In this Issue
Binayak Gets Bail – When Will All our Binayaks Get Justice?
Dr. Binayak Sen has finally got bail following a favourable directive from the Supreme Court. In granting him bail, the apex court has also questioned the flimsy basis on which the Chhattisgarh government has charged him with sedition. The judges, Justice Harjit Singh Bedi and Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, are reported to have said that Binayak may well be a Maoist sympathizer but that does not automatically attract charges of sedition. They have also said that just as mere possession of Gandhi’s autobiography does not make one Gandhian, the same also holds good for the works of Marx, Lenin or Mao. It should however be noted that the comments made on the issue of sedition, though made in open court and reported widely in the media, are not part of the court’s order. In fact, the judges did not give any reason “lest they prejudice any party” in the case!
It is nevertheless refreshing to hear such words of sanity from the apex court at a time when the state has identified ‘Maoism’ as the biggest threat to internal security and cutting across ideological divides, central and state governments are joining hands to wage a veritable war on democracy in the name of combating the Maoists. Indeed such sanity is quite rare and on plenty of occasions the apex court has just upheld lower court verdicts without giving any relief to victims of state repression and lower court injustice. To remind our readers of just one such case, Comrade Shah Chand and thirteen others from Jahanabad district in Bihar who had been sentenced for life by a TADA court in Bihar in 2003 got no justice from the Supreme Court. No arms were recovered from these comrades; the inventory of articles found with them included copies of the Communist Manifesto, Mao’s articles and manuals of Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha and studies on Bihar’s agrarian economy. The TADA court had dubbed this literature ‘terrorist’ and the Supreme Court merely upheld this fiat of the TADA court!
Let us not forget that even in Dr. Binayak Sen’s case, he has just got bail and acquittal is still a long way off. It took nearly two years and a sustained campaign across the country and an international outcry by human rights campaigners to secure the first bail after Sen had been arrested in May 2007 on charges of ‘sedition’. Yet we know the Raipur trial court went on to convict him and once again the High Court rejected the bail plea. And let us also remember that while Dr. Sen has been granted bail there are many languishing in Chhattisgarh jails on sedition charges including tribal activists Kopa Kunjam and Kartam Joga and businessman Piyush Guha and hundreds of tribal people from entire Chhattisgarh villages designated as hotbeds of sedition! In spite of periodic interventions by the Supreme Court and repeated directives to the Chhattisgarh government to disband the unconstitutional Salwa Judum campaign, Chhattisgarh remains a veritable graveyard of human rights.
In the second week of March, Chhattisgarh police claimed to have fought an encounter battle with Maoists in the jungles of Dantewada. A fact-finding team visiting Chintalnar, Morapally, Timmapuram and Tadmetla villages in that area found the police claim to be nothing but a hoax. They said what had happened in reality was a full-scale rampage by state-sponsored Koya commandos and the “CoBRA” unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) from March 11 to 16 in the course of which at least three tribals were killed, three women were raped and over 300 houses/huts, granaries and other properties were set on fire. A few days later when Swami Agnivesh took a relief team to the villages, he was attacked forcing the NHRC to take notice and the Supreme Court to call for yet another hearing on the Salwa Judum case which is going on for four years now. And the latest SC hearing once again brought out the real truth that Chhattisgarh is experiencing a systematic war on human rights and that the war is being jointly sponsored by the state and central governments.
While welcoming the bail granted to Dr. Binayak Sen and the remarks made by the judges, the human rights movement cannot lose sight of this larger ongoing war. In fact, the time is now absolutely ripe for a powerful countrywide people’s movement for democratic rights. The draconian laws – some of them archaic, and some are of recent origin – must go. The sedition law (Section 124A of IPC), the AFSPA, the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005, the sweeping and draconian provisions of the UAPA – these are all utterly incompatible with the notion of a functional democracy. The awakened public opinion which has forced on the government the agenda of drafting an anti-corruption legislation must also call for repealing all these terrible laws which make a complete mockery of our constitutional liberties and rights. Let anti-corruption campaigners and human rights activists march together and unfurl the common banner of a democratic India free of corruption and repression.
Stop the Smear Campaign against Anti-corruption Campaigners
(Statement to the Press on 19 April in New Delhi)
The anonymous circulation of a CD claiming to implicate noted anti-corruption campaigners and members of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan, is cause for concern. The timing of the CD (released on the eve of the first meeting of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee), accompanied by a concerted attack on the lawyer duo by Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh as well as Amar Singh, is suspicious.
Prashant Bhushan is fighting numerous PILs and cases against corrupt Governments and powerful corporations. He has stressed that the fight against corruption will require not only an effective Lokpal Bill but an end to the policies of privatisation that create incentives for corporate plunder and corruption. Corporations and corrupt political forces therefore have a huge interest in undermining the credibility of the Bhushans. The smear campaign against the Bhushans is a reminder that the anti-corruption movement will face the most virulent and underhand attacks when it takes on pro-corporate and pro-liberalisation policies that are at the root of corruption.
Amar Singh, implicated in a host of corruption charges, has joined the Congress in attacking the Bhushans. He has also declared that the Congress has taken exemplary action in the case of every recent scam.
A scam-tainted UPA Government, opportunistically making common cause with the dubious Amar Singh to target such public-spirited individuals as the Bhushans, only further lowers its own already beleaguered credibility. Those responsible for the fabricated CD should be identified and sternly penalised.
Condemn the Firing and Repression on Jaitapur Protestors
No Fukushima on Indian Soil - Scrap the Jaitapur Project
(Statement to the Press on 20 April in New Delhi)
The CPI(ML) condemns the police firing and brutal repression on people protesting the Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra. The firing has claimed one life while many, including women, have been brutally assaulted by the police.
After Fukushima, people all over the world are reviewing the question of nuclear energy. In Jaitapur, the proposed nuclear plant in a earthquake-prone zone and near the seashore. Not only that, the design of the Jaitapur plant by French company Areva is completely untested. In such a situation, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh’s statement refusing to reconsider the nuclear plant at Jaitapur is absolutely unacceptable.
Simply in order to honour its commitment to the US-sponsored Indo-US Nuke Deal, the Central Government and Maharashtra Government cannot expose the people of Jaitapur to a risk of a nuclear accident. Farmers and fisher-people of villages in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra have been protesting against the Jaitapur nuclear project for long.
We stand in solidarity with the struggling people of Jaitapur and demand an immediate scrapping of the proposed nuclear plant at Jaitapur. Sandeep Singh, President of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) will be representing the CPI(ML) in a people’s March from Tarapur to Jaitapur from 23-25 April in solidarity with the Jaitapur struggle.
CPI(ML) Central Committee
State-wide Massive Mahadharna to Demand CBI Enquiry into Treasury Loot
Thousands of Agricultural Labourers-Peasants Assembled at all District HQs including Patna Declare Decisive Movement against Corruption
Nitish’s is a Govt of Corporate-Mafia-Contractors and Betrayer to the Poor
Terming the Govt of Nitish Kumar in Bihar as Govt of Corporates-Mafia-Contractors the CPI(ML) said that Nitish Kumar is only masking as anti-corruption Govt where as the fact is that corruption has scaled new heights in the State.
Intensifying its campaign against corruption in Nitish rule the CPI(ML) organised massive dharnas at all the district headquarters including Patna on 15 April to demand a CBI enquiry into rampant treasury loot that is continuing over the years and strict punishment to the ministers and officials involved in this loot.
CPI(ML) leaders addressing the maha-dharna led by Comrade Umesh Singh at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Statue (at Gandhi Maidan) in Patna said that the CAG report has once again exposed the issue of non-submission of accounts by Nitish Govt for an expenditure to the tune of 11,854.08 crores (118 billion rupees approx) and which must be investigated by the CBI.
CPI(ML) Central Committee member Comrade KD Yadav and other comrades- Shashi Yadav (AIPWA’s Bihar Secretary), Kamlesh Sharma (RYA General Secretary) and Tota Chaudhary (Ward Councillor) addressing the dharna said that the massive plunder of the funds meant for welfare schemes in Bihar is also one of the reason of the growing number of poor in the State.
Dharna was organised at Jahanabad led by Polit Bureau member Comrade Ram Jatan Sharma, at District Magistrate’s office in Arrah led by Comrade Rameshwar Prasad (AIALA President and also ex MP), at Darbhanga led by AIALA Genral Secretary Comrade Dhirendra Jha who said that during Nitish rule even feudal oppression has risen and life and dignity of dalits, EBCs and women have become endangered. Thousands of agricultural labourers, peasants, students-youth and women participated in dharna held at Sasaram, Bhabhua, Buxar, Siwan, Bettiah, Motihari, Gopalganj, Aurangabad, Gaya, Arwal, Biharsharif, Nawada, Purnia, Chhapra, Begusarai, Samastipur and Muzaffarpur among other places. The protesters pledged to root out corruption from Bihar and launch decisive battle against it from Panchayats to Patna.
Fact-finding report of CPI(ML)’s Team
A high level fact finding team of CPI(ML) has released a detailed report of its fact finding into loot and arson at Harchanda village of Darbhanga dist. The team comprised of Comrades Baidyanath Yadav (CPIML State Committee member), Shivan Yadav (Darbhanga Dist. Committee member and AIALA Convenor), Jagdish Ram and Vishnudev Paswan among others.
About the incident the team said that loot and arson were perpetrated by the henchmen of a dominant candidate because the poor of that village had refused to vote for him in the upcoming panchayat election. On 13 April there was a verbal spat between the villagers and Rajiv Kr. Chaudhary, son of the Mukhiya. On 14 April, Rajiv misbehaved with the Muslim women and burnt their baskets when they were collecting leaves in a mango orchard at Panchom.
This was followed up with a bigger assault on Harchanda village led by Rajiv Chaudhary and comprising more than 200 armed men, burning 24 houses and looting 54. Among the victims are various EB caste people like Sonar, Tatma, Teli, Koiri, Kumhar and others. The looted amount is to the tune of one crore rupees. From Rajendra Shah’s house alone a bicycle, two motorcycles, 70g gold and 35 thousand in cash was looted.
The team also said that the attack was perpetrated on the day of Ambedkar Jayanti and his statue too locates at Harchanda chowk was vandalised. Bhuiyan caste people also bore the brunt of this attack. The same criminals of Panchom village had also attacked Kajiyana Chaupal Tola under Jalwar panchayat three months back and led by same Rajiv Chaudhary. Prior to this Mushahars of Basuham in Benipur block have also been attacked.
The team said that attacks by dabang (dominant) candidates owing allegiance to the ruling parties have increased on Dalits, EBCs and poor and Nitish Kumar’s NDA Govt has completely failed in providing security to these communities and people. They also said that Nitish Govt has emboldened these feudal interests and criminal elements in them. The Party has demanded immediate arrests of those involved in loot and arson and has appealed to the people of Bihar to intensify the struggle against the rising assaults on dalits, EBCs and poor.
AIPWA’s workshop in Rajasthan
All India Progressive Women’s Association’s (AIPWA’s) 2-day long workshop was organised at Pushkar in Rajasthan on 15-16 April. 35 women from 6 districts – Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Pratapgarh, Tonk and Bhilwara participated in the workshop. AIPWA leaders Comrade Srilata Swaminathan (National President) discussed “International Situation and Communist Party and Women”, and AIPWA’s National Vice President Comrade Saroj Chaube discussed “Difference between Different Women’s Organisations and AIPWA” and “AIPWA’s Role and Direction in the Present Situation.” Women asked several questions emanating from their daily experiences. In this way the workshop became very lively.
In view of AIPWA’s National Conference to be held in February 2012, discussions were held on how to organise working and daily wage women like ASHA, Aanganbadi, house maids etc. AIPWA’s movement has also seen the issues highlighted by it being raised and debated in the State Assembly. Decision was taken to enroll ten thousand members before December 2011 when State Conference is to be held. District conferences have also been planned. Detailed membership targets were finalised in the meeting. Comrades in the workshop emphasised on equal attention to organisation, movement/campaign and propaganda.
CPI(ML)’s Area Conference in Delhi
CPI(ML)’s Patparganj (Delhi)-Ghaziabad-Noida area conference was held on 10 April. 50 delegates took part in the conference. About a dozen delegates contributed in the form of debate on the work report. Comrade Sanjay Sharma, Delhi’s State Secretary was present as guest and Comrade VKS Gautam, AICCTU General Secretary was present as State Committee’s observer for the conference. An eleven member area committee was elected.
On 12 April a protest demonstration was held in which the protesters marched from Noida Sector 9 jhuggi camp 20 to the Police Thana. The protest was part of campaign against corruption and campaign for dignity and basic rights in the Delhi metropolitan for the rickshaw pullers, street vendors, house maids and working women and men. The demonstration was led by Comrade Nand ji Yadav.
Builder from JD(U) Fires Indiscriminately at Mushahar Settlement in Patna
Police Unmoved and State Govt Takes no Action
Militant Protest Held
On 5 April 2011, goons of building company Amit Constructions and owing allegiance to JD(U), in the presence of police personnel from four different police stations shot indiscriminately at Jagdev Path (Siddhartha Nagar, Patna) located Mushahari basti with the intention to evict the residents and grab the land. One woman- Butti Devi (25 years) was killed in this firing and five others were injured.
A Chief Minister who wears the mask of love for Mahadalits, under his very nose a builder from his very own Party JD(U) fires indiscriminately at Mahadalits in the presence of police from 4 stations- is an example of the fact that how brazen and emboldened are criminals in Nitish rule who dare to perpetrate such massive crimes against an entire settlement and an entire community of people. And they think that they can evict and grab land with impunity.
However, during all this the Mushahars did resist this brazen aggression and burnt the builder’s vehicle, while police remained unmoved. After this Bailey Road was blockaded for two consecutive days by the people.
On 6th April, CPI(ML) Patna city committee members Comrades Navin Kumar, Murtaza Ali and Dharmendra Kumar visited the settlement and spoke to the victims families and other people from Mahadalit community. On the 3-quarter of an acre of land (24 Katthas) the Mushahar families have been living since 100 years and they have been using it as cemetery as well as lavatory apart from their dwelling place. Now, the descendants of old zemindars are trying to evict them through the builders and they have succeeded in encircling 60 percent of this land. In their design to snatch remaining land (10 Katthas) this firing was perpetrated.
Other such Mahadalit settlements (more than a dozen) in Patna too have faced such a fate or are faced with possible scenarios. It is obvious that these people have no papers for the land and builders are hawkish on these properties. Others who have already been evicted in similar incidents are spending life on streets and footpaths. They don’t have any security in life not even that of drinking water. In such a situation they become easy prey for exploiters.
On 7 April, the Sahari Garib Morcha (a front for the poor of the city) held a protest march led by its convenor Comrade Ashok Kumar and demanded slapping of Sec. 302 on the criminal builders and burnt an effigy of CM Nitish Kumar. This protest was followed up with another similar protest on 8th April. On 9 April a militant march was held against this land grab. The demonstration and leaders have demanded handing of proper land documents to the poor and Mahadalits of Siddhartha Nagar. They also demanded all basic amenities to be provided in these settlements.
A Study Camp at Davanagere
Two-days Study Camp was organized by the party on 9-10 April at Harapanahalli. Indian Institute of Marxist Studies (IIMS) State Convenor Laxmi spoke on Lohiaism, Ambedkarism and Marxism. AIPWA Vice-President E Rati Rao spoke on International Women’s Day and issues of women agricultural labourers. E Ramappa, state secretary of the Party presented some major propositions of Mao on party building. V Shankar, CCM presented a comprehensive picture of national and international developments ranging from Nepal, Egypt to Libya.
Com. Javaraiah, SLTM conducted the 2-day session. Com. J Bharadwaj, SLTM, described the series of struggles by various organizations in solidarity with agricultural labourers who were brutally lathicharged during a demonstration demanding disbursal of wages under NREGA. AISA NECM Prasad, NCM Manju also spoke.
Release of Booklet 'Mahila Chaluvali Mattu Communist Paksha'
Kannada version of the English booklet ‘Women’s movement and Communist Party’, titled as ‘Mahila Chaluvali Mattu Communist Paksha’ was released by Com. Rati Rao and the first copy was received by a local woman activist. This is the first booklet in the series of Party publications planned for 2011. The booklet was translated by N Divakar, PUCL, and was further enriched by Professor Laxminarayana. The book was released on 10 April in the study camp itself.
CPI(ML) Candidates in West Bengal Assembly Elections
1. Alipurduar (Jalpaiguri district) – Chanchal Das
2. Mainaguri (SC) (Jalpaiguri dist.) – Haripada Roy Laskar
3. Phansidewa (ST) (Darjeeling district) – Kandra Murmu
4. Itahar (North Dinajpur district ) – Suleiman Hafizi
5. Kaliaganj (SC) (North Dinajpur dist.) – Jagadish Rajbhar
6. Tapan (ST) (South Dinajpur district) – Raimon Kisku
7. Kushmandi (SC) (South Dinajpur dist.) – Sudesh Sarkar
8. Gajole (Maldah district) – Manabendranath Ray
9. Mothabari (Maldah district) – Rajab Ali
10. Rampurhat (Birbhum district) – Pradyut Mukherjee
11. Kandi (Murshidabad district) – Monirul Islam
12. Khargram (SC) (Murshidabad district) – Sadhn Marjit
13. Krishnanagar North (Nadia district) – Amal Tarafdar
14. Krishnanagar South (Nadia district) – Ansarul Huq
15. Nakashipara (Nadia district) – Pradeep Dutta Gupta
16. Kaliganj (Nadia district) – Altaf Hussein
17. Chapra (Nadia district) – Bijoy Saha
18. Nabadwip (Nadia district) – Parikshit Pal
19. Bardhaman Sadar (SC) (Bardhaman dist.)–Tarun Majhi
20. Kalna (SC) (Bardhaman district) – Piyush Sahana
21. Purbasthali North (Bardhaman dist.)–Ashok Chowdhury
22. Purbasthali (Bardhaman district) – Irai Sheikh
23. Monteswar (Bardhaman dist.)–Annada Pd. Bhattacharya
24. Dhanekhali (SC) (Hooghly district) – Tarun Baul Das
25. Saptagram (Hooghly district) – Sadhan Mal
26. Pandua (Hooghly district) – Subhasish Chatterjee
27. Balagarh (SC) (Hooghly district) – Gautam Mandal
28. Ashoknagar (North 24 Parganas district) – Jayashri Das
29. Naihati (North 24 Parganas district) – Subrata Sen Gupta
30. Bangan (North 24 Parganas dist.) – Himangshu Biswas
31. Kamarpara (North 24 Parganas dist.)–Nabendu Das Gupta
32. Saatgachhi (South 24 Parganas district) – Dilip Pal
33. Jadavpur (South 24 Parganas district) – Malay Tewari
34. Bagnan (Howrah district) – Debabrata Bhakta
35. Onda (Bankura district) – Baidyanath Cheena
36. Ranibandh (ST) (Bankura district) – Sudhir Murmu
37. Chhatna (Bankura district) – Abhijit Hansdaa
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