Zahira’s Courage Is India’s Hope

Zahira Sheikh, the 19-year-old survivor and witness of the Best Bakery carnage in which VHP hooligans had killed 14 persons in a small bakery in Vadodara, has demanded a retrial of the case outside Gujarat. During the trial in the fast-track court in Vadodara she had refrained from ídentifying the accused. And thereafter all the accused were summarily acquitted by the court. On 7 July Zahira summoned enough courage to tell the Mumbai press that she and her mother Seherunnisa, the only survivors of the carnage which killed the rest of her family members, had been threatened with dire consequences by the local BJP MLA Madhu Shrivastava. Zahira says “they would never get justice in Gujarat as the public prosecutor, the police and politicians were all protecting the accused who owed allegiance to the ruling BJP.”

Zahira’s courage comes as a ray of hope in the midst of the thickening clouds of fear and coercion. Fear is the heavy stone under which Modi and his men want to crush the quest for justice in post-holocaust Gujarat. It is also the brick with which the Sangh brigade wants to build the temple in Ayodhya.

Following the All India Muslim Personal Law Board’s refusal to succumb to the Kanchi Shankaracharya’s dubious Ayodhya formula, the Togadias and Singhals have intensified their campaign to terrorise their way to the temple. While rejecting the Shankaracharya’s appeal to surrender the site in Ayodhya, the AIMPLB has said it is ready to discuss any other proposal and is also ready to abide by the court’s verdict. The RSS and its affiliates, on the other hand, are clamouring for a legislation to secure the temple by any means. And yet it is the Muslim leadership, who are being accused of being obdurate and obstructionist, while the VHP claims to be the new embodiment of magnanimity.

In the Shankaracharya the RSS seems to have discovered a willing accomplice. Just two days before the AIMPLB executive was to consider his so-called formula, he said Ayodhya did not need another mosque since there were already eight mosques? Does he want to say that the Babri Masjid was one too many and the demolition was perhaps then justified on the count that it brought down the population of mosques in Ayodhya? And now after the AIMPLB’s refusal to yield to his appeal to suurender the site, he has advised the Muslim leadership not to ‘stand on prestige’ and reconsider his suggestions.

He however says his role is over for the time being. What was indeed then his role? He says he cannot ‘interfere’ on the Kashi and Mathura issue. Why interfere on Ayodhya then? Why link Kashi and Mathura to a solution on Ayodhya? The only purpose the Shankaracharya seems to have achieved is to help revive the Ayodhya issue, paint the Muslim leadership as sectarian and obstructionist, and give a new fillip to the Sangh Parivar’s anti-Muslim hate campaign. If this is why he had ‘set aside covention and his prestige’, he must be a satisfied man.

The AIMPLB executive meeting in Lucknow was preceded by a meeting of the RSS national executive at Kannyakumari. The RSS resolution once again called upon the government to explore the possibility of a legislative option to ensure construction of temples at the ‘disputed’ sites in Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. The RSS has thus clearly exposed the link between the (accomplished) demolition, (attempted) negotiation and (contemplated) legislation: coercing the Muslim community into ‘accepting’ a permanent ‘second-grade’ status in the country, or in other words, redefining India on the basis of Muslim submission and Hindu aggression. This is the RSS prescription for ‘communal harmony and national unity’, and if Muslims reject this offer with the scorn it deserves, they become ‘obdurate and obstructionist.’

It is therefore not just Ayodhya but the very essence of India which is at stake. Let us not forget how the road from Ayodhya led to Ahmedabad only last year. Ten years after the Ayodhya demolition, Gujarat gave us a horrifying glimpse of the kind of Bharat the Sangh wants to ‘invent’ and impose. And if we need more glimpses to warn us, we do not have to look very hard. Let us just recall this small news item which had appeared in many newspapers on 20 June. The report, emanating once again from Gujarat, informed us that one Hakabhai Koli of Surendranagar, a Bajrang Dal worker to boot, stabbed his estranged 21-year-old wife, Sonal, with the trishul given to him at a diksha ceremony, after a fight over the custody of their one-year old son. From the field to the family, trishul is the Sangh’s new symbol of domination, and fear is the key to unlock the Hindu Rasthra.

While the Togadias brandish the trishul to command unconditional obedience to patriarchal power and fascist fear, we surely need more of Zahira’s courage to give a fitting rebuff to the conspiracy of fear. Zahira’s courage is our hope. And our strength.

2^nd July- All India Demand Day
Lakhs of Workers Demand Separate Central Legislation for Agricultural Workers

Thousands and thousands of agricultural workers and other sections of unorganised sector participated throughout the country in “All India Demand Day” called by All India Central Council of Trade Unions and All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (Khet Mazdoor Sabha)on July 2 culminating the first phase of their campaign to press for the long pending and vital issues of enactment of a separate central legislation for agricultural workers and fixing national level uniform minimum wage for all sections of unorganised sector. They threatened to launch country-wide agitation on these issues if the NDA govt. does not reverse its policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.

The programmes were held at all important centres in the country and memoranda were sent to the government. In Delhi, a day-long dharna was held at Jantar-Mantar in which agricultural workers from Punjab participated along with unorganised sector workers from Delhi. A memorandum was submitted to the Central Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma. The Dharna was addressed by the General Secretary of AICCTU, Swapan Mukherjee and the Convenor of Khet Mazdoor Sabha and Ex-M.P. Rameshwar Prasad. The other speakers were AIPWA General Secretary Kumudini Pati, Jeeta Kaur from Punjab, AICCTU national Secretary N. M. Thomas and AICCTU Vice-President Ranjan Ganguly and AICCTU Delhi Secretary Santosh Roy.

Addressing the Dharna, Speakers strongly criticised the NDA govt. for its failure to enact a separate central legislation for agricultural workers in its 4-year tenure despite recommendations for the same by several commissions, including 2nd Labour Commission, appointed by the central government. The speakers also cited the serious lacunae existing in the proposed Bill for the unorganised sector prepared by the Labour Ministry, which addresses none of the vital issues of unorganised sector workers in spite of the fact that the economy of the country is being transformed into that of informal sector, giving rise to a huge army of unorganised and casual labourers as an outcome of the government’s policies of liberalisation. These were also the most important issues of 21 May All India General Strike. Speakers expressed commitment and resolve to launch a nation-wide movement on these issues.

Under the NDA govt. the agricultural labourers are facing worst-ever attack at both economic and social levels.The corporate farming and indiscriminate mechanisation has resulted in large scale migration and massive unemployment among agricultural labourers. The state governments including those led by parties of ‘social justice’ brand are patronising forces like Ranvir Sena, which is involved in massacre of the rural poor. So, it is this section which is in the dire need of protection at both economic and social level. This is one of the reasons behind the demand for a separate central legislation for agricultural labourers. While the Vajpayee govt. is giving protection and all kinds of concessions to the multinationals and corporate houses, the agricultural labourers are forced to live in fear, insecurity and abject poverty.

In Bihar, a massive dharna was organised in Patna and a memorandum to fulfill these demands was handed over to the Governer. Thousands of agricultural workers came to join the dharna from all over the state.

In Uttar Pradesh, Khet Mazdoor Sabha and AICCTU observed ‘All India Demand Day’ throughout the state. A massive dharna was held at the district headquarters in Varanasi, which was participated by a large number of agri. workers from districts like Chandauli, Ghazipur, Ballia, Azamgarh, Mau, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Deoria, etc. At Lucknow, a day-long dharna was held in front of U.P. Assembly which was participated by agricultural workers from Pilibhit, Lakhimpur-Kheri, Sitapur and construction workers from Lucknow. Dharnas were also held at other district headquarters like Allahabad, Kanpur, Orai (Jalaun), Robertsganj (Sonbhadra) and Moradabad.

In Chhattisgarh, protest demonstrations were organised in 8 Panchayats in Raipur district and a memorandum addressed to the Governer was submitted. Memoranda were also submitted in Durg and Bilaspur.

In Pondicherry, AICCTU organised a mass meeting and demonstration and handed over the memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister. Hundreds of workers under the banner of AICCTU and AIALA observed dharna before Sub Collector Office in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, and submitted a memorandum. A public meeting was held in Peenya Industrial Estate in Bangalore, Karnataka. The demand for strong punishment with imprisonment for the employers who violate labour laws was also raised there. There was a good response from the general workers in the industrial estate.

Similar programmes were also organised in Jharkhand, Assam, Tamil Nadu and other states.

In North Dinajpur of West Bengal, a convention of Agri workers was organised on the eve of Demands Day.

Charter of Demands

1. Immediate enactment of a separate comprehensive Central Legislation for agricultural labourers. It is a long pending demand of Indian Trade Union Movement and various commissions, including Second Labour Commission appointed by the central government have recommended for a separate act for agricultural labourers. The working and living condition of agricultural labourers is also totally different from other sections of the unorganised sector.

2) Declaration of national level uniform minimum wage. It is also a long pending demand and the study group appointed by the Second Labour Commission has recommended Rs.4500/- as national level minimum wage.

3) Alloting 3% of GDP for social security of Unorganised Sector workers. In Europe and USA, a large portion of GDP is invested for the social security where as a small country like Sri Lanka has also alloted 4% of GDP for social security of vast unorganised sector.

4) Ensure round the year work for unorganised sectors. In many of the sectors like agriculture, construction etc., due to large scale mechanisation large numbers of workers are being thrown out of job. There must be constitutional guarantee for right to work and unemployment allowance for the workers pushed out of work.

Bihar - KMS Membership Campaign

The Bihar unit of All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (Khet Mazdoor Sabha) has inducted 6,50,000 members till now during the membership campaign which is continuing for last several months. Besides inducting new members into the organisation, the KMS is also organising them into village and panchayat committees. The KMS has decided to induct 12 lakhs agricultural labourers into the organisation by the end of July. It has also chalked out a comprehensive programme to intensify the movement for land and wages in all the regions of the state.

During the campaign KMS successfully captured 200 acres of land in West Champaran district and distributed it among its original patta-holders. In Begusarai district, 22 acres of Bhudan land, which was under illegal occupation of Sugarcane Minister in the Rabri Devi govt. Ashok Mahato, was captured and distributed among the landless agri. workers.

The districtwise breakup of the number of members of KMS till third week of June was as follows: Bhojpur 1,11,209, Patna 80,324, Rohtas 60,425, Jehanabad 55,000, Nalanda 42,900, Champaran 41,000, Darbhanga 35,876, Siwan 33,000, Katihar 30,000, Aurangabad 24,476, Muzaffarpur 20,483, Samastipur 16,939, Nawada 14324, Gopalganj 12,883, Kaimur 16,000, Gaya 11,500, Purnea 9,000, Buxar 8,632, East Champaran 5,200, Begusarai 4500, Vaishali 3,500, Bhagalpur 2,000, Lakhisarai 1,700, Sitamarhi 1,000, Madhubani 1000, Chhapra 500 and Jamui 500.

Struggle for Land Continues in AP

Struggle for house sites of agricultural workers is going on in U. Kotthapalli Mandal of East Godavari for a long time. On an earlier occasion people tried to sieze a land which was illegally occupied by a temple and tried to put upon their huts, but officials gave an assurance that the land be distributed within one month after completing legal formalities. this assurance proved to be void and, ultimately, people decided to adopt the struggle path and started a relay hunger strike which continued for ten days and followed a militant gherao of mandal revenue office on June 30. Despite a big contingent of the force deployed at the place, administration hesitated to take any stringent step observing the mood of the masses. After consultation with higher officials the MRO gave written assurance that if he failed to give clearance to house sites, no objection will be raised if people go themselve for seizure of the said land. Thus the gherao was withdrawn.

‘Shahadat Diwas’ in Memory of Parmeshwar Munda

Memorial Day was observed in memory of Comrade Parmeshwar Munda on July 4 in Bundu, Tagarh, Sonahatu and Anagarha blocks in Jharkhand. The memorial meetings organised at all the four blocks attracted a large number of people who pledged to intensify the land-capture movement against the land-mafia in the region.

This time Memorial Day commemorations were intended to give emphasis to the land struggles. Before the memorial meeting in Tagarh block, hundreds of activists and supporters along with their banners and flags armed with traditional arms, bow and arrow, put their flags on and collectively ploughed on hundreds of acres of land, at the call of the Party, which has been illegally occupied by the local landlord. Although this land was given to the landless poor, long back in 1970 and 1989, who were regularly paying their part of the revenue to the govt. The landlord retreated sensing the mood of the people and their presence in large numbers. Similarly, a pond was liberated from the zamindar at Anagarha.

CPI(ML) Condemns Repression of Striking Employees in TN

All available draconian laws, all forces under the command and all powers vested in the regime were cumulatively used for the midnight crackdown over the most legitimate strike of the State Govt. Employees including teachers in Tamilnadu. Thousands of govt. employees have been thrown behind the prison walls, numerous cases are being hastily concocted and so far, four lakh are summarily dismissed.

This unprecedented crackdown has left even Indira Gandhi’s bloody suppression of railway workers in mid 70s far behind and draws a comparision with Margaret Thatcher’s ruthlessness against British miners during the early liberalisation drive of 80s. Jayalalithaa has put an end to all democratic pretentions and repeated the same tactics which were used by her mentor MGR in Madhavaram Dairy Farm where mass recruitment of unemployed workers was carried out to manage against the massive dismissals, but she went a step further by introducing contract based temporary jobs without any rights or security. She may be demonstrating her ability to repress the democratic opinion against the will of the working people and setting a benchmark in this regard, which seems to be the most wanted quality in rulers being saught by the big business houses in the era of liberalisation, but the people of this country will never tolerate such atrocities and will certainly give a befitting answer.

CPI(ML) demands the TN govt. to immediately release all the arrested employees unconditionally, withdraw the dismissal orders, use democratic methods to solve the long standing grievances of the employees and shun the policy of suppression and silencing. Party congratulates the striking employees and teachers for the unity and resoluteness in their just struggle braving state repression and extends its whole hearted support to their struggle.

‘March to Parliament’ by AIPWA

The All India Progressive Women’s Association will organise a March to Parliament on July 25 to press upon the demand for 33% reservation to women in Parliament. The NDA government is continuously trying to delay the passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the name of making consensus. And now, some parties are proposing to modify the existing proposed bill by decreasing the percentage and some are sticking to the OBC quota, while some are asking for the political parties to give reservation to the women in their organisations. All attempts to dilute the contents of the Bill must be opposed. The AIPWA feels that the passing of the proposed Bill will be an important step in the direction of women’s empowerment. AIPWA will also organise various programmes in the capitals of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karbi-Anglong, etc. on the same day.

Student-Youth Movement - Challenges and Possibilities

CPI(ML) convened a national workshop at Ramnagar, Nainital for students and youth activists of AISA and RYA. The two day event was hosted by Uttarakhand units of AISA and CPI(ML). There were about two hundred student and youth participants from Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand, Orissa, Rajasthan, UP, Uttaranchal and West Bengal, including fifteen girl students, in this two-day ideological training camp. Five teachers delivered lectures and answered cross-section of questions. The workshop has generated enthusiasm among student and youth cadres.

Four topics were discussed in the workshop which began with exhaustive discussion on “Communal Fascism” which is threatening the secular and democratic foundation of Indian republic and transforming it into a fascist Hindu Rashtra. This topic was taught and then questions dealt by ex-JNUSU President and UP State Committee member of CPI(ML) comrade Pranay Krishna.

Next was “Relevance of Marxism in our Times”. At a time when imperialists and US imperialists in particular, is threatening the sovereign existence of all third world countries and has already colonised Iraq after a most brutal aggression on it, a need was to start afresh an intensive and extensive understanding of Marxism-Leninism. Party Central Committee member Comrade Arindam Sen explained fundamental precepts of Marxism and helped to arouse further interest for an in-depth study of Marxism in this class. Third topic was on gender question, that was dealt by Comrade Kavita Krishnan, AISA President, who clarified various questions and confusion pertaining to gender issue.

Lastly, Comrade Lal Bahadur Singh, RYA General Secretary, presented the diverse experiences of student-youth struggles in a paper entitled “Student-Youth Movement - Challenges and Possibilities”. This paper helped all those assembled to gain rich experiences from our glorious past and helped to create a broad outlook to build a radical movement of widest possible sections of students and youth.

The leading members from many centres of struggle recounted their experiences and also gave an outline of the plans and vision they have for strengthening the organisation and advancing the radical student-youth movement. Cultural teams of Delhi University, Sangwari group from Jamia Milia Islamia University performed street play and sang revolutionary songs in each interval.

The workshop was inaugurated by CPI(ML) Uttaranchal Leading Team member Purushottam Sharma.

Crisis in Peru in the Wake of Strike Wave

The entire cabinet of Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo resigned on June 25. The government crisis culminates a rising tide of strikes and other protest actions which has shaken Peruvian society to the core. On June 3, thousands of people marched through the streets of Lima and other Peruvian cities against declaration of a 30-day state of emergency by Toledo which was imposed to suppress growing movement especially by workers and small farmers. People in Peru are demanding immediate lifting of the state of emergency, a major change in the economic policies of the government, a cabinet shake-up, and a solution to the demands of the striking teachers and other public servants — who have been in the forefront of the escalating struggle. In addition to the immediate wage demands of teachers and other unionists, workers and small farmers have refused to accept the neoliberal economic model being imposed by the Toledo government. In particular, they want to prevent implementation of a new tax system favouring business owners over working people. The unions also wanted to stop a regressive restructuring of the foreign debt, and demanded the abolition of repressive anti-labour laws introduced under Fujimori regime. While the government had agreed in principle to restructure the salaries of the president and other senior government officials, workers and their unions want a radical reduction in government leaders’ incomes — and significant increases in wages, not only of teachers, but of other sections of the working class. The month long teachers’ strike was successfully ended on June 12 after an agreement to raise salaries by US $ 30 was reached.

Iraqi Communist Party Demands Elections in Iraq

The Iraqi Communist Party has said in a statement that the big issues which decide the features of the economic state of Iraqi society, and the directions of its development, must be exclusively a task for the legitimate national Iraqi governments, which must be elected freely and under UN supervision. In the absence of a national authority and with the “Coalition Authority” unilaterally deciding the destiny of Iraq the problems which burden the lives of the broad masses have continued and even got worse. The orientation of the country’s economic development is being formulated without consulting any of its many representatives, and without real participation by the Iraqi people in deciding their own destiny.