In this Issue
People’s Movements and the Communist Party
This 22nd of April we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the foundation of CPI (ML) in the midst of worldwide popular upheavals reminiscent of the powerful movements that shook the earth in the late 1960s.
The revolutionary communist party of India emerged in the heat of class struggle on the soil of India and as part of a spirited international campaign against revisionism. 22 April 1969 signalled the victorious culmination of a decades-long struggle between the opportunist Menshevik trend and revolutionary Bolshevik trend in the communist movement in this country; it signified that the revolutionary proletariat, with its distinct class programme of agrarian revolution as the axis of democratic revolution, had finally achieved a decisive break with right opportunism, asserted its complete political independence and held aloft the banner of revolutionary Marxism in India. Taking these historic achievements as core values or cardinal principles of revolutionary communism in our specific context, we have always strived to creatively apply them to meet the demands of changing situation.
Thus we came overground to boldly stand up in defence of Marxism against intensified ideological attacks in an atmosphere of apparent crisis of socialism and to unfurl the communist party banner in the midst of emerging democratic movements. Unleashing the inexhaustible revolutionary energy of landless and poor peasants and consciously promoting their leading role had always been a major hallmark of our movement, and when conditions became conducive we tried to further strengthen that feature by launching a militant national association of the rural proletariat. Simultaneously we have sought to broaden the base of peasant movement by forcefully raising the basic issues of peasantry caught in the agrarian crisis. We have consistently safeguarded the party’s political independence by refusing to be drawn into myriad opportunist alliances, striving instead to build struggling struggling fronts from below with various social forces on the move and to shape up in the process a genuine Left Confederation.
It is this dynamic and contemporaneous articulation of our fine revolutionary traditions that has enabled the Party to overcome the early setback, rectify mistakes and continue the forward march through shower and sunshine — as manifested for example in the success of Eighth Party Congress and the wholesome growth of, say, the All India Agricultural Labour Association (AIALA). This living legacy we are determined to carry to new heights, with the 40th anniversary year laying a solid foundation for that. Through a series of rallies, yatras, conventions, seminars and of course agitations on people’s issues, we will be carrying the Party’s message to all sections of the people. Get organised under the red banner of your Party — we shall call upon them — to strike harder against the national and international enemies who are trying to shift the burden of their crises on to your shoulders. We shall utilise the brisk propaganda and agitational activities to recruit new Party members and to form new Party branches. All this will be complemented by vigorous measures to improve the quality of inner-Party life: organising the entire membership in active Party branches, consolidation of district and lower level Party committees, correcting gender and other imbalances in the Party membership and leadership, further regularisation of Party education, streamlining the publicity mechanism, improving the organisational structure of our major mass organisations and so on.
In a word, it is an ideologically and organisationally consolidated expansion that we must fight for. Because such a Communist Party alone can lead people’s movements through struggles for immediate demands and beyond partiality forms to the goal of complete human liberation — a goal for which thousands upon thousands of communists have laid down their precious lives.
Nomination Paper of two CPI(ML) Candidates Rejected in Blatant Violation of the Election Commission Guidelines for Nomination
Both seats, Robertsganj (SC) and Chandauli in Eastern Uttar Pradesh
In blatant violation of the guidelines of the Election Commission and basic democratic rights of the scheduled castes and tribes to contest election, the Returning Officer (RO) Mr. Pandhari Yadav of Robertsganj (Parliamentary seat no. 80, Reserved-SC) under Sonbhadra dist. in Uttar Pradesh refused to accept CPI(ML) candidate Jittu Kol’s nomination paper during scrutiny on 31st March on a very frivolous and flimsy issue. The reason cited by the RO in support of his (arbitrary) decision to reject the nomination was that the two of the ten proposers for Jittu Kol’s candidature had put their thumb impression which was not verified by an officer not below the rank of an Assistant Returning Officer (ARO). However, the fact is that Comrade Jittu filed his nomination on 23rd march 2009 before the ARO and his nomination paper was seconded by ten persons of his constituency. Of these eight put their signature as proposer and two illiterate women proposers put their thumb impression before the ARO of Robertsganj and he duly accepted the nomination paper. The ARO had been authorised by the RO for this purpose and he accepted the nomination form without any comment or objection regarding the identity of the aforesaid two proposers.
As per directives of the Election Commission of India, as provided in Ch. V, under paragraph No. 15.1 under the heading of “PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF NOMINATION PAPERS” it is clearly stated that “As each nomination paper is filed, you or the Specified Assistant Returning Officer, as the case may be, is required by law to examine it then and there from the technical standpoint .....” and it is further clarified under the heading of Presumption of validity (Ch. VI, Para 7), “There is presumption every Nomination Paper is valid unless the contrary is prima facie obvious or has been made out. In case of reasonable doubt as to the validity of a nomination paper, the benefit of such doubt must go to the candidate concerned and Nomination Paper should be held to be valid....”. Another clause says- “It is always safer,…to adopt a comparatively liberal approach in dealing with minor technical or clerical errors.” not been signed by the candidate and / or by the required number of his proposer(s).
As the thumb impressions were put in front of the ARO and he accepted the nomination paper, it is deemed to be correctness of the thumb impression mark of the two proposers under the Law and the error was if any, it was on the part of the concerned ARO who has failed to identify the mark of the thumb impressions.
On aforesaid flimsy ground R.O. arbitrarily rejected the nomination paper of Com. Jittu Kol without calling for any explanation, verification or any opportunity in this regard to justify the genuineness of the thumb impression of the two Proposers, well knowing the fact that Robertsganj is a reserved seat for Scheduled Caste members and most of the people of the constituency are illiterate and majority are tribal. The ARO and RO were duty bound as per the guidelines of the Commission to verify the thumb impressions when the nomination paper was filed and they both showed utter callousness in discharging their duties. Instead, to cover-up their own incompetence and most probably for political vendetta the RO has accused the candidate of the fault that was of his making.
It is presumption under the Law that both proposers who made their thumb impression mark on the nomination paper were genuine because no contrary evidence was there and no objection in this regard made from any corner on the candidate. The rule 10.1 in the handbook for ROs says-
“You must reject a nomination if ...... (IX) The nomination paper has not been signed by the candidate and / or by the required number of his proposer(s).
As the thumb impressions were put in front of the ARO and he accepted the nomination paper, it is deemed to be correctness of the thumb impression mark of the two proposers under the Law and the error was if any, it was on the part of the concerned ARO who has failed to identify the mark of the thumb impressions.
In Chandauli, our candidate’s nomination paper was refused to be accepted by the concerned RO, an act again reeking of political vendetta. Our candidate Comrade Shyam Bihari Singh had filed his nomination on 25th March 2009. On date of scrutiny (31st March) the RO rejected his candidature citing a Varanasi session court order dated 11/04/1969 in which he was convicted for life imprisonment and which the candidate did not mention under column 3 of the nomination paper. However, there is no such record in the record-books of the said court. There was an order convicting him but whose date is 28/10/1975. It is submitted that the R.O. has failed to make an enquiry regarding the correctness and genuineness of the report dated 27.03.2009. However, our candidate produced before him the certified copies of the Judgment and order dated 09/01/1973 by which the Allahabad High Court allowed the appeal and set aside the Judgment and order dated 11.05.1969 of session judge, Varanasi. Further order of conviction and sentence passed on Shyam Bihari Singh was set aside and he had been acquitted of the charges. He also produced a certified copy of the Judgment and order of High Court, Allahabad, dated 9th July 1980 by which the Allahabad High Court allowed his appeal and set aside the Judgment and order of the conviction dated 28.10.1975 of special judge Varanasi and he had been acquitted of charges.
Com. Shyam Bihari Singh did not mention about the session court conviction in his nomination paper as he had been acquitted and both charges leveled against him were set aside by the Allahabad High Court. It is also to be noted that no objection was filed from any corner regarding his candidature. The RO reacted merely to a report dated 27/03/2009 of the Shahabganj (Dist. Chandauli) police station and he failed miserably to initiate his own enquiry to know the whole truth. When our Party got to know during scrutiny about such a ground being made to reject his candidature he was apprised of the whole antecedent of the issue raised by him. However, he gave the candidate only three hours to produce before him the copy of the order passed by Allahabad High Court acquitting him of those charges. It clearly shows that he has acted out of political bias and has abused his power.
In Delhi, a three member Party delegation met the CEC and submitted appeals demanding urgent action by the Election Commission to revoke the candidatures of the two comrades and to take strong action against the two ROs who abused their position as RO and acted not in interests of democracy and justice but out of political bias to favour certain specific candidates in their respective constituencies. However, so far the Election Commission has not taken any action to ensure justice and reversal of the order of two ROs.
In the first case of Robertsganj, our candidate Jittu Kol, has been in the forefront of CPI(ML) movement exposing and resisting the scams related to NREGA and forest rights, theft of public funds, feudal and state atrocities(The administration has classified this region as being Naxal affected and has made it a practice to harass tribals going about their daily lives). All this has undoubtedly made it inconvenient and difficult for the ruling class to pursue its loot and terror in the area. And making the excuse of two women proposers who had put their thumb impressions, it has rejected Com. Jittu’s candidature. Candidature of five other SC candidates were also rejected.
Poll Boycott & Parallel Election Movement in Robertsganj
Meanwhile, in Robertsganj, the Party has given a call for poll boycott in the constituency and has initiated a parallel election movement through which Party has called upon the people of Robertsganj to boycott a process that has such high contempt for those who are not literate and put their thumb impressions. Party has classified it as an insult of the entire populace of Robertsganj, a large number of whom are illiterate. It is significant to note that the area has a high proportion of Dalit and tribal population. Under this movement Party set up mobile booths and people have cast their vote by putting their thumb impressions on ballot papers printed by the Party. This is a mandate against the anti-democratic Administration and the electoral process. There has been enthusiastic response to the call for poll boycott and instead to participate in the parallel election movement and queues were seen waiting to cast their vote at the mobile polling booths set up by the Party.
Recently, the administration has been threatening to invoke National Security Act(NSA), if protest programmes continue. The police since April 8 have also been raiding the homes of the protestors at nights without arrest warrants. The police in the meantime have been campaigning amongst the Kol villagers asking them to vote for Samajwadi Party. One such Sub inspector, from Karma police station, Nathu Yadav was caught in the act. Instead of doing anything about this, the DM and SP, went and just forcibly picked up three activists involved in the polling-with-thumb-impression-campaign: Manish sharma, Md Kalim, and Rishidev Shukla from the CPI(ML) office.
No political parties have spoken against this gross violation of democratic rights as some of them – Mulayam’s SP and Mayawati’s BSP and also BJP-Congress stand to gain. In Delhi an appeal was circulated to condemn the violation and demanding from the Election Commission to ensure justice. The appeal has been signed by many democratic and human rights activists and well known personalities.
Army tries to Intimidate and Threaten Party Activists in Karbi Anglong
In what could be called an act of extreme form of political intimidation and terrorising political opponents, the Army personnel came to the Party office in Karbi Anglong and forcibly took away a few comrades to the Army ground and threatened them of killing them. The Party is protesting this incident and further reports are awaited.
Cadre Conventions & Candidate Introduction in Gujarat & Rajasthan
District Cadre Convention in Valsad (Gujarat): On 23rd March, the 78th martyrdom anniversary of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, Valsad district committee of CPI(ML) organised a cadre convention to gear-up the Party organisation toward effective election campaign
in the whole Valsad Parliamentary constituency where the Party is contesting for the first time. 150 Party members were present at the convention which was addressed by Comrades Prabhat Kumar-Central Committee member, Ranjan Ganguly-Party incharge for Gujarat, Gohil from Mumbai and Lakshman Bhai. Comrade Lakshman Bhai Chaggan Bhai Warli is the CPI(ML) candidate for this Lok Sabha seat.
As may be known Valsad is a reserved (ST) Lok Sabha constituency. The land-mafia have wrested control over forest land traditionally belonging to tribal people at many places in the region and this issue has been one of the core issues of struggle in the region by CPI(ML). Under Party’s leadership many struggles have been conducted in last two years and in 3-4 villages the struggle was successful in restoring the respective forest land to tribal people. More than 250 acres of land were reclaimed from the land-mafia. Simultaneously, the region also witnessed many important movements on the issues of SEZ and violation of democratic rights.
A brief Introduction of the Candidate (Valsad): Comrade Lakshman Bhai Warli is a popular tribal leader in the district. Before joining the Party three years back he had led several struggles as the local leader of tribal’ organisation for freeing tribal’ land from the clutches of land-mafia in Umargaon Taluka of Valsad dist. He took many initiatives for expanding Party work and organisation in the whole dist. He led successful struggles in different villages thus freeing hundreds of acres of tribal’ land from land-mafia and GIDC. Again, in Umargaon taluka the organisation under his leadership was successful in getting 65 tribal families their legal rights over 250 acres of land under The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006. About six months back a murderous assault was made on him by the henchmen of land-mafia who have a nexus with the BJP and Congress in the district, and despite being critically injured he was successful in beating back the attackers with the help of other Party activists.The campaign is in full swing in Umargaon Assembly constituency area and the emphasis was laid on intensifying the same in other Assembly constituencies – Kaprala, Pardih and Dharmapur.
Candidate in Sabarkantha: The second seat being contested in Gujarat is the Sabarkantha Parliamentary constiruency where Comrade Dashrath C. Singhali is our candidate. This comrade has been associated with the workers’ movement since thirty years, right from the days of his early youth. He stared active Party work among the oppressed masses of the dist. since year 2000 and provided leadership to various struggles including forest workers, daily wage workers of PWD, poor peasants and tribal’ people struggle for their rights on forest land. In the process he also faced court cases.
Propaganda campaign is underway in several Assembly constituencies of Sabarkantha since the beginning of May. These are- Kherbrahma, Idor, Viloda, Bhodasa, Meghraj, Prantij, Himmatnagar and Bayad. Local meetings have been held in hundreds of villages and dozens of kasbas. More than 1.5 lakh pamphlets have been distributed so far in the district.
Cadre Convention in Jhunjhunu (Rajasthan) : A cadre convention was held at Jhunjhunu on 5th April 2009, to intensify the election campaign. Party’s candidate here is Comrade Phoolchand Dhewa who is also National Executive member of the All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (AIALA). The convention was well attended and it was addressed by Comrades Prabhat Kumar, Ramchandra Kulhari, Omprakash Jhadoha and Phoolchand Dhewa. The speakers exposed and lambasted the UPA and Rajasthan Govts. for its utter insensivity towards peasants’ issues..
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