CPI(ML) HOME Vol.5, No.17 April 24, 2002

 

In this Issue:

Editorial...

Democracy Must Overpower Fascism

The deadlock that prevailed in Parliament since the budget session resumed on April 15 finally appears to have been resolved with the Deputy Speaker P.M. Sayeed's verdict in favour of the Opposition demand for discussion on Gujarat under Rule 184. Ever since the budget session resumed on April 15, the BJP has been shying away from any discussion on Gujarat under Rule 184 on the plea that law and order is a state subject and any voting in Parliament on Gujarat would be a violation of 'federalism'. The fascists have now become the strongest votaries of federalism, because they want no 'external interference' in their laboratory experiments with fascism in Gujarat. India can never allow 'federalism' to degenerate into a shield for fascism.

It remains to be seen which way the parliamentary showdown over Gujarat shapes up. The situation is very delicate and most parties in Parliament, as we have seen time and again, are past masters of political opportunism. The BSP has already extended a helping hand to the BJP in this hour of crisis. A friend in need, they say, is a friend indeed. The BSP has now conclusively demonstrated whose friend it really is. And who knows there may be more parties waiting to tread the BSP path of betrayal. The people must therefore maintain a strong vigil and exert as much pressure as possible on the parliamentary system so that the fascists cannot hijack the system to serve their own ends.

Meanwhile, international criticism of the genocide in Gujarat is getting louder with every passing week. Washington may not have gone beyond a farcical expression of concern, but the internal report of the UK High Commission makes a strong indictment of the Modi government's role as the real architect of the pre-meditated pogroms in Gujarat. And now the European Union likens Modi's Gujarat to such dark and disgraceful chapters of the previous century as the notorious Apartheid regime of South Africa or Hitler's Nazi Germany. Some Gujaratis based in Britain are reportedly planning to sue Modi and other killers of the saffron brigade in the International Court of Justice and other European courts on charges of genocide and complicity in murder. The Vajpayee government, which has so far been asking its allies not to 'meddle in the party's internal affairs', of course, describes the growing international criticism as 'unwarranted foreign interference in India's internal affairs' even as Yashwant Sinha tries to assure the IMF, World Bank and international investors that Gujarat remains a paradise of peace!

Gujarat however continues to burn. The death toll continues to mount. And now alongside a vicious economic boycott, the shattered Muslim community in Gujarat is also facing a kind of educational embargo. Scores of thousands of Muslim students have been denied a chance to write their examinations as the government refused to shift the examination venues to safer areas. The blame is of course being laid at the doorsteps of the opposition and Muslim organisations for 'instigating' the students!

India is ashamed. India is angry. India must also be active in all possible ways. Democracy of the people must prevail over the deadlock in Parliament. Harmony must triumph over hate. India must overpower fascism by all means. The people must win.

CPI (ML) Participates in International Protest to US-backed Israeli Aggression on Palestine

CPI (ML) held a protest demonstration in Parliament street, New Delhi on 19 April against continuing attacks by Israeli forces in Palestine and holding Yasser Arafat under siege in his own office. This protest was organized in response to a call given by "Asia-Pacific International Solidarity Conference" to observe Protest Day in solidarity with Palestinian people and to mobilize international opinion to compel the US-backed Israeli forces retreat from the Palestine Territory. The CPI (ML) also demanded to the Govt. of India to launch an unequivocal protest against the assault on Arafat's office and the military encirclement of the civilians, cutting off their water and electricity supplies by Israeli aggressors. The protest was led by Party's CC member PV Srinivas and Delhi State Secretary Rajendra Pratholi.

On this occasion, speakers exposed the so-called "war against terrorism" mouthed by US and Israel to cover their terrorist war against Palestine people. Condemned the siege and economic blockade, they said that the way Israeli army has converted the refugee camps into human tombs was a testimony to their highest crime against humanity. Speakers also criticized the BJP led government's soft corner for Israel as a deviation from the nation's consistent stand of solidarity with the people of Palestine and declared their whole-hearted support to the Palestinian's just cause.

Party Foundation Day Observed

Party activists and sympathisers throughout the country observed Party's 33rd Foundation Day on 22 April by hoisting the party flag, meetings, conventions, etc. and discussing the call by Party General Secretary for the occasion.

In Delhi, flag was hoisted in party offices everywhere and small meetings were held. A day-long state-level Party school was held at South Avenue MP Club on the topic "Globalisation and communal fascism". Com. Chandan Negi spoke on globalisation and Com. Kavita Krishnan on communal fascism. In the afternoon Com. Rajiv Dimri read out the General Secretary's 22 April call. Later Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya exhorted the participants to boldly face the new political challenges and valiantly launch struggle. He also emphasised the necessity to take initiative at all levels against anti-minority riots in Gujarat and naked dance of fascist forces.

Earlier, on 21 April, Delhi State Committee had held a workshop on working class movement in Delhi in which problems of organising workers and launching movement were discussed. Main participants were the comrades associated with AICCTU.

In West Bengal, party foundation day was observed by organising cadre meeting where the call of 22 April was read out and studied. In Kolkata, apart from holding a meeting at the Party state office, tributes were paid at Lenin's statue at Esplanade near Curzon Park. Comrades took a vow to defeat the forces of fascism and safeguard democracy and secularism. In this regard, Party once again raised the issue of punishment to the culprits of Karanda massacre, in which CPI(M) local leaders were involved, as it continues to stain the democratic credentials of the Left Front Govt. They also demanded a white paper on the killing of Garbeda, in the light of new evidences.

In Bihar, Party foundation day was observed throughout the state at block level with the call of intensifying struggle for democracy and secularism to defeat communal fascism. Flag hoisting and joint study of Gen. Secy.'s call were undertaken at the Party state office in Patna, Arrah, Jahanabad, Nalanda, Gaya, Muzaffarpur and several other places.

In UP, party foundation day programme held in Pilibhit was attended by Party Polit Bureau member Swadesh Bhattacharya. In Jharkhand, flag hoisting and cadre meetings were held everywhere, with PB member Com. DP Buxi attending the programme in Bokaro and Com. Suvendu Sen in Ranchi. In Haryana, Party foundation day programme was held at Rode Dharmshala in Karnal, where Party incharge Com. Prem Singh spoke on the role of the Party in Haryana and Mahendra Chopra presided over the meeting.

Convention on Assault on Constitution

A convention on "Assault on Constitution and its Consequences in the light of Gujarat violence" was organised by AMU Staff Association on the April 21 at the Aligarh Muslim University. Party General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya addressed the convention and afterwards he also participated in the interactive discussion held in the wake of the convention. Prominent among those who participated in the convention include Prof. Irfan Habib, Prof Anand Kumar of JNU, Arif Mohammad Khan who has recently quit BSP, Rajya Sabha MP Abdussamad Samadani, ex-JNU student leaders Amit Sengupta and Shaqil Ahmed and journalists Prabal Pratap Singh, Nafeesa Ali and Ashutosh of Aaj Tak. A resolution adopted at the convention called for dismissal of Narendra Modi and an enquiry into his role in the Gujarat carnage by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.

Addressing the convention Com. Dipankar said that instead of focussing our attention to defeat fascism in the number game on the floor of Parliament, or through elections, we must concentrate on locating the sources that breed communal fascism. He emphasised that this fight must be carried on over the issue of sham nationalism versus genuine nationalism, pro-imperialist economic and foreign policies versus pro-people economic and just foreign policy based on anti-imperialism and peaceful coexistence. Citing lessons from history he said that Congress cannot be relied upon to carry on this fight. He asserted that this agenda must necessarily be made the central agenda within the civil society by the genuine forces of secularism who wish to root out fascism from the face of Indian soil.

All-India Public Sector Strike: A Warning to the Government

On April 16, more than one crore workers and employees belonging to the public sector observed one day strike at the call of central trade unions including AITUC, AICCTU, CITU, UTUC(LS), HMS and others, except INTUC. The PSUs included subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd. and SAIL, and units of companies in port & dock, banking & insurance, oil, fertiliser and engineering sectors. The strike was almost total and workers' participation was spontaneous. The sponsors said that the government should take this strike as a warning against the anti-working class and anti-national policies of reckless privatisation.

Modi Hatao Rally in Pondicherry

In Pondicherry, around 300 Party and mass organisation activists participated in a rally on April 15, which started from Handmade Paper Factory in Aurobindo Ashram under the leadership of Com. Balasubramaniam, Secy. of Pondicherry Leading Team, AICCTU leaders S Elangovan, P Shankaran and K Murugan and AIPWA leader R Bhanu. The agitators condemned the role of Vajpayee Govt. in shielding the Narendra Modi Govt. of Gujarat and adding fuel to fire of anti-minority riots there. They demanded immediate sacking of Narendra Modi Govt. as well as resignation of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

CPI(ML) Calls 72-hour Bandh in Patna Saheb

On April 17, some criminals murdered a renowned iron merchant Manoj Kamalia of Patna Saheb. In protest the whole of Patna Saheb market observed spontaneous bandh and broad masses came on the streets to protest police inactivity. A vast area virtually came under the seize of the agitators. Party took the initiative and led the movement at several places. While the Chambers of Commerce and local merchants' associations announced for Patna Bandh on 18 April, Party called for a 72-hour bandh of Patna Saheb. Party CC member Com. KD Yadav met the family of the deceased to express Party's sympathy. He demanded immediate arrest of the killers. On 18 April, the second day of the bandh, police resorted to mercilessly beating people, arresting them from their houses and even to open fire. On the third day, 19 April, Com. KD Yadav and local party leaders Shambhu Mehta, Lalan Yadav, Ramnarain Singh etc., led a procession which was stopped and arrested by the police. Party has demanded that ministers having criminal record must be dismissed.

Party Unearthed Scam by RJD Minister

A high level Party delegation comprising Com. Ram Naresh Ram, PB member and leader of Party Legislature group in Bihar Assembly, Com. Ramjatan Sharma, Party State Secretary, Com. Rameshwar Prasad, ex-MP and Com. Nandji Ram met Governor Vinod Chandra Pandey on 16 April and demanded sacking of the RJD minister Purnamasi Ram and his arrest, and also immediate release of Maley leader Dayanand Dwivedi. They also submitted the report of the Investigation Team that had visited Bagaha on April 14-15.

The report says that Com. Dayanand Dwivedi, a party leader had been mercilessly beaten up and sent to jail on April 8 at the instance of the RJD minister. Com. Dayanand had filed a PIL in Patna High Court regarding irregularities in Red Card (for below the poverty line people under the PDS) scheme under the Food and Civil Supplied Dept. of Bihar Govt. headed by Purnamasi Ram and subsequently a case had been filed in Bagaha Court against him. When the team tried to meet Com. Dayanand lodged in Bagaha Sub Jail, the Jailer neither allowed them to meet Dayanand nor himself met the team, despite Com. Ram Naresh Ram, an MLA, bringing up the issue of privilege. The administration rather threatened that Dayanand may be put to solitary confinement and tortured by other means if he persist on meeting him.

The team found out that the minister, along with armed bodyguards and goons, had gone to Dayanand's house on April 8 and dragging him out, thrashed him before hundreds of people assembled there. Then he took him to the PWD inspection bungalow and beat him brutally there. The SP and DSP, whose residences lie within 100 meter distance of the inspection bungalow chose not to intervene even after they were approached by Dayanand's son. And after much delay when the police reached there they filed a false case against Dayanand under Harijan Act and sent him to jail.

It also came to the notice of the team that Purnamasi Ram, who was merely a tractor operator 15 years back, became a dealer in the PDS, and now he owns a market in Bagaha, petrol pumps at Ramnagar and Lauriya, a 65-acre land plot at Susta near Indo-Nepal border, and around 100 acres of land elsewhere. He has created a reign of terror in Bagaha and the journalist Ranjan Verma, who exposed his misdeeds, dares not reside in Bagaha for the fear of his life. His wife, the principal of Daffodils Academy, informed the team that the minister had come to her house on April 8 before going to Dayanand's house and had threatened her with dire consequences in case Ranjan did not stop writing against him.

Following the abduction and arrest of Dayanand Dwivedi, CPI(ML) launched road blockade at Malakauli on Bagaha-Valmikinagar road and demanded the arrest of the minister. The blockade was lifted on the next day only after local administration and police intervened and received a Party delegation. Another FIR against the minister and his goons was lodged with the police. Champaran Bandh call given by Party on April 11 was widely successful with common people's support. Local journalists met the DM on April 9 and gave him a memorandum, addressed to the governor, demanding security to Ranjan Verma. The Party has already said that it is prepared to go to the Supreme Court to pursue the case against the corrupt minister.

Left Parties in WB Demand Modi's Removal

On April 17, while elsewhere in the country joint programmes were held in the name of Lok Morcha, in West Bengal Left parties came together to demand the dismissal of Modi Govt. The participation by the WB unit of CPI(ML) in the joint rally was a significant one. The rally started from Subodh Mullick Square and went up to Rani Rasmoni Road, where a meeting was held. Com. Karick Pal, PB member spoke there on behalf of the Party. He emphasised that the NDA Govt. at the Centre should also be made the target for its criminal backing of Modi's government and for that Prime Minister Vajpayee must resign. Other speakers included Benoy Kongar of CPI(M), Satya Bhattacharya of CPI, Debabrata Biswas of RSP, Jayanta Roy of Forward Bloc, Manik Mukherjee of SUCI and Subrata Bose of COI(ML).

Party School in Chennai

A Party class was held by City Committee of Chennai on 14 April on the paper presented by Com. Dipankar in the central school, "Globalisation and Imperialism". Com. Murugan dealt with the subject in four parts: present round of globalisation and its features, crises of imperialism, other views justifying globalisation, our approach in fighting imperialist globalisation. In all 35 comrades attended the class. It is planned to conduct classes on the other three Central School subjects subsequently.

The committee for the protection of workers of closed and sick industries held cycle rallies to mobilise support of the masses for the bandh they declared in Ambattur on 16 April.

Working Class Dept. Formed in Assam

Recently a working class department of CPI(ML) has been formed in Assam. With Com. Subhas Sen as incharge, it includes 3 comrades from bank, 3 from oil, 2 from railways, 2 from power and some comrades from coal will be later inducted. AICCTU is represented by comrades Bibek Das and Basanta Kalita. It has been planned that a bimonthly working class journal Sramik Solidarity will be published in Assamese from Guwahati from 1 July.

Why NCW Didn't Intervene in Gujarat?

Various women groups in Rajasthan, including AIPWA, NFIW, AIDWA, PUCL, National Muslim Welfare Society etc. asked the National Commission for Women to intervene in Gujarat to help the relief and rehabilitation of women and children affected by violence. "We are grieved at the fact that even after 50 days of continuous violence in Gujarat the NCW did not think it necessary to even make a statement on the condition of women in that State", the memorandum set to NCW chairperson Purnima Advani states. The women's groups alleged that NCW did not even bother to visit the riot-ravaged Gujarat till a team of women led by Syeda Hameed visited and published a report on April 16. Even after this delayed visit, the Commission did not so far publish any report on its findings, they pointed out.

AISA Displays Militant Solidarity with Palestinian Students

On 18 April, when Israel Foundation Day was being celebrated in Taj Hotel, AISA students along with the Palestinian students belonging to JNU reached there to protest against Israeli aggression on Palestine and killing of Palestinian people. The police forced them out of the hotel compound, where they staged a candle-light protest. They also distributed leaflets expressing solidarity with Palestinian people.

Massive March for Palestine in US

Over 100,000 people marched in Washington on 21 April in the largest pro-Palestinian rally in US history and another 35,000 marched in San Francisco. Demanding an end to the US-backed onslaught by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians and calling for immediate end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian homeland, protesters flooded Pennsylvania Avenue and demonstrated at the White House. Once the various rallies merged, tens of thousands filed past the Department of Justice demanding the repeal of the USA Patriot Act, and an immediate end to the Ashcroft raids on the Muslim and Arab community.

The US had threatened to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for an investigation into the Jenin massacre, which is one more example of how Sharon's war against Palestinian people is backed and protected by the George W. Bush. And they're afraid of the multinational solidarity shown for the Palestinian people by the people of the United States, the organiser 'ANSWER' leaders said. It has become impossible for the Bush administration to claim that he speaks in the name of the USA when he bombs Afghanistan, pays for the slaughter of Palestinians and threatens Iraq. The people in this country want money for jobs and human needs, not war against the people of Palestine.

Historic General Strike in Italy

On April 16, Large parts of Italy came to a standstill , when 13 million workers followed a call by the three main union federations for an 8-hour general strike. It was the first such national stoppage in Italy for twenty years. The entire transport sector, most public services and large parts of the private sector were on strike. It was directed against a number of government decrees affecting workers' rights and social conditions, mainly against a change in Article 18 of the labour laws, which has in the past given a high decree of protection against arbitrary redundancies to Italian workers. The dispute over Article 18 has become a symbolic rallying point for the defence of worker's rights in general. But a number of other measures and plans of the government also at issue, covering as wide a field as pensions, education, taxation and funds for southern Italy. On March 23 this movement culminated in a mass demonstration in Rome, attended by 3 million people. After the success of the Rome demonstration, the UIL and the CISL joined the CGIL in calling for yesterday's general strike. The strike was accompanied by huge rallies in 21 different cities, involving different sections of the movement against Berlusconi. Some of the biggest rallies were in Milan, Bologna and Rome, each with 200,000 to 300,000 participants.

Obituary
Comrade Kondapalli Seetharamaiah

Veteran communist leader and founder of the People's War Group of CPI(ML), Kondapalli Seetharamaiah, 87, died in Vijayawada on April 12. He was attracted to the Communist movement early in life and became the secretary of Krishna district unit of the CPI, which played a crucial role in Telangana Armed Struggle. Following the split he moved away from politics until he was attracted to the CPI (ML) and then he became a state committee member associated with the Srikakulam struggle. He founded the People's War Group and led it for several years before he left it and came away to his native village where police picked him up in 1992.

Party condoles the death of this veteran fighter and shares grief with left ranks and his family.

 

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