ML UPDATE 24 / 2010

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 13, No. 24, 08 – 14 JUNE 2010

Bhopal Gas Disaster Verdict:

Virtual Clean Chit for Corporate Crime

 

More than 25 years after the infamous Bhopal Gas Disaster, a trial court in Bhopal has delivered a verdict that is nothing but a cruel mockery of justice. Not only does the verdict insult the victims of one of the world's worst industrial disasters by letting off the mighty CEOs who were the chief perpetrators either scot free or with a ridiculously light sentence, it amounts to an assurance to MNCs they will enjoy total impunity in India even when their negligence and violations of regulations leads to loss of thousands of Indian lives and injury to several thousand more.

 

In December 1984, 40 tonnes of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) leaked out of the Union Carbide Corporation's pesticide plant in Bhopal, exposing over 5,00,000 people to the toxic fumes. 25,000 people died as a result, and hundreds of thousands of persons suffered irreversible damages to their health. The poison in the soil and water continues to affect future generations.

 

After over 25 years, the trial Court gave its verdict allowing the Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson (declared an absconder) to go scot free, while convicting eight representatives of the Indian operatives Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) including former UCIL Chairman (and present CEO of Mahindra and Mahindra) Keshub Mahindra for a mere two years. All those convicted received bail on the same day.

 

The injustice of the Bhopal verdict is not just a comment on judicial failure to deliver justice – it rings a warning bell that every Indian should heed. It warns us as to how the Indian establishment's policy of pandering to the United States and its corporations (a policy of which the Civilian Nuclear Liability Bill is the latest example) is injurious to the health and safety of India's people. The US establishment is fully aware of these implications: it has reacted to the Bhopal verdict by "hoping that the verdict will not affect" the growing ties between India and the US and the Nuclear Liability Bill in particular, and instead will provide "closure" for the victims of the tragedy.

 

For the Obama Administration to speak of the verdict offering "closure" to the Bhopal Gas victims is a callous act of adding insult to injury. The US has ruled out any discussion of extradition of Warren Anderson to face criminal charges in India, and is urging India to pass the Civilian Nuclear Liability Bill that seeks to protect the US suppliers of nuclear reactors from liability to pay compensation in the case of a nuclear accident, and to cap the liability of operators at a mere $470 million – a sum that the Bhopal experience has proved to be grossly inadequate.

 

Contrast this attitude of the US with the Obama Administration's angry declarations to pursue criminal charges against British Petroleum for the oil spill off the Louisiana coast that claimed 11 lives recently. Protecting US corporations from civil and criminal liabilities for Indian lives lost, and pursuing criminal charges against corporations responsible for American lives lost – the shameful US double standards are all too apparent!

 

The Indian Government has done nothing to demand that Warren Anderson, CEO of Carbide, be extradited to India to face trial. Dow Chemicals, which has taken over Carbide, has refused to take responsibility for cleaning up the Union Carbide factory wastes, yet Indian ruling class parties and governments have done their best to roll out the red carpet for Dow. Following the trial court verdict, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi has shed crocodile tears for the Bhopal victims by demanding that the laws on rash and negligent acts be made more stringent. This posturing is exposed by the fact that Singhvi himself is also the long-term legal counsel for Dow Chemicals!

 

Not only must we protest against the shameful verdict and demand that Warren Anderson be extradited and Dow Chemicals made to pay for cleaning up the polluted sites and for medical care of the victims, we must also call insist on the blacklisting of the offending MNCs and above all, scrapping of the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill to ensure that the tragedy of Bhopal and its shameful consequences are never repeated on Indian soil!

 

Message from West Bengal Municipal Polls

 

On May 30, urban as well as semi-urban West Bengal (many municipalities are still considerably rural) voted to elect 81 municipal bodies across the state. Unlike panchayat elections, municipal elections are not held simultaneously all over the state – many municipalities have a different electoral calendar. Yet as municipal elections go, this was surely the biggest round of elections covering the metropolis of Kolkata and its predominantly middle-class neighbourhood Bidhan Nagar (Salt Lake) as well as modest sub-divisional and block headquarter towns in peripheral districts. The results have predictably been disastrous for the ruling Left Front. Its writ now runs in only 18 of these 81 municipal bodies, just a third of what the Left Front had won five years ago.

 

There was no formal electoral tie-up between the TMC and the Congress in these elections. Commonsense suggests that such a division should prove beneficial for the Left Front. In fact, the entire 'revival package' or 'survival strategy' of the CPI(M) in West Bengal revolves around a pathetic attempt to wean the Congress away from its partnership with the TMC. Yet results clearly show that the CPI(M)/LF has lost miserably despite the TMC-Congress divide. In fact, had there been a formal tie-up between the Congress and TMC, the CPI(M)/LF tally would have been further reduced. The erosion of the LF is reflected most tellingly by its humiliating loss in municipalities considered invincible CPI(M) strongholds till recently. The CPI(M)'s failure to open its account in a municipality like Memari in Bardhaman district is probably the most shocking of all results in these elections.

 

The People's Democracy editorial on West Bengal municipal poll results has made a ridiculous ostrich-like attempt to downplay the poll debacle and its implications for the LF. The editorial argues that every election is a different ballgame, and therefore there is nothing supra-municipal about these elections and their results. As far as the May 30 municipal polls are concerned, nothing could be farther from the truth. Municipal issues took a backseat in most places and the entire election became just another referendum against the CPI(M)'s increasingly discredited rule in the state. The CPI(M) too fought the polls in this overarching political context – its campaign highlighted its belated attempt to address Muslim grievances and on the last day of the campaign there was a desperate attempt to cash in on the Gyaneshwari Express tragedy. It is another matter that nothing worked in favour of the CPI(M).

 

Before last year's Assembly by-elections Jyoti Basu had infamously appealed to traditional Congress supporters to vote for the CPI(M) which had predictably fallen on deaf ears. During the municipal poll campaign, Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee carried it one step forward and asked BJP supporters in his home constituency Jadavpur to support CPI(M) nominees against TMC! The State CPI(M) Secretary of course sought to make light of this loaded political appeal by soliciting votes from Congress and TMC supporters as well! Who knows how many more such gems are awaiting us in the run-up to 2011!

 

The Chief Minister and one of his key cabinet colleagues, industries minister Nirupam Sen, both avoided the PB meeting after this latest poll debacle. CPI(M) circles are debating whether the cause of the debacle should be searched in administrative lapses inside West Bengal or in the central leadership's violation of the Party's Coimbatore Congress line which had apparently ordained the party to stick to the course of collaboration with the Congress and not risk any confrontation. The so-called rectification campaign remains a non-starter. In any case the rectification document reads more like an ethical edict against consumerism than a political call to fight opportunism.

 

Talking about consumerism, is it just a question of new party members falling prey to the dominant cultural milieu driven by India's globalising capitalism? Could there be a more shocking example of consumerism than the CPI(M)'s 2009 LS election campaign that revolved overwhelmingly around the 'tragedy' of Tata Nano not being able to be 'born' in West Bengal?

 

Apart from 'consumerism', the other issue being debated in the CPI(M) seems to concern democratic centralism. The latest issue of CPI(M)'s theoretical quarterly has a signed article by Prakash Karat in defence of democratic centralism. But if the major lapses in West Bengal all belong to the domain of 'democracy' what about the centralised guidance under which this democracy has all along been conducted? What about the party's 'updated' programme and tactical line which has redefined the role of state governments led by the party as brutal agencies of implementation of neo-liberal policies, a role which has been played out to perfection by the Buddhadeb regime under the benign supervision of CPI(M)-style 'democratic centralism'?

 

No matter how the CPI(M) deals with these questions in the coming days, the Left movement in the country cannot afford to overlook the message from West Bengal, and will surely have to provide an appropriate communist answer to the rightwing resurgence happening in the state in the garb of maverick populism.

 

Call the PM's Bluff on Human Rights in Kashmir

 

During his recent visit to Kashmir, the Prime Minister made a declaration that violation of human rights on part of armed forces would not be tolerated. On the very eve of his visit, three youths were killed in a fake encounter in Machil, Kupwara, with army officials staking claims to rewards based on false claims of having killed militants. And this incident is no aberration – there are allegations by human rights groups of mass graves all over Kashmir, and in none of the innumerable cases of fake encounters has the Government at the Centre or in J&K ever shown any will to prosecute or punish the offenders.

 

Not only that, in the few cases (such as the Pathribal fake encounter of 2000) where charges have been filed against army officials accused of fake encounters, the Government and Army alike have encouraged the accused to take recourse to the infamous AFSPA in order to escape trial. In cases like the alleged rape and murder of two young women a year ago at Shopian, the Central Government and its investigative agencies have all colluded to cover up the truth.

 

As long as the Central an State Governments collude to patronise and protect the military personnel in Kashmir who take fake encounters and custodial torture and killings to be the norm, any talk of 'human rights' on part of the Prime Minister can only be eyewash. Instead of hollow slogans of human rights, the people of Kashmir need withdrawal of armed forces, scrapping of the AFSPA, and timely and ruthless prosecution of all military personnel accused of extra-judicial killings.

 

Indo-US 'Strategic Dialogue':

Binding India Closer in Imperialism's Embrace

 

The Indo-US Strategic Dialogue that has taken off early this June in Washinton DC, capital of the United States, is an attempt to bring various key Indian sectors closer into the US embrace. The process, begun during President Bush's visit to India, with the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture being launched alongside negotiations towards the Nuke Deal, is now being taken much further and deeper.

 

The 'Strategic Dialogue' saw India represented by Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and architect of the neoliberal project in India Montek Singh Ahluwalia, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, and Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan, and the US by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as representatives of the US Security and Intelligence establishment.

 

According to a 'U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue Joint Statement' issued on conclusion of the Dialogue, the Dialogue covered the many opportunities to deepen cooperation between the two countries – in security and counter-terrorism, trade and investment, science and technology, infrastructure investment, climate change, energy security, education, agriculture, food security, and healthcare. As Robert O. Blake, Jr., US Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, indicated in his press briefing on the eve of the Indo-US Strategic Dialogue, "On the bilateral front, we have 18 separate dialogues underway between the United States and India to really try to capture the full scope of the opportunities ahead of us."

 

In the same press briefing, the US Assistant Secretary categorically informed his American audience that the US was keeping a close eye on the nuclear liability legislation in India, which when passed "would provide a very important legal protection and open the way for billions of dollars in American reactor exports and thousands of jobs." In the wake of the recent Bhopal verdict, it is clear that while the liability legislation spells "billions of dollars" and "legal protection" (read impunity) for US reactor companies, it spells more corporate crimes and endangering of the safety and health of people in India.

 

The US interest in education legislation in India, in particular the Foreign Universities Bill, also came out clearly, with US representatives expressing the hopes that this Bill would soon be enacted. Behind the US eagerness for the Indian education market lie not just commercial interests but long-term political and foreign policy objectives. The US-educated Indian-American community has played a key role in facilitating the present phase of Indo-US strategic partnership. With Indian students getting American degrees on Indian soil, the pro-American constituency within Indian middle classes and policy-making establishment is likely to expand further. The 'Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative', already launched last year, is yet another mechanism through which the US is likely to influence and shape the education agenda in India.

 

The Strategic Dialogue comes in the wake of the launching of 'Economic and Financial Partnership' between India's Ministry of Finance and the US Department of the Treasury in April 2010, the Indo-US 'Framework for Cooperation on Trade and Investment' in March 2010 and the 'Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Cooperation and Food Security.' The thrust of all these 'partnerships' was indicated by Hillary Clinton's urging of India "to reduce or ease caps on investment in critical sectors." She also noted that "the US military holds more exercises with India than with any other country". The US military-industrial complex is clearly looking to corner the huge Indian market for arms imports – a key part of the "strategic dialogue" agenda.

 

US Under Secretary for Political Affairs William J. Burns, on the eve of the Strategic Dialogue noted that India had "$1 trillion worth of new projects to build highways, airports, electrical power stations and other infrastructure", representing "major potential opportunities for American firms", and also argued for "easing of caps on investment in critical sectors" to facilitate the entry of US firms.

 

While there was much talk of shared counterterrorism objectives, there was conspicuous silence, even on the Indian side, on the dubious and murky attitude of the US to David Headley, one of the key masterminds of the Mumbai terror attack.

 

The Headley episode and the Bhopal gas disaster are just two reminders of the deep inequalities between the US and India and double standards of the former towards India. Any 'strategic partnership' between the two can only be scripted and directed by the US in its own interests – and is bound to be deeply damaging to the interests of the Indian people. We must resist this growing US interference in critical sectors of Indian economy and national life and defend and assert India's sovereignty and independence with all our might.

 

Red Salute

to the Dauntless Martyrs of Ghorhuan!

Inauguration of Martyrs' Memorial and Pledge Assembly

 

On 3rd June 1975, the eve of Emergency, fifteen brave soldiers of people including Comrades Virad Manjhi, Gyaneshwar Yadav and Rambabu Yadav inscribed a new chapter in the epic battle for liberation of Indian people. They chose to confront the oppressors of people and embrace martyrdom rather than slipping away from the encirclement – an alternative they could have exercised - after 18 hours of courageous battle with police of many thanas and paramilitary forces like the CRP and BMP at Ghorhuan village in Masaurhi block of Patna Dist. All the fifteen comrades never hesitated for once in seriously risking their own life for realization of New Democratic Revolution led by CPI(ML) – an India where workers and peasants would also be the governors of affairs along with rest of the democratic section.

 

Comrade Virad Manjhi (40, hailed from Dehri village in Punpun) was the chief commander of Lal Dasta (red squad) and also member of the then Patna-Gaya Zonal Committee. Comrade Gyaneshwar Yadav (native of Baxar; a.k.a. Nagendra) only 25 at the time of martyrdom, was member of Bihar State Committee and chief political advisor of the Lal Dasta. Amongst the Party organisers Comrade Rambabu Yadav (28; a.k.a. Kailash) was member of the Patna-Gaya Zonal Committee, Comrade Prakash Chandra Mukherjee (27; a.k.a. Gopi) was area committee member and Comrade Ramjatan Manjhi (22; also younger brother of Com. Virad Manjhi) was also a squad commander. The other martyrs were all soldiers of the squad – Ramji Manjhi (21; Dehri in Punpun); Rajvallabh Ravidas (20), Rajaram Ravidas (25), Kavindar Ram (20) and Girija Paswan (22; all four hailing from Dekuli vill. In Punpun); Nageshwar Manjhi a.k.a. Suresh (26; Behrawan Chak, Punpun); Ramdas Paswan (20; Harwaspur in Masaurhi); Ramavtar Sav a.k.a. Sipahi ji (50; Larha in Dhanrua) and Kishori Bind (40) and Bindu Paswan (24), both hailing from Madhuban in Dhanrua.

 

People of many villages where Party's struggle is prominent have erected memorials on their own initiative for the martyrs hailing from their villages. However, none of the martyr at Ghorhuan was native of this village. The Masaurhi Dhanrua Committee decided to construct a glorious memorial at Ghorhuan and the comrades worked round the clock to accomplish this in a short period of 18 days. Party's pro-people sculpturers have erected this memorial in such a way that it has animated the dreams and sacrifices of the martyrs. Comrade Mohan Manjhi who received bullet injury in that battle and spent long years in jail donated all of the land for the memorial without a second thought. The memorial is thirteen feet tall, fifty feet long and eighteen feet wide. Bihar State Committee member and area incharge Com. Satyanarayan Prasad took responsibility for the work. The memorial inspires the onlooker for fighting for a new and better world.

 

Our political adversaries spread rumours that three lakh rupees have been taken from the Govt. for this memorial and this mischief of theirs was promptly exposed by our cadres very soon. The night before the inauguration village people, mainly everyone from the Mushahar toli maintained vigil all night. There is one Harijan Residential School at Ghorhuan whose all students attended the inaugural ceremony in their school uniform. It was a big festival for the people of Ghorhuan village.

 

People from all over Patna dist. gathered in Ghorhuan for the ceremony, even those comrades of 70's who have long become politically inactive came with their families to attend this festival. Many comrades born in Kurmi caste who had distanced themselves during Party's struggle against Bhumi Sena post Ghorhuan also came for this ceremony. It was evident that this ceremony has shattered caste boundaries and kindled afresh class solidarity and consciousness. Notable was the presence of large number of women whose near and dear ones have sacrificed their lives in Ghorhuan and other similar liberation struggles. They all found an identity in this ceremony which evoked the feeling for reinvigorating their revolutionary legacy. In the process of erecting this memorial other memorials close by were also renovated.

 

Many cultural performances were there on this day. In the beginning Comrades Dipankar (Party GS), Nandkishore Prasad (Party's State Secretary) and veteran Party leader Pawan Sharma felicitated the families of martyrs and those who were jailed in this struggle. Party Flag was presented to Com. Mohan Manjhi and his wife.

 

The pledge taking ceremony started after the inauguration of the memorial. Com. Pawan Sharma who was then working in this region recalled the entire incident in its context, of how the police and paramilitary had encircled the village and how the comrades safely guided the people out of the village and when till evening the police could not enter the village and many of the police personnel were killed they set the village on fire. The fifteen comrades were martyred in police firing when they were leaving village to escape fast spreading flames.

 

The pledge ceremony was also addressed by other State level comrades who underlined the importance of the Ghorhuan and similar battles by mentioning that whatever pro-poor policies like NREGA have been legislated are the result of these struggles.

 

In the end Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya addressed the pledge taking ceremony. He said that this battle for liberation was historic and has been kept alive by many heroic martyrs and is still very long. He referred to the talks of caste divisions and said there was no division among the fifteen martyrs of Ghorhuan on basis of 'upper' caste or dalits, intellectuals and illiterate workers, or urban and rural. All these comrades sacrificed their lives together for a common dream – of a new society! All of us here today are living the same dream and the struggle for it is spreading and advancing constantly on the basis of increased participation of workers and peasants, women and young men in the struggle led by the Party and the Red Flag. Bihar's oppressed class has won dignity and respect due to these struggles. However, Bihar still faces a big issue – i.e. of land reforms, he said, in absence of which Bihar is still backward where poverty and unemployment is utmost. Bihar's poor and toiling people will gain full dignity and real independence only when the agenda of land reform is accomplished and landless people get land for tilling, homeless get the land for their own dwelling place and sharecroppers and pattedars get all rights and facilities. That day the feudals will learn what worth they are.

 

He said that the feudal forces backed by the State power and currently counting their last breaths are threatening of massacres. If, on the one hand founders of private militias, planners and perpetrators of massacres are uniting in the name of Kisan Mahapanchayat, then on the other Maley (CPIML) has resolved that the agenda of land reform will be implemented in its comprehensiveness. We have resolved that this battle, even if we have to fight alone, we will take on the entire feudal forces of Bihar because this is the Party of Ghorhuan martyrs, Virad Manjhi's Party, Jagdish Master's Party, Butan Ram's Party and it has enough strength to sweep-off the feudal forces, he said.

 

He said that the reason behind Nitish Kumar's forming the Land Reforms Commission was his fear due to broad mobilization and consolidation of poor and oppressed against feudal forces and now under fear from feudal forces he has refused to implement the Commission's recommendation. Pointing to large number of legislation related to land reforms he said that none could be enacted in flesh and blood because feudal forces have bulldozed them every time and till the poor people do not take upon themselves the responsibility for actually implementing it in letter and spirit it will not happen. Today we have to strongly say that the reins of Bihar will be in the hands of those who are in favour of land reforms.

 

In the end it was decided that every year when we celebrate Martyrdom Day on 28 July we will go and contact the families of every martyr of our struggle.

 

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 23 / 2010

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.  13 No. 23  1 - 7 JUNE 2010

 

Gyaneshwari Express Tragedy:

Will We Ever Know the Truth?

Close on the heels of the Mangalore air crash, the Gyaneshwari Express accident near Jhargram in West Midnapore district of West Bengal has taken another heavy toll of human lives. Even nearly a week since the tragedy struck, the death toll is still rising and many of the critically injured are battling for their lives. Unlike most accidents, this one is however not attributed to usual factors like 'human error' or 'structural deficiency'. Reports link this tragedy to a suspected act of sabotage. While condoling this huge loss of lives, every justice-loving Indian would want this sabotage unearthed beyond any doubt and stern punishment meted out to the saboteurs.

 

The timing of the tragedy had its own political resonance. It happened soon after the beginning of a protest week called by Maoists in the five states of Chhattishgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar. In the political context of West Bengal, one could not also miss the fact that it happened just two days before polling was to take place for Kolkata Corporation as well as 81 other municipalities in the state. While the state government was quick to indicate a Maoist hand in the sabotage, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee began talking of high-level political conspiracy and called for a CBI probe into the incident. The Union Home Minister, on his part, has gone public with his observation that the 'needle of suspicion' points to the Maoists.

 

The Maoists are yet to make any official statement in this regard, but a statement attributed to one Bapi Mahato of the People's Committee against Police Atrocities (the most prominent banner of the Lalgarh agitation) has reportedly regretted the tragedy while owning responsibility for the damage done to the railway track. According to this statement, the PCPA had only wanted to derail a goods train and had not expected the Gyaneshwari Express to bear the brunt. If this statement is true, this is a shocking commentary on the anarchist degeneration of a movement that till recently boasted of a high degree of militant mass involvement. Sabotages and indiscriminate targeting and destruction of human lives cannot be accepted as a means of protest against police atrocities. 

 

For Chidambaram and the UPA government, the Gyaneshwari Express tragedy has come in handy to intensify the ongoing Operation Green Hunt. On the eve of the June 3 meeting of the Cabinet Committee on security, Defence Minister AK Antony has already held a meeting with the three Service chiefs – Air Chief Marshal PV Naik, Admiral Nirmal Verma and General VK Singh – to discuss 'all dimensions' of the security situation. There is a growing clamour for Army involvement in Operation Green Hunt – after air support, there is now talk of pressing a few of the 63 battalions of Rashtriya rifles, the Army's specialized counter-insurgency force now operating in Jammu and Kashmir into the OGH campaign.

 

Municipal elections over (Mamata Banerjee has already swept the Kolkata Corporation polls and registered major advances in the 81 other municipalities that went to poll on May 30), it remains to be seen how far Mamata Banerjee will insist on her demand for CBI probe. Chidambaram's purpose has also been served, the 'needle of suspicion' is sufficient for him to ask for a 'wider mandate' to intensify Operation Green Hunt. Will we then ever get to know who really was responsible for the Gyaneshwari Express tragedy?

 

What lends credence to the 'needle of suspicion' theory is the growing list of actual Maoist actions like blowing off of roads, tracks and bridges and targeting of buses, trains and passengers. Such acts have nothing to do with the legacy of Naxalbari and the revolutionary communist trail blazed by this historic peasant rebellion. And this can certainly not be the way to oppose Operation Green Hunt. Even in Nepal, with all their visible mass strength, the Maoists found it difficult to enforce a general strike beyond a few days. Here Maoists are repeatedly calling bandhs without any mass involvement – resorting only to disruptive activities in the name of protest. Such disruptive tactics must be rejected by all forces involved in the battle for justice, democracy and social transformation.

 

Condemn the Israeli Government's act of terrorism against humanitarian aid workers

Demand International Sanctions on Israel

Demand an immediate end to India-Israel Arms deals

In flagrant violation of all international laws, Israeli commandos attacked a flotilla of aid carrying ships, firing at and killing over 19 unarmed peace activists, leaving dozens others injured. CPI (ML) condemns this blatant act of war crime and a crime against humanity in no uncertain terms. The ships were part of a peaceful humanitarian response by citizens from 50 countries against the continuation of a three-year old unlawful siege which has resulted in great physical and mental distress to the 1.5 million people entrapped within Gaza.

 

The Israeli government and its propaganda machinery have predictably sought to show the attack as an act of self defence, with the Israeli PM, Binyamin Netanyahu, giving his "full backing" to the Israeli Defence Forces after the raid, and the Defense Minister Ehud Barak blaming the Flotilla organizers for inciting the attack. Outdoing the two, Deputy Defence Minister, Danny Alalon said that the activists aboard the ship were linked to international terrorist organizations and were trying to smuggle in arms, claiming shamelessly that weapons were found on board. Video footage of the assault clearly shows that the Israeli commandos dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began to shoot the moment they landed on the deck at peaceful civilians without provocation. In short, it was premeditated slaughter in cold blood.

 

The Israeli actions have prompted an avalanche of protests the world over calling for international sanctions and isolation of Israel, with several European countries summoning their Israeli ambassadors for explanation. Closer home, the Ministry of External Affairs has issued an insipid condemnation while choosing to be conveniently silent on the increasing strategic and military intimacy between India and Israel. The words of condemnation will remain hollow and ritualistic until all arms deals with Israel are scrapped.

 

Since 2008, Israel has gained the status of India's top defence supplier. While these deals, secured in utmost secrecy, remain mired in corruption allegations, the moot issue is that through these deals India actually subsidises Israel's massive war economy and in fact contributes to the killings of Palestinians. 

 

CPI(ML) stands in solidarity with the demand for international sanctions against the state of Israel and demands for an immediate lifting of the blockade in Gaza.

CPI(ML) calls for an urgent scrapping of India's military and strategic ties with Isreal.

CPI(ML) appeals all to protest against this blatant act of war crime and a crime against humanity.

 

Opportunist Combinations Responsible for Crisis –

CPI(ML) Warns against Misuse of President's Rule

After a month of political uncertainty, Jharkhand has once again been placed under President's Rule with the State Assembly kept in suspended animation. The opportunist BJP-JMM combine could not survive for even six months. Apart from the JMM's increasingly opportunist political role, the desperate political contention between the BJP and the Congress to control the seat of power in Ranchi is also squarely responsible for the current state of affairs in Jharkahnd.

 

While the Constitution provides for imposition of President's Rule in the absence of any government, there is every apprehension that the interregnum will be used to indulge in horse-trading and manufacture majority through unprincipled deals. In the event of no combination staking claim to form government, the CPI(ML) is opposed to the idea of a prolonged period of President's Rule and would instead favour fresh elections.

 

The State Standing Committee held an emergency meeting in Ranchi on 1 June in the presence of the Party GS to take stock of the Jharkhand situation. While maintaining political vigilance against any possible misuse of the President's Rule, the CPI(ML) has resolved to intensify mass struggles on the burning issues facing the people of Jharkhand and build a sustained campaign against eviction, mining loot, all-round corruption and state repression.

 

Support Air India Employees' Struggle for Trade Union Democracy and Workers' Rights

Even as workers from Gurgaon to Coimbatore are rising in struggles for Trade Union recognition, the headlines read 'recongition withdrawn for unions' and 'union offices sealed'. 

 

Are the managements expecting the unions to act according to their wishes? Are the managements trying to send away the union from their premises as they send the non-conforming workers? It is the task of the Trade Unions to fight for the rights of the workers and definitely not dancing to the tunes of the managements.

 

The era of globalization has seen some Trade Unions convincing the workers about the 'views and worries' of the managements and bringing them in line with what the managements wish. This practice is now taking its toll and the employees of Air India, their Trade Unions have fallen victims. Air Corporation Employees Union and All India Aircraft Engineers Association, Trade Unions of Air India workers are derecognized by the Air India management and the offices of the said Trade Unions all over the country are sealed by the management.

 

Right from Goldman Sachs of America, through Satyam to BSNL have shown that the managements both in private and public sector seldom worry about the well being of the organization and its work force. Corruption rules the roost and the interests of the organization and the workers are driven to the backstage. We also witness that even Indian Army is no exception. Air India flight crash on May 22 has sent shock waves throughout the country and the black box was found only after 3 days. One will have to wait for the explanations of the American experts to know the cause of the crash.

 

But, one of the office bearers of the unions told the media that negligence of the management is the main reason behind the tragedy. Everything came to the fore from this point. Citing the gag order of the management that the employees cannot go public on anything that would cause disrepute to the organization, the management took action on the employee for breaking the gag order. Over 20,000 employees all over country resisted this move with their flash strike on May 25. Things came to a standstill and some business interests affected. This is more than enough for the management to go on further victimization. Management went to the court to get the strike declared illegal. Mumbai HC was hesitant to pass such an order, but Delhi HC acted promptly and declared the strike illegal.

 

The striking workers demanded withdrawal of the gag order. Is it not one of the tasks of the Trade Unions to question the inefficiency or negligence of the management? And more so, when it is a PSU and interests of not only the organization but also that of the public is at stake. Over 100 Air India employees are now dismissed and suspended for discharging their social responsibility!

 

Air India employees have not got their May salary till the day they began their strike. This is also one of their demands. Employees of Jet Airways were given pink slips last September all of a sudden. Two pilots were dismissed for forming union. They all together went on a strike but this heroic struggle ended with the striking workers agreeing for reduced salary. During this whole period too, the Air India employees were not getting their salary in time.

 

During last year struggle, the registration of National Aviation Guild, union of the pilots, itself was cancelled. When the union held that the Labor Commissioner cannot cancel registration and went to the Mumbai HC, they were denied justice. Now they are preparing to approach the industrial tribunal and the pilots are saying that they will knock the doors of SC too if necessary. Now, over 2,000 pilots all over the country have formed Airlines Pilots Association of India. Will they ever get any justice from a 'globalised' Supreme Court?

 

Air India management, which has cancelled the recognition and sealed the offices of the fighting unions which enjoy the support of majority of the employees, has announced that it is negotiating with other unions in the organization. Aviation minister Praful Patel has categorically said that there is no review on the action taken against the striking employees. He also said that the management is free to go on further actions on more employees if necessary. He said that he is concerned only about the interests of the organization. Now, who will punish the minister who ran his ministry in such a way that more than 150 people were charred to death? Is this the way to protect the interests of the organization? Air India employees have announced their next round of struggles against victimization from June 12, though the Delhi HC has banned any strike action till June 13.

 

Beyond the debates and discussions on how the Air India employees planned and conducted this strike action, and whether the timing of the action was right, the forthcoming struggle of the Air India employees is a struggle for Trade Union democracy and workers' rights. The Trade Union non-recognition ghost created by the private corporates of the land and MNCs has begun to haunt the PSUs too. This must be nipped in the bud. It is the immediate duty of the Indian working class to rise in solidarity with the Air India employees in their struggle for Trade Union democracy and Trade Union rights and the show the ruling class that it is not that easy to crush the Trade Union movement in the country.

 

AICCTU Protest in Delhi

AICCTU held a protest demonstration in capital at parliament street on 31 May and strongly condemned the series of unprecedented clampdown measures taken against Air India employees and their unions - ACEU and AIAEA.

 

Addressing the meeting held on this occasion, comrade Swapan Mukharjee, AICCTU General Secretary strongly condemned the unconstitutional actions of Air India Management. He said that in spite of the fact that the unions had withdrawn the strike after the intervention of CLC (central) and High Court orders, the management's crack-down measures clearly smack of utterly vindictive attitude. The civil aviation minister Mr Praful Patel came openly in support of management's unconstitutional, undemocratic and unprofessional actions. How can we forget that this is the same civil aviation minister, two months back, whose daughter diverted an Air India plane for the sake of watching a IPL cricket match!

 

AICCTU has supported the call of the above unions to go for strike on June 12 against the dictatorial attitude of the management and has demanded immediate withdrawal of all vindictive actions including terminations and suspensions taken against the employees and union office bearers. AICCTU demands of the govt. and management to immediately enter into dialogue with the unions to resolve the issues in the interest of employees, the national carrier and the public.

 

The protest was led by Santosh Rai, AICCTU Delhi Secretary, VKS Gautam, Construction workers union leader, Jagnarayan, Mathura Paswan, Shyam Kishore and many others.  

 

'Rasta Roko' in Kalahandi

Thousands of CPI(ML) activists organised a 'Rasta Roko' (blockade) in Ulladani in Kalahandi district of Odisha to press for the demand of a bridge construction on Rahul river and land pattas to all tribals as per the 2006 Forest Rights Act.

 

The protesters also demanded to put a stop to illegal machine works under the MNREG Scheme, atrocities by forest department employees on tribals. The protest blockade resulted in the jam of more than 200 trucks and buses on the highway. This was lifted after the district administration came and assured of fulfilling the demands within two months.

Nilachal Bhattacharya and Ajaya Mandhata State Commitee Members of CPI(ML), Mahendra Parida State Secretary of AICCTU, Litulal, Convener of AISA in Kalahandi and Arjun led this protest. The demonstrators also demanded proper recognition by the state of the Tribal icon of the region Rindo Majhi and that his statue and a memorial be constructed.

 

New Branch Office at Gangavati

A new branch office of AICCTU was inaugurated by Com. Shankar, CCM, on May 31 at Gangavati in Karnataka. This second office was constructed through contributions from rice mill workers, who are in the path of struggles against illegal closures, demanding ESI benefit, PF and such other issues. There is no semblance of implementation of any labour law in the entire region of rice mills in which more than 10,000 workers are employed. They work in pathetic conditions where not even muster rolls are being maintained.

The workers organised a rally on March 23 demanding action against the management. On 20 May, hundreds of workers gheroed the office of local BJP MLA stressing their demands. Industrial disputes and other legal proceedings are going on. In the meanwhile, workers are exerting pressure on the administration, the MP and MLAs. Workers strongly condemned the pro-management attitude of the political bigwigs and the BJP government against the suffering workers.

 

The subsequent meeting of hundreds of workers, after inauguration of the office, chaired by J Bharadwaj, State Leading Team member of the party, was organized at a mill premises whose owner has been absconding for more than three months. The entire mill premise has been occupied by workers and is being used for the purpose of workers' meetings and struggles. Rice mill workers have started joining AICCTU rejecting established social democratic unions and their corrupt local leaders for their treachery.

 

AISA Demo Against Donations at HPHalli

AISA organized a rally and demonstration on 1 June against collection of exorbitant fees and donations for admissions in colleges in Harapnahalli taluk. They forced the college managements to repay excess amounts collected from students. The spirited rally was led by DM Prasad, member, NEC, and the subsequent meeting was addressed by Parameshwar, VP of AISA, Raghavendra, NCM, committee members Kumar and Manju. The meeting was presided over by Santosh, taluk president of AISA. Com. E. Ramappa, State Secretary called upon students to join the struggle for democracy and social transformation rejecting established political parties.

 

A new team of student leaders and hundreds of members have recently joined AISA in the taluk, deserting SFI due to its hand in glove operations with hostel warden against students. AISA leaders thwarted attempts by the warden for a compromise. Now, the students are being extended all facilities entitled to them, which was so long denied by the warden in connivance with the then student organization.

 

AIALA gives a call for an all India Rural Strike on 7 July 2010

AIALA has called for an All India Rural Strike on 7 July 2010. The deep agrarian crisis has resulted in the lack of food security, galloping price rise and the impoverishment of the rural poor. While NREGA was implemented by UPA under pressure of peoples' movements, its budgetary allocations still indicate lack of seriousness in ensuring any teeth to the implementation of the Act. The State governments without exception have failed to reach to the needs of livelihood, shelter and resource of the rural poor and have thus endangered their lives.

 

The All India Rural Strike has been called to demand a separate legislation for agricultural workers, ensure employment, higher wages and homestead land, ensure land reforms, check price rise and provision of work for each willing hand. The strike will be called in all areas of agricultural operations with the slogan 'Dam Bandho Kam Do' or Check Price Rise, Ensure Work.

 

AIALA has appealed to all democratic, progressive, pro-people peasant, women, student organisations and trade unions to stand in solidarity with the rural poor and ensure the success of the strike.

.

Hunger Death in Gaya

Ramashray Bhagat, 45, died of hunger on 14 May 2010 in his village Aanti which comes under Konch block of Tikari sub-division in Gaya district. No post-mortem was conducted in spite of the fact that the mukhiya knew the real cause of the death. Many people in the village had earlier demanded from the mukhiya to provide help to the starving family, but he refused to heed. The only help this poor family received from the govt. was after his death, a 'cremation fund' of Rs. 1500 under a govt. scheme through the mukhiya with the instructions of immediately cremating the body. This was meant to hush up the matter so that the world should not know someone died of hunger under Nitish regime. Party refused to accept the administrative 'report' of this death and demanded an action. The CPI(ML) organised a dharna at sub-division headquarter in Tikari on 18 May. The politics in this village is divided among various political trends as usual in Bihar villages. The local leaders of ruling JD(U) 'accused' us of raising this issue, while few families who are said to be supporters of CPI(Maoists) too abstained from this protest! But the general public came openly is support and they themselves collected fund for hiring a vehicle to reach the protest venue in Tikari.

 

An investigation team led by All India Kisan Mahasabha National General Secretary Rajaram Singh and CPI(ML) District Secretary Niranjan Kumar visited the village on 19 May. Incidentally, a Public Hearing on 'Starvation Deaths and the Question of Food Security' was held on the same day in Gaya town. This was attended by Supreme Court appointed Special Food Commissioner Harsh Mander and many other prominent citizens. Comrade Rajaram Singh also addressed this Public Hearing where he held government policies and intentions for the increasing food insecurity and hunger. He asked why people like Ramashray are deliberately excluded from the BPL lists? 

 

ML UPDATE 22 / 2010

ML Update A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine Vol. 13, No. 22, 25 – 31 MAY 2010 UPA Unmasked: Intensify Mass Struggles against this Corrupt, Callous and Repressive Regime   It has now been one year since the incumbent UPA government assumed office in May 2009. Going by the poll-time promises and pronouncements of the Congress, "inclusive development" was to have been the keyword for the UPA-II. A government that cares for the aam aadmi, a government that would deliver essentials like employment guarantee and food security – this was the great promise that saw the UPA comfortably return to power in the last Lok Sabha election. But at the end of the first year, the poll promises are mostly forgotten – the rhetoric of food security has been overshadowed by the grim reality of unprecedented food inflation even as the government is preoccupied with Operation Green Hunt, threatening to gag every dissenting voice under the draconian UAPA. It's time the ruling coalition renamed itself as the UAPA government!   The big promise of food security turned into the UPA's biggest act of betrayal. On the one hand, agricultural growth rate went further downhill, turning negative last year, and on the other hand, food prices kept spiraling away. Just when the threat of starvation loomed larger and larger and more and more people badly needed some food support, the UPA government stopped paying even lip-service to its food security rhetoric! A shameless UPA government even went so far as to cite food inflation as the reason for delaying the food security legislation! And the draft of the government's intended food security framework indicated a further dilution of the existing PDS provisions, with no signs of any serious correcting move to end the BPL fiasco.   Along with food prices, fuel prices too contributed heavily to the general surge in prices of almost all essential commodities. Fertiliser prices were hiked on the eve of the budget, while the budget itself announced yet another major increase in fuel prices. Having survived the cut motion voting in parliament, the government has again returned to announcing fresh hikes in fuel prices. As a special anniversary gift to the people, the government has already announced a massive hike in CNG and piped gas prices and an Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to meet on June 7 to decide on freeing petrol and diesel prices! As the UPA completes the first year of its second term, the people can expect celebratory fireworks in the form of a fresh surge in prices.   Corruption has emerged as another hallmark of this government. When the country was reeling under back-breaking inflation, UPA ministers were busy with the money-spinning corporate carnival of the IPL. By easing the flamboyant Sashi Tharoor out of office, the government hopes to hush up the entire IPL racket, but the chinks are clearly showing in the armour of different ministries. From A Raja of DMK to Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel of the NCP, the list of tainted ministers is getting longer.   Even after the Central Vigilance Commission recommended a CBI probe into the 2G spectrum scam and the CBI raided telecom minister A Raja's office in October 2009, the UPA government has been protecting the minister in the name of 'coalition dharma'. And now they are trying to brush the 2G scam under the 3G carpet by pointing to the 'unexpected' earnings of Rs. 67,710 crore in 3G auction. Let us however note that even the 3G booty is pretty small by global standards – a similar auction in the UK had fetched almost three times as much amount way back in 2000 (£22.47bn in 2000 as against £8.3 billion yielded by the 3G auction in India in 2010). And if the 3G license could be auctioned through competitive bidding why on earth did the ministry issue the 2G license on a hush-hush first-come-first-served basis?   This corrupt corporate-friendly government is also proving to be extremely callous and arrogant. When Shashi Tharoor equated economy class to cattle class, many might have thought it was a slip of the tongue (keyboard?) on the part of an inexperienced politician who is yet to master the language of mass communication. But what about a seasoned politician like Sharad Pawar who advised the people to stop taking sugar if they found sugar prices too high? Or for that matter, what about the 'leader of the masses' Mamata Banerjee who blames passengers for a stampede caused by the criminal inefficiency and negligence of her own department? These are not aberrations, but characteristic glimpses of governance, UPA style!   The BJP often accuses the UPA government of speaking in multiple voices while some media analysts paint a picture of drift and disarray. Well, Jairam Ramesh's statement issued in China, describing the Home Ministry's attitude to Chinese telecom companies operating in India as "alarmist and paranoid", was surely sacrilegious not only for the Congress but for the entire Indian ruling elite – and Ramesh will surely have to pay a price as Tharoor has had to do for his acts of indiscretion. But to try and find a real contradiction between Digvijay Singh and P Chidambaram, or what is even more ridiculous, between Sonia Gandhi's article in "Congress Sandesh" and the Manmohan-Chidambaram take on Maoism and internal security is only height of wishful thinking. The BJP would of course like to push the discourse further rightward and towards a harder state so it can regain its lost initiative and brush up its faded identity, but the Left and democratic forces will only be befooled if they take the so-called 'differences' within the Congress too seriously.   Behind all these 'multiple voices' there is a singularity of purpose – to confuse the opposition and the people and hold on to power. The way the Congress first accepted the Telangana statehood demand and then referred it to Justice Sri Krishna Committee, not to mention the divisive game it played on this issue by whipping up people's sentiments, or the way it got the women's reservation bill passed in the Rajya Sabha only to put it back in cold storage are no ordinary flip-flops. These are all characteristic features of an unscrupulous power game that India's oldest ruling party is quite adept in playing. It played it at the time of the nuke deal vote in 2008 and it played it again to defeat the cut motions on April 27.   The people of India are however not amused and will certainly not remain silent spectators to the Congress power games. The popular response to the April 27 Bharat Bandh, the renewed spurt in worker-peasant struggles in different parts of the country and the voices of protest against the UPA's UAPA-OGH regime are a clear pointer to the shape of things to come.   The Network of 'Hindutva' Terror   Almost a year and a half after the Maharashtra ATS arrested Sadhvi Pragya and a serving officer in the Indian Army, Lt. col. Purohit, for their alleged involvement in the Malegaon bomb blasts of 2008, the Rajasthan ATS arrested Devendra Gupta and Chandrashekhar Barod, men with close links to the RSS and its assorted organizations, as key suspects in the Ajmer Sharif blasts of 2007. The CBI has now revealed that in fact Hindutva groups may have been behind all the blasts that rocked the country that year—from the Samjhauta Express (February 2007) to Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad (May 2007) to the Sufi shrine in Ajmer (October 2007). The CBI joined the dots between the three blasts on the basis that all bombs had the same arming devices, which were procured from Indore; further the nature of phone timer devices, kinds of explosives used, common identity proofs used to obtain sim cards point to the links between these blasts.   These 'unusual' suspects in the form of serving and retired army officers, sadhus and sanyasin, and members of groups that go by the names of Hindu Sansathan, Jai Vande Matram Kalyani Samiti and Abhinav Bharat could not be farther removed from the Bashars and Falahis who are routinely rounded up by various anti-terror agencies, to be paraded as prize catches and 'masterminds'. Unusual the CBI's revelations may look initially, but really, civil rights groups have been arguing for a while now that the Pavlovian response of the police and security agencies – of declaring the culpability of a 'Jihadi' organization followed by rampant detention and torture of Muslim youth after every bomb blast – reeks of rank communal profiling. There has been a consistent refusal to acknowledge the presence, extent and scale of Hindutva terror outfits. (And one is talking here of just the plain, mainstream definition of the term terrorism – as in bomb blasts – discounting Hindutva's indulgences in cleansing minority populations, bringing down mosques, burning down churches, forcibly breaking inter community marriages, and attacking women in pubs etcetera).   Our political discourse, in a desperate imitation of the US' 'war on terror', normalizes the use of 'Islamic' in conjunction with 'terrorism', and legitimates witch hunt as an act of national security. No wonder, Raj Kumar Pandiyan, the IPS officer accused of killing Sohrabuddin in cold blood and passing it off as an 'encounter' of a terrorist on his way to 'eliminate' Narendra Modi, lamented after his arrest that he should have been honoured, not hounded. Seeking bail from the Supreme Court, Pandiyan's counsel argued on his behalf that "I am supposed to have killed the most notorious criminal…Maybe he [Sohrabuddin] is killed in a fake encounter, but for that the process of law cannot be subverted" [i.e., his bail application ought not to be rejected on the mere ground that Sohrabuddin was killed by him in a fake encounter]. No wonder too, that the Congress and BJP wish to outdo each other in demonstrating their iron will to combat 'terror': the Congress scored a Batla House against Modi's harvest of encounters; not wanting to sound partisan when it came to matters of national security, the Union Home Ministry's affidavit seconded the Gujarat government's claim that the teenaged college girl Ishrat Jehan was a Lashkar e Tayyiba operative. But what can be surprising is how supposedly secular and respectable media houses such as the Hindu can become willing partners in this propaganda (just google for all the Hindu columns that were written in the aftermath of the Mecca Masjid and dargah blasts, which screamed HUJI and Lashkar connections).   But to return to the recent revelations, this is not the first time that such a link between the three blasts has been suggested. In November 2008 itself, soon after Hemant Karkare's ATS made these daring arrests, Mahant Amritanand alias Dayanand Pande, an aide of Pragya and Purohit, had been questioned in connection with the Samjhauta Express blasts by the Haryana ATS. There were other clues too: the suitcase in the Samjhauta Express was traced to Indore—the epicenter of Hindutva activities (along with Dangs); in 2008 itself the Maharashtra ATS had communicated to the Hyderabad police the sensational claim by Purohit that he had provided the RDX used in Mecca Masjid blast (Times of India, May 06, 2010). Purohit had been chargesheeted for procuring the RDX from the army inventory when he was posted in Jammu and Kashmir in 2006. However, there was no willingness to question and disturb the neat and easy connections between 'terrorism' and 'Jihadist' groups.   The Hyderabad police, already having arrested, illegally detained and tortured scores of Muslim men at private farm houses was in no mood to investigate the Purohit angle. It refused even to take custody of the man for questioning (contrast this with the manner in which various blasts accused linked to a shadowy organization called Indian Mujahideen were made to shuttle between states, as various state police vied to question them). The blame for the Mecca Masjid blasts was conveniently laid at the doors of Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HUJI). Indeed, the Maharashtra ATS was asked not to make this public. Similarly, the attack on the dargah in Ajmer was shown to be the handiwork of hardline jihadists waging war against popular Islam. This is likely where the Pune blasts investigations are headed. After pursuing the Hindutva angle for a month, facing heat from an angry opposition, the Maharshtra Home Minister dropped Raghuvanshi as the ATS chief in favour of Rakesh Maria, who since has faithfully deflected the investigation back to the usual track of Indian Mujahideen. Maria, it will be recalled is the man accused by Vinita Kamte, widow of the slain ATS officer Ashok Kamte, of ignoring the then ATS chief Hemant Karkare's calls for reinforcement on the night of 26/11. The trumpeting of the IM angle in Pune is all the more suspect given that the recent chargesheets filed by the NIA in the Goa blast case of 2009 lead to the radical saffron outfit Sanatan Sansthan in Pune.   As the details of the extensive network of Hindutva terror emerge as also the reality that there has been willful suppression of their activities by the investigating agencies – helped along no doubt by the prevailing political climate – all previous investigations need to be revisited. In particular the Malegaon blasts of 2006, where all contrary evidence such as the recovery of fake beard by a local tailor from the dead bodies, were ignored; the ATS' claim at that time that "RDX is only available to Islamic terrorist outfits" was also belied by Purohit's access to RDX. In a severe and damaging rebuff to the prosecution in the Jaipur blasts case of 2008, as many as eleven witnesses have turned hostile, accusing the Rajasthan police of pressuring them to sign statements under duress.   What is required urgently is a thoroughgoing enquiry into all the bomb blasts that have taken place in the last few years: from the blasts in UP, Mumbai train blasts, Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad as well as Modasa and Nanded, and a strict scrutiny of the Hindutva organizations and their links to the RSS. But above all, there must be an end to impunity. All those who have falsely framed innocents in terror cases, inflicted torture, forged evidence, bullied witnesses, and misrepresented facts in chargesheets ought to be prosecuted. The Special Cells, the ATS, STFs and police departments must be made to realize – through punishments and convictions – that they simply have not been handed a blank cheque, which they can encash every time they spot a Muslim after a bomb blast.   Lalkar March at Mansa   Completion of one year of historic Mansa land struggle was celebrated on May 21st, 2010, with a Lalkaar (defiance) march participated by huge number of landless labourers and Party leaders. The march was welcomed by labourers in each village with great enthusiasm. Vehicles with red flags and revolutionary slogans passed through most of the villages where landless labourers had risen up in assertion for their land rights. In five major villages of the last year's land struggle- Barnala, Nandgarh, Hakam Wala, Gurne Kalan and Khiala -rallies were also held. State Secretary of Mazdoor Mukti Morcha, Bhagwant Singh Samaon and State Secretary of CPI(ML) Com. Rajwinder Rana led the march. AICCTU General Secretary and CC member of CPI(ML) Com. Swapan Mukherjee was the special guest and one of the main speakers. The comrades who were jailed last year were honoured at the occasion. At every rally progressive plays were performed by Punjab Kala Kendra of Surjeet Gami fame. Sukhdarshan Natt, Convenor of Radical People's Forum, AIPWA leader Jasveer Kaur Natt, RYA State Secretary Hasmeet Singh and many other State-level leaders were also present. The successful event was realised through the persevering efforts of many a district level and mass organisations' comrades.   Autonomous State Demand Day in Karbi Anglong   The 24th Anniversary of Autonomous State Demand Day was observed in Karbi Anglong on 17 May – as it has been since the beginning of the Autonomous State movement in hill districts of Assam. This time, CPI(ML) and ASDC(P) jointly observed Autonomous State Day with a colourful procession in Diphu town, starting from the ASDC(P) office premises and marching to the DC office. There a memorandum addressed to the Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram was submitted to the DC, demanding immediate implementation of Art. 244(A) of the Indian Constitution. After marching through the main roads of the town, the procession culminated in a mass meeting at the ASDC(P) office ground. This meeting was conducted by the secretary of the Diphu district committee of CPI(ML) Com. Daniel Teron and was addressed by KSA President Com. Laisen   Inghi, KNCA General Secretary Com. Pratima Inghipi, CPI(ML) State Secretary and PB member Com. Rubul Sarma, and ASDC(P) President Com. Chandrakanta Terang. Nearly 1000 people participated in the procession and the meeting.   Speakers at the meeting reiterated their resolve never to compromise on this constitutional right of the hill peoples of Assam and warned the Government of intensified struggle if the demand was not met. Addressing the meeting Com. Rubul Sarma said that it was only the CPI(ML) and ASDC(P) combine that was carrying forward the true spirit of "No Autonomous State No Rest." In this long journey of two and a half decades many of the leaders neither rested nor compromised with the Government. During this period some armed outfits were formed demanding self-rule, implementation of Article 3 of the Constitution and even an independent Karbi Anglong. These forces have also come to the ceasefire agreement with the government. On the other hand some breakaway leaders of the Autonomous State Movement, including former RS MP Prakanta Warisa joined the ruling Congress.   The Congress stands exposed as a force fundamentally opposed to Autonomous Statehood. In spite of leading governments both at the centre and the state as well as in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and having enough scope and power to grant Autonomous Statehood, is indifferent to the issue of implementation of 244(A), even after announcing a new Telengana state. On the other hand rampant corruption in the Congress-led Autonomous Council has rocked the whole of Assam. The CPI(ML) is also fighting against this corruption and against the soaring prices – another gift of the Congress to the people.   Contrary to the consistent and principled movement of the CPI(ML), the renegade ASDC always displays political opportunism and joins forces sometimes with BJP and other times with Congress. Even in the last RS election on 26/03/10, the lone ASDC MLA Jagat Singh Engti voted for Congress candidate. Thus the ASDC is suffering from an identity crisis.   The militant group UPDS, which is under a cease-fire agreement with the Government, has formed a mass platform, PAPA (Peoples Alliance for Peace Agreement) comprising of ASDC, BJP, NCP etc. In the wake of the announcement of a new separate Telangana state, the demand for implementation of constitutional rights in the form of Autonomous Statehood has gained a new impetus. The enthusiastic participation of people in the Autonomous State Day programme this year reflects their aspirations and their determination.   Kidnapped CPI(ML) Leader Released after Powerful Mass Protests   Com. Rupesh Kumar Singh, CPI(ML)'s Bhagalpur District Committee member and Revolutionary Youth Association's (RYA) District Secretary's kidnapping and subsequent gherao and protests was reported in this newsletter last week. The gherao continued throughout the night and next day Naugachhia observed a daylong bandh. The Party also organised a protest march in Bhagalpur town while the RYA organised statewide protests. Thanks to prompt protests and concerted efforts of comrades in Bhagalpur, Katihar and Purnea districts, Com. Rupesh was eventually recovered near Purnea railway station on the night of 19 May. The Party has filed an FIR and attempts are on to get the administration to act on it.   Conference of Rickshaw Pullers in Noida   The Delhi State Committee of CPI(ML) successfully organised the 1st Conference of cycle-rickshaw pullers at Sec.25 in Noida, adjacent to Delhi. Two hundred rickshaw pullers participated in the Conference. A 15 member committee with Comrades Shyam Kishore Yadav and Suresh Paswan as President and Secretary respectively were elected through the Conference. AICCTU General Secretary Com. Swapan Mukherjee was the chief guest and speaker along with Delhi State Secretary and CPI(ML) CCM Com. Sanjay Sharma.   The Conference passed resolutions on the immediate necessities of the rickshaw pullers. It demanded – (i) to grant licences and recognition to all the pullers along with covering them under BPL and social security, (ii) construction of cycle-rickshaw stands with shades and drinking water amenities, (iii) grant of easy loan and micro credits from banks to free them from usurers and stop all harassment by the police and administration and (iv) not the least, recognise their service as contribution to environment and ecological sustainability.   Dhikkar Saptaah against BJP-Congress in Jharkhand   The BJP which was voted out by the people in Jharkhand just a few months back tried to hold onto power by supporting a JMM-led Govt., and recently sensing an opportunity tried to wrest the CM's chair by enacting a drama of withdrawal from the Govt. and then putting its withdrawal on hold to get the chief ministership. The CPI(ML) launched a week long dhikkar saptaah (condemnation week) from 18th May to orient people's anger into a political force to end this extremely opportunist regime devoid of any commitment to people's aspirations.   Meeting was organised in Chakradharpur on 18th May led by Com. Bahadur Oraon- CC member, and on the same day Party workers marched with black badges in Ramgarh. Protest march and meeting was held at Chhatarpur in Palamu. Dharnas, demonstrations, street corner meetings and effigy burning were held at many places in various districts. Meetings were held in front of block headquarters at Bagodar, Saria, Birni, Rajdhanwar, Ganwa, Teesri, Jamua, Dewri, Bengabad, Gandeya and Giridih in Giridih dist on 24 and 25 May. On these same days similar programmes were held at Nirsa, Chirkunda, Govindpur, Baliapur and Patlabari and block level dharna at Nirsa, Govindpur and Baliapur in Dhanbad dist. Effigy burning and meeting was held at Mohanpur block in Devghar, Jarandih and Gomia in Bokaro dist. and street corner meeting at Chandankiyari and Nayamore in Bokaro. Othere places where similar programmes were held are – Tilaiya and Domchanch in Kodarma district, Kisko block and Lohardaga town, Vishunpur, Ghaghra and Gumla town in Gumla dist, dharna at Hazaribagh dist. HQ, marches and meetings at Topa, Argadda, Bhurkunda, and Rangarh town in Ramgarh dist., Panki in Palamu, dharna and emonstrations at Garhwa town, Nagar Untari, Ramuna, Dhurki, Sagma, Bhawnathpur, Ketar and Bishunpura. March was taken out from State Office to Albert Ekka roundabout in Ranchi.   Congress seems to be gaining the upper hand in the current power tussle and it also seems that the whole situation was engineered by the Congress to grab the reins of government in Jharkhand. We have been exposing this game of Congress and involved parties. Party has decided to organise a massive protest the day Congress assumes power in the State.     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