CPI(ML) HOME Vol.10, No. 48 27 NOV - 3 DEC 2007

The Weekly News Bulletin of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)(Liberation)

U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi 110092. Tel: (91)11-22521067. Fax(91)11-22518248

 
In this Issue

Tea Tribes in Assam Must Get ST Status, Gogoi Must Go! 

The mob violence unleashed and unchecked against tea tribes’ people on Guwahati streets last Saturday was shocking. Not only were some 350 adivasis severely injured and at least one killed; one adivasi woman was dragged, stripped and chased naked on the streets of Guwahati. That image of a hapless adivasi woman running naked on the streets of Assam, along with an older image of the women of Manipur stripped naked in protest against rape by the Army, will be a telling indictment of the treatment of women from marginalised sections in the North East states ruled by the Congress.

It appears that on Saturday, some Congress elements infiltrated the 5000-strong procession of the All Adivasi Students Association, Assam (AASA) demanding ST status for the tea tribes in the state, and indulged in some lumpen and random attacks on shops and other institutions. This became the excuse for a lathicharge by the police, after which the protestors were dispersed and ran into the bylanes. Easy and vulnerable targets, they were attacked by groups of people who used stones, rods and sticks to beat them up, killing some and injuring many. The attack on the woman represents the height of this heinous attack, the most barbaric way to silence the democratic voices of protest. The police remained mute spectators to this 'mob frenzy' in broad daylight.    

On the heels of this incident, the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has gone out of his way to declare that the Registrar General of India and the Backward Class Commission, Patil had said in 1965 itself that these tribes can only be granted Backward status and not ST status “as many of these tribes have lost their tribal characteristics in their present surroundings.” He claimed that these tribal people “did not even have ST status in their own state.” If this issue has been a settled question since 1965, Shivraj Patil should answer why is it that Congress manifestos in successive elections have repeatedly promised these tribes ST status? His claim that these tribes do not have ST staus in other states is also patently false.     

It is a well-documented fact that the tea tribes of Assam live in tremendous backwardness and poverty, on the brink of starvation, suffering colonial-style exploitation on tea plantations. They are mainly Santhal, Ho, Oraon, Munda and other tribals brought as indentured labourers by the British government to provide labour for the tea gardens in Assam; these tribes are recognised as ST in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tripura. The Congress has betrayed its poll-time promises time and again, while Union Tribal Affairs Minister P. R. Kyndiah has recently totally negated this demand on the floor of the Parliament. These tribes have been denied the very legitimate demand of ST (Schedule Tribe) status as a result of this game of political football played by the Congress. It must be reminded that the CPI(ML) when elected to the Karbi Anglong Council in 1990 had then passed a resolution demanding ST status for Assam's tea tribes.

The least that the Gogoi Government can do is to take responsibility for the shameful incident of 24 November and resign; and the Central Government and State Government must immediately ensure that the demand for ST status for the tea tribes immediately met.

CPI(ML) Condemns Intimidation and Targeting Of Taslima Nasreen

Intimidation is no new experience for Taslima Nasreen, forced into exile from her home country of Bangladesh by the wrath of fundamentalists when she spoke out against the harassment of the Bangladeshi Hindus in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition by the Sangh Parivar. Within India she has time and again faced the wrath of such groups, and is familiar with the many ways in which the strength of religion or the state is used to silence women and outlaw their rights.
The recent protests by the AIMF in Kolkata have had unfortunate consequences, because they attempted to confuse the issue of state-sponsored violence in Nandigram with their opposition to Nasreen and her work. The entire episode provided a pretext for the CPI(M) Government to divert attention from the Nandigram issue and to tighten police presence and introduce army presence into Kolkata, the scene of many a massive rally on Nandigram in recent times.
Targeting Nasreen, the protestors put forward a series of fundamentalist and conservative arguments, calling in particular for the cancellation of her visa. However, the CPI[M] government in Bengal, rather than standing against this fundamentalist rhetoric, citied a "law and order problem", forced the Bangladeshi writer to leave Kolkata. In fact, when the tension in Kolkata was at its height, CPI(M) State Secretary Biman Bose deliberately added fuel to the fire by declaring that "Taslima was to blame and ought to voluntarily leave Kolkata in order to restore peace." While he retracted this statement subsequently, other CPI(M) leaders including the Speaker of the Assembly echoed this sentiment.
In the past also the CPI[M] Government and its Chief Minister with literary pretensions and claims of defending the rights of women and freedom of expression, banned her novel Dwikhandita. It must also be noted that that ban had been imposed, not at the behest of minority groups but at that of sections of West Bengal’s literary establishment who had taken offence to the novel.
If CPI(M) thinks that it can wash out its acts of alienation against the minorities - the evidence of marginalisation of Muslims revealed by the Sachar Committee, the rape of Muslim women and massacre of Muslim peasants in Nandigram or the recent communal stance of Kolkata Police in the Rizwanur murder case - by siding with the conservative voices of the community, it is sadly mistaken.
What is equally shameful and ironical is the fact that Taslima was driven to take refuge of a BJP-ruled state allowing the fascist BJP to don the mantle of protector of "women's freedom" against fundamentalism! On the eve of the Gujarat elections the capitulation of the CPI(M) and the UPA Government has provided a windfall bonanza to the fascist Sangh Parivar to paint the Muslim community as fundamentalist and itself as the defender of Muslim women’s rights. How can anyone forget the Sangh Parivar’s role in massacring minorities and raping Muslim women, in cultural censorship, in its ‘bans’ on Hindu women wearing jeans, celebrating Valentine’s Day, and marrying outside the caste or community? And who can forget how Sanghi goons assaulted a young art student and brought to a close the renowned Art Department of Baroda University, because of paintings which, according to them, ‘insulted Hindu sentiments’? 
CPI(ML) demands that the UPA Government ensure Taslima Nasreen’s right to live, write and express herself freely without fear in the country and city of her choice.
AIPWA General Secretary and Bhasha Singh, Delhi Convenor of Jan Sanskriti Manch, went in a delegation to meet the besieged author in Delhi and expressed their support and solidarity. AIPWA and JSM held a protest demonstration in Delhi at Mandi House on 28 November demanding citizenship and residence in the city of her choice for Taslima Nasrin.    

Procession Demanding Peace in Kolkata

The CPI(ML) organised a procession in Kolkata on Nov. 22, the next day when violence broke out in the city and a military march was held, from Subodh Mallick Square to Esplanade and then Esplanade to Moulali, demanding reestablishment of peace in the town. Party leaders addressed a large gathering at two meetings held, one at Esplanade and other at Moulali.

CPI(ML) in Assam Protests Assaults on Tea Tribes

Declaring that the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Govt. is Assam has no moral right to continue in power, the CPI(ML)’s Assam unit held protests demanding
1. Immediate resignation of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Tea Tribes Welfare Minister Prithvi Majhi;
2. A high level judicial enquiry to probe the incident;
3. Compensation of Rs. 5 lakhs to the family of every deceased and Rs. One lakh to every injured;
4. ST status to the tea tribes in Assam without further delay.
On the very next day following the incident, a team of leaders from the Party, trade unions, Cultural front, AIPWA and AISA visited Guwahati Medical College Hospital and took note of the condition of the injured people. The team was comprised of CPI(ML) State Secretary Rubul Sarma, cultural activist Loknath Goswami, AIPWA leader Junu Borah, Subhasis Bhadra, Dr. Akhil Ranjan Dutta (progressive writer and Sr. Lecturer, Gawahati University), Naren Borah, Geetanjali Sonowal, AISA leader Balindra Saikia and Janik Barman. These leaders demanded proper care and supply of necessary medicines to the injured and also met the hospital Superintendent.
A protest demonstration was held at Panbazar on November 25 by cultural activists, intellectuals, women, students, and many people from many walks of life which was also addressed by Loknath Goswami and Junu Borah.
The Adivasi Students' Association has called for a 36 hours bandh from Nov. 26 and four communist parties including CPI(ML), CPI(M), RSP and SUCI jointly called for a 12-hour bandh on Nov. 26 in support of this bandh call. 
The AIPWA observed protests at Dibrugarh and Tezpur on November 26 and at Jorhat on November 27. In Guwahati a joint protest meeting of some women's organisations was held on November 26 which was attended by AIPWA representatives. The meeting condemned the incident and barbaric attack on women in particular. AIPWA leader Junu Borah termed the incident of brutal molestation of women a shame on the face of the nation and said that the women President of the country must rush to Guwahati to have a first hand report of this act and demanded exemplary punishment to the culprits of this barbaric torture, which was widely covered by electronic media.
The Party and Asom Sangrami Chah Sramik Sangha will jointly observe 29 November as Protest Day in Assam. The CPI(ML) State Committee has also condemned the bomb blasts that took place in Guwahati and Tinsukia on 26 Nov, evening.
AIPWA General Secretary Kumudini Pati in Delhi demanded that the NHRC immediately send a team to inmvestigate into the incident of assault on the adivasi woman in Guwahati terming it a heinous attack on women's dignity. 

CPI(ML) Expresses Concern on Blasts in Cities of UP

CPI(ML) UP State Committee expressed deep concern over the ever increasing incidents of bomb blasts in the state; in particular the latest serials blasts which killed 13 and injured many more. In view of the latest blasts in the court premises of Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad, the Party has appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony.
In a statement issued here in Lucknow, UP State Secretary Akhilendra Pratap Singh, said that the central and state governments have utterly failed to prevent such gruesome incidents and that the growing proximity with US is now extracting its price. Terming the BJP-VHP sponsored UP bandh call an act of provocation, he asserted that it will add fuel to the fire of the already tense atmosphere. Demanding high level inquiry into the blast cases and stringent action against the culprits, he appealed to the people to come forward against the forces creating anarchy and also those who in the name of opposing it are actually conspiring to communalise the atmosphere.

BRIEF REPORTS FROM STATES

Rally for Land at Krishnagiri

On 21 Nov, an impressive "Rally of Toilers' Rights" in Krishnagiri in Salem district was followed by a 'Peoples' Rights Convention'. It was part of a campaign demanding patta to marginal peasants cultivating on their lands for generations, fulfilment of DMK governemnt's promise of 2 acres of land to the landless and 3 cents of housing site to the houseless. The Rally was led by K. Govindaraj.
Comrade Shankar, CC member, CPI(ML), addressed the convention where he criticised the DMK government's false promise of 2 acres of land to the landless while thousands of acres are being awarded on a platter to industrialists in the name of SEZ, even in the same district near Hosur, apart from other districts in the state. He also came down heavily on the state sponsored violence of the CPI(M) government on the people of Nandigram. He called upon the people to march to the Collectorate in January and for the Assembly gherao in March, if the government failed to fulfil the demands of the landless.
The convention was also addressed by comrades A. Govindaraj, State Committee Member, TKS.Janardhanan, AIALA, and Salem  District Committee Members Pachiappan and Siddharaman. Ramakrishnan read out the resolutions. SCMs NK Natarajan and Chandramohan were also present, while Babu, Secretary of Krishnagiri, presided over. The convention resolved to participate in the Kolkata rally to be held on 18 December on the occasion of the conclusion of the 8th Congress of the Party, in good numbers.

Campaign for Party Congress at Salem

A public meeting was organised by Moonankaradu Branch of Salem on 25 November as part of the campaign for the 8th Congress. The entire area was decorated with festoons and wall writings for the 8th Congress. Comrade Shankar hoisted the flag and spoke on the relevance of issues raised by the 8th Congress and its linkage to the decades-old local issue of housing sites to the urban people. He also exposed the state government's design to deprive land under possession of the people in the name of slum clearance project being peddled in collusion with the World Bank. Chandramohan, SCM opened the party name board and addressed the meeting along with DCMs Ayyandurai and Mohanasundaram. The meeting was also addressed by Velumani and Amirthalingam while Saravanan presided over the meeting and Gopal read out the resolution to participate in the Kolkata rally in good numbers.

State Conference of Puducherry

The first State Conference of Puducherry was held at Pondicherry on 2-3 November. After a long history of presence and continued functioning of our party in the Union Territory of Puducherry, the party structure has now grown to the status of State Committee. On 2 November there was an open convention on the "Nuke Deal, US Imperialism and the Role of the Left".The convention was presided over by P. Sankaran, while  Shankar, CCM and Rajendar Cholan, Editor, Manmozhi, a Tamil monthly for the cause of Tamil nationality, addressed it.
The town Puducherry was named after the martyrs of Kalinganagar- Nandigram- Mudigonda and the venue in the name of Comrade Jita Kaur. The party flag was unfurlded by G. Palani on this occasion. 54 delegates and guests took part in the conference. The conference resolved and called upon to oust pro-capitalist pro-land lord, anti-people and corrupt minority Congress government and to expose the opposition parties while strengthening the movement and reasserting the CPI(ML).
The conference unanimously adopted political organisational report and elected 11-member State Committee with S.O. Balasubramanian as its secretary. N. Murthy, CCM and State Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, was the central observer. He stressed the importance of land question and called for raising struggle against Special Economic Zones. Comrade Balasundaram, Tamil Nadu State Secretary and CCM, also addressed the delegates. He said that globalisation has ruined the Indian masses and stressed must be given to sharpen the anti-globalisation movements. Comrade D.P. Bakshi, member, Polit Bureau, delivered the concluding speech on the closing day of the conference where he emphasised the importance of party building in strengthening the mass struggles.

District Conference in Mau, UP

CPI(ML) District Conference in Mau district of UP took place on November 3,4. Krishna Adhikari, Member Central Committee was present as observer. The conference elected a nine-member District Committee which in turn elected Om Prakash Singh as District Secretary.The Conference also elected 2 delegates for the 8th Party Congress.

CPI(ML) Appeals for Support to Ailing Hindi Poet Trilochan

A delegation of the CPI(ML) visited the renowned Hindi poet Trilochan at his residence in Ghaziabad to pay their respects and inquire about his health. The poet, a living legend in the field of Hindi literature and a major writer in Awadhi and Urdu, is 91 years old and has been in poor health for the past several months.
The delegation led by Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI(ML) resolved to mobilise financial and other support for meeting the medical and other expenses of the ailing poet. Ramji Rai of the Jan Sanskriti Manch, who was also part of the delegation, said that his organisation would appeal to the world of Hindi literature to come forward and take responsibility for welfare of one if its foremost members and the greatest living poet of his era.
Trilochan over the decades has been associated with a variety of people’s movements starting with his involvement in the freedom struggle against British colonialism and his continuing support for the battle of the oppressed masses of rural India for land and justice. He was the President of the Jan Sanskriti Manch for almost a decade.
Apart from being famous for introducing the sonnet form of poetry in Hindi, Trilochan has also worked on the compilation of various dictionaries and is renowned as a major expert on various Indian languages.

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication, R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22518248, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org

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