ML UPDATE 2 / 2011

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 14, No. 02, 04 – 10 JANUARY 2011

Rapists Roam Free While Victims and Activists Are Jailed

 

Peasants, agricultural workers and women of Mansa district, Punjab observed New Year's day this year with a protest gathering at the police headquarters in Mansa. Braving a severe cold wave, thousands of people gathered to protest a shocking situation where the rapists of a dalit minor girl roam free, while the woman activist who prevented the cover up of the rape case is in jail on false charges of 'attempt to murder.'

 

In mid-December, a 17½ year old girl from a poor Dalit family was lured by a havildar in Mansa to his house on the promise of employment, and subjected to gang rape by him along with three others including a local advocate, a trader, and a financier. When neighbours heard her cries and called the police, however, the police deliberately suppressed the rape case and instead booked both the victim and her rapists on charges of 'loitering.' Cases of rape and SC/ST atrocity were registered only two days later, after intervention by CPI(ML) and AIPWA activists. However, three weeks after the incident, the accused (apart from the havildar) were yet to be arrested, and, being influential locally, were bringing to bear all sorts of pressures and threats on the victim. Two other of the rape accused were arrested only on 4 January, following the protest rally at Mansa and the intervention of the central team of AIKM and AIPWA leaders, while the financier accused of rape is still at large. Worse still, the very same activists including AIPWA National Council member Jasbir Kaur Nat and National President of the All India Kisan Mahasabha Ruldu Singh, who helped book the rape case are now behind bars along with several other peasant leaders, on a patently false charge of 'attempt to murder.' The pretext for this was the fact that they raised slogans in Court against the main accused in the murder of a popular peasant leader, leading to a minor skirmish when police assaulted them.

 

In the same area of Punjab some years ago, the dalit activist and singer Bant Singh had his limbs chopped off for supporting his daughter to pursue a rape case. The recent instance of rape of a dalit girl and victimisation of activists who pursued justice highlights the continuing strength of feudal survivals in Punjab. It also underlines the increasingly repressive response of the Akali Government in Punjab where every mass movement – of agricultural workers for homestead land, of peasants against debt – is me with mass arrests of leaders, activists and masses. What is happening in Punjab is also not very different from what is being seen in the rest of India – where scamsters, rioters and rapists roam free while activists like Binayak Sen are jailed.

 

Punjab is no exception. Just recently, in BSP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, a 17-year-old OBC girl who accused the BSP MLA Purushottam Narain Dwivedi of rape is in jail on charges of 'theft.' The incident exposes the reality behind Chief Minister Mayawati's claims of social justice.

 

Meanwhile in Bihar, the BJP MLA from Purnea was stabbed to death by a woman who had filed charges alleging rape by the MLA and his associates some months ago. Police had taken no action on her complaint, and she had been pressured into withdrawing charges later. It is apparent that the woman was driven to take the desperate step because the chances of securing justice against a ruling party legislator were bleak. It is shocking that the BJP MLA's supporters lynched the woman, critically injuring her, and that BJP leaders including the Deputy CM of the state have aggressively slandered the woman's character while defending their MLA as a man of impeccable morals!

 

The recent instances in Punjab, UP and Bihar are a reminder of the sorry state of affairs in India when it comes to justice in cases of violence against women in general and women from oppressed communities in particular. According to NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) figures, the conviction rate in rape and molestation cases in India is a mere 27 per cent – about one in four cases. Likewise, the conviction rate for cases of atrocities against SCs and STs is abysmally low - less than 30 per cent against the average of 42 per cent for all cognisable offences under IPC.

 

The national capital itself is witness to horrifying cases of rape, gang rape and other forms of violence on women. According to official figures, a rape takes place every day in Delhi, and 400 rape cases were registered in Delhi in 2010. The prevalent police attitude to such crimes can be gauged by the comment of celebrated police officer K P S Gill after the Dhaula Kuan rape case some years ago: Gill blamed women's 'provocative' clothes for the rise in rape crimes in Delhi! The low conviction rates, trials that drag on for years, and insensitive police investigators who blame women themselves for such crimes, all empower rapists and molesters with a sense of impunity, the more so if the woman are from marginalised and oppressed communities, such as dalit and tribal women, or women from the North Eastern states.

 

The CBI's closure report in the case of murder of a teenage girl Arushi Talwar is yet another reminder of the apathy that marks investigations in cases of violence against women. The CBI had been called in after the Noida police botched up the investigation, but the CBI pursuit of the case also relied more on 'confessions' obtained from domestic servants through third-degree methods like narco tests than any professional investigative practices, and now the CBI has attempted to close the case file itself. If justice is so elusive for urban girls from reasonable well-off families like Arushi and Ruchika, whose cases got great media attention, one can only imagine what happens to cases of women from socially and economically weaker backgrounds. And if this is the state of affairs in rape cases where politically powerful people are not implicated, what of the cases where police and army forces are implicated in rape and violence against women? The young Manipuri woman Thangjam Manorama, raped and murdered by Indian army personnel in 2004 is yet to get justice. The rape and murder of two Kashmiri women — Asiya and Nilofar — in Shopian, Kashmir, last year had been subjected to a spectacular cover-up by the CBI, with the latter claiming that the two women 'drowned' in a stream six inches deep. In Chhattisgarh where Binayak Sen has been sentenced to life on no evidence, adivasi women who filed charges of gang rape against top Salwa Judum personnel live in terror, because their rapists are free while the women themselves along with their kith and kin are threatened that they will be branded as 'Maoists' and arrested or killed in fake encounters.

 

Justice in violent crimes against women is non-negotiable. We must demand speedy passing of the Sexual Assault Bill, as well as fast-track courts to ensure speedy justice in such cases. Above all, we must build more and wider struggles to challenge the impunity and apathy that has become the hallmark of cases of rape and violence against women.

 

Central Team Probes Rape and Repression in Mansa, Punjab

 

Prem Singh Gehlawat, Vice President of the All India Kisan Mahasabha (AIKM), and an AIPWA team comprising Kavita Krishnan, National Secretary, AIPWA, Uma Gupta, National Executive Member of AIPWA and Comrade Sharmila visited Mansa district of Punjab to investigate a recent instance of gang rape of a dalit girl in Mansa and repression and wholesale arrests of CPI(ML) leaders and peasant activists.

 

On 12 December, a 17½ year-old girl from a poor Dalit family had been lured by havildar Tasvir Singh to his house (in front of the city thana, Mansa) on the promise of employment. Since her uncle had been killed by extremists, he assured her that he would be able to find her employment under a scheme for survivors of extremist attacks, and asked her to come to his house with certificates. There she was raped by him along with Surendra Joga (advocate), Surendra Singh Siddhu, and Satish Kumar (financier). When her cries attracted the attention of neighbours who alerted the police, however, no rape case was registered; rather cases of 109 IPC (awaragardi) were booked against the men as well as the victim.

 

Subsequently, on 14 December, it was only due to the efforts of CPI(ML) activists including Jasbir Kaur Nat, National Council member of AIPWA, that the victim was able to make a charge of rape in the presence of a magistrate two days later. Medical investigation established the rape charge. Yet, only the havildar was arrested and all the other accused remained 'absconding' for 3 weeks, bringing to bear all sorts of pressure tactics on the victim to force her to retreat from the case. Two other of the rape accused were arrested only on 4 January, following the protest rally at Mansa and the intervention of the central team of AIKM and AIPWA leaders.

 

Worse still, AIPWA activist Jasbir Kaur Nat who blew the whistle on the rape case (which for two days had been covered up as an 'awaragardi' case), has herself been victimised and jailed on a false charge of 'attempt to murder' (Section 307 IPC) along with other leaders. She along with other CPI(ML) and kisan leaders raised slogans in Budlada court on 20 December when the main accused in peasant leader Prithi Singh's murder appeared in court. The police came down heavily on this peaceful protest, and a minor skirmish ensued, following which 13 leaders including Jasbir Kaur and AIKM National President Ruldu Singh, as well as several peasant leader of the BKU (Dakonda group) were booked under Section 307 IPC on charges of "attempt to murder," even though the medical report shows that the alleged 'victim' suffered no injuries and was discharged from hospital after medical examination. In this case, where no injuries were sustained, the arbitrary imposition of Section 307, especially on a woman leader, is nothing but a deliberate attempt to victimise the people responsible for preventing cover up of a gang rape of a dalit girl. Rapists roam free while uncovering the rape case and raising slogans against the accused in the murder of a peasant leader invites jail on charges of "attempt to murder"!

 

The AIPWA team along with AIKM VP Prem Singh Gehlawat visited the dalit girl's family and village, as well as several of the jailed leaders in Bathinda jail, and submitted findings and demands to the State Commission of Women, the State SC/ST Commission and the National Commission of Women in Delhi. The demands included that the rapists are speedily apprehended and prosecuted; and the AIKM, AIPWA and other peasant leaders be freed from jail and charges of Section 307 withdrawn without delay.

 

Anti-Repression Rally at Mansa

 

On New Year's day, the Punjab Kisan Union and Mazdoor Mukti Morcha held an 'Anti-Repression Rally' in Mansa on January 1, 2011. The rally was held in front of the SSP's office at Mansa, and was attended by around 2000 agricultural workers, peasants and women from nearby villages. The protestors raised slogans demanding justice for the rape victim, arrest of all the rape accused, and withdrawal of Section 307 charges from the peasant leaders and AIPWA leader.

 

The protest was addressed by Bhagwant Singh Samao of Mazdoor Mukti Morcha, Gora Singh of BKU Ekta, Bhola Singh of PKU, Hasmeet Singh, Secretary, RYA Punjab, Kanwaljeet, member of the CPI(ML) Punjab state committee, Kavita Krishnan, National Secretary, AIPWA, Prem Singh Gehlawat, VP, AIKM, and Swapan Mukherjee, Central Committee member of the CPI(ML). Addressing the rally, Swapan Mukherjee called upon the protestors to take a new year's resolve to intensify the struggles for the rights and dignity of the labouring agricultural workers, peasants and women, and to resist and defeat state repression. The Rally resolved to conduct a Save Democracy campaign from 20 January onwards culminating on 26 January (Republic Day) against repression in Punjab as well as the rest of the country, raising not only the false charges and arrests of activists in Punjab but the travesty of justice in the Binayak Sen case and other such cases all over the country.

 

Protests against Dr. Binayak Sen Verdict

 

Tamil  Nadu: On January 3rd, CPI(ML) Madurai district unit organized a protest meeting in Madurai (Justice VR Krishna Iyer Hall). The meeting was attended by a large number of people representing civil rights organizations, teachers, advocates, women's groups, journalists, students, and activists of different left organizations. The meeting was presided by Com. Mathivanan of the CPI(ML), Madurai dist. Committee.

 

The meeting started with unveiling the portrait of KG Kannabiran, eminent civil liberties activist who recently passed away by leading advocate Mr. Lajapathi Roy, and two minutes silence was observed in his memory.

 

Senior Advocate Com. Rethinam demanded suo motu intervention of Supreme Court to restore justice in the Binayak Sen case. Prof. Murali (State Vice- President, PUCL), Advocate Rajini, and Henri Tiphagne (Executive Director, Peoples Watch), Advocate Com. Rajendiran, and Comrade Simpson (Oppressed Peopel's Right Movement) were among those who analyzed the verdict against Dr. Sen and spoke about the struggle to defend civil liberties. Com Balasundaram, State Secretary, CPI(ML) noted that fighting for Dr.Sen is also battle against the corporates and multinationals looting and plundering our country's resources, and called for greater solidarity and unity among civil right organizations and struggling political forces as the need of the hour. He also called for scrapping the sedition law. Usha, General Secretary, AIPWA TN and SCM-CPI(ML), Divya, State Committee Member, AISA, Chandra Bose, and Emanuel Peravai also participated.

 

The meeting condemned the ruling DMK Governments denial of permission to organize protests by the civil rights groups. Participants of the meeting contributed to the 'Binayak Sen Support Fund' and planned to continue the struggle for his release. The meeting decided to meet the Registrar of Madurai Bench of Madras High Court to present a memorandum addressed to CJ of India on 4th January. Comrade Srinivasan, CPI(ML), Madurai City, proposed vote of thanks.

 

Uttar Pradesh: Protests continue all over UP against the Binayak Sen verdict. RYA and AISA held a dharna at the district HQ of Gazipur on 27 December, while the two organisations held a dharna at the Matryr's Memorial, Lucknow on 30 December. On 2 January, Jan Sanskriti Manch organised a protest at the Matryrs' Memorial in Lucknow, in which writers, cultural activists and social and political activists participated. JSM, RYA and PUHR participated in the rotest at the Gandhi statue, Town Hall, Gorakhpur on 2 January, and announced the plan for a large protest demonstration on the same issue on 10 January. AISA, JSM, PUHR along with other social and cultural organisations protested at Subhash Chouraha, Allahabad on 27 December, while on the same day, AISA held a march in Banaras from the Lanka Gate of BHU to Ravidas Gate culminating in a mass meeting. In Banaras, intellectuals and social activists of the city held a well-attended march from Lanka Gate till Assi Ghat on 31 December.

 

Rajasthan: CPI(ML) activists and members held a protest meeting and dharna in Jhunjhunu on 3rd December demanding justice for Dr. Binayak Sen.

 

Banda Rape Case:

CPI(ML) and AIPWA Initiatives

 

CPI(ML) severely condemned the gang rape of a minor girl from a backward community in Banda in which the BSP MLA is implicated. The party has demanded the immediate arrest and scrapping of Assembly membership of the accused BSP MLA from Naraini, Purushottam Das Dwivedi. The party has also demanded strict action against the police which instead of arresting the rape accused, jailed the victim on a fake theft charge. Holding that the ruling party is protecting the rape accused who is an MLA from its party, CPI(ML) will hold a state-wide protest against the incident on January 7.

 

It is shameful that no FIR was even registered in the case of this minor girl subjected to gang rape, neither was any medical examination made until several days after the incident in spite of the fact that she was bleeding continuously. The police therefore deliberately destroyed evidence. Instead of jailing the rape accused, the victim herself was jailed. The police blindly took the side of the rapists – this is the reality of Mayawati's regime. Mayawati's gesture of belatedly suspending the accused MLA and ordering a CB CID enquiry is eyewash. Under the dalit woman Chief Minister, crimes against women, especially feudal assaults on women from oppressed communities, has become a veritable flood. Apart from the Banda case, there are two other major rape incidents in Kanpur. The failure to speedily prosecute the accused has emboldened perpetrators.

 

The CPI(ML) and AIPWA sent a fact-finding team to Banda to investigate the rape case. The team includes the party's Bundelkhand in-charge Ramesh Singh Sengar, Vijay Kumar, K S Rana and AIPWA State President Vidya Rajwar. The team sought to meet the rape victim who is still in jail but were denied permission by the Banda Jail administration. The team concluded that the state government and jail authorities are seeking to cover up the facts by preventing the victim from meeting a fact-finding team. There are reports that the father and relatives of the victim are receiving threats by the accused MLA and his supporters.

 

The girl was subjected to gang rape for four days (between 8-12 December) when she was in the custody of the MLA, but the matter came to light only recently. To suppress the incident, the MLA accused the girl of stealing his rifle, mobile phone and Rs. 2 lakh cash and had her jailed with the collusion of the police on 15 December. The girl kept telling the police that she had been gang raped but the police ignored it. The girl is a resident of Shahabazpur village of the Naraini Assembly constituency and is now in Banda jail.

 

CPI(ML) and AIPWA Protest in Patna Demanding Protection for Rape Victim

 

In a recent incident, a school teacher who had accused the BJP MLA of Purnea and his PA of rape and molestation some months ago only to withdraw the case on the eve of the elections, stabbed the MLA to death. The woman was then lynched by BJP activists and is at present in a critical condition, fighting for her life in hospital in Katihar.

 

 In the wake of the incident, the Bihar government has chosen to follow the attack on the woman's life by BJP activists, with a personal assault on her character. While the Chief Minister has spoken of the problems of providing adequate security to legislators, the Deputy CM, Sushil Kr. Modi of the BJP, has accused the woman of being a blackmailer of poor moral character, while hailing the MLA who was killed as a man of great moral stature. In reality, the issue is not so much one of security of legislators but one of security of women in Nitish-ruled Bihar.

 

The incident raises the most serious questions about the Nitish Kumar Government's much-touted claims of 'women's empowerment.' Why, when the woman filed charges of rape last May, were the charges not investigated and accused not arrested or questioned by the police? What pressures were brought to bear on the woman to make her withdraw her charges on the eve of the Bihar Assembly polls?

 

It is likely that the woman was driven to take the extreme step of stabbing the MLA because she despaired of ever securing justice against a legislator from the ruling party, having already experienced first-hand how the police would refuse to investigate and the victim herself would be forced to withdraw her charges. There are reports that another woman had also made rape charges against the MLA which were also withdrawn.

 

 The attitude of the ruling coalition and the government displays the most shameful gender bias and protection towards a rape-accused. Why was the rape accused fielded as a candidate in the Assembly elections? Why has no action been initiated against those in the MLA's office who lynched the woman nearly to death? In a situation where the Deputy CM has already given his biased character certificates to the woman and the rape accused BJP MLA, can one expect any unbiased truth to emerge from the police enquiry announced by the state government?

 

The CPI(ML) and AIPWA have demanded a judicial enquiry into the entire incident, protection for the woman since her life is in danger, medical care in Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) for her, and attempt to murder charges to be filed against those who lynched her. The CPI(ML) held a protest march in Patna yesterday culminating at Dak Bangla crossing, and has sent an team of its leaders to investige the incident. The AIPWA has planned state-wide protests in Bihar on the incident and will approach the NCW in Delhi to pursue the case and ensure protection and justice for the woman.

 

CPI(ML) Condoles the Passing of Veteran Civil Liberties Fighter KG Kannabiran

 

At a time when civil liberties and people's movements are under unprecedented attack, the loss of KG Kannabiran will be deeply felt. For the past more than 40 years, K G Kannabiran was a fearless and tireless voice challenging state repression and struggling to defend and expand democratic rights. His personal role in visiting scores of encounter sites in Andhra Pradesh and challenging the police's impunity to commit fake encounters was remarkable, and in the process he braved threats to his own life and family. As a civil liberties lawyer, President of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee from 1978 to 1994 and National President of the People's Union for Civil

 

Liberties since 1994, he served on the Tarkunde Committee and the Bhargava Commission, which had been constituted to inquire into encounters by the police.

 

Right till the end of his life he never ceased to raise his voice against assaults on life, liberty and freedom of expression by the state. He was vocal against the growing trend of communal witch-hunt in the name of curbing terrorism. He also helped found the

 

Concerned Citizens' Tribunal that investigated the communal genocide in Gujarat in 2002.

 

K G Kannabiran's legacy is a lasting one that is a source of strength and inspiration for civil liberties movements, people's movements and the revolutionary left movement for times to come.

 

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 01 / 2011

ML UPDATE

Vol. 14 No. 01 28 Dec-3 Jan 2011

Binayak Sen's Conviction:

Travesty of Justice and Criminalisation of Dissent

The conviction and life sentence on sedition charges of Dr. Binayak Sen along with two others has met with shock and outrage across the world and all over India. The Raipur Sessions Court, royally disregarding the paucity of evidence, the glaring holes, contradictions and even unmistakable signs of planted evidence in the prosecution's case, delivered a political verdict.

However, this verdict itself, and with it the entire politics of Greenhunt-related witch-hunt, has landed itself in the people's court. In particular, the Chhattisgarh police exposed itself to public ridicule for its attempts to link Dr. Sen's wife, scholar and activist Ilina Sen with terrorism based on her email to the well-known Indian Social Institute of Delhi, which the prosecution mistook for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). In its account of the place of arrest of one of the accused from whom documents incriminating Dr. Sen are supposed to have been seized at the time of the arrest, the Chhattisgarh police's testimony in the Sessions court contradicted its own earlier statement in the Supreme Court – another crucial fact which the verdict ignored. Confronted with the failure of a key piece of 'evidence' (a letter supposedly sent by Maoists to Dr. Sen) to find a mention in the list of articles seized from Dr Sen's home, the police airily explained it away by saying 'chipak gaya tha' – 'it must have stuck to some other documents.' The verdict, without any questions, accepted this flimsy excuse for planted evidence. The term 'comrade' has also been unquestioningly accepted as 'proof' of being a Maoist.

Another Sessions Court in Raipur on the same day, sentenced a publisher to 11 years in prison for possession of "banned literature" – which included the works of Marx, Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh. This is not the first time that courts have delivered such political judgements criminalising communist literature. Some years ago, the Supreme Court had upheld the life sentence to 14 CPI(ML) activists (including elected mukhiya Shah Chand as well as a minor) convicted under the draconian TADA on no evidence barring the possession of Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha literature, Mao's works and other Marxist literature. 

With Binayak Sen's conviction by the Raipur Sessions Court, it seems that faked evidence and farcical trials are joining fake encounters as the Indian State's weapons of mass intimidation. Recently, Ratan Tata declared that if tapes exposing how corporations loot resources and undermine democracy were allowed to be available to the public, it would make India a 'banana republic' where people "go to jail without evidence." In reality, the Raipur Sessions Court verdict indicates that India is turning into a 'banana republic' for the likes of Binayak Sen who expose and challenge corporate loot and state repression, while the governments protect the 'right' of Tatas and Ambanis to loot in 'privacy'.

In a recent speech to IPS probationers, the Prime Minister laid stress on the fact that if "naxalism in the Central India parts where the bulk of India's mineral wealth lies" is not controlled, "we have to say goodbye to our country's ambitions to sustain growth rate of 10-11% per cent per annum." Clearly the Prime Minister is equating mass movements of adivasis and peasants against land grab and mining loot by corporations with 'naxalism.' Obliquely admitting that such land grab and loot are crucial to India's 'growth rate,' the Prime Minister is calling for the continued and intensified police repression of mass resistance. No wonder that the Congress has responded to Binayak Sen's unjust conviction in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh by disapproving of any criticism of a court verdict!   

The verdict convicting Binayak Sen for sedition is a calculated threat to each and every voice of dissent. But the travesty of justice in Binayak Sen's case, however inadvertently, added fuel to the fire of protest and all-out rejection of the State's policy of silencing and criminalising dissent. The struggle against draconian laws, against the State's war on people's movements, against the silencing of public intellectuals, and for the freedom of all those including Binayak Sen who are jailed on fake charges and political grounds will continue and grow in the days to come.            

"Binayak Sen's Conviction is a Blow to Democracy"

Citizens Protest at Parliament Street Against Unjust Conviction of Binayak Sen

On 27 December, hundreds of people gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to express outrage at the recent conviction and life sentence for Dr. Binayak Sen. The protestors, including students, workers, civil liberties' groups, women's groups and many eminent individuals marched from Jantar Mantar to Parliament Street, raising slogans against the unjust conviction, where they held a protest meeting.

The protest had been organised jointly by AISA and AIPWA along with PUCL, PUDR and a range of other human rights and democratic groups. AISA had also called for countrywide protest on 27 December against the unjust conviction of Dr. Binayak Sen, which took place at Allahabad, Banaras, Patna, Kolkata, Hazaribagh, Bagodar, among many other places.

In Delhi the response to the protest call was overwhelming, with people from all walks of life wanting to give voice to their shock and anger. Students from JNU, Delhi University, and Jamia Millia Islamia under the banner of AISA formed a substantial contingent of the protestors, as also a large number of CPI(ML) activists. The massive protest meeting, conducted by Kavita Krishnan of AIPWA, was attended and addressed by many eminent individuals including Kuldeep Nayyar, historian Prof. Harbans Mukhia, Arundhati Roy, Swami Agnivesh, Manglesh Dabral, poet and Delhi President of Jan Sanskriti Manch, Dr. Mira Shiva, Prof. K J Mukherjee of JNU, Gautam Navlakha of PUDR, Harsh Mandar, as well as representatives of PUCL, National Forest Workers' Forum, Narmada Bachao Andolan.

 Prabhat Kumar, Central Committee member of CPI(ML) Liberation and Ravi Rai, General Secretary, AISA also addressed the gathering and hailed the united initiatives to defend democracy.  

Addressing the protest gathering, participants pointed out that the verdict of the Raipur Sessions Court sentencing Dr. Binayak Sen, as well as Narayan Sanyal and Pijush Guha to life imprisonment on charges of sedition has shocked democratic opinion everywhere. Throughout, the trial was marked by a woeful lack of evidence, fabrication of evidence, and farcical arguments. The wholesale violation of procedural safeguards in seizure of evidence was ignored by the court. A conviction based on such flimsy, unsubstantiated and fabricated evidence is a serious miscarriage of justice and a blow to democracy.

Speakers stressed that the verdict is not only a conviction of Binayak Sen, it is a move to silence and intimidate all dissident voices and public intellectuals who are critical of state repression and corporate loot and land grab. Participants in the protest asked, "If a high-profile case like that of Dr. Binayak Sen could meet such a fate, we can only imagine what happens in the hundreds of cases framing ordinary peasants, tribals, workers, activists, who are earning the State's ire by voicing their dissent, organising people's movements and challenging Operation Green Hunt."      

The protestors also expressed concern at the conviction and 11-year sentence for Asit Sengupta, publisher "A World to Win", for possession of "banned literature" by another Sessions Court in Raipur the very same day. In this case as well as others "banned" literature has included Das Kapital, the Communist Manifesto, and the works of Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh. 

The gathering committed itself to continuing the struggle for the release of Binayak Sen and other dissenting voices framed on fabricated charges in Chhattisgarh and elsewhere, and scrapping of draconian laws like the Chhattisgarh Public Security Act, the UAPA and the AFSPA.

Sankalp Diwas

Twelfth Memorial Day of Comrade VM was commemorated in Odisha at Nagbhushan Bhavan in Bhubaneswar. Party activists and leaders paid tributes to comrades VM and Parasji on this occasion. Politburo member Com. DP Baxi addressed the gathering where he recalled VM's ideas on various aspects of building a revolutionary movement and communist party. Odisha State Secretary Com. Kshitish Biswal recalled his own experiences of working with VM when he used to visit Odisha on various occasions. He also remembered Com. Nagbhushan and his work in this context. Comrade Radhakanta Sethi read out the  party's call for this occasion and called upon the comrades to follow VM's inspiring ideas and works to strengthen the party. Comrades Yusdhistir Mohapatra, Mahendra Parida and Adhok Pradhan also addressed the meeting. The meet was concluded after taking oath to fulfil the dreams of Comrade VM and to strengthen the party among the working class in Odisha as visualised by the departed leader.

In Uttarakhand, Nainital party unit organised Sankalp Diwas in Bindukhatta which was attended by party members and supporters. This was presided over by Uttarakhand Incharge Raja Bahuguna. Comrade Rajendra Pratholi addressed it as the main speaker. After paying tributes to Comrades VM and Ramnaresh Ram by observing two minutes silence, the party's call was read out. Comrade Pratholi called upon the members to enrich the legacy of Comrade VM and Parasji. Com. Raja Bahuguna called for fulfilling the targets set for the mass organisations to strengthen the party. Comrade Girija Pathak presented a work-plan to fulfil the targets for membership, All India Kisan Mahasabha's conference, AISA membership and agitational programmes in the district which was discussed and passed by the members.

AISA State Conference in Uttarakhand

AISA's 5th Uttarakhand State Conference concluded in Dehradun on 21-22 December. Fifty delegates from six centres participated in the Conference. The conference Hall was named after comrade Chandrashekhar, ex-President of JNUSU who was martyred in Siwan on 31 March 1997. The venue was renamed after comrade Nagendra Sakalani who embraced martyrdom on 11 January 1948 while fighting against the Tehri State in Uttarakhand.

The inaugural session was addressed by AISA National President Sandip Singh where he called upon the students to organise widespread resentment among common students against the attacks on campus democracy, corruption and loot of national resources. He criticized governments for turning education into a commodity and for rampant corruption involving bureaucrats, journalists and politicians, which has emerged as an important tool to implement the policies of liberalisation. That is why we now see chain of big scams involving those running the governments and it is for this reason that accused are roaming scot free. AISA General Secretary Ravi Rai hailed organisation's important role during the Uttarakhand movement where it made a distinction by raising the issues of education and employment for the students and youth, and by demanding to address the problems of poor peasants in the state. People were committed to fight for the basic issues of the people and real development up to the grassroots.  Now it is needed to develop a student movement to fulfil the unfulfilled dreams of the people of Uttarakhand. CPI(ML) State Committee member and ex-President of student union in Kumaon University Girija Pathak called upon to intensify the struggle against privatisation and said that now people are fully aware of the adverse and anti-people impacts of the government's policies. He also recalled that two decades ago AISA was among the foremost students organisations fighting against the implementation of the policies of the LPG, whose bad impacts now apparent in all walks of lives of common people.

The conference was also addressed by AISA ex-President Indresh Maikhury, CPI(ML) Garhwal in-charge Kailash Pandey, AICCTU State Secretary KK Bora, and many others. The work report presented by the outgoing committee was discussed and passed by the delegates. A 17-member State Council and 9-member State Executive with Malti Haldar as President, Pawan Nautiyal as Secretary, Lalit Matiyali and Vargese Bamola as Vice-Presidents and Ashish Kandpal as Secretary elected by the conference.

AIKM Nainital District Conference

The Nainital District Conference of All India Kisan Mahasabha concluded in Haldwani on 26 December. A good number of peasant delegates including those who came from various forest villages attended the conference. The conference venue was rechristened in the name of Comrade Ramnaresh ram. The Conference began after paying tributes to the martyrs followed by revolutionary songs by comrade Pankaj. National Secretary of AIKM Purushottam Sharma inaugurated the conference where he criticized central and state governments for imposing the severe crisis in agriculture putting peasants' lives in danger. He said that seventy five percent of peasant population in the state in on the verge of penury owing to the governmental neglect. The state governments have failed in formulating an agrarian policy even after ten years of the state formation. The peasants are being displaced in the name of industrialisation, reserve forests and energy production, while arable lands in the hills are turning into barren lands in absence of any incentives from the state. He emphasised on the need to develop struggle on issues like land management, mandatory Chakbandi, pro-peasant agrarian policy, amendments in APMC Act, land reforms, status of revenue village to many forest villages and khattas, a good panchayati raj system, separate minimum support prices for hill agricultural products, establishing small mandis and cold storage at tehsil level, protection of crops from wild animals, welfare schemes for old peasants, etc.

Comrade Raja Bahuguna addressed the conference as main guest. He attacked state's BJP Govt. for acquiring peasants' lands and displacing them in the name of various projects. The govt. has not provided relief for peasants affected in natural calamities. Terming it a criminal negligence, he called upon to intensify wider and united struggle.

Nainital District Convener Bahadur Singh Jangi presented a report. The conference passed 13 resolutions on various political issues. Pithoragarh district convener Jagat Martolia was present as observer. Comrades Anand Singh Negi, Kailash Pandey, Man Singh Pal, Bhuvan Joshi, Basant Ballabh, Gopal Singh, Narayan Singh, Narendra Singh, Prem Bahadur, Anand Sijwali, Swaroop Singh, Govind Jina, Pushkar and Gopal Garia spoke in the conference.

The conference elected comrades Bahadur Singh Jangi as President and Bhuvan Joshi as district Secretary with a 9-member executive and 33-member district council.

The Haldwani block conference was also held on 19 December in Haldwani which elected a 15-member Block Committee. The conference passed resolutions on various issues affecting peasants in the block including removal of stone crushers from the populated areas as they are causing immense pollution, construction of a separate by-pass for transporting stones to these crushers, demand of revenue villages, BPL cards for all poor, appropriate prices of milk and other facilities for the milk producers, measures to prevent the pollution in canals and rivers, etc.

ML UPDATE 52 / 2010

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 13, No. 52, 21 – 27 DECEMBER 2010

Wikileaks: Unmasking Imperialism

 

For an empire that cloaks its aggressions and coercions in the benign garb of 'liberation' and 'democracy', those who lay bare the truth are dangerous. Wikileaks, with its devastating exposure of the real face of imperialism, has earned the ire of the most powerful nation in the world. The US has branded the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as a "hi-tech terrorist" and there have been calls to arrest and even assassinate him.

 

What Wikileaks has done is to make public the documents that record what imperialism does and says in secret. These documents confirm what anti-imperialist and anti-war forces the world over have always known: that US imperialism is devious, self-serving, brutal, coercive, duplicitous and untrustworthy, not only towards its enemies but even towards its friends.

 

Wikileaks established its enduring place in history by exploding the myth that imperialist wars were being fought for democracy. The video footage of US armed forces casually and cold-bloodedly indulging in the 'sport' of firing at unarmed civilians in the Baghdad, the evidence, recorded by the US and allied troops themselves, of massacres of civilians, custodial torture and cover-ups in Iraq and Afghanistan – proved the entire US war and occupation of those countries to be continuing war crimes.

 

Thomas Friedman, famous for having asserted that the hidden hand of the market needed the hidden fist of US imperialism to work, has branded Wikileaks as "anarchy" that "undermines the ability to have private, confidential communications that are vital to the functioning of any society." The leaks reveal the US Secretary of State herself asking US diplomats to spy on a range of international figures including even the UN Secretary General. It shows US diplomatic offices in, for instance, Yemen, being used as fronts to smuggle in military equipment, and using Yemen's Government to cover up drone strikes in the region. It shows coups being planned, torture being covered up, lies being scripted. How can it be a breach of privacy and confidentiality to expose the US' own violation of every norm of privacy of individuals and sovereignty of nations?

 

Here in India, Shashi Tharoor has declared, in the same vein as Friedman that diplomacy requires privacy and Wikileaks is irresponsible for undermining such confidentiality. At the same time, Ratan Tata, stung by the Radia tapes revealing his lobbyist working both media and political leaders to ensure pliant Ministers, has been righteously claiming the 'right to privacy' and accusing India of having become a crony capitalist banana republic. No 'right to privacy' can prevail over the right of people to know how and where and by whom policies affecting them are made. The most important of the Wikileaks disclosures pertaining to India and the Radia tapes are not 'private' because they pertain to public policies that affect India's citizens.

 

The media in India has largely chosen to focus on the Wikileaks cables reporting off-the-cuff remarks made by Rahul Gandhi to the US Ambassador, indicating that Hindutva communal groups may be a greater threat to India than LeT-type groups which have supporters only among a small section of Indian minorities. While the BJP has chosen this pretext to launch a shrill offensive against the Congress' heir-apparent, Congress has responded by generalising its stand to equate all forms of terror. Congress today lacks the courage to boldly uphold the stand taken even by Nehru, who had categorically said that while majority and minority communalisms are both dangerous, majority communalism is more so as it can masquerade as nationalism and therefore grow into fascism. The Congress' lack of commitment to combat communal fascist groups and boldly uphold secular democracy has been shown time and again – most glaringly in its failure to prevent the Babri Masjid demolition or punish its perpetrators, its repeated failure to act decisively against communal violence and its refusal to allow an impartial enquiry into the Batla House 'encounter'.

 

Moreover, behind the red herring of Rahul's remarks on Hindutva communal forces, attention has been diverted from the most significant Wikileaks revelations about India. The leaked cables not only reveal the extent of US interference in India's affairs, especially in matters relating to the Nuke Deal and foreign policy. They show how not only the Congress and UPA Government push pro-US policies, but even the BJP is persuaded by the US Ambassador to calibrate their 'opposition' to the Nuke Deal just enough so as to ensure that the Bill is passed.

 

They also reveal how both US and Indian officials are very aware that Indian people have no tolerance for US interference or for inequality in the US-India relation, and therefore collude to mask this interference and inequality. For instance, the Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon is heard cautioning the US Ambassador against publicly instructing India on foreign relations: "This government has to be seen following an independent foreign policy, not responding to dictation from the US," he said. In other words, appearances of independence must be kept up. Similarly, P Chidambaram tells the FBI Director, 'We must be able to say we had access, even if Headley did not speak'. Again, the UPA Government is aware that the appearance of equality and independence must be maintained and discrimination (e.g denial of access to Headley) or 'dictation' would prove politically costly. The US officials in turn tell their bosses in the US that while India is a 'raucous democracy', the Indian Government is a "true partner" of the US and "Delhi is much more amenable to cooperating." However they rue the fact that the Indian leaders "loathe to admit publicly that India and the US have begun coordinating foreign policies". In other words, we are being lied to by our Government, about the extent to which 'coordination' and 'dictation' are taking place.

 

The Indian ruling class should realise that the 'hidden hand' of US imperialism will not remain hidden long from the alert gaze of Indian people – and they will be forced to pay a price for their shameless role as agents of US empire.

 

Comrade VM's 12th Death Anniversary

Programmes Held Nationwide on 18 December

 

Cadre Convention in Delhi

 

To mark the twelfth death anniversary of Comrade Vinod Mishra on December 18, the CPI(ML) Delhi Committee held a Cadre Convention at the Party's Central Office. The Cadre Convention, attended by leading cadres and branch secretaries of the party in Delhi, began by observing two minutes silence for the memory of Comrade Vinod Mishra and Comrade Ram Naresh Ram and other departed comrades.

 

The 'Resolve of December 18' was read, and cadres spoke of their experiences of different areas of party work in Delhi and pledged to the take up the challenges and implement the resolve to strengthen the movement in Delhi. Addressing the Convention, Delhi State Secretary Com. Sanjay Sharma called upon the leading activists to ensure that every member of the party in every branch was involved in implementing the resolve in its true spirit.

 

Addressing the Convention, CPI(ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar spoke of the need to develop various aspects of work in Deli, suitable to a major urban centre, including struggles among Delhi's unorganized and organized sector workers and among Delhi's rural poor as well as greater initiatives on a range of political issues. He called upon all mass organizations of the party to respond to the challenge, and in particular encouraged students and student party members not only to integrate with working class movement but to integrate with workers' lives.

 

Memorial Meetings in UP

 

Memorial meetings were organised all over UP on 18 December to pay tributes to Comrades VM and Ram Naresh Ram. A Sankalp (pledge) meeting took place in Lucknow – where Comrade VM had suffered the cardiac arrest during Central Committee meeting of CPI(ML) – in the State Office. All those present reaffirmed their pledge for fulfilling Comrade VM's dream and resolved to intensify and mobilize people in the struggles against unprecedented price rise, agrarian crisis, epidemic of corruption and growing attacks on democracy. On this occasion everyone reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen the party organisation and 18 December resolve issued by the Central Committee was also read and discussed.

 

Similar programmes were held in Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi- in both town and rural areas, five blocks of Gazipur- Bhadaura, Jakhniya, Jamaniyan, Karanda and Sadar, in three blocks of Baliya- Maniyar, Nawanagar and Sadar, seven blocks of Chandauli- Chakiya, Naugarh, Sahabganj, Niyamtabad, Dhanapur, Sakaldiha and Mughalsarai, five blocks of Mirzapur- Mardihan, Rajgarh, Jamalpur, Narayanpur and Nagar, three centres in Jalaun dist- Uraieen, Parasan and Madhogarh, six blocks of Sitagarh- Hargaon, Maholi, Aliya, Parsendi, Kasmanda and sadar, five blocks of Lakhimpur Khiri- Paliya, Bijua, Bankeganj, Nighasan, and Mitauli; cadre meetings and GBMs were also held in Pilibhit, Azamgarh, Sonebhadra and other districts. Sankalp Sabha and reading of resolve letter apart from remembering Comrade VM were common feature in all the meetings.

 

Uttarakhand: Sankalp Sabha took place in Nainital dist's Bindukhatta area. Apart from cadres and members, party sympathisers also participated in remembering Comrade VM. Comrades Raja Bahuguna and Rajendra Pratholi were main speakers at the pledge meet. After observing two minutes of silence to honour the revolutionary legacy of Comrades Vinod Mishra and Ram Naresh Ram and reading of CC's resolve letter the cadres were called upon by Comrades Raja and Pratholi to carry the revolutionary legacy to its logical culmination.

 

Party's Nainital dist incharge Com. Girija Pathak presented a programme-plan to meet set targets for Nainital and Udhamsingh Nagar in a scheduled timeframe. It was passed by the house after debate and discussion. Membership renewals, district conferences of Kisan Mahasabha, membership targets for AIKM and AISA and other agitational programmes were finalised.

 

Madhya Pradesh: Sankalp Sabha in Bhind was organised on the occasion of twelfth Memorial Day of Comrade VM. A good number of agrarian labourers, loaders, and small peasants took part in this meeting. Party's CC member Comrade Prabhat Kumar addressed this meeting where he said that the widespread corruption and price rise are menifestation of government's New Economic Policies. The government is now increasing attacks on the workers and peasants. Therefore, we must take a pledge to give a befitting reply to the policies of corruption, price rise and state repression. Comrades Devendra Singh Chauhan, Member Central Control Commission, AIPWA leader Suraj Rekha Tripathy, Hammal-Poldaar Union leader Vinod Suman, Jabbar also addressed the meeting.

 

A Sankalp Meeting was also organised in Gwalior which was addressed by Comrade Vinod Rawat.

 

(We will be reporting in the next issue about the 18 December programmes held in many other states and unreported in this issue.)

 

Protest Demonstration at Kamarkundu (Singur) 18 December

 

On the 4th martyrdom day of Tapasi Malik, All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) held a protest demonstration demanding capital punishment for the CPI(M)-backed criminals who raped and murdered her in 2006. The gathering was addressed by AIPWA's State Secretary Chaitali Sen and other leaders.

 

Left Convention in WB

 

A Left convention was organized jointly by the West Bengal State Committee of CPI(ML), Liberation and the Marxist Communist Party, a breakaway group from CPI(M) and active in the Danton area of Midnapore district, on 20th December at the Vidyasagar Hall of Midnapore town.

 

Apart from the state leaders of the party, the convention was attended by Comrade Swapan Mukherjee, Party CCM and General Secretary of AICCTU, Comrade Mangatram Pasla, General Secretary of CPIM(Punjab), Comrade Aloke Nandy, General Secretary of Marxist Communist Party and Comrade Jayanta Gupta Bhaya, General Secretary of Marxbadi Mancha, a left group from Burdwan district. In his speech Com. Swapan emphasised the importance of holding such convention in the turbulent situation in West Bengal where the degenerated Left led by CPI(M) is fast giving way to reactionary TMC through their anti-people policies and the prospect of resurgence of a revolutionary Left is brightening.

 

Com. Pasla spoke of the root causes of degeneration of CPI(M), of which he was once a part. He said, CPI(M) has abandoned the class position of the toiling poor and has adopted the class position of big capital. He expressed strong optimism about the immense prospect of building up a revolutionary Left co-ordination throughout the country by uniting with the struggling left forces.

 

Com. Alok Nandy and Com. Gupta Bhaya also welcomed the initiative taken by the All India Left Coordination (AILC) to unite the revolutionary Left forces in the country and expressed their willingness to be part of such initiative. Com. Partha Ghosh, State Secretary of CPI(ML) underlined the significance of holding the convention in the district of Midnapore which has, of late, emerged as the most turbulent hot bed of political activism in the state, be it at Nandigram or in Jangalamhal. Com. Kartick Pal, WB State Committee Member and Polit Bureau Member of the party proposed to have further interaction among such like-minded parties and groups in West Bengal shortly to chalk out further course of action and forge stronger unity.

 

Uttarakhand: Conference of All India Kisan Mahasabha

 

On 19 December, AIKM organised its Haldwani Block Conference. The Conference elected a 17-member block committee. The conference passed various resolutions concerning the working people of Haldwani block. Prominent among these is the demand to relocate the dangerously polluting stone crushers from inhabited areas to uninhabited areas. Comrade Raja Bahuguna was the main speaker who said that the increasing misery of peasants and pauperisation of workers lays bare the true colours of UPA-NDA's claims of an economically resurgent India.

 

AIALA TN Unit's 4th State Conference

Intensify the Struggles of Rural Poor; Put an End to the Corrupt, Treacherous DMK Government

 

AIALA's 4th State Conference of Tamil Nadu was held on 18-19 December in Kumbakonam. The conference was held in a background in which the ruling DMK is thoroughly discredited by the spectrum scam, Radia revelations and TN CM Karuna's desperate attempts to shield the tainted ex-minister A Raja. On the other side all the election promises of Karunanidhi are thrown to the winds and he has the audacity to declare that he cannot fulfil his promise on 2 acres of land as there are no lands. His recent announcement of Rs.500 monthly pension for the members of Agricultural Labourers and Farmers Welfare Board and the claim that TN elders can have a dignified life independent of their wards with the schemes such as Re.1 rice, concrete housing, free TV, free gas and health insurance, has only rubbed the wound with salt. The TN peasantry suffered a heavy damage and the agricultural labourers in particular could not find jobs to sustain themselves during the rains and total relief package announced by the TN government was only Rs.500 crores. The TN peasantry could not help comparing this meager Rs.500 crores with Rs.1,76,000 crores involved in spectrum scam. There is a simmering anger against the anti-people commissions and omissions of the DMK government and the contrary claims which was aptly reflected by the support the Conference and the rally preceding the Conference received from among the rural poor of TN.

 

The heavy downpour during the membership campaign, conference preparations and propaganda did not dampen the spirit of the comrades and 51,180 members were recruited before the conference. This membership is from 129 panchayats. There are over 10,000 members in three districts, over 1000 in 9 panchayats and over 1600 members in one panchayat. This is a significant improvement in this conference. Panchayat level conferences with more than 500 members were held in 34 panchayats before the state conference.

 

Working class comrades worked in the villages of Villupuram and Tanjore districts during membership campaign for a period of 7 days in November and involved in mobilizing the rural poor in Tanjore district for the rally in December. Com. NK Natarajan, State GS, AICCTU, camped in Tanjore district since December 1 and concentrated on the mobilization work.

 

An impressive and colorful rally was held on December 18 in Kumbakonam with a participation of 1500 rural poor. The rally went through the main streets of Kumbakonam raising slogans against the DMK government not full-filling the just demands of rural poor: 2 acres land, house stead lands and pattas, inclusion of rural poor in BPL list, Rs.200 wages and 200 days job under NREGA and so on. The rally culminated near the Mahamaham Tank which is well known in TN for the death of hundreds on devotees in the tank in stampede when Jayalalitha along with her close aide took a dip in the tank during her rule. The mass meeting was presided over by Com.TKS Janardhanan, State President of AIALA. Martyrs Torch carried through from Manaloor, the martyrdom cite of Comrades Chandrakumar and Chandrasekar was presented to AIALA and Party leaders. Two minutes silence was observed in memory of Comrades VM, Ramnaresh, martyrs and departed leaders. Com. Dhirendar Jha, AIALA GS, Com. S Kumarasami, PBM of the party, Com.Thenmozhi, AIPWA State President spoke in the meeting.

 

Several resolutions were passed placed by Com.Venkatesan, State Secretary of AIALA. Coms Palanivel and Krishnamoorthy, AICCTU office bearers, donated Rs.40,000 to the Conference, collected from Pricol, TIDC, MRF, Hyundai workers and masses led by Com. Kumarasamy, NK Natarajan and other leaders and cadres. Com. Rameshwar Prasad, AIALA National President, Com. Balasundaram, State Secretary, CPI(ML), NK Natarajan, State GS, AICCTU, Com. Bharati, State President of AISA, Com. Balasubramanian, CPI(ML) State Secretary of Puducherry, and office bearers of AIALA were also present in the meeting.

 

On 19th December Com. Rameshawar Prasad hoisted the flag in front of the conference hall named after Comrades VM-Ram Naresh Ram, inaugurated the delegate session. The Conference paid homage to other martyrs and departed leaders. Greeting the conference, Com. Rameshwar told that in Tamil Nadu too AIALA is emerging and appealed to intensify the land struggles at panchayat level in the coming days. The conference was attended by 123 delegates including 33 women from 14 districts. The conference was conducted by a 9-member presidium, with 4 women members, chaired by Com. Ilangovan. Com. S Janakiraman, outgoing GS presented the work report. Fifteen delegates including 4 women put their views on the report. The report highlighted the significant improvements that AIALA has made after the 3rd conference and put forth certain key questions for debate such as developing an internal dynamism in AIALA work from the top to bottom, raising the work at the block level, developing network of promising activists and cadres that is necessary for AIALA to rise up and move forward in the coming days. Com. Janakiraman summed up the discussions and the draft report was unanimously adopted by the house.

 

Election for the next AIALA state body was conducted by Com. Dhirendar Jha and Balasundaram, All-India Vice-President of AIALA. A 55-member State Council was elected which in turn elected a 19-member state executive and 11 member- TKS Janardhanan, S. Janakiraman, C. Ponraj, P. Usha, M. Venkatesan, Senbagavalli, S. Ammaiyappan, V.M. Valathan, Rajangam, S. Ilangovan, and T.Kannaian- office bearers. Com. TKS Janardhanan was elected as State President and Com. S. Janakiraman was re-elected as State GS.

 

Comrades S.Kumarasami, Balasundaram, S Balasubramaniam, Com. NK Natarajan, Com. Bhuvaneswari, State Dy. GS, AICCTU, Com. Rameshwar Prasad, AISA State Secretary, Com. Mathikannan of Manuda Vidudhalai Pannpattu Kazhakam (cultural forum) addressed the Conference. The new office bearers, volunteers, cultural troupe members, artists were greeted by All-India President and GS with mementos.  The conference came to a close with the Internationale.

 

Unorganised Workers under AICCTU Banner Held Protest in front of Orissa Vidhan Sabha

 

On 15th December 700 unorganized workers from different sectors joined in a protest rally and dharna in front of the Orissa Legislative Assembly. A huge rally started from Nagbhusan Bhavan for Vidhan sabha with unorganised workers raising slogans for permanent patta of land and ration card to all unorganized sector workers. The rally was led by AICCTU president Com. NK Mohanty, AICCTU General Secretary Com. Radha Kanta Sethi and Com. Mahindra Parida, Secretary AICCTU.

 

Forest workers, Rickshaw Kooli Sangh, Motorboat Workers Union, Chilika and construction workers from different parts of Orissa constituted the rally. The rally demanded Rs.1000 as pension for construction workers, to stop workers retrenchment in State and curb unemployment, 200 days work for all workers, constitute unorganized workers board and identification of forest workers and issue card to them with insurance benefits.

 

Veteran Socialist Surendra Mohan Passes Away

 

On December 17, veteran socialist ideologue and leader Surendra Mohan passed away. He was 84. He is survived by his wife, Ms Manju Mohan, a son and a daughter.

 

With Surendra Mohan's passing, the left, democratic and progressive struggles of India have lost an invaluable friend and activist.

 

A whole time activist in the socialist movement since a young age, Surendra Mohan was one of the founders of the Janata Party in 1977. While he was closely involved with the Janata Party government in 1977 and the VP Singh-led Government in 1989, he never sought ministerial berths for himself. He served as a Parliamentarian in the Rajya Sabha from 1978 to 1984. He was the President of the recently constituted Socialist Janata Party.

 

At a time when various parties and governments of the socialist stream are caught in the morass of political opportunism and corruption, Surendra Mohan remained steadfastly committed all his life to democratic values and struggles, and true to the anti-authoritarian and egalitarian legacy of the socialist movement. He was active in civil liberties' movements all his life and was an eager and enthusiastic advocate of unity amongst left and democratic people's movements. Right till the end of his life, every manner of people's movement could count on his solidarity, support and active cooperation and intervention, and one could be sure of his active participation in all manner of large and small protests for people's rights.

 

CPI(ML) activists will warmly remember the many occasions when Surendra Mohan's presence and voice strengthened their struggles – among them, in the protest against the arrest of students, youth and women who were arrested during the Shaheed Mela at Ayodhya in 2002; in the TADA Bandi Rihaai Abhiyan (Free TADA Prisoners Campaign) in Bihar in 2004; in the Sankalp Sabha in Delhi against Comrade Mahendra Singh's assassination; and in the citizens' meet at Delhi against the false cases framed on CPI(ML) activists and the party General Secretary by the BJP Govt in Jharkhand in 2006.

 

CPI(ML) expresses heartfelt condolences to Surendra Mohan's family and friends at this time of loss. The left and democratic movement all over the country will deeply feel his loss and mourn his passing.

 

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