The May Mandate and After

Yet another exit poll has been rubbished by the actual poll outcome. Of the four states and one union territory, which went to the polls on May 10, only Kerala has conformed to the exit poll predictions. All the other states have their own surprising stories to tell.

But first, let us look at the larger picture. From Assam to Tamil Nadu, NDA partners have been mauled quite badly. Even in Kerala and West Bengal where the BJP fought it alone and was by its own admission looking only for some entry points into the Assembly and not for a slice of power, the party has suffered a clear setback. The economic crisis resulting from the government's disastrous policies lurked as a common live backdrop to all these Assembly elections. The snowballing popular resentment against the growing economic misery has been a key component fuelling the so-called anti-incumbency wave in most states. On the whole, the May mandate is bound to add to the worries of the Vajpayee government at the centre and it may well catalyse a realignment of political forces against and away from the NDA. Among non-BJP forces, advocates of a third front will, however, have to face a considerably re-energised Congress boosted by its significant gains in Kerala and Assam.

The Left Front had high stakes in these elections. It has lost one of the two states where it was in power, but as of now its emphatic win in West Bengal has managed to eclipse its equally emphatic defeat in Kerala. The CPI(M) is blaming its defeat in Kerala on an underhand Congress-BJP deal and on the crash in cash crop prices. Both arguments however also expose the Left's own opportunism and bankruptcy. The CPI(M) has only itself to blame if it glosses over the essential commonality between the Congress and the BJP, the two rightwing parties of the ruling classes. If the BJP's vote share in Kerala has been halved in this election, it could very well be a reaction to the plight resulting from the BJP's surrender to WTO. Instead of treating it as a case of communal consolidation in favour of the Congress, the moot question for a Left government should be why it found itself at the receiving end of the people's disenchantment. Observers say the defeated Nayanar government has been one of the worst and most insensitive in the history of Left governments in Kerala and the verdict in Kerala is a veritable indictment of this discredited regime.

In West Bengal, the Left Front has clearly got a new lease of electoral life under the leadership of Buddhadev Bhattacharya. The Congress-Trinamool combine was beset with all sorts of internal and external problems, and a united Left Front succeeded in making inroads into the traditional Congress turf in several districts. This effectively made up for whatever reverses the Left Front suffered in its own strongholds in spite of its legendary electoral machinery. Incidentally, along with Mamata's "now or never" bid for power, and the BJP's ambitious plans of saffronising Bengal, the polls have also buried the paper tiger called PDS. In social terms, Buddhadev has emerged as the clear corporate choice of the day and sections of the disillusioned Bengali middle classes also appear to have rallied back around the Left Front. It now remains to be seen how Buddhadev, the new-found darling of the corporate sector and upwardly mobile middle classes, proposes to reconcile the core social coalition he has inherited as a legacy of the Left since the late 1960s with his profound fondness for economic reforms modelled on the Andhra pattern.

In Assam, a resurgent Congress has not only managed to wrest power from the hands of the AGP-BJP-ABSU-ASDC(U) combine, the third forces have also been humbled in the process. In no other region has this perhaps been more pronounced than the erstwhile non-Congress citadel of Karbi Anglong where the ASDC(P) has lost all the five seats and the Congress has succeeded in regaining its lost presence. The ASDC faction led by Holiram Terang has managed to hold on to a couple of seats but only by reneging on the ASDC's anti-Congress anti-BJP independent credentials. The Left and other revolutionary democratic forces will have to wage a tough battle to recover their lost ground and intervene in the turbulent politics of Assam.

In Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha has returned to power riding on the crest of yet another 'sympathy' wave and heading a well-crafted alliance. But while draping herself in a whole new set of 'secular' clothes, she has also managed to expose the politics of crass opportunism and double standards. It is quite revealing to see so many anti-corruption anti-autocracy crusaders of yesteryears turn ardent supporters of Jayalalitha in her latest 'secular' avatar.

Opening Up Defence Sector to MNCs Would Endanger National Security -- CPI(ML)

CPI(ML) in a statement issued on 10 May strongly opposed the Vajpayee government's decision of further opening up various sectors, including the strategic defence sector to private and foreign direct investment by multinational corporations and said, "The government has blurred the distinction between the strategic and non-strategic sectors. Earlier, it was talking of privatisation only in non-strategic sectors, but, now it has opened up even defence sector for private and foreign multinational investment. It holds serious implications for national security."

The party charged the BJP-led NDA government with sqandering away vital national assets to foreign multinationals and abdicating its responsibility of safeguarding the crucial sectors like banking, telecommunication, pharmaceuticals, transport and civil aviation.

The Party said, "The government is not only institutionalising corruption in economy and politics and breaking the backbone of the economy, it is also damaging the national security of the country. Massive protests must be developed to unseat such a government."

Blast in Muzaffarpur Church by VHP

Vishwa Hindu Parishad goons threw crackers at St. Francis Cathedral situated at Kalambagh Road in Muzaffarpur in Bihar on 5 May. They threw anti-Christian pamphlets and tried to tear the Bible. Party District Committee members led by State Committee member Com. Meena Tiwary visited the site immediately after the incident and met church people. On 8 May a march, led by Central Committee member Com. KD Yadav, was taken out in Patna to protest against the outrage and a meeting was held at All India Radio square. Com. KD Yadav also met the Bihar Archibishop Mr. Benedict Costa and appraised him of our Party's concern over such attacks.

State Party Conference in UP

The 7th State Party Conference in U.P. is going to be held on 26-27-28 June in Jamania, Ghazipur. It would be centred on the main slogans "Oust Rajnath's Police-Mafia-Saffron Raj", and "March Forward Along the Red Wave of Revolutionary Struggles". A leaflet issued for the occasion exhorts upon the party ranks to march courageously to impart a leftward shift to the politics in Uttar Pradesh, the country's heartland, at this crucial juncture of our national life.

Our Performance in Bihar Panchayat Elections

Bihar State Committee of CPI(ML) has complained to the State Election Commission apprehending largescale rigging during the counting of votes. Particularly the inordinate delay being in the counting has made rigging more probable. Dharnas and street corner meetings were organised in almost all block offices in Bihar on 7 May to protest rigging in counting.

In most of the districts, counting of votes has not yet started. It seems the whole of May will be consumed in completing the counting. In some districts like Bhojpur, where the counting started, it is still going on and it is expected to finish only by the evening of 15 May. However, according to whatever unfinished reports we have received, In Bhojpur candidates supported by CPI(ML) have bagged 2 seat in District Council(DC), 18 Mukhiya (Village Panchayat Chief) seats and 14 Block Development Council (BDC) seats. In Darbhanga, we won 8 Mukhiya seats and 11 BDC seats and in Nalanda, apart from winning 8 Mukhiya and 5 BDC seats, we secured one seat in DC also. In Buxar, we won 1 DC seat, 3 Mukhiya seats and 4 BDC seats. In Samastipur, 1 Mukhiya and 3 BDC seats went to our candidates. In Katihar, we won 5 Mukhiya and 4 BDC seats, and in Buxar 4 Mukhiya and 4 BDC seats. In West Champaran we won 1 Zila Parishad, 3 Mukhiya seats and 3 BDC seat, and in Begusarai we won 3 Mukhiya seats.

In Jahanabad, our candidates have won 4 Zila Parishad seats, 13 Mukhiya seats and 25 BDC seats. The victory of our candidates in important areas of class struggle has once again proved that basic masses continue to stand on our side at the grassroots level even facing severe repression. For example we won Mukhiya seat in Bathe, where Ranvir Sena had massacred 58 innocent people in 1997, and in Shankarpur, where the massacre in 1999 had even resulted in imposition of president's rule in the state for a brief period, we won Mukhiya and Zila Parishad seats. Similarly in Damuha-Khagri and Bistaul, we won Mukhiya seats, BDC and Zila Parishad seats. We also won Mukhiya and Zila Parishad seat in Mande Bigha of Jahanabad.

Privatisation of Foreign Policy

The nexus between Hinduja brothers and Vajpayee administration has brought forth a new facet of the saffron-led NDA government, privatisation of India's foreign policy. It has been revealed in the British Press that Srichand and Gopichand Hindujas introduced Brajesh Mishra, Vajpayee's National Security Adviser, to the the British Prime Minister Tony Blair in June 1998, when Brajesh Mishra was on his post-Pokhran-II mission to western capitals. The letters from Hindujas to Tony Blair's Chief of Staff reveal that Hindujas were speaking on behalf of Brajesh Mishra and Vajpayee on crucial matters of foreign policy. Then there are also news in the western media that Hindujas also arranged Brajesh Mishra's meeting with President Jacques Chirac of France. It should be kept in mind that in 1998 Vajpayee was his own foreign minister and Brajesh Mishra virtually ran the foreign policy. Defending this indefensible practice, BJP says that Hindujas served a "national cause" in arranging the meeting. The same Hindujas were since July 1993 trying to prevent the CBI gaining access to documentary evidence about the Bofors payoff. Does this not reveal some sort of deal between the ruling combine and the main opposition party, both making light of Mishra-Hinduja affair? Here Quattrocchi and Hindujas seem to unite the ruling and opposition parties in India. Will such a consensus reinforce people's faith in the democratic setup? Is this how our main parties serving the "national cause"?

Burdensome Food Policy

Food stocks with the FCI have increased to 45.74 million tonnes. This is almost double its buffer stock norms. And the bad news now is that Iraq has rejected large consignments of wheat sent by India to it under the UN's food-for-oil programme because of its poor quality. In the case of rice exports, India faces tough competition from China, Vietnam and Thailand. So the FCI can sell neither wheat nor rice. Its poor competitiveness is not amazing in the light of the fact that a part of FCI storage is already three years old. Given the steadily declining food offtake, this predicament seems unavoidable.

Not only procurement prices have increased, issue prices have also been hiked and PDS prices have also been hiked in the last year's budget in order to reduce food subsidy bill. The sale prices of foodgrains under PDS have come closer to market prices as a result. Consequently India has not only become internationally uncompetitive, but its own BPL population also cannot easily afford to buy grains from the ration shops. Food offtake declined by 33% between April and December last year. The burgeoning stocks are also because state governments are refusing to lift PDS foodgrains either because it is sub-standard, adulterated because of FCI officials' corruption; or the states themselves are bankrupt.

Will the Vajpayee government arrange to distribute it free to the people BPL in drought hit areas? or will they release the poorer quality grain for cattle. Will they introduce food for work in areas where agrarian labourers do not get employment for a sizeable period throughout the year? Neither the orientation of the budget nor the new policy initiatives being announced day in and day out as part of second generation of reforms permit any such alternative. However, the FCI is choking. And even this poor storage by FCI is turning out very costly, amounting to Rs. 23 crores a day. This is worrying the economic policy makers too. A number of wise proposals have come. One is to export the surplus on reduced prices amounting to a subsidy of Rs.2000 crore. Another is to sink the whole thing into the ocean.

Free Mumia Campaign

Demonstrations demanding US govt. to "Free Mumia" were held worldwide, even in the US at Philadelphia City Hall, where the supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal held march, rally and pitched their tents on May 11-13. However, the authorities denied permission for demonstration..

The US embassy in London has seen a series of pickets this year calling for Mumia Abu-Jamal's freedom. The latest was organised by the "Mumia Must Live!" campaign to mark May 12, the annual International Day of Action in solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal by anti-racist, anti-death penalty forces worldwide for the African-American political journalist and activist, framed in the courts and on death row since 1982. Mumia is now waiting for his retrial, his freedom, or his judicial murder. George Bush is a well-known enthusiast of the death penalty. May 13 also marks the 16th anniversary of the heinous bombing of the MOVE Organization -- a majority Black Community group -- by the Philadelphia authorities in 1985 that slaughtered 11 women, children and men. In Cuba, 20,000 demonstrators called for the release of Mumia. Mass demonstrations took place on 11 May in Spain, France and Germany. In Canada, the Toronto demonstration included many speakers, and a drummer and poet that got the crowd moving with some strong lines and chants and shouting against George Bush. The US Consulate police again blocked the march. This was apparently because another "Free Mumia" demonstration put on by socialists was underway there and police did not want to merge them.

Screened in Toronto on a day before the march, Voice of the Voiceless is an impressive and moving film on the history of MOVE and the incredible police violence in Philadelphia that peaked with a police bombing of a residential house that killed John Africa and ten others, including small children.Nine MOVE members were jailed for 100 years and Mumia is on death row inside the US prison industrial complex, against whom a third death warrant could be signed. Now a new legal team representing Mumia Abu-Jamal has filed three affidavits that deal directly with what happened in Philadelphia on the night of Dec. 9, 1981, request for an evidentiary hearing. A person who had actually shot an American police officer Daniel Faulkner, has come forward saying in a sworn affidavit that he was hired to kill the police officer. CPI (ML) expresses its firm solidarity with the movement to get Mumia Abu-Jamal free from the US jail.

Superpower Gets A Double Drubbing

The world's sole superpower, the USA, received her first drubbing when it could not make its way through the United nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). The shock came during the vote to fill 3 of the 14 vacancies in the 53-member Commission from the western bloc. France, Austria and Sweden scampered home, the US came fourth and edged out. And the blow was handed over not by 'rogue' states but UN members including its western allies as well as a number of dependent countries. The irony is that America had written pledges of support from 41 countries but a large number of them reneged on their promise during this election by secret ballot. The edge of the irony becomes sharper in the light of the fact that countries like Pakistan and Sudan have made it to the Commission.

Then the US suffered another embarrassment at the United Nations by losing the seat on the International Narcotics Control Board. The double drubbing has sufficiently provoked the Republican-dominated Congress to hold out threats of retaliation -- blocking the payment of US dues of $582 million to the UN. The matter is listed for discussion and a vote. Obviously, the US is perceived as an overlord dictating human right norms to other societies, for instance China. However, the recent unilateral announcement regarding a new world nuclear order by George Bush has not pleased even the US allies, though servile governments like Vajpayee administration went overboard to okay it. Many countries of the world have not taken well the unilateral abrogation by the US of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming as well as its shrugging off the Anti-Ballastic Missile Treaty of 1972. Hence this unprecedented defeat of the mighty empire. It is to be noted that along with India and Russia, the US had served on the Commission without a break since its formation 54 years ago. This only compounds America's humiliation, especially in the light of the fact that the US had managed to rule the roost within the UN Security Council for a while in the early 1990s, as revealed during the invasion of Iraq. But the latest damage to Washington's prestige in regard to issues of human rights and narcotics control -- two prime aspects of international discourse in this post-Cold War setting, has revealed that the world is changing, and it is changing fast. In the words of Arnold Toynbee, "America ... now stands for what Rome stood for. Rome consistently supported the rich against the poor in all foreign communities that fell under her sway ... Rome's policy made for inequality, for injustice, and for the least happiness of the greatest number." (Quotations by Mumia Abu-Jamal in his article on the US defeat). It goes without saying that America is looking forward to meet the destiny of Roman empire.

Assembly Elections in Five States