chitradurga, Mysore and Bangalore participated. Members of Samata enacted a skit on the issues of women agricultural labourers to inaugurate the convention. Chief Guest, Com Kavita Krishnan, all-India Secretary, AIPWA, inaugurated the convention and said that the BJP government in the state stands exposed. The CM himself is shamelessly claiming that his own ministers are more corrupt than him and that he is not the only corrupt CM in the state. He justified his corruption by citing precedents. The BJP government is killing women with its policy of violence. Christian women and Muslim women are being attacked. Hindu women are targeted and attacked for "wrong behaviour" and for demanding rights. The state is unleashing severe repression on women protestors. She gave a call for women to break their silence and wage a determined battle against violence and this unjust system, which has money for liquor to flow but no money for drinking water. Meera Nayak, Convenor, Samata, presiding the inaugural session, stressed on the need for women to resist all kinds of exploitation and oppression.

This was followed by testimonies of struggles of women – against the closure of rice mills of Gangavati, irregularities in NREGA at Harapanahalli and Nanjangud, availing of the PDS facility in Sathigehundi, HDKote, against social boycott and sexual harassment of Budihalli dalit women and on conditions of women workers in export garment units in Bangalore. Basamma Daggi, Sainabi and Sharada from Gangavati, Sanramamma and Gopika from Sathigehundi, Kariyamma, Shakinamma and Renukamma from Harapanahalli, Marakka and Lakshmakka from Budihalli, Rajeshwari from Nanjangud (Spoorthy) and Shaila from Bangalore presented their struggle experiences. While presiding the session, Prof R Indira from Mysore University said that the corrupt governments in the state and centre don't have an iota of shame. Women need to reject all efforts of the corrupt BJP government to woe women with free sarees and be in the forefront of struggles against corruption and for a life of dignity.

In the second session, the testimonies on SHG issues, struggles against arrack sale, struggles for basic amenities including roads, bus facilities, toilets, Ashraya houses, distribution of Bhagyalakshmi bonds for female babies and issues of domestic workers were shared. Hampakka, State Vice-President of AIPWA and Honnamma from Hoskote spoke on the SHG issues. Jawajjar Honnamma from Budiyala, Devakka from Matthihalli, Honnamma from Kayakadahalli, Nagamma and Sharada from Nichapura of Harapanahalli, Sonamma and Shakina Begum from Gangavati, Maniyamma, Putnanjamma, Jayamma, Nagamma, Sanramamma and Kotramma from Sogalli, Sathigehundi and Nandinathapura of H D Kote spoke on anti- arrack struggles and struggles for basic amenities while Saroja (Domestic Workers Rights Union) from Bangalore shared the conditions of domestic workers. Anusuyamma, Convenor, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) , presided this session. She said that the BJP government has completely betrayed the people. Women should gear up to fight the corruption and irregularities at all levels; they should consciously break out of the illusion that some one will fulfil their needs and learn to grab their rights.

In the concluding speech Rati Rao, National Vice President, AIPWA, said that this convention could bring together the experiences of various struggling women and stressed the need to struggle for rights. Though the struggle against corruption has been a protracted struggle our women's response and resolve has been very encouraging and we need to forge a unity among our struggling sisters in different places and strengthen their voice of resistance.

A ten point resolution demanding a CBI enquiry on corruption and equal wages, crèche, PF, BPL cards and so on was passed by the convention

Kumuda, Samata, welcomed the gathering, Susheela, Roopa Rao, Anupama of Samata and Ranjani and Gandhimathi of AIPWA, co-ordinated the sessions. Geetha, Samata, gave vote of thanks. Com Bharadwaj, Com Parsappa, Shivamurthy of HRFDL spoke on the occasion.

AIPWA March Against Micro-finance Scam in Kakinada

Hundreds of women marched in Kakinada town on 22 November under the banner of AIPWA demanding to 'Scrap Micro Finance Institutions, provide loans to women through government institutions." They sat on a dharna at the Kakinada collectorate and submitted a memorandum highlighting the above demands. K Ratna Kumari, AIPWA District President and State Secretary R Nagamani led the march. AIALA State Secretary B Bangaru Rao, district CPI(ML) leaders Comrades Latehababu, Arjuna Rao, Ganesh, and Nageshwara Rao also participated.    

AIKM District Conference in East Godavari

The East Godavari district conference of AIKM was held in Pratipadu town on 24 November. 75 delegates participated in the conference. AIKM State Secretary D Harinath, AIALA State Secretary B Bangaru Rao and other district leaders addressed the Conference. A 21-member district committee was elected with Comrades K Ganesh as President, Setty Yesubabu as Vice President and Pilla Chandram as Secretary.

AIALA Protest in front of Odisha Assembly

Thousands of agricultural workers demanded from the Odisha Govt. minimum guarantee of 200 days of work with a minimum wage of Rs. 200 per day as well as to ensure 50 Kg food grains per family through PDS while holding a protest in front of Orissa Assembly. They asked from the Odisha CM to hold a special session of the Assembly on the issue of land reforms. They also demanded land pattas and withdrawal of false cases imposed by the administration on Comrade Tirupati Gomango, National Executive member of AIALA.

The huge procession was started from Nagbhushan Bhavan with colourful placards and slogans. This was led and addressed by comrades Khitish Biswal, Radha Kanta Sethi, Satyabadi Behera, President AIALA Odisha, Bidyadhar Patra, Ashok Pradhan, Yusdhistir Mohapatra and Tirupati Gamango.

IIMS Meeting in Kozhikode on 'Women's Movement in Contemporary India'

On 7 December, Indian Institute of Marxist Studies (IIMS) held a meeting in the Press Club Hall, Kozhikode, on the topic 'Women's Movement in Contemporary India.' The main speaker at the meeting was Kavita Krishnan, CC Member of CPI(ML) and National Secretary AIPWA. The meeting was chaired by Comrade John K Erumeli, Secretary, State Leading Team of CPI(ML) Liberation, Kerala. Comrade K M Venugopalan, Convenor of IIMS in Kerala welcomed the participants. State Leading Team members Joy Peter and O P Kunjupillai also participated in the meeting. In the talk and the discussion that followed with several activists of autonomous and left women's groups, student activists and other left and democratic activists, the challenges before the women's movement today were discussed and the need to develop a women's movement with a revolutionary left orientation was highlighted. Advocate P A Pouran, Secretary, PUCL Kerala, Comrades Smitha, Ambika and Shajil of LCC Kerala, Viji, activist of Penkootu, a working women's group in Kozhikode, activists of the Progressive Students' Forum (PSF) and several mediapersons also participated in the meeting.

CPI(ML) Rally at Singur

An impressive rally was organised at Singur at the call of the West Bengal State Committee of the Party on 2nd December, 2010. The participants in the rally assembled at the Kamarkundu station from different parts of the adjoining districts. The rallyists demanded to (1) Return all lands acquired from the peasants for the Tata Nano factory with compensation; (2) Punishment to the murderers of Tapasi Malik and Rajkumar Bhule; (3) Withdrawal of all fake cases launched against the agitators demanding return of land and (4) Punishment to the Chairman of the local Panchayat run by Trinamul Congress who have been indicted for corruption.

The rally traversed through the entire area falling under the local panchayat and concluded at the Singur railway station, where a small mass meeting was held in which state party leaders and leaders of All India Kishan Mahasabha and All India Agricultural Labourers Association (AIALA) spoke. All the speakers exposed the pro-big capital role of the Left Front government and the hypocrisy of Trinamul Congress, who utilized the Singur issue for their narrow electoral gains and kept silence thereafter. The rally created good impact on the local people, who welcomed the consistent efforts of the party to bring justice to the peasants, sharecroppers and agricultural labourers of the area who were evicted from their means of livelihood due to forcible acquisition of land by the Left Front government for facilitating setting up of Nano factory by the Tatas.

AICCTU Initiatives in Punjab

Chandigarh: The workers of Punjab Engineering College, under the banner of the PEC Mess Workers Union, (Regd.)afiliated with AICCTU, went on strike on 3 December 2010 to press the management to fulfil their demands. The workers were demanding recruitment of staff on the 43 posts lying vacant in the messes due to which they had to work overloaded, day and night, a hike in their wages, stopping illegal deduction being made from the salaries of every worker in the name of food whereas no food item is issued from the mess stores, a job for the wife of a workman who died of brain haemorrhage a few days ago apart from many other demands.

The leader of the workmen, Satish Kumar, Achar Singh and Ashwani Kumar said that workers have been raising their demands with the management since long but the management didn't even called a meeting to resolve the issue. So now after repeated reminders when the management turned a deaf ear even to the notice of the strike, the workers have no other option than to go on a tool down. They said that during the tool down the workers have decided to sit peacefully at their work place and no work will be done during the tool down.

 But the management of the PEC is not in a mood to resolve the issue, rather they are provoking the workers to resort to violent means by trying to bring contract workers from elsewhere and carry on the work. The leaders alleged that the police is once again playing the role of a private army of the management by offering their services to take the outside workers into the mess under cover and threatening the workers of registering cases and cane charging.

The Chandigarh unit president of AICCTU, Kanwal jeet Singh said that the management of PEC should come to a table talk and resolve the issue instead of trying unfair means of harassing and threatening the workers. He warned the Chandigarh administration that if police does not stop playing undue and negative role in the matter, the contract workers union of PGI, Gen. Hospital Sec. 16 along with other affiliated unions of AICCTU may also start agitation in favor of the PEC workers. He further said that the demands of the mess workers are genuine as they are being forced to work up to 16 hrs. per day due to shortage of workers. One of the workers died of brain haemorrhage recently which is a clear outcome of the inhuman work conditions which these workers are subject to.

The local unit of RYA (Revolutionary Youth Association) also supported the workers agitation and issued leaflets in its support. They appealed the students to boycott the messes till the management does not resolve the issue with the workmen.

 

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

ML UPDATE 49 / 2010

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 13, No. 49, 30 NOV – 06 DEC 2010

Bihar 2010

Bihar has delivered a stunning verdict. An outgoing government returning to power with 85% majority is a very rare phenomenon in the history of parliamentary democracy anywhere in the world. That such a thing has happened now in the state of Bihar which has been known for the presence of the widest spectrum of political forces in the legislative arena is indeed quite remarkable.

 

In a house of 243, the NDA has increased its tally from 143 to 206, with the BJP accounting for nearly 60% of the increase. Consequently, the entire opposition has been virtually driven out of the Assembly. The RJD's tally has come down from 54 to 22, and its new-found ally LJP which had independently won 9 seats in the last elections, finds itself reduced to just three seats despite the RJD's backing. The Congress which fought the elections with the call of forming a Congress-led government finished with a tally of only four seats. And for the first time since 1990, the CPI(ML), the consistent Left opposition in Bihar Assembly, would go completely unrepresented.

 

Evidently, the verdict reveals an overwhelming and overarching social shift in favour of Nitish Kumar's promise of development. Bihar certainly does not want to go back – neither to Lalu Prasad nor to the Congress. What triggered this huge social shift were signs of restoration of 'law and order' and hope of some delivery of change and development in a state which seemed to have come to an absolute standstill. And facilitating this shift was the good old formula of caste engineering that invoked and energised all those social identities that felt excluded or suppressed during Lalu Prasad's once dominant and protracted reign of 'social justice'.

 

The contradictions written into Nitish Kumar's model of development, and the contrast between the rude reality and the heady rhetoric, are yet to forcefully come to the surface. The CPI(ML) was perhaps the only party to challenge Nitish Kumar on the very question of development. The party's election campaign focussed boldly on the battle between the two contending concepts and modes of development – the dominant neo-liberal model that reinforces the semi-feudal order and uses 'development' only to facilitate and camouflage a relentless exploitation of cheap labour in and away from Bihar versus an alternative democratic model that lends primacy to the basic rights of the toiling people and the agenda of all-round development of productive forces within Bihar. This is surely the emerging battle ahead and the revolutionary Left will have to rebuild itself in the course of this all important battle.

 

Media analysts are clearly mesmerised by the scale and sweep of the Nitish Kumar phenomenon. The same people who till recently celebrated the Lalu spectacle as the ultimate show of subaltern politics and rubbished communists for not comprehending the reality of 'caste' are now busy preaching 'development' as the new mantra of politics. Revolutionary communists fought the 'magic of social justice' with the logic of class struggle and the banner of social transformation. They will also challenge the euphoria of Nitish Kumar's 'politics of development' by pressing ahead with the arduous course of class struggle and boldly upholding the banner of people's rights and democracy. The surge of developmental aspirations of the hard working people of Bihar is real and this has now put Nitish on trial.

 

As far as the CPI(ML)'s poll performance is concerned, in February 2005, the CPI(ML) had polled a little over 600,000 votes and won seven seats, its highest tally till date. In November 2005, the party had lost two seats and some 50,000 votes to finish with a tally of five seats and nearly 560,000 votes. In the 2010 elections, the party has lost all its seats even as it polled more than half a million votes. The rise and growth of the Nitish phenomenon has clearly taken a toll and blunted the winning edge of the party even in its strongholds. The party has of course begun exposing and challenging the new regime right on the issue of development and all its emerging trappings in Bihar including rampant loot, emerging authoritarian rule and utter deprivation of the masses. The party will now have to summon all its courage and determination to take this battle deeper and wider.

 

In India's parliamentary history, stunning electoral outcomes and euphoric majorities have often proved to be a prelude to major upsurges of mass struggles. Recall Indira Gandhi's spectacular rise in 1971, Rajiv Gandhi's extraordinary majority in 1984, the AIADMK's clean sweep in Tamil Nadu in 1991 and the sweeping victory of the CPI(M) in West Bengal just the other day in 2006 and we know how quickly majorities can melt into thin air in the heat of mass struggles. The message of the 2010 elections for the revolutionary Left is therefore loud and clear: go deep among the people, resume hard work and prepare for the future. Let us turn the developmental aspirations of the people into a powerful political struggle for real development.

 

Bihar Assembly Elections 2010:

The Overall Outcome and the CPI(ML)'s Performance

 

1.        The NDA has secured an unprecedented majority winning 206 seats in a house of 243. Within the NDA, the BJP's success rate (91 out of 101, i.e. 90%) is higher than that of the JD(U) (115 out of 142, i.e., 80.98%). The leading opposition bloc got only 25 seats (RJD 22, LJP 3), while the Congress got 4 seats and the CPI 1. The JMM too got 1 seat while independents (most of them pro-BJP) got six seats.

 

2.        In terms of vote share, the NDA has got a little more than 39% (JDU 22.62%, BJP 16.51%), while the leading opposition RJD-LJP combine got 25.63% (RJD 18.88%, LJP 6.75%), followed by 8.38% of the Congress and 4.19% of the Left (CPI(ML) 1.79%, CPI 1.69% and CPI(M) 0.71%). Parties like the BSP (3.22%), NCP (1.82%), JD(S)(0.79%) and SP (0.55%), though failing to win any seat, accounted for a sizable combined vote share of 6.38%.

 

3.        Compared to November 2005, the NDA's vote-share improved only by 3% while the RJD's share dropped by nearly 4.61% . This was however sufficient to trigger a landslide win for the ruling NDA and a drastic decline in opposition seats.

 

4.        The Muslim-majority district of Kishanganj is the only district where the NDA drew a blank. The four seats in the district were claimed by the Congress (2), RJD (1) and LJP (1). Among the remaining 15 victorious Muslim candidates, as many as 8 however belong to the JD(U)-BJP combine. Of the 19 Muslim MLAs, the two leading combines thus account for 8 each (JD(U)-7, BJP-1, RJD-6, LJP-2) while three of the four Congress MLAs are also Muslim.

 

5.        The RJD-LJP combine could open its account in only 15 out of Bihar's 38 districts, winning 2 or more seats in only 8 districts (Madhubani-3, Patna-3, Darbhanga-2, Samastipur-2, Saran-2, Bhojpur-2, Kaimur-2, Kishanganj-2).

 

6.        The CPI(ML) had fielded a total of 104 candidates. The Party candidates polled a total of 520,352 votes, finishing second in five places, third in 11 and fourth in 12 places. Of the five seats where we finished second, three were in Siwan (Darauli, Ziradei and Raghunathpur), one in Katihar (Balrampur) and only one in south Bihar (Arwal). In all our other prominent constituencies in south Bihar we finished either third or fourth.

 

7.        In terms of votes, three candidates polled between 30,000 and 50,000 votes, while another three polled between 20,000 and 30,000. There were 8 candidates in the 10,000-20,000 bracket and another 8 in the 5-10,000 bracket. Among the remaining 82 candidates, 6 candidates polled between 4,000 and 5,000; 10 between 3,000 and 4,000, and 12 between 2,000 and 3,000.

 

8.        The most recent comparison of our performance can be made with the 2009 LS election votes. 2009 was the first election after delimitation and that was also when the current socio-political trends had begun to manifest themselves quite forcefully. Compared to 2009 LS votes, our total votes increased by 50,000, but compared to October-November 2005 our votes are down by 50,000. Compared to February 2005 when we had won our maximum number of seats (seven), our votes have declined by nearly 90,000. In other words, if between February 2005 and November 2005, the rise of the Nitish Kumar phenomenon had cost us 40,000 votes and two seats, the five years of growth and consolidation of the same phenomenon has now cost us another 50,000 votes and all our five seats in the outgoing Assembly.

 

9.        Among the 22 seats where we have polled 5,000-plus votes, 17 seats have witnessed an increase in votes (91,291) since the 2009 LS election while 5 seats suffered a decline (21,563). Overall, we thus polled 69,728 votes more in these constituencies since May 2009. If we look at 50 key constituencies in terms of our overall practice, votes increased in 33 seats (by a total of 97,871 votes) while declining in the remaining 17 (by 35,943 votes).

 

10.      Delimitation makes comparison with 2005 Assembly elections somewhat difficult in many seats, but if we compare our main areas we get a mixed picture of marked decline in some seats, more or less steady performance in a few and recovery in the rest over the last five years. For example, while votes dropped quite drastically from 45,516 to 32,474 in the main two seats of Rohtas, and from 45,249 to 31,280 in the two main seats of Patna, votes increased marginally from 67,109 to 72,871 in the three main seats of Siwan and from 29,265 to 38,432 in the main three seats of Arwal-Jahanabad belt. In the 5 main seats of Bhojpur, votes fell from 98,049 to 88,388. Among our other main seats, Balrampur witnessed a marginal increase from 39,872 to 45,432, while Obra (Aurangabad) and Bhorey (Gopalganj) saw votes decline from 24,023 to 18,463 and 15,382 to 8,800 respectively.

 

AICCTU's Delhi Unit Holds 4th State Conference

The AICCTU held its Fourth Delhi State Conference on 28 November against Privatisation, Contractualisation and the assault on trade union rights, and with a call to intensify the struggle for minimum wages, social security and dignity. The Conference was held at Comrade Ram Naresh Ram Hall (the BSNL Employees Hall at Janpath), and 175 delegates from among building workers, security workers, rickshaw pullers, street vendors and other organised sector workers, DTC transport workers, government hospital workers, and MTNL employees participated in the Conference.

 

The Conference began with hoisting of the AICCTU flag and two minutes silence for the departed and martyred comrades and workers killed on Delhi construction sites and the Laxminagar building collapse.

 

Inaugurating the Conference, AICCTU General Secretary Comrade Swapan Mukherjee said the Congress-UPA Government, mired in scams to the tune of thousands of crore, was intensifying the assault of pro-corporate, pro-rich economic policies and unleashing repression on workers. Workers' resistance too was on the rise as demonstrated by the 7 September All India General Strike. On 23 February in the coming year, workers are once again preparing, on the call of the trade unions, to bring Delhi to a standstill. He called upon to AICCTU to face the challenge of coming to the forefront of the workers' movement in Delhi.

 

The delegate session discussed the draft document presented by the outgoing Secretary Comrade Santosh Roy and reflected on various aspects of AICCTU's work in Delhi. The document, adopted after discussion and debate, stressed the need to develop mass struggles on workers' issues to bring them to the centre stage of Delhi's politics; organise the workers of the city's vast unorganised sector by raising the issues of minimum wages and rights as well as the range of their social-economic issues; increase AICCTU membership with emphasis on the transport sector, construction sector, industrial workers, health workers, domestic workers, women workers, street vendors and rickshaw pullers; and set an example of revolutionary trade union movement, fighting against all trends of formalism and legalism.

 

The Conference elected a 59-member State Council, a 29-member working committee and a 11-member office bearers' team with Comrades N M Thomas as Honorary President, V K S Gautam as Working President and Santosh Roy as General Secretary.

 

The Conference was also addressed by CPI(ML) Delhi State Secretary Sanjay Sharma, CPI(ML) CC member Prabhat Kumar, and AISA General Secretary Ravi Rai. The concluding speech was given by CPI(ML) CC member Kavita Krishnan.

 

In the end, the Conference proposed resolutions on pressing issues of the time which were passed unanimously by the house. The Conference, expressing deep shock and grief at the killing of 70 members of the unorganised workers in Delhi's Lakshmi Nagar building collapse, resolved to bring to book all the culprits whose omissions and commissions caused the killings; granting of compensations with dignity to the surviving family members of those killed; providing social security, accepting the right of existence, housing and other basic amenities along with secure and dignified living conditions for all the Delhi's poor and immigrant working class on a priority basis. The Conference also resolved to intensify struggles against– (i) displacement and excessive harassment of workers during the run-up to Commonwealth Games, (ii) the repulsive and cruel act of Allied Nippon's management in which it opened fire on the workers, (iii) continuing repression of working class in Delhi and NCR, (iv) privatisation, contractor-isation, casualisation, workers' displacement, insecure livelihood, all round attack on social and civic amenities and blatant violation of the basic human and working rights of migrant labourers in the name of making Delhi a world-class city.

 

Tirupur: 405 Suicides in Eight Months

 

In the Garment export centre of Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, 405 workers or their relatives committed suicide in the first eight months (January-August) of 2010. Consequently, there have been 879 cases of suicides in this industrial town in twenty months from February 2009 to September 2010.  Superficially, one can attribute varying specific reasons to these deaths. However, it is not much difficult to find out the real truth if one digs the surface a little. It is evident that most of them chose this tragic step due to growing oppressive situation at the factories. The owners of these factories, in which the dominant position is of capitalists of developed countries, to corner their profit in this globalised production hierarchy, thrust all sorts of exploitative-repressive terms and conditions on the workers of their factory.

 

Their miserable situation has become more deplorable post the implementation of Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) in 2004.  Under this agreement, the so-called increased global competition has accelerated the pace of exploitation, whose severest consequences has come crashing on the lowermost section of the working population. Tirupur workers are among that lot of suffering workers who are at the lowermost rung of the ladder. Out of the four lakh (400,000) workers, 80 percent are those who have migrated here in search of livelihood from poverty-stricken regions of the Country.  The forces aspiring to corner comparable profits on global level is causing misery and deaths of such huge scale. In the recent years these forces have also compelled huge numbers of Indian peasants and farmers to take their own life. This tells enough about the globalised Indian economy.

(from an email sent by Comrade John Percy in Australia)

 

Karnataka: BJP Govt. must Resign! Order CBI Enquiry!

Statewide Agitations

 

Scams after scams under BJP rule in Karnataka have come to light involving important ministers and this time, the Chief Minister Yeddyurappa himself and his family is involved in a land scam. The BJP rule has proved that it is corrupt to the core. The BJP central leadership is condoning the all-corrupt ministry and government in the state and has lost its capacity to discipline the state leaders. The central leadership is kneeling before everybody whether it is Bellary Brothers or the Yeddyurappa. Lokayukta has already issued notice to the CM for an enquiry on land scam. But, the state government has ordered a judicial enquiry to escape the Lokayukta net. The Government has no time to address the issues of toiling masses as it is too occupied with scams, manipulations, looting the public money, and horse-trading on the floor of Vidhana Soudha to retain the Government.

 

Demonstrations demanding resignation of the Yeddyurappa Government were held all over the State, particularly at Davanagere, Koppal, Mysore and Bangalore on 27th November 2010.

 

Hundreds of people staged a day-long dharna in front of the DC (District Commissioner) office at Davanagere. Party's State Secretary E Ramappa called upon the people to continue the agitation until the anti-people and corrupt BJP is removed from power. AISA leader Prasad DM, Parashuram, Taluk President of AIALA, Chowdappa, District Secretary of Bellary addressed the gathering among others.

 

At Koppal, hundreds of people staged a spirited demonstration in front of the DC office led by the Party State Leading Team member and AIALA State President J Bharadwaj. Rice mill workers and women participated in good numbers that attracted democratic minded people from Koppal town. Com. Vittappa, district president of Koppal Zilla Bachao Andolan, Basavaraj Seelavander, district secretary of AITUC, Maddanaiah Swamy, district president of KRRS and KB Gonal, district president of TUCI also extended solidarity and addressed the gathering. Com. Virupaksha, taluk secretary of AICCTU also participated.

 

At Mysore, the demonstrators shouted slogans demanding resignation of the BJP government. The delegation led by C Javaraiah, SLTM and the District Secretary submitted a memorandum to the DC to be forwarded to the Governor.

 

At Bangalore, the demonstration was led by CPI(ML) incharge for Karnataka Comrade V Shankar and workers from RMC, RDC and UNIMIX Readymix companies participated in good numbers. The demonstration also attracted a large crowd of general public and common workers from the surrounding areas. Com. Shankar said that the BJP government in the state does not have any moral right to continue in power any longer. He warned the BJP that they will be thrown out of power by growing people's struggles if the government failed to resign on its own. He also pointed out that no party is an exception to corruption, be it the BJP-led state government or the Congress-led central government. Gaddappa and Manju of RDC, Anjaneyalu and Sitaram of UNIMIX, Govindaswamy and Mani of RMC and Gandhimathi of AIPWA also addressed the demonstrators among others.

 

Kolkata: CPI(ML) Protests against the Corrupt UPA Government

 

A protest march was organised in the college square area in Kolkata, against the corruption of UPA government at the centre, by College square-Boubazar local committee of the Party. After the rally,which was adorned with colorful posters, an effigy of the UPA government was burnt blocking the main thoroughfare. The protesters demanded immediate arrest of D Raja and Suresh Kalmadi and other UPA ministers, bureaucrats and Government officials involved in the corruption.

 

UN Report: Global Poverty Doubled since 1970s

 

A news report citing a most recent UN study and published on 26 November in Geneva by Agence France-Presse, says the number of very poor countries has doubled in the last 30 to 40 years, while the number of people living in extreme poverty has also grown two-fold, according to a UN think-tank.

 

In its annual report on the 49 least developed countries (LDCs) in the world, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that the model of development that has prevailed to date for these countries has failed and should be re-assessed.

 

"The traditional models that have been applied to LDCs that tend to move the LDCs in the direction of trade-related growth seem not to have done very well," said Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary general of UNCTAD. "What happened is that in the past 30-40 years, the number of LDCs have doubled so it has actually deteriorated, the number of people living under the poverty line has doubled from the 1980s." The report indicated that the situation has sharply deteriorated in the past few years.

 

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

ML UPDATE 48 / 2010

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 13, No. 48, 23 – 29 NOVEMBER 2010

Delhi Building Collapse: Crime Against Unorganised Workers

Not long after the CWG, the myth of Delhi as a 'world-class city' came tumbling down on the heads of its dispossessed in a cruel, criminal and tragic way. Not far from the Games Village, in the crowded locality of Lalita Park in Laxminagar, East Delhi, a building packed with migrant workers collapsed without warning. 67 of them were killed, buried under the debris, and some 100 were injured, many of them severely. It emerged that the building had violated multiple building regulations, was built on the sandy Yamuna floodplain, and with the flooding during the monsoons, water had seeped to the foundations. As a result, the building, a flimsy construction having walls but no pillars, and bearing the weight of several illegal floors, collapsed.

 

It has since emerged that there are countless other buildings in a similarly unsafe condition. In a spectacular act of callousness, the authorities have summarily evicted the residents from these buildings and left them homeless, taking temporary shelter in MCD community halls and open parks.

 

In the aftermath of this terrible event, the Delhi Government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi have come under the scanner for allowing rampant illegal and unauthorised constructions in a nexus with corrupt builders and landlords. The landlord, who owns several similar buildings and is known to have a hand in a variety of scams, has been arrested. The Congress-led Delhi Government has ordered a one-man judicial enquiry into the incident and tried to point fingers at the BJP-controlled MCD which gave permission for construction of the doomed building in the first place and allowed it to stand subsequently.

 

In the shadow-boxing between Congress and BJP over the incident, we are apt to lose sight of the real crime. To locate who really is responsible for this senseless death of 67 people, we need to dig deeper beneath the debris of the collapsed building and look beyond the petty perpetrators like the landlord and corrupt or negligent MCD authorities (though they too need to be brought to book). We need to see the building collapse, not as an 'accident' caused due to acts of omission but as part of the violence against the unorganised sector workers that is structured into the very process of liberalised 'development.'

 

When a government spends Rs. 26,000 crore (the estimated amount spent on infrastructure towards CWG) on flyovers, airport modernization and metro but leaves the city's poorest workers living in unsafe, insanitary slums and unauthorised colonies that are no better than death traps, it is nothing but an act of violence. The daily lives of the people who lived in the Lalita Park building exemplify this violence – it is only when a building collapses that the violence comes into public cognition.

 

In the first place, these workers were forced to migrate from rural W Bengal and Bihar thanks to unemployment; in Delhi they had lived in the Yamuna Pushta slum but were evicted in 2008-09 to make way for a flyover. In the name of CWG, nearly 400,000 people from Delhi's slum clusters (including the Yamuna Pushta slum) have been evicted since 2004. This was done in the name of conserving the environmentally fragile Yamuna flood plain. But in the eyes of governments and courts, only slum dwellers were a threat to the environment; the vast Akshardham temple and the Games Village came up on the same space with impunity. In 2006, when evicted slum dwellers approached court, a Supreme Court judge held that the right to shelter did not mean that "all will be given shelter" and told them, "If you can't afford to stay in Delhi, go elsewhere!"

 

Rendered homeless, such workers then pay much of their meagre income as exorbitant rents to landlords for the hellish homes, of which the building that collapsed was just one among many. Shiela Dixit was re-elected in the last Assembly elections on the strength of her promise of a 'slum-free Delhi' thanks to the JNNURM Rajiv Awas Yojana; but while the evictions proceeded at a relentless pace, not a single Rajiv Awas house is yet to be allocated. In the wake of the disaster, the Delhi Government has announced that some 15,000 low-cost flats under the Rajiv Awas Yojana will soon be allotted to slum-dwellers. There are an estimated 10 lakh migrant workers in Delhi – can 15,000 flats (if and when they are allocated) be anything but a joke for them, who will continue to be condemned to live in slums in danger of being evicted or shanties in danger of being buried alive?

 

Those who lost their lives in the building collapse are among that vast mass whose labour builds shining new Delhi and serves the affluent in their gated communities; who are routinely paid less than minimum wages and killed at construction site accidents; whose rickshaws and vending-carts are being taken off the streets; whom the Delhi Government sought to hide behind 'vision-cutters' so that they do not mar the vision of 'Incredible India' that foreign guests came to see at CWG. These unorganised migrant workers, as a rule, have no ration cards and rarely voter i-cards, and therefore no access to social security. Evicted from slums, killed at construction sites, treated as vermin, buried under debris - why do the poor and migrant workers have no chance of a life of dignity and security?

 

Those whose family members have been killed or injured in the building collapse must get dignified and adequate compensation. Not only must unsafe buildings be identified and demolished; those living in them must be guaranteed dignified alternative accommodation. Authorities responsible for allowing these death traps to come up and remain, as well as unscrupulous builders and owners must be identified and punished. But these measures, while necessary, are still inadequate. Neither can cosmetic measures like the Rajiv Awas mirage suffice. The building collapse should serve as a warning bell to end the skewed urban planning policies that amount to a kind of urban apartheid, condemning an entire class of people to suffer inhuman living and working conditions while a small minority enjoys affluence and 'development.' Not until the lives and rights of unorganised workers and migrant workers cease to be seen as cheap and dispensable; not until the ruling class stops sacrificing the workers' rights to a living wage, dignified housing and workplace safety to subsidise 'development' can the victims of the Laxminagar collapse really get justice.

 

Corruption: The Hydra Headed Monster

 

The rapid proliferation and sheer scale of scams that we are witnessing are shameful even by Indian standards. The 2-G spectrum scam has been dubbed the mother of all scams in India, involving as it does a whopping Rs 1,76,000 crore lost to the Exchequer. But now we know, about 12 times that money had been illegally siphoned off our country to Switzerland and other tax havens. Mr Dev Kar, a former senior economist with the International Monetary Fund and currently a lead economist with the US-based research body Global Financial Integrity (GFI), has estimated that between 1948 and 2008 our country has been drained of $462 billion (over Rs.20 lakh crore) in this way. And this is a very conservative estimate, the GFI adds.

 

The more interesting fact is that, growing at 11.5% a year, nearly half of this amount exited the country after 1991 and about a third of the outflows occurred between 2000 and 2008. What this demonstrates is that the decline of the 'quota-permit raj' – yesteryears' convenient whipping boy for rampant corruption – did not lead to any decline in the menace. Quite to the contrary. All- pervasive liberalization and globalization have thrown the floodgates of corruption wider open, bolstering the black economy and further degrading the quality of politics in India.

 

Not surprisingly, Transparency International's 'Corruption Perception Index' report covering the public sector in 178 countries shows that India fell by three positions from its ranking of 84th in 2009 to 87th this year in terms of corruption; even as neighbouring China improved her position from 79th in 2009 to 78th place now. To be sure, China does not seem to present an impressively better picture. But at least the fight against economic crimes is much more resolute there and maybe that explains the improvement, however small. Here in India, we have a completely different scenario. Our country finds itself in the dubious company of the likes of Saudi Arabia by refusing to ratify the UN Convention on Corruption – the only major country to have come so. Ours is a land where all governments and ruling parties routinely try and save the guilty officials and leaders as long as possible and then let them off the hook with minor 'punishments' like 'resignation' and this is usually followed by rehabilitation in some other prized position. Where the Supreme Court indicts the high office of Prime Minister for passivity in fighting charges of corruption. And where, to top it all, a tainted bureaucrat like PJ Thomas – who was charge sheeted in the palm oil imports scandal in Kerala in 1992 and who acted as Telecom Secretary under A Raja precisely during the period when the 2G spectrum was being allocated illegally – is appointed as Central Vigilance Commissioner!

 

In a situation as somber as this, it is necessary to connect the many dots on the corruption canvas and see the bigger picture. It is necessary to join the People's campaign against the corporate-politician-bureaucrat nexus and for a paradigms change in the very orientation and mechanism of 'growth' and 'governments'.

 

CPI(ML)'s 8th Tripura State Conference Held

 

"Onward with the peoples' movement and strengthen the Revolutionary left"- was the main slogan in the run up to the Conference preparation. The spirit of the slogan got fully reflected from the very beginning to the end of the Conference. Conference was held on 20-21 November, 2010, at Agartala, capital city of Tripura. On 20th November, a mass rally was organized in the heart of Agartala city, where hundreds of people from different parts of Tripura including tribals, Muslims and women came in colourful processions.

 

The rally was led and addressed by Comrades Chiranjiv Chakravorty, Partha Dey-State Committee member and AICCTU president, Subirjeet Singha (SCM), Mrinmoy Chakravorty-State Secretary, PB member Rubul Sarma and General Secretary of CPI(ML) Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya.

 

Com. Dipankar, addressing the rally said that the opportunist left in India is in deep crisis and on the verge of collapse and in Tripura LF Govt. is no exception. In this situation genuine left sections within the CPI(M) has gradually opposed the official line and are coming closer to the revolutionary left CPI(ML). In spite of the massive protests all over the North Eastern states against Armed Forces (Special Power) Act, the LF govt. in Tripura has imposed the act in almost all police station areas.

 

After the rally the Conference was held in Martyr Govinda Telly Auditorium and Virchand Harendra Manch (Women College Auditorium). Com. Dipankar hoisted the party flag and all the leaders paid homage to the martyrs at Saheed Bedi (martyrs' column). Delegate session started in the afternoon of 20th November which was presided over by a presidium comprising comrades Chiranjiv Bhattacharya, Subirjeet Singha and Charaimoni Jamatia.

 

Inaugural speech was delivered by Central Committee's observer Com. Rubul Sarma, post which the State Party Secretary Com. Mrinmoy Chakravorty placed the draft document for discussion. The discussion continued on 21st morning and a good number of delegates put forth their views and suggestions. Majority of delegates opined that time has come to intensify bolder initiatives involving the rural poor, working class and democratic sections of the people and to expose the anti people character of the LF Govt. led by CM Manik Sarkar. It may be mentioned that repression is not only extreme in the North East, it is one of the worst in Tripura. According to the State Govt.'s figure, 67 percent of the people are living below the poverty line (BPL). Like wise the basic demands of Muslims and Tribals have not been fulfilled, Tea workers do not get the wages and are victims of barbaric exploitations.

 

In the end the Conference elected a 15-member State Committee and Com. Mrinmoy Chakravorty was re-elected as State Secretary. Other SCMs are comrades Chiranjiv Bhattacharya, Manik Pal, Partha Karmakar, Swapan Banik, Tridip Banik, Aravinda Teli, Subirjeet Singha, Pritikona Chakravorty, Gopal Ray, Lokman Hussain, Govinda Jamatia, Koushik Das, Falguni Tripura and Joydeep Ray.

 

Comrade Rubul Sarma called upon the leaders and delegates to set aside all forms of pessimism and to raise the level of mass movement by grasping the dynamics of the society and people, particularly that the rural poor and workers want a dynamic and cohesive leadership from our Party. Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya made the concluding speech and one of the things he said was to develop our struggle against the opportunism within the Left movement. He also remembered the great sacrifices by CPI(ML) in Tripura in upholding this tradition when in 1980's Huruwa massacre 7 State-level comrades together paid with their lives. We should learn from this unity and sacrifice and must prepare to intensify the struggle and to set new examples in our movement.

 

RYA's Fact finding team visits Deoria: BSP trying to save the killers

 

A fact finding team of Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) visited Singaheedeeh village in Deoria of eastern Uttar Pradesh on 13 November, where three young women Anita, Sarita and Neeta, were killed on 31st October. The team comprised of RYA's State President Balmukund Dhuria, Vice President Mahesh Gupta, State Executive members Bhagwat Bind, Deoria convenor Walliullah and CPI(ML) leaders Sriram Kushwaha and Salauddin among a few others.

 

The team found that the three girls disappeared from their home on 31st October and next day their dead bodies were found buried in a field adjacent to the village. The three girls of the Rajbhar community were friends and neighbours. The uncles and brothers of the three girls killed them just on suspicion that they were in love with the boys of the adjacent village.

 

The team released its report in Lucknow and in a press statement claimed that Mayawati led ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is shielding such incidents. The height of the situation is that BSP's local MP Ramshankar Vidyarthi put all his might to shield the killers and save them from the law. The fact finding team found that the police first vacillated in their handling of the case and only after the local leaders of All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) made it a public issue and increased pressure that the police registered the case and began investigation. On 13 November the police officer of the area in a press conference accepted it as a case of 'honour killing' and later arrested and jailed the uncles and brothers of the girls.

 

The fact finding team also claimed that the BSP Govt. is following a covert policy of suppressing such incidents from coming to light to show that crime in its regime has lessened. A few issues back we had reported in this newsletter of how the Pilibhit police itself picked up a dalit youth Rampal for the 'crime' of being in love with a Muslim girl and had beaten him to death in custody. Despite FIR being filed against the criminal policemen none has been arrested even in three months.

 

The RYA has resolved to launch an agitation against this feudal barbarism (being shielded by the Mayawati Govt.) where young men and women are having to pay with their lives for being in love.

 

Party's Education Camp in Uttarakhand

 

The State Party Unit organised 2nd three-day long education camp at Srinagar in Garhwal region of the Uttarakhand from 16-18 November. A month back the Party had organised 1st camp in Haldwani for Kumaon region comrade-students. Com. Rajendra Pratholi inaugurated the education camp and in his address emphasized on imparting left-orientation to the ongoing political discourse in the State. The subjects and study papers were almost same as in the Haldwani school that we reported earlier. Comrades Indresh and Kailash Pandey also presented papers on Green Hunt and Maoism, women's movement and agrarian crisis.

 

Convention of motorboat workers held in Orissa

 

Annual convention of Maa Kalijayee Motorboat Workers, affiliated to AICCTU, was held in Badakul where 200 workers joined in a rally to demand from State Tourism Dept. their basic rights. The demands are to open ticket counter, stop Chilka lake black bill, land rights for fishing community and fixing of wages as unorganised labour, also fix minimum price by tourist department for boat workers to carry tourists to Chilika, provide vocational training to local youth and establish unorganised workers board in the State and PDS for all workers Comrade Khitish Biswal, CPI(ML) State Secretary was the main speaker and expressed solidarity for the movement against the atrocities of local police on boat workers and called upon to sustain the movement against the local mafias and State agencies.

 

From Europe to the US, Students Erupt against Neo-liberalist Cut in Education Spending

 

London: In early November, students— more than 50,000—from across Britain converged in the streets of the British capital protesting the new proposals for massive cuts in Higher education, which will spiral the cost of a college and university degree. The current coalition government in the United Kingdom, comprising strange bedfellows in the form of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, is pushing for a formula—known as Lord Browne's proposals—which will reduce spending on higher education from the current £7.1 billion (about 51,000 crores in INR) to £4.2 billion—a huge 40 per cent cut by 2014-15. The cap on tuition fees will be lifted and universities will charge up to £9,000 (about 6.5 lakh INR) per year for tuition alone; of course universities with an established brand, such as Oxford and Cambridge, will be free to extort whatever they deem fit. Institutions will be forced to reduce costs by sacking staff and cutting the quality of education and some will close as public institutions altogether. Already, the University of Middlesex has seen the closure of its history and philosophy departments, and the sociology course at the University of Birmingham and Politics at Liverpool John Moores have fallen to fund cuts. These proposals will turn British public universities the most expensive in all of Europe, and it is estimated that students will leave university with a staggering student finance debt of £30,000-£50,000 (about Rs. 35 lakh) which they will be burdened with for decades!

 

Transformed already into a commodity by the previous New Labour regime, the privatization and marketization of education will be complete with these proposals, making affordable education a relic of history. So-called "transferable skills" will assume priority over critical learning and pedagogy, curricula will be determined by businesses, and those students—consumers actually—who can afford to will select from an assortment of service providers in the new free market of education.

 

This attempt by the new coalition, lampooned as CON-DEM (for conservatives and dems), to erect a high wall around the institutions of higher education was responded by a humungous barricade of students (and lecturers). Earlier this year, students at Sussex University occupied administration buildings in protest against course closures and job cuts; students at King's College, London, went on a strike; At Middlesex University philosophy students occupied Trent Park campus for 21 days; The day the Browne review was announced students at London South Bank University brought traffic to a halt, hundreds at Leeds protested. This was only a sign of the increasing anxiety and despair among students, as also of what was to come on November 10. On this day, the students poured out in a seamless wave carrying placards, raising slogans, singing, blocking traffic, lighting bonfires and sending out fireworks in the air. Over 5,000 gathered at the Millbank Tower, central office of the Conservative Party, occupying it for hours. When some 50 students got to the roof—there was thunderous cheers from the protesters below. The message to the government was clear and unequivocal: we refuse to give in to your attacks. We will fight back with all our worth.

 

While the alternate media networks showed that an overwhelming majority of the demonstrators were first-timers, moved by the ferocity of the attack on their right to education, the mainstream media went into an overdrive, hyping the few broken windows at Millbank Tower and some skirmishes with baton-wielding police as 'eruption of violence', 'infantile' and the work of mindless anarchists. Denunciations were quick to come in and David Cameron warned that 'rioters' would be hunted down and prosecuted with the 'full force of law'. (Fifty-eight students have been arrested so far). None of this however has managed to discredit the students' movement—seen increasingly as the vanguard of the anti-cuts resistance. A large number of the readers of the most Right-wing newspaper, Daily Mail, endorsed the protests while 54 per cent of Daily Star readers said that the students were justified in rioting!

 

But its not simply education which is facing slashing of funds, the entire edifice of British welfarism is choking and collapsing—pensioners, immigrants, the poor, dismissed as 'lazy', 'work shy' and 'freeloaders' reminiscent of Victorian terminology, are to be hit hard. The students' protests have galvanized trade unions to mobilize and plan strike actions; efforts are on to weld a broad student-working class alliance, not only in England, but across Europe, the site of militant protests, especially in France and Greece. Across the continent, American students have also taken to the streets protesting state policy which spends more on prisons than universities.

 

United States: In the US, students all over the country have been protesting against the massive fund cuts and fee hikes. Militant protests and sit-ins have been witnessed in many major US campuses; students have even blockaded important highways in protest; and October 7, 2010 was observed all over the US as a "National Day of Action to Defend Public Education." The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) also participated in the Day of Action as part of its "Higher Education is a Public Good" week, which its members described as - "a week of action to demonstrate the importance of not-for-profit higher education." Against between November 11-20 this year, there have been massive student occupations and protest demonstrations against fee hikes in the prestigious University of California campuses at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Berkeley. In Britain on November 10, 50,000 students held a militant protest at the Tory Headquarters to protest fund cuts and fee hikes. Subsequently, many British campuses have witnessed sit-ins and occupations in protest against fee hikes.

 

 

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