In this Issue

India Should Immediately Resume Composite Dialogue with Terror-Struck Pakistan

March 27 was another fateful day for our western neighbour. As the US president was unveiling his new strategy to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda” and its allies in Pakistan, Pakistanis were cleaning up the debris of an explosion inside a mosque near the town of Jamrud in the Khyber agency region -- an attack that killed some 50 Muslims offering prayers on Friday the jummabar and wounded dozens more. Only days before that, Pakistani Taliban fighters and their Afghan counterparts were distributing an agreement to bury their differences in order to counter the new American-led offensive. Incidentally, Pakistan's security officials had recently concentrated forces in the Khyber region, and especially the Jamrud area, to fight militants attacking convoys carrying supplies for the NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The Jamrud explosion was preceded by another murderous suicide attack in Ameer Hamza Khan mosque in Dera Ismail Khan, the well-known attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore and another incident where Taliban militants shot dead three men in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal belt after filming them confessing to spying for the United States. (Almost every week now, militants kidnap and kill tribesmen, accusing them of spying for the Pakistani government or US forces.) While leaders in Islamabad were forthright in their condemnation of the March 27 blast, Khyber administrator Tariq Hayat echoed the voice of popular masses when he called the terrorists "infidels" and "enemies of Pakistan, enemies of Islam”.
Within a couple of days after the killings in Jamrud, Taliban militants attacked and destroyed vehicles and offices loaded with supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan while another group of militants abducted 12 police officers in a pre-dawn swoop on a tribal police check post. The kidnapping took place after Pakistani security forces on Saturday arrested four Taliban insurgents and destroyed two suspected hideouts. And then came the sensational seizure of a police academy in the Manawan area on Lahore's outskirts early Monday, highlighting once again the war between the terrorists and the pro-US Pakistani state. All along, American drone strikes in North West Pakistan, which clearly violate the country's territorial sovereignty and bring grist to terrorist mills, continued with growing ferocity.
On the very next day after the Friday mosque attack, President Asif Ali Zardari renewed -- for the umpteenth time -- the request of early resumption of the composite dialogue process that was stalled at India's instance after the terror attack on Mumbai. Once again, India turned it down. Instead, New Delhi welcomed the new US strategy to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan and sought a role in the US campaign as a “responsible power” with a stake in defeating extremism. And what was that strategy? Under this new regional strategy in the "Af-Pak theatre," President Obama promised a "surge" of troops into Afghanistan and also to send an additional 4,000 troops into Pakistan under cover of "training" recruits for the Afghan National Army. He also agreed to further enhance economic aid to Pakistan, but observers believe the carrots are likely to be more than cancelled out by the military stick he has chosen to wield.
It is easy to understand why the Congress- led government refuses to talk to a bleeding neighbour which is also a victim of terror attacks. With elections round the corner, it does not wish to give the BJP a handle to blame it for being soft towards Pakistan. Moreover, it does not wish to let go the opportunity to further harden the hard state and trample democracy on Indian soil on the pretext of fighting "Pakistani-inspired" terror. But the people of India cannot allow this to go on. It is necessary to understand that the US project is designed solely for regional military domination and resource extraction vis-à-vis its geopolitical rivals Russia and China. Afghanistan and Pakistan stand at a nexus of pipeline and trade routes between the Middle East, Russia, China and the Indian subcontinent, and US domination of these two countries together with strategic partnership with India would give it decisive influence over the entire region. But this is not our agenda, this is not in our national interest. We must pressure the government to dissociate our country from this imperialist game-plan and to try and sort out all our outstanding issues which Pakistan through bilateral negotiations.
Breakdown of dialogue only strengthens the hand of those elements in Pakistan's multilayered ruling dispensation that are believed to be assisting the terrorists, while sustained engagement can go a long way in allaying each other's concerns. It is a common fight against terror that the twin nation states in this subcontinent are engaged in, and despite all reservations we must fight it together.

Excerpts From CPI(ML)Liberation’s Manifesto for the 15th Lok Sabha Election :

….As the country gets ready to vote for the constitution of a new Lok Sabha, dark clouds of deepening crisis overshadow our entire economy. While the rural economy had long been reeling under an acute agrarian crisis, and soaring prices had been reducing the already limited purchasing power of the masses, now jobs have started vanishing even in the so-called growth sectors and wages are going down to make survival a challenge for ever larger sections of the poor and working people….This is not a crisis that has resulted from some natural calamity or some sudden disruption or downturn in trade or industrial production. It is a disaster that has been wooed and shaped by our rulers through their relentless pursuit of elitist and pro-imperialist economic policies. Years of systematic neglect of agriculture, basic industry and services and unbridled freedom for big capital have led to the present situation.
…Even after being hit by such a huge crisis, the government of India has taken no urgent measure to protect the economy from the invasion of foreign capital. On the contrary more concessions have been announced for foreign capital in the last few months even as the US has adopted a series of protectionist measures for its own economy. Instead of launching any relief package to protect agriculture, the peasantry and the livelihood of the poor, the government has announced a massive bail-out package for big corporate houses and scamsters like Satyam. And this, when the government’s own figures admit that 77% of the Indian people are compelled to live on a daily budget of less than Rs. 20!....[And Indian ruling classes continue to subject India to ever bigger dependence on the crisis-ridden US in every sphere…..
CPI(ML)’s Perspective on the burning issues that confront us in this election: Economic Crisis- The UPA Government, betraying its promises to the aam aadmi, instead embraced America and big corporate capital, whether Indian or foreign. [And] half a million people lost jobs in the period between October and December 2008, pushing many workers to suicide. The situation has vastly deteriorated since then.
The Government has tightened the stranglehold of MNCs on Indian agriculture, locking farmers into a debt trap, and opened up agriculture, forcing our farmers to compete with heavily subsidised farmers of the West and leaving them at the mercy of global price fluctuations. As a result of the UPA Government’s refusal to reverse these killer policies, farmers in Vidarbha (Maharashtra), Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Wynad (Kerala) continue to reap the harvest of suicides.
The Government’s policy of binding BPL to arbitrary limits…pushes the poor out of the BPL lists even as prices of food and fuel soar, joblessness grows and PDS dealers and black-marketeers make a fortune. As a result, starvation stalks the whole of rural India. Making matters worse is the rampant corporate land grab and the SEZ Act which are robbing poor farmers of their land and agricultural labourers of their livelihood…On economic policies, rival state governments and parties have been marked by a remarkable consensus and commitment to the pro-rich, pro-US policy orientation.
….NREGA has miserably failed even to deliver its promise of 100 days work guarantee...Activists leading struggles to expose and combat corruption in NREGA have been killed. Even as labour laws and workers’ rights are blatantly violated, the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act excludes large sections of workers in informal and contractualised jobs and, in the absence of any fund commitment by the Government, fails to provide any effective ‘social security.’
Procurement centres remained in the grip of a nexus of kulaks, agents and corrupt officials, forcing small and middle peasants to make distress-sales. The Rs. 60000 crore loan waiver for debt-ridden peasants announced by the UPA Government in the fag end of its tenure turned out to be a big lie. Neither was it backed by actual allocations in the budget, nor did it extend to loans taken from private money lenders – the main factor in farmers’ suicides.
People’s Charter for a Way Out of Economic Crisis: Ending agrarian crisis and peasant distress: lIndia should walk out of the WTO-sponsored Agreement on Agriculture lThoroughgoing land reforms and lowering of land ceiling lSubsidised agro inputs for small and medium farmers and regulation of prices of all inputs lVastly enhance public investment in agriculture and infrastructure and arrange for comprehensive crop insurance lZero-interest credit for farmers; a new Debt Relief Act to be enacted to curb usury lProcurement guarantee at fair MSP (minimum support price) lBan on forward/futures trading in agricultural produce lScrapping of SEZ Act lNo to introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops without a rigorous and transparent scientific evaluation; immediate stop to all field trials of GM crops
More jobs, Enhanced Purchasing Power: lImmediately lift the ban on recruitment and fulfil backlog of SC/ST quota in banks, public sector, central and state Government posts lExpand NREGA to provide at least 200 days of employment lEnact a law for Urban Employment Guarantee on the lines of NREGA lEnlist all poor in the BPL list, ensure that the poor are given 50 kilograms of grains at the rate of Rs.2 per kg and 5 litres of kerosene at the rate of Rs. 2 per litre every month, expand and strengthen the PDS system lExtend provisions of 6th Pay Commission on minimum wages to unorganised sector workers and NREGA workers and guarantee daily minimum wages of Rs. 200 lRegularise all contract workers and para-employees lEnact comprehensive welfare legislation for Agricultural Workers lPunishment for officials involved in corruption in NREGA/BPL/PDS and other social welfare schemes…..
For an anti-Imperialist and independent foreign policy: lScrap Indo-US Nuclear Deal and long-term Defence Agreement with USA lDe-link Indian foreign policy from the US-Israel axis – work towards dismantling of US bases and withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and every other part of the world; diplomatic pressure on Israel to end its blockade and aggression on Palestinian land; proactive support for Palestinian liberation struggle; end military buying from Israel lNo to big-brotherly hegemonic approach and war-mongering against neighbouring countries; an end to military and strategic support to military dictatorship in Burma and war on Tamils in Sri Lanka; diplomatic pressure to restore democracy in Burma and for a political solution to the Tamil question in Sri Lanka
Communal Violence, Caste Oppression and Regional Chauvinism: The UPA Government rode to power on the promise of curbing communal violence, and promised to enact a Law against the same. But it remained a mute spectator when the Sangh Parivar organised a pogrom against poor Christians in Kandhamal, Orissa. The UPA’s Communal Violence (Prevention) Bill undermines its own stated purpose.
The investigation into the Malegaon blasts points to the involvement of the Sangh Parivar in acts of terrorism. Yet the UPA Government has refused to impose a ban on organisations like the Abhinav Bharat and Bajrang Dal – which have a proven record of terrorism and communal violence.
In Maharashtra, the MNS and Shiv Sena unleashed chauvinistic frenzy against poor North Indian migrant workers and students. The Congress Government of Maharashtra and the UPA Government turned a blind eye and refused to take any action to protect the hapless migrants or punish the perpetrators.
Dalits who achieve a measure of economic security or who choose to assert their dignity have been victims of caste atrocities – Gohana, Khairlanji and the assault on CPI(ML) activist Bant Singh in Punjab are three of the worst instances, all of which occurred in Congress-ruled states. During Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s recent ‘Vikas Yatra’ too, a Dalit settlement was torched in Darbhanga. Unfortunately, things have not been any better in Mayawati-ruled UP where Dalit college student Chakrasen was lynched to death at Pratapgarh, and his killers protected by leaders of Mayawati’s own BSP. Emboldened by Mayawati’s ‘sarvajan’ shift, kulaks and other feudal-mafia forces in UP have intensified their assaults on Dalit labourers, women in particular.
For Secularism and Justice: lCommunal profiling, stereotyping and economic crimes against minorities to be classified as communal violence l A law to penalise Governments and responsible police officials for failure to curb communal violence, regional chauvinism and caste atrocities lExemplary punishment for perpetrators of communal violence, caste atrocities and regional chauvinism lA thoroughgoing enquiry into the involvement of the Sangh Parivar in acts of terrorism lBans on Bajrang Dal, MNS and other outfits involved in communal and chauvinistic violence lConstitution of a National Commission for Migrant Labourers on the lines of SC/ST Commission: enact Atrocities on Migrant Labour (Prevention) Act on the lines of the similar act for dalits.
CPI(ML) is committed to struggling for: lImplementation of Article 244-A of the Constitution to grant the long-pending demand for autonomous statehood to Karbi Anglong and NC Hills lSpeedy constitution of a second State Reorganisation Commission to address aspirations for separate statehood in Telengana, Gorkhaland, Vidarbha, Bundelkhand etc lWithdrawal of army from Kashmir and urgent political solution to the question of self-determination for the people of Kashmir lScrapping of the draconian provisions of UAPA, other undemocratic laws like the AFSPA lBanning of Salwa Judum and release of Dr. Binayak Sen lExemplary punishment to the police-politician-anti-social nexus responsible for Kalinganagar-Nandigram-Mudigonda type of massacres
“Youth Power” - Such slogans suggest, not-so-subtly, that the concerns of youth are adequately addressed as long as Rahul Gandhi enjoys power! But this cannot mask the fact youth in India are facing an all-round offensive. Young people bear the brunt of joblessness and resulting insecurity. Schooling as well as higher education is being ruthlessly privatised – ‘reserving’ quality education for the rich. The UPA Government’s much-touted Right to Education (RTE) Bill recently tabled in Parliament is a blatant betrayal and subversion of the Constitutional promise of right to education. The Lyngdoh Committee recommendations are being used to crack down on students’ union elections, against their own stated purpose of ensuring campus democracy. Campus violence is the pretext, but the real aim is to get rid of organised student resistance which is the main hurdle in the path of unbridled privatisation and commercialisation. Failure to curb ‘ragging’ is claiming the lives of innocents like Aman Kachroo.
Youth from North India and the North East, migrating to other states in search of education and employment, are at the receiving end of regional chauvinistic politics and violence. The suspicious ‘encounter’ of Rahul Raj in Mumbai showed that the police protects the chauvinists and targets their victims. Young people like Rizwan-ur Rehman who embrace the values of freedom and reject communal and caste borders in personal relationships have lost their lives at the hands of powerful politicians and businessmen. In Karnataka, young people have been the targets for a series of assaults by Sangh Parivar outfits – and one schoolgirl Ashwini was driven to suicide after one such instance of public humiliation. Innocent Muslim youth are the target of a communal witch-hunt in the name of counter-terror operations. Governments of all hues announce competing ‘masterminds’ for the same offences. The total denial of transparency is underlined by the Government’s adamant refusal to order a judicial enquiry into the suspicious Batla House encounter.
“Women’s Empowerment” - The UPA Government, like its predecessor the NDA Government, has betrayed the long-pending promise of 33% reservation for women in Assemblies and Parliament. Women workers are bearing the worst brunt of price rise, job-cuts and wage cuts. Equal wages are routinely denied to women in most sectors, while in NREGA, women are denied their right to employment. Women workers are overwhelmingly confined to work that is casual, insecure and exploitative….Dalit and adivasi women continue to face social humiliation and violence – as the incident at Khairlanji reminded us. Women have also been targets for custodial killings and rape by security forces – the case of Manorama in Manipur sparked off a massive movement in 2004. Women have been at the forefront of movements against corporate land grab – and have been punished with rape and murder (for instance Tapasi Malik and the women of Nandigram).
CPI(ML) for Women’s Equality and Freedom: lPut 33% Reservation Bill to vote in Parliament lSecure employment, fixed and adequate remuneration and employees’ benefits for women employed in ASHA, anganwadi, mid-day meal and other services lEnsure legally mandated jobs for women, creche facilities at worksites, and introduction of separate bank accounts for women under NREGA lStern punishment for each instance of moral policing or coercion of women in inter-caste or inter-community relationships
“Social Justice” : All tall claims of social justice cannot cover up the fact that it is dalits and adivasis who form the overwhelming majority of victims of starvation deaths, displacement, eviction and corporate land grab. The neoliberal policies pursued by the UPA Government and all manners of State Governments have intensified this offensive on this most vulnerable section. Movements of Dalits and adivasis for their right to land, forests and natural resources like water face the most brutal repression: Kalinganagar and Chengara are stark examples….
CPI(ML)’s Charter for Dignity and Rights of Dalits, Adivasis and Backward Classes: lResistance to any attempt to negate or truncate reservation for SC/ST/OBCs in jobs and education lStern action against perpetrators of atrocities on SC-ST communities lFull right on land, water and forest resources lFull implementation of PESA provisions in areas with sizable tribal populations lFull protection of tribal rights in 5th and 6th Schedule areas
“Inclusive Development” for Minorities: The Sacchar Committee report revealed the extent of marginalisation of Muslims across the country – not just in BJP-ruled states but even in states ruled by so-called ‘secular’ forces. The UPA Government, however, has failed to implement the recommendations of the Sacchar Committee – and has therefore criminally failed to address the burning question of deprivation and marginalisation of minorities. But at the same time, in the wake of the Sachar Committee report, the Congress and UPA are trying to divorce the question of education and empowerment of minorities from that of justice. Education and other aspects of development are no doubt important. But is any empowerment for Muslim minorities possible without ensuring justice in cases of organised communal violence and ending the widespread stereotyping and communal witch-hunt in the name of countering terrorism? No amount of ‘inclusive’ rhetoric for Christian minorities can replace the questions of full freedom of religion; punishment for the perpetrators of Kandhamal; and scrapping of communally-motivated ‘anti-conversion’ laws.
When Muslims join movements against corporate land grab (as at Nandigram) or against pro-imperialist foreign policy, they are branded as ‘communal’ by those in power. This is nothing but a blatant denial of their rights of citizenship…
CPI(ML) is committed to struggling for: lImplementation of recommendations of the Sacchar Committee Report lJudicial enquiry into each instance of police encounter lExemplary and time-bound punishment for perpetrators of communal violence lEnsuring of the Constitutional provisions of religious freedom and protection of rights of minorities lEnsuring equal participation and equal opportunities for minorities in every sphere of national life
Vote For Real Change Against the Anti-people, Anti-poor Ruling Consensus: …[The] ruling class design to subject the polity to a duopoly of the UPA and NDA must be frustrated. But a rag-tag ‘third front’ that offers no policy alternative and is crowded by forces with dubious track record cannot face this challenge. Only a powerful Left and democratic camp drawing its strength from the struggles and aspirations of the Indian people for a better tomorrow can be the most effective bulwark against the ruling classes’ attempt to regiment the polity.
The 14th Lok Sabha had the biggest ever representation of the CPI(M) and its Left Front partners, but any hope that this would lead to a powerful Left assertion in national politics and strengthening of the Left and democratic camp was belied. The CPI(M)-led Left allowed itself to be shackled programmatically to the Congress-led UPA for most part of the UPA government’s tenure…the CPI(M)-led government in West Bengal became infamous for the most coercive attempts to acquire agricultural land in the name of industrialisation and SEZ.
The growing derailment and degeneration of the CPI(M)-led regimes in West Bengal and Kerala has come as a shock to the well-wishers of the Left even as it has emboldened the Congress and other rightwing forces all over the country to try and tarnish the image of the Left. Any real advance towards an effective third front to take on both the UPA and NDA calls for a rejuvenation of the Left movement and this in turn cannot be achieved without a firm and sustained struggle against the lapses and blunders and mistaken priorities and policies of the Left in power.
At the same time, the CPI(ML) also recognises the need and possibility of forging broader unity on issues of common concern. In Bihar, the CPI(ML) has taken initiative to unleash united action of diverse Left forces against the misrule of the NDA government in the state and in this election it has been possible to ensure seat adjustment among the three parties in Bihar.

Vote for CPI(ML) for a fighting Left opposition within Parliament
Vote for CPI(ML) to rebuild and revitalise the Left movement in the country and forge a fighting unity of Left and democratic forces

12th Martyrdom Anniversary of Comrades

Chandrashekhar Prasad & Shyam Narayan Yadav: Massive Turn-out in Siwan for CPI(ML)’s Parivartan Rally

More than twenty thousand people from every nook and corner of Siwan dist. assembled at Police Lines grounds in Siwan for a massive public meeting and Parivartan (transformation) rally on the occasion of the 12th martyrdom anniversary of Comrades Chandrashekhar Prasad and Shyam Narayan Yadav. The two comrades were assassinated by henchmen of notorious criminal and Siwan’s MP Shahabuddin on 31 March 1997, when they were addressing a street meeting in Siwan town in north-Bihar. The then Chief Minister of Bihar and RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav who encouraged and promoted Shahabuddin, not only looked the other way when people cried justice but also turned down every appeal for arrest and punishment of the top criminal of his Party for masterminding the assassination and numerous other heinous crimes. Addressing the rally CPI(ML) General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya said that 12 years back the people of Siwan appealed to Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav fervently for justice, but today the table has turned and the very same masses are going to punish the RJD, Shahabuddin and his protector Lalu Prasad Yadav in this election. He said that the huge turnout for this rally from all over Siwan is an indicator of the battle for transformation undergoing in Siwan dist. under the red flag of CPI(ML) and the victory of CPI(ML) candidate Com. Amar Yadav will be another landmark in that battle for transformation. It is noteworthy that the RJD supremo held his Party’s rally just the day before at the same venue and the total turnout was merely three thousand. Since Shahabuddin has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav has given his Party’s ticket to Shahabuddin’s wife and he was there to canvass for her. Lashing out at the NDA govt. in Bihar and referring to Nitish Kumar’s promise of bringing good governance in three months time before he became the Chief Minister, Com. Dipankar said that in three years of its (mis)rule this Govt. has proved to be a Govt. of nilami and gulami (auctioneering and slavery). He further said that the NDA and the UPA all were divided and only the Left was united in Bihar and only a strong Left movement can bring transformation in Bihar.
Party’s candidate from Siwan Com. Amar Yadav said in his address that the RJD has been seeking support from Yadav’s and Musllim’s in Siwan and elsewhere to win the seat, however, it is mostly common Yadav’s and Muslim’s who have been killed in quite a few numbers by the RJD and its goons. Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Com. Sandeep Singh and Student leader from Jamia Milia Islamia University Com. Aslam were also present on the dais and addressed the rally. Com. Aslam said that the RJD, UPA, NDA and other parties of the ruling class has always manoeuvred to project the Shahabuddin’s and Mukhtar Ansari’s as representatives and leaders of the minorities and then identify the minorities with such characters. Whereas the true representatives and identity of the minorities in our Country are not these characters but Azimullah Khan and Mohammad Ashfaqullah, the martyrs for the liberation of our people and Country from imperialism and oppression. The rally was also addressed by Comrades Satyadeo Ram (Party’s Gopalganj candidate), Javed Baig, President of the Inquilabi Muslim Conference, leader of the Revolutionary Youth Association Amarjeet Kushwaha and other leaders. The meeting was conducted by Com. Nayeemuddin Ansari, Party’s State Committee as well as Siwan’s Dist. Committee member.
Shahadat Saptah in JNU

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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