India Does Not Need SEZs-
the SEZ Act Will Have to Go!

Even as the Congress and the CPI(M) and their respective governments in New Delhi and Kolkata are busy covering up the state-sponsored barbarism in Nandigram, the ‘empowered group of union ministers’ has cleared the deck for the government’s SEZ campaign with only a few minor modifications in the SEZ policy. There will now be a cap on the size of SEZs – individual SEZs will henceforth not exceed 5,000 hectares. Half of the area in an SEZ will now be earmarked for the main processing activity with the other half still left free for real estate business. And governments will apparently no longer be involved in the act of forcible land acquisition – that part of the job will from now on be left to the free market!

With these minor modifications, the government has now paved the way for immediate notification of formal approval for as many as 54 SEZs. Another 29 SEZs just await clearance from the Law Ministry, while 88 applications are now passing through the stage of verification. Then there are 162 SEZs that have already secured in-principle approval and only formalities remain to be completed. And then there are 350 new applications waiting for approval. Add up all these categories and the total is already close to seven hundred! If the average size of an SEZs is assumed to be 2000 hectares or 5000 acres, seven hundred SEZs would occupy around 1.4 million hectares or 14,000 square kilometres! And this is all prime land – agricultural or otherwise – in the vicinity of India’s major urban centres.

There is absolutely not a word regarding the enormous tax concessions that the Government’s own finance ministry had been questioning. Tax concessions apart, SEZs will continue to promise a massive immunity from the laws of the land. Municipal regulations or labour laws will all remain eminently dispensable. And it is not difficult to envisage how easily big corporations can subvert each of the minor modifications mooted by the group of ministers. To take just one example we already hear reports that the giant Reliance SEZ in Haryana, originally proposed to sprawl over 25,000 acres, will now be broken up into five separate zones: one large multi-product SEZ and four smaller ones, to conform to the new norms.

What will be the state’s role in the new scheme of things? We are told that the state will no longer directly lend its hand to the act of land acquisition. In other words, the peasants will now be directly subjected to corporate thuggery and the armed forces of the state will wield their batons and bullets to enforce corporate ‘rights’ on peasant land. If the people who are robbed of their land insist on the implementation of promises made to them – cash compensation, rehabilitation, employment in SEZ projects – they have Kalinganagars in store for them. Let us not forget that the gas victims of Bhopal have not been rehabilitated till date and Honda workers in Gurgaon were brutally beaten up just because they had dared to exercise their most elementary right to get unionised. The so-called ‘retreat’ of the state from the direct business of land acquisition does by no means signal any neutrality on the part of the state in enforcing corporate interests.

When the SEZ Act was passed in parliament, it saw little debate and no party, including the CPI(M) and its allies, voted against it. With mass resistance intensifying, the CPI(M) began making some noise about amending the SEZ Act. The amendments are mostly of a procedural nature and not substantive; in fact, it has now all boiled down to haggling over the size of SEZs. While the government is arrogantly bypassing all public debate and steamrolling its way to enforce its SEZ policy, the CPI(M) and its allies are fulfilling their duty by merely criticising the government for its ‘obsession’ with SEZs. And the government is perfectly aware that as the architect of “Operation Nandigram”, the CPI(M) has little moral courage and credibility left to risk a showdown with the Congress over the issue of SEZs. Indeed, for ruling parties of different hues, the debate over SEZs is just one more opportunity for another bout of shadow-boxing. The people of this country have become sick of this shadow-boxing, their opposition to SEZs is most urgent and real. They are staking their lives to resist this corporate land-grab.

It is now as clear as daylight why like POTA and AFSPA, we must fight for a complete repeal of the SEZ Act. Whichever way the government may implement this Act, and whatever be the average or maximum size of the SEZs, the people of this country cannot accept this corporate land-grab which will drain away their resources into corporate coffers and mortgage their rights to brutal corporate power. Let us intensify the resistance to SEZs and let this resistance redefine the lines of political demarcation. Parties and governments that stand on the corporate side of the SEZ fence can have no claim to the legacy of the Left.

The BJP has defiantly chosen to defend their hate CD, released as UP poll campaign material. Their only defence against the EC action is that the CD was not meant to be election campaign material (and is therefore outside the EC’s jurisdiction).

The CD is blatantly aimed at demonising the minority Muslim community, and laying the foundations for communal violence and genocide.

Hate CD’s Inflammatory Stereotypes:

‘Muslim=Terrorist’ : The CD has images of ‘Bharat Mata’ lamenting that “Pakistan wants to break India into pieces”, and declaring “ordinary people of India have to think, do they want slavery again or Ram Rajya in their independent India.” At a Republic Day function, as a BJP activist cries ‘Vande Mataram’, the camera cuts to the image of a Muslim man (identified by cap on head) planting a bomb under a white Ambassador car.

‘Muslims=Butchers’ : There is an extended sequence where two Muslim youth are shown disguising themselves as Hindus to persuade a Hindu man to sell his cow to them – only to lead it to the slaughter. Muslims are repeatedly referred to as ‘sons of butchers’, and this is followed by 50-second-long footage of a buffalo being slaughtered, including scenes of the blood pouring out from its throat. The accompanying text declares “the present government is giving full support to butchers”. 

‘Muslims Breed Too Much’: The CD shows a Muslim woman saying “I am also a Muslim and Mullahs and Maulvis consider women their personal property”, and a speech by saffron-clad woman declaring “Hindus will produce two children and Muslims will marry five times and produce 35 pups and make this country into an Islamic state.” 

Demonisation of ‘beards and caps’ : The CD warns “If today we don’t take care, these tilaks will go and we will all be sporting beards and caps”.

Muslim men marrying Hindu women – ‘Love as Jihad’: There is an extended sequence showing a Muslim man posing as a Hindu to lure away a Hindu girl, subsequently forcing her to convert. The image of Muslim as devious, deceitful, lustful Other is repeatedly reinforced. The consequences of such a campaign can be seen in Gujarat, where Sangh leaders like Babu Bajrangi openly boast of having kidnapped (‘rescued’) nearly a 1000 Hindu women who married Muslim, Christian or Dalit men. Such a campaign is calculated to whip up fear and hatred against Muslims, and also to intensify the surveillance and curbs on the personal freedoms of women. 

Demonising of Muslim names: The CD warns of a doomsday where “you will never be able to find a Sohanlal, Mohanlal, Atmaram, or Radhakrishan” and “wherever we look, we will only see Abbas, Naqvi, Rizvi, and Maulvi”. From here, it’s just one step more to imply that we need to eradicate the Abbases, Naqvis, Rizvis, etc...

Open Celebration of Babri Masjid Demolition : The CD ends with triumphant clips of the Babri Masjid being demolished, accompanied by BJP leaders’ speeches.

Quite clearly, such a CD is part of BJP’s and Sangh Parivar’s routine campaign material – and it will be a shame if the UPA Government fails to take any action against such dangerous and inflammatory campaigns calculated to whip up violence against already vulnerable Muslim minorities.

Reject and Resist Allahabad HC Verdict:

Shame on the Attempts of Judiciary to Snatch Away the Constitutional Rights of Minorities! 

Shockingly, rather than take notice of the BJP’s communal hate CD, the Allahabad High Court has instead chosen to declare, right in the middle of the UP election campaign, that Muslims do not constitute a minority in Uttar Pradesh, and must be treated ‘on par with’ other communities by the Government. On these grounds, the HC verdict has directed the Government to stop giving aid to minority institutions. The verdict has since been stayed, but its political and social implications continue to be disturbing.

This ruling has been rightly condemned by eminent jurists as a deliberately mischievous and communal attempt to deny the basic fact of the vulnerable and marginalised existence of Muslims as a minority community in UP – and will set a dangerous precedent for other states as well. The verdict is baseless and illogical even if one looks at sheer numerical strength: Muslims, according to the 2001 census, constitute 18.5 per cent of the total population of UP. Since when is 18.5% a ‘majority’? In social terms, even beyond the numerical statistics, the weak social indicators (jobs, health, education, civic amenities etc…) of the Muslim community in UP as well the rest of the country has been amply demonstrated by the Sachar Committee. And above all, the undeniable fact is that the Muslim community, as a minority, has been on the receiving end of the worst communal pogroms and organised violence by the Sangh Parivar.

We must reject, resist and challenge the Allahabad HC verdict that, on the eve of UP polls, chosen to present a distorted picture of Muslim demographic, economic and social reality in UP, and is strengthening the hands of communal propaganda. We must demand punishment for the topmost BJP leadership – whose hands are already stained with the Babri Masjid demolition and countless acts of communal violence, and who are trying to make a political comeback by indulging in a communal hate campaign.

REPORTS

Lathicharge on Striking Workersin Hind Motor Factory in West Bengal

 Striking workers at the Birla-owned Hindustan Motors car factory located at Uttarpara in Hooghly District are facing a major crackdown. The fate of workers in this factory which employs 5000 workers is proving to be a reminder of the kind of rights which workers in the Singur Tata car factory can expect in LF-ruled Bengal. Currently, more than 90% workers authorities. Several workers have been injured in a police-CPI(M) cadre assault on 10 April and on 11 April, Hind Motors has declared a lockout.

Since January, the agitation was building up against the non-payment of DA since September  2001, and routine deferment of wage payments by three months. Workers were denied a meeting on charter of demands. In spite of a bipartite agreement with Union leadership of the SSKU in 2000, 243 casual workers were not promoted to permanent status. The SSKU is an independent Union, which broke away from CITU affiliation 7 years back.

In January, 6 workers were suspended, and on 12 March, when a deputation went to meet authorities, 15 more were suspended. In protest, a Strike began on 13 March.

CPI(M) goons attacked the striking workers twice - on 3 and 10 April.

On 8 April, the SSKU and the Sangrami Yukta Manch (a broad solidarity platform excluding CITU), held a Mahamichil (Massive March). The AICCTU held a day-long dharna at the factory gates on 4 April.

On 10 April, during picketing of the gates, CITU tried to break strike by getting in non-workers as ‘trainee workers’. When workers resisted, there was a massive police-cadre crackdown, Nandigram style, in which 6 of the injured are in hospital, and at least 20 others are wounded but not hospitalised.

On 12 April, the AICCTU has declared a National Protest. In Bengal this will be observed with a protest at RN Mukherjee Road in front of Birla Head Office, while in Delhi there will be a protest at Parliament Street. The CPI(ML) has also called for an Uttarpara Bandh on 12 April.

Despite Several Official Orders, Barricades to Bar Dalits

from using Pond in Chunar Remains

CPI(ML) Candidate for UP Assembly,

 Comrade Ram Biyar on 28th Day of Hunger Strike, Still in Jail

The Mirzapur Administration, in a written agreement signed by the SDM, Chunar, had acknowledged that following a protest by the CPI(ML) State Secretary Comrade Akhilendra Pratap Singh, orders were being passed that the barricades around a pond in Bhadkuda village be removed to allow Dalits access to it; and FIR be lodged under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act against those who beat up the agrarian labourer Manju Devi and payment of her pending wages of 6 months. The pond, used by Dalits for washing as well as for their cattle etc... had been barricaded as ‘punishment’ by local neo-kulak forces for demanding payment of pending wages to Manju Devi. To demand implementation of this agreement, CPI(ML) District Committee Member and candidate in Assembly polls Comrade Ramkrit Biyar went on a hunger strike on 17 March. He was arrested on 26 March and, despite his weak condition, kept in an isolated cell in handcuffs. Following state-wide protests against what was widely perceived as an attempt on his life by the District Administration, he was shifted to Mirzapur District Hospital. Even in Hospital, he is often kept in handcuffs, and refused even the elementary service of having lemon water offered to him.     

Today, he is on his 28th day of hunger fast, and the attempt to break his health and spirit continue. He is being threatened with charges of attempted suicide. On April 5, the Chief Secretary of UP once again ordered that the barricades around the pond be moved. Not only was this order not implemented, but subsequently the DM visited the area and declared that CPI(ML)’s demand is not valid, since despite the barricades, a path to the pond has been left open! Not only that, the DM has contested the amount claimed by Manju Devi as pending wages, saying the amount pending is actually a smaller one. Naturally, he is silent on why even the amount he himself admits is pending is yet to be paid to Manju Devi for the past 6 months!

On 11 April, the CPI(ML) is to hold a Protest Meeting led by CPI(ML) State Secretary Comrade Akhilendra Pratap Singh as well as All India Agrarian Labourers’ Association (AIALA) President Comrade Rameshwar Prasad.