In this Issue
Defeat the UPA’s War on Democracy! Build Broad-based Democratic Resistance!
In the name of combating the ‘Maoist menace’ the UPA government is gearing up for a massive combat operation. The Cabinet Committee on Security has already cleared the Home Ministry plan to take the “war on Maoists” to the next level even as Chidambaram shies way from describing the operation in terms of an outright war. While on record the Prime Minister has ruled out the possibility of deployment of the Army in the operation, the scale and framework of the proposed operation indicate nothing short of an all-out military offensive. The Home Ministry talks of waging simultaneous operation on eleven theatres covering over 2000 police station areas in 223 districts, and the Defence Minister and Air Chief Marshal talk of deploying IAF’s special force Garuda with powers to fire in ‘self-defence’. A special central force called COBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) has already been raised and pressed into service.
In tandem with this military offensive, a full-scale propaganda war is also underway. Influential sections of the print and electronic media are working overtime to manufacture a ‘national consensus’ in favour of the military offensive. With state governments all joining in, contours of a grand political consensus are easily discernible. The RSS session at Rajgir – this was the first time the Sangh held its session in Bihar – has expressed its full-throated support to Chidambaram’s ideas. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee too made it a point to take time off from the CPI(M) PB meeting in Delhi to meet Chidamabaram over breakfast to demand more forces and a more intensified and concerted drive. Mamata Banerjee of course conveniently seeks to distance herself from this consensus, expecting everybody to ignore the fact that the ongoing paramilitary offensive in West Bengal is very much a joint venture sponsored by the government at the Centre where she is a cabinet minister.
The Maoists with their reckless actions are of course doing everything possible to alienate large sections of the democratic opinion. With every passing day, they demonstrate increasingly clearly how far they have moved away from the legacy of the Naxalbari peasant rebellion and Comrade Charu Mazumdar. Comrade CM was no advocate of isolated and exclusive armed actions – for him the two key phrases were “integration with the landless rural poor” and “politics in command”. The Maoists have delinked the whole question of arms from this essential context and have thus moved beyond the purview of the CPI(ML), the party founded by Comrade Charu Mazumdar. This is why they have had to find new names to describe their ideology and organization. The alienation and anger of the tribal masses does provide the Maoists with some favourable initial conditions, but they have done nothing to channelize it to any powerful mass awakening. On the contrary, Lalgarh shows how the Maoists have miserably misled a popular uprising.
The Government of India and the various state governments are however invoking the ‘Maoist threat’ not only to tackle the Maoists but to suppress every movement of the working people and stifle every democratic dissent. Reports of indiscriminate detention in false cases and on fabricated charges, custodial torture and harassment, and attacks on the press and on the freedom of expression are coming in from every corner of the country. The dark days of the Emergency seem to be staging a comeback in so many ways. The revolutionary Left movement must boldly face this situation by in close association with other democratic forces. There can of course be no condoning the reckless acts of the self-styled Maoists, and it is imperative to sharpen the lines of demarcation between anarchism and revolutionary Marxism even as we seek broad-based cooperation to defeat the growing war on democracy.
Land Reforms Sangharsh Yatra & Massive Convention of the Share-croppers &Landless
CPI(ML) in Bihar launched a state-wide campaign from 3-8 October to force the Nitish Govt. to urgently implement the recommendations of the D. Bandopadhyaya Land Reforms Commission. Senior leaders of the Party led campaigns to mobilise people in large numbers in different districts of Bihar. The Sangharsh Yatra called upon the masses to reject and oust the Nitish Govt. which is so blatantly on the side of landlords and land-grabbers. The campaign has made gains as regards to mobilising democratic and justice loving opinions while exposing the true class character of other parties on the issue of land reforms in the State – like BJP, Congress, RJD and LJP apart from the JD(U).
CPI(ML) State Secretary Com. Nand Kishore Prasad said that land reforms is the key to social transformation and development in Bihar and has been one of the main issues of people of Bihar. However, the successive govts. have tried their best to avoid it under pressure from the feudal and other powerful sections of the State.
On October 3rd, Sangharsh Yatras (struggle marches) were taken out - from Madhuban village in Patna led by AIALA’s National President Com. Rameshwar Yadav and Party’s MLA Nand Kumar Nanda, from Arrah in Bhojpur led by Com. KD Yadav- State President of BPKS, from Karakat in Rohtas dist. led by Com. Arun Singh, from Biharsharif in Nalanda led by AIPWA’s State Secretary Com. Shashi Yadav, from Shaheed Com. Chandrashekhar’s statue at Siwan led by our MLA Com. Amarnath Yadav, from Hathua in Gopalganj led by CCM Com. Meena Tiwari, from Manjhaulia in West Champaran led by Com. Virendra Gupta, in Mujaffarpur led by Com. Jitenda Yadav, in Purnia led by Com. Madhvi sarkar, in Darbhanga led by Com. Dhirendra Jha, in Begusarai led by Com. Chandradeo Ram, in Aurangabad led by Com. Rajaram Singh, in Patna led by Com. Saroj Chaubey and in Bhagalpur led by Com. SK Sharma. Apart from these districts Yatras were also taken out in Chhapra, Vaishali, Araria, Banka, Munger, Lakhisarai, Jamui, Madhubani and Sitamarhi districts. At all of the above mentioned places tens of other State and dist. level leaders of the Party and our mass organisations jointly led the Yatras.
During the Sangharsh Yatra in 30 districts of the State more than a thousand public meetings and gatherings were organised and addressed. Foot marches and vehicular campaign aided the intensive campaign. The Sangharsh Yatra crossed more than five thousand villages in 200 sub-divisions/blocks.
On 10th October a massive Land Reforms Convention at Patna was addressed by CPI(ML) Gen. Sec. Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya. Pointing to a complete absence of any law for the share-croppers and agricultural labourers in Bihar where Nitish Kumar talks of Law and order, he said that carnages like Amousi could have been avoided if Nitish Kumar led Govt. had implemented the recommendations of the D. Bandopadhyaya Commission. The Convention also warned the Nitish Govt. that if no action is taken within a month’s time based on D. Bandopadhyaya Land Reform Commission’s report then the agricultural labourers, share-croppers and small and middle peasants under the banner of CPI(ML) will launch a broad-based, militant and decisive movement. The Convention was also addressed by other leaders of the Party and members of intelligentsia.
Some of the resolutions passed at the Convention -
(1) This massive Convention of landless-sharecroppers-peasants holds the policy of reluctance and feudal attitude of the Govt. towards land reforms to be responsible for Amousi massacre. The Govt. that swears in the name of Mahadalits is only repressing them and painting them as criminals instead of providing them land, food-grains, dignity and housing. The Convention condemns the large scale repression, implicating in false cases and arresting of Mushahar people at Khagaria, Saharsa, Darbhanga, Begusarai and Munger districts after the Amousi massacre, and demands that all the cases be withdrawn and arrested people be released immediately, and all landless families including the Mushahar community be granted 10 decimal housing plot and one acre of farm land, (2) this convention terms the Rajgir conference of RSS as an exercise in vitalising the feudal-communal forces and calls upon all the poor-secular people to launch resistance against its proposed Gram Raksha Vahinis (village defence squad) aimed at encouraging the aggressiveness of feudal-kulak forces.
Declarations: (1) In the light of recommendations of the D Bandopadhyaya Commission the State Govt. must urgently enact new laws for ceiling and share-cropping. Bhoodan, ceiling and housing plot parchadharis (those who have papers) must be facilitated in getting hold of the said land. Sharecroppers be safeguarded from eviction and all required helps ranging from bank loan to crop-damage compensation and other Governmental schemes pertaining to agricultural be extended to them, (2) this massive convention strongly condemns the betrayal by past Congress, RJD and current JD(U) governments as regards to land reforms and calls upon intensifying land struggle. The convention declares to organise a State-level workshop at Mujaffarpur on 28-29 October to provide impetus to the struggle for land reforms, (3) the Convention declares to launch a parallel registration campaign for share-croppers, landless poor and home-less landless and demands that all matters related to land be handed over to panchayats and panchayats be authorised to issue identity cards to share-croppers and landless. This Convention calls upon the Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha (BPKS) and AIALA to come to the forefront for collecting records of feudals-muscle men holding Govt. land and launching struggle against them, (4) the Convention declares that if the Govt. does not shy away from its pro-landlord and pro-zamindar policies, and if it does not move to establish rule of law and ending anarchy on the issue of land then all the govt. and ceiling surplus land will be captured throughout the State.
Pricol Update
Subsequent to the incident at the Pricol automotive parts manufacturing company at Coimbatore on 21-22 September 2009, the police initiated a crackdown operation on innocent workers and their leaders. Murder cases were fabricated against more than 20 workers, including two women. The charges of murder and of damages to properties were framed against the union’s all-India President Comrade S Kumarasamy with the ulterior motive of finishing off the union. The same cases were also foisted against many workers’ leaders and vanguards at factory level who are under suspension or dismissal and who are not entitled to enter the factory. More than 26 innocent workers, including eight women, were arrested within 24 hours on non-bailable offences, digging up some old cases of unlawful assembly that alleged to have happened in March 2009. These arrests were made two days prior to a meeting of an AICCTU delegation with the Deputy Chief Minister and the day before the anticipatory bail petition for S Kumarasamy was filed in the High Court of Chennai. The next hearing of the bail petition of S Kumarasamy has been posted on 15th October.
Around 26 workers arrested on charges of unlawful assembly were released on bail on 7 October after having been jailed for over a week. The workers of Pricol wanted to participate in struggles on 1 October as a part of all-India Protest Day called by AICCTU at national level. The police denied permission for the demonstration. On 3rd October, a Solidarity Committee with Pricol workers sought permission to hold a demonstration in support of the struggle and was denied by police. Hundreds of supporters of the struggle courted arrest violating prohibitory orders.
An all India delegation of AICCTU led by its all-India General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee, and comprising all-India Vice-President V Shankar, Secretaries N K Natarajan and Balasubramanian visited Coimbatore on 6th October. When the delegation went to address the press at press club, more than hundred policemen cordoned off the place to create a situation of terror. The delegation also addressed a well attended convention of workers of Pricol on the same evening. In spite of heavy repression and prevalence of terror situation, workers participated in the convention in good strength and displayed utmost struggling spirit and a sense of fighting unity. The convention was symbolic of the renewed vigour and resolve of workers to carry forward the struggle. The convention also paid homage to a Pricol worker who committed suicide unable to bear the management’s victimization of workers and the police harassment.
The delegation also met the State Labour Minister, State Labour Commissioner and the state police Chief, the Director General of Police and submitted a memorandum demanding withdrawal of false cases against Comrade S Kumarasamy and other innocent workers. The delegation also demanded suitable legislative amendments for recognition of trade unions that enjoy the support of majority workers.
On 2nd October, a state level delegation of AICCTU led by N K Natarajan and comprising of state deputy general secretaries A S Kumar and Bhuvana, G Radha Krishnan and two Pricol workers, met the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin. The delegation urged him to initiate suitable actions to establish the rule of law and to discipline the Pricol management which is responsible for industrial anarchy.
Subsequent to this high-level meeting, a peace meeting on 7 October was called, under the guidance of the Deputy Chief Minister, by the Deputy Commissioner of Labour Mr. Marimuthu at Coimbatore who served notices to the union and the management. The management preferred to stay away from the meeting while the union was present in the said meeting. The management continues to arrogantly defy any steps for peace.
The management also declared a differential bonus formula for different groups. While the majority workers in the union were unilaterally offered the statutory minimum bonus of 8.33%, the minority loyal workmen represented by treacherous unions were offered 20% bonus plus gift. This is also a sufficient indication that violation of laws by the management is going on unabated and there is no political or legal authority competent enough to prevail on the Pricol Management. This is the usual story of corporate or MNC influence and control over the State authorities instead of the reverse.
It is heartening that almost all Left trade unions like AITUC, CITU, AIUTUC and HMS offered support to the workers’ demands at national and state level. They also readily signed the joint statement. The struggles, rallies and demonstrations emphasizing the Pricol workers’ demands, are on in Chennai on every other day since 29 September. All India Agricultural Labour Association also joined the protest in support of workers in rural areas displaying the sense of unity with workers. Students and women too, joined the voice of protest in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The struggle of Pricol workers’ continues – even as the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre is pushing the agenda of ‘reform of labour laws’ – a euphemism for rollback of labour laws to appease the corporations and to intensify the liberalization offensive.
Some other updates: 06 Oct- Chennai Labor Court Boycott, 07 Oct- Rally in Chennai. Around 800 Participated. Demonstration in Salem, participants- 150. Public meet in Tirunelveli. Management boycotted the peace meet called by the Coimbatore Labor Department on the advice of Dy. CM. 09 Oct- Court boycott in Tirunelveli. Demostration in Villupuram- 250 participated.
All India Convention Demands End to the Culture of Encounters
The All India Convention on State, Democracy and ‘Terrorism’ organised by the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA) on October 1, at Jamia Millia Islamia was attended by hundreds of students, teachers and members of Delhi’s civil society. Hindi edition of the JTSA report on Batla House was released at the occasion by Justice Rajinder Sachar, who addressing the audience reminded them how the obsession with security was seriously undermining the liberty of citizens.
The Convention was addressed by representatives of political parties including the CPI(ML) and prominent civil rights activists from across the country who highlighted the specific cases of encounters and communal witch hunt in their states. S.R. Darapuri, ex IG and retired IPS officer, and currently the Vice President of PUCL, said the composition of the police force, which had negligible Muslim presence was to a large extent responsible for its communal bias. Shafiq Mahajir, a senior lawyer from Hyderabad, presented a photo documentation of the police firing at innocent worshippers after the blasts in Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad. The photographic evidence he placed clearly proved that the police had fired with a clear communal intent; the worshippers were peaceful after the blasts and the police concocted stories that they were not allowing access to ambulances and pelting stones. Com. Kavita Krishnan said that the war on terror has a clear mandate from the US, it is noteworthy that on the anniversary of 9/11, the Indian Home Minister was in the USA taking lessons from American government. She pointed out that issues such as secular agenda, terrorism, and foreign policy are not divorced but linked intimately to each other.
Some of the Resolutions:
This house- (1) resolves to strengthen the movement for the demand of an independent and fair probe into the Batla House ‘Encounter’. It demands the Prime Minister to immediately institute a Judicial Enquiry into the ‘encounter’, (2) rejects the partisan and biased enquiry by the NHRC, which refused to take cognizance of the points raised by the civil rights activists, and which failed to even visit the site of the ‘encounter’ to meet possible eye witnesses and neighbours, (3) demands speedy justice for the accused and arrested youth. The filing of separate charge sheets in different blasts, even in the same city, implies that the trials will be prolonged for years. We demand that a mechanism of parallel trials be evolved in order to ensure the time-bound conclusion of trials, (4) notes with great alarm the communally biased torture and mistreatment of accused in the terror related cases in the various jails across the country. In particular, the brutal violence in Sabarmati Central Jail on March 27, 2009, and the violence that SIMI accused were subjected to by Jail authorities in Jaipur on 21st September on Eid, (5) demands immediate punishment for the police personnel responsible for the extra judicial killing of Chungkham Shanjit and Rabina Devi in July 2009, (6) demands the repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the states of Northeast and Kashmir, which has bred an atmosphere of impunity, (7) All those found guilty of implicating innocents as terrorists, as in the case where the Delhi Police Special Cell fabricated evidence to claim two young men as operatives of Al Badar, should be given exemplary punishment, (8) demands the Rajasthan government and the central government to investigate the Ajmer blasts, which the late Hemant Karkare, IG, ATS, Maharashtra was pursuing, (9) resolves to build a wide political movement for the defence of human rights and for the revamping of the state and national human rights commissions, (10) urges the Indian government to immediately halt the violence against the advisasis in Chattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal in the name of fighting Maoists.
AICCTU’s National Council Meeting
The National Council of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) met on 10-11 October 2009, at Bhilai, Chattisgarh. The Hall and venue were respectively named after Shaheed Darash Ram Sahu and Shaheed Shankar Guha Neogi. Meeting was presided over by a presidium comprising of comrades Swapan Mukherjee, Tarsem Jodha, RN Thakur, AS Kumar, NM Thomas, Suvendu Sen and Subhas Sen. The meeting started with paying homage to Com. Basru (Ibn-Ul Hasan Basru), a veteran leader of the communist movement and Central Committee Member of the CPI-ML who died on 29 September 2009; Com. Balagopal, a fighter for human rights and other comrades who departed recently and the workers killed in Balco Tragedy on 23rd September. After the meeting, a rally was taken out by 500 people, mainly contractual sanitary workers. The summary of the deliberations and decisions of the meeting is as follows:
1. Strongly condemning the false implication of the national President of AICCTU, S. Kumarasamy in Pricol incident the meeting demanded immediate withdrawal of all fabricated cases against him and workers of Pricol. In view of the impending danger of arrest of Com. S. Kumarasami and continuing witch hunt of Pricol workers, the meeting decided to launch immediate Country wide protests and further intensify the ongoing movement in different forms like jail bharo, mass signature campaign etc. through out the country on these demands. The meeting has also given a call for “Solidarity Fund” for pricol workers. The meeting also decided to launch a nationwide campaign in the month of November centring on the issues of State repression on peoples’ and workers’ movements, Violation of labour rights including snatching of right to form union and to strike, Price rise with the demands of Rs. 200 per day as minimum wage at national level for all unorganized workers and linking it with VDA and strengthening and universalizing the PDS system.
2. The meeting conveyed its gratitude to all the organizations from India and abroad for their solidarity and support with AICCTU in the Pricol incident including the TUs and other progressive organizations from UK, US and South Asia. These all organization have protested against the false implications on S. Kumarasami by sending protest letters or signing the online petition to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. A notable protest among them is boycott of pricol products in Birmingham, UK
3. The meeting in the light of deliberations of all India workshop of working women activists of AICCTU held at Bhilai a day before the national council meeting, decided to observe all India Demand Day on 23rd Nov. centring on the demands, like granting the status of govt. employee to working women working in govt. sectors like Anganbadi, ASHA etc., Rs. 200 per day for 8 hrs. as minimum wage at national level for all women workers employed in unorganized sector, equal wages for equal work, Guarantee full security to the working women at the work place and strict implementation of “Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Work Place” Act 2007 and a Bill at central level for social security of Domestic working women. The meeting also decided to form a 21-member women cell of AICCTU to lay special emphasis on organizing working women
Livelihood Rights Conference
TN Civil Supplies Corporation, through which PDS is implemented, has over 18000 non-permanent load workers, working for more than 10 years. AICCTU has taken up many initiatives on their issues and on 20th September organized Load Workers’ Livelihood Rights Conference, in which Com. Kumarasami gave a call for two-day strike on 5 and 6 of October. The Call was implemented in over 80 godowns in TN and permanent workers working in those godowns went on leave in support of the strike. The striking workers demanded that they should be recognized as permanent workers, workers who worked for 480 days in 2 years should be regularised, wages and other benefits as extended to the permanent workers and Rs.7000/pm as minimum wages.
|
