Even though the wound has far from healed, Gujarat is now scheduled to go to the polls on December 12. This will be the last Assembly election of year 2002. If the year began with the BJP's electoral rout in Punjab, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh, let the year now end with another decisive defeat for the BJP-VHP killer brigade.

We are aware that the situation in Gujarat is still not conducive for the elections. The confidence-building measures stressed by the Election Commission in its 16 August report have hardly been initiated. Most of the killers have not yet been arrested. The Modi regime has not been dismissed. Thousands of survivors have had no semblance of rehabilitation. Even the electoral roll has not been corrected and updated.

To add insult to injury, Modi has gone on to glorify the genocide as Gujarat's'Gaurav'. All through his 'Kalank Yatra' he has spewed limitless venom against the religious minorities and all civilised people who have condemned the genocide. Now the VHP is planning to take off from where Modi left it. In the midst of election campaign, they are now drawing up plans to 'celebrate' the tenth anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid.

We are also aware of what the Congress has been doing in Gujarat. The main opposition party of Gujarat was nowhere to be seen at the time when the men of Togadia's killer brigade were dancing on the streets of Gujarat, looting and killing at will. And now to face the electoral battle, it has fallen back on an old RSS hand like Shankar Sinh Baghela. Instead of giving any idea of how he proposes to punish the perpetrators of the genocide, Vaghela is busy soliciting support from the RSS to defeat Modi.

We in the CPI(ML) are determined to carry forward Gujarat's battle for justice and democracy against all odds. Admittedly, the Left is not a major force in Gujarat. Yet the red flag has always stood by the suffering people of Gujarat. When the BJP launched the Christian-bashing campaign in Gujarat, we organised countrywide protests. When tragedy struck Gujarat in the form of the earthquake, we rushed to the villages of Bhuj with our activists and relief materials. And in the wake of the genocide early this year we have been engaged in a ceaseless campaign to make the whole country aware of the truth and bring the killers to justice. In the immediate aftermath of the assault on the Akshardham temple, we organised a convention and march in Ahmedabad in cooperation with the entire spectrum of Left and democratic forces in Gujarat.

In the December 12 elections, we are not fielding any candidate of our own. But we do have a message for you. We appeal to you to defy all odds to defeat the Modi regime. Modi and his men must not be allowed to get away with this barbaric bloodbath. At stake in this election is the future of Gujarat, the future of democracy and civil society in India. Let us stand on the side of democracy and give a crushing blow to the fascists of the Sangh Parivar. The new economic policies have played havoc with the livelihood of the working people of Gujarat. Most of the textile mills are lying closed. The chemical industry is also in very bad shape. The wages and working conditions for the huge masses of unorganised workers continue to be miserable. The poor and lower-middle class people are also hit hard by privatisation and commercialisation of essential services and basic amenities of life. And now the agricultural sector is also in the grip of a deepening crisis. Dalits and adivasis in Gujarat are as oppressed and vulnerable as their counterparts in the rest of the country, and they are also victims of the BJP's sinister politics. Only a powerful democratic movement can address all these issues and we can help the cause by voting out the biggest threat to democracy and justice in this elections. Let December 12 sound the death-knell of communal fascism in Gujarat.

Patna is set to host the CPI(ML)'s 7th All India Party Congress. The whole Party is now engaged in last phase preparations for the Congress. Hundreds of activists and cadres in Patna and elsewhere in Bihar are working overtime to make the Party Congress a grand success.

This Party Congress is going to take place at Vinod Mishra Nagar in Patna from 25 to 30 November and a rally is scheduled to be held on 30 Nov on the occasion of its closing ceremony. Nearly eight hundred delegates covering twenty two states and representatives from progressive sections of the Indian diaspora abroad and also from international Left and anti-imperialist movement will participate in this august assembly of the CPI(ML) which takes place once in five years.

The Patna Party Congress is set to chart the course for a powerful communist resurgence against saffron subversion and imperialist intervention. The main emphasis of the party Congress will be on independent assertion of the Left through developing powerful mass movements and resistance struggles of the rural poor. This Congress will entrust the Party with the responsibility of working for a Left-led democratic mobilisation in this phase of increasing fascist consolidation.

The Patna Congress will also call upon the people and the forces of Left-democratic camp to remain vigilant against 'Congress Party's attempts to cash on anti-BJP sentiments of the people in the country. The CPI(ML) has all along been saying that the Congress Party whose track record reveals its vacillating, compromising and surrendering character on issues of democracy, social justice and secularism can in no way be an alternative to the RSS-BJP. The CPI(ML)'s last Party Congress was held at Varanasi in Oct '97. The Party came overground after its fifth Party Congress held in Kolkata in Dec '92. The second, third and fourth Congresses were held in Gaya, Giridih and Hazaribagh respectively during 70s and 80s. The first historic Congress of the CPI(ML) had taken place in May 1970 in Kolkata which elected Com. Charu Mazumdar as Party's first General Secretary.

The Mayawati govt. in Uttar Pradesh continues to carry on repression on the CPI(ML) activists and supporters. At the behest of BJP-BSP leadership, the police arrested two Party activists at Robertsganj in Sonbhadra district and implicated them in false cases.

This particular incident has exposed once again the sorry state of human rights and increasing oppression on dalits and minorities in the Mayawati's Uttar Pradesh. The RYA district secretary Md. Kaleem was arrested when he was returning from district Kuchehri after meeting the officials on the problems of street-vendors. The police charged him with having close links with the MCC. He was tortured in Robertsganj Kotwali for twenty eight hours. When Md. Kaleem's wife and another Party activist Muneshwar Bharti reached Kotwali police station, they were roughed up at and the police also arrested Muneshwar Bharati and sent him to jail alongwith Md. Kaleem.

The CPI(ML) has launched a series of protests on this issue. Hundreds of people held a powerful demonstration at district headquarter on 6 Nov. and the local Party leader Ishwar Dayal sat on hunger strike for 72 hours. The police retorted by harassing Dayal's family members. The Party in turn held one more demonstration in protest against such police atrocities on 11 Nov. Bowing to the pressure, the police had to retreat and the Kotwal of Robertsganj apologised. An enquiry has now been ordered in this case. In Lucknow, the Party sent a protest letter to the state Home Secretary and demanded to stop the ongoing repression on the CPI(ML) leaders.

More than five hundred youth of Jamua, a block in Jharkhand, took to the streets on 26 Oct to protest the misgovernance of the BJP's Marandi govt. in the state. The call of protest was given by the Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA). The protesters took out a militant demonstration and held a protest meeting. The main slogan of this action programme was 'No Employment, No Government'. It was the culmination of a month-long campaign launched by the local RYA unit in the block. Several meetings had been organised in the villages during the period of this campaign. The demonstration was led among others by RYA state President Parmeshwar Mahto. The meeting was also addressed by CPI(ML) leader Raj Kumar Yadav.

The 31st National Conference of All India Guards Council, which is a constituent unit of AIREC, was held at Ganga Prasad Memorial Hall in Lucknow on 27-28 October 2002. Around 400 delegates from all over the country participated in the conference. The conference elected a National Committee for a two-year period, which in turn elected SC Chawla as president, D Srinivas Rao as secretary, BR Singh (Dhanbad) as organising secretary and RK Sharma as cashier.

In the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union elections, students have firmly rejected the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad once again . The SFI-AISF combine swept the polls defeating ABVP candidates, while AISA took a third position further improving its tally of previous year. AISA activist Mona Das won a councillor seat in the School of Social Sciences (SSS). She polled 375 votes, and took the third position among 5 elected councillors from SSS. AISA Presidential candidate Radhika Menon polled 358 votes, VP candidate Inteshar Ahmad polled 410 votes and General Secretary candidate Mahendra polled 262 votes and for Jt. Secretary's post R. John Suresh Kumar polled 352 votes. The improvement in AISA's performance since last year reflects the campus' growing concern for the issues raised by AISA. During its campaign and Presidential debate, AISA had raised the issue of the SFI-AISF-led union's betrayal of last year's anti-ABVP mandate and it surrender before the onslaught of privatisation and communal assertion. AISA is geared up to take up the challenge and continue the struggle on several pending issues of privatisation, socially sensitive Admission Policy and communalism, outside as well as within the campus. AISA will continue to give voice to students' sense of betrayal at the fact that last year's SFI-AISF Union failed to challenge Singhal's entry into JNU, and has now even dropped the demand for punishment of the ABVP's lumpens who indulged in violence during VHP's Ashok Singhal's visit.

The spate of anti-war protests throughout the world continues as lakhs of protesters gathered, from all over Europe, in the city of Florence against the America's impending war threat on Iraq on November 9 . A US flag bearing the logos of multinational companies instead of its stars was on display at the city's train station as people arrived for one of the biggest demonstrations in history. The column of protesters was more than seven kilometers long, in spite of the fact that the European Union Schengen agreement which allows for unrestricted cross-border travel among member nations, was suspended to allow police to filter out potential problem elements among activists. Some 7,000 police were assigned to guard the historical city from any violence. However, the huge demonstration went off peacefully. Protesters said that the march was especially significant given the vote at the United Nations Security Council on Friday, which unanimously gave Iraq an ultimatum to allow weapons inspectors into the country or face the consequences. But it does not restrict the US from arbitrarily attacking Iraq.

The CPI(ML) mourns the death of comrade Joel Toppo who was killed by the Peoples' War Group goons on 6 November '02. He was a member of District Leading Team of Party's Latehar unit.

At a time when CPI(ML) is consistently and increasingly targeting the regressive anti-people forces working against the interests of peasantry and tribals in Jharkhand, the PWG is shamelessly involved in attacking CPI(ML) leaders and cadres, thus benefitting the class enemies and working against growing people's movement. We strongly condemn this heinous crime committed by PWG and pay our condolences to the bereaved family of comrade Joel Toppo.

Make the CPI(ML)'s 7th Congress

a Great Success !!

25-30 Nov 2002

Vinod Mishra Nagar (Patna)

All are welcome to the Rally on the occasion of

Closing Ceremony

on 30 Nov '02

at Gandhi Maidan, Patna