No Violence Can Stop Bihar’s Brave New Women
The cowards of Ranvir Sena have struck again.
Having failed to stop the rural poor’s relentless forward march through repeated massacres, the killers have now started targeting individual leaders of the masses. On 10 November afternoon Comrade Manju became their first victim in Bihar’s Arwal-Jahanabad belt.
The killers had chosen their target carefully. Comrade Manju was one of the most courageous and assertive leaders of the masses. Like the people’s poet Virendra Vidrohi who had blackened the face of the Congress Chief Minister Bhagwat Jha Azad’s face after a Jehanabad massacre in the late 1980s, she too symbolised the indomitable courage and tenacity of the fighting people of Jahanabad in the face of brutal feudal violence and state repression.
No less significant was the choice of the moment. In August, fourteen comrades had been sentenced to life imprisonment under the draconian TADA. The killing of a bold leader of the masses like Manju at this hour, they thought, would thoroughly demoralise the masses and rattle the Party organisation. And they must have also hoped to dampen the spirit of the impending all-India agricultural labour conference in neighbouring Bhojpur.
They could not be more mistaken. Far from demoralising the masses, Manju’s assassination has only infuriated them. It has produced unprecedented mass anger in every nook and corner of Arwal and Jahanabad. From her village to the Party office to the cremation ground, thousands of people thronged all along the way to say adieu to this fearless fighter. As for the Party, its resolve has been steeled further and the founding conference of the All India Agricultural Labour Association two days later went on to become a huge historic success.
Comrade Manju’s martyrdom has served as a new mirror for the people of the region. It has armed them with a clearer understanding of the raging class war in Bihar, and helped them decide their own location in this epic battle between the decadent feudal society and the emerging new democratic society of the people. The contrast between the matchless courage of ordinary toiling men and women and the monumental cowardice of the heavily armed forces of feudal reaction has seldom been as stark.
Manju was a typical representative of the brave new women who have come up in the course of the last three decades of battle for a new democracy, a new Bihar. Born in an agricultural labour family, she joined the movement while still in school, and grew up challenging and rejecting the definitions and dictates of the old feudal society and discovering herself and her dreams in the midst of the movement. She went in for an inter-caste marriage of her own choice, was a caring mother for her three children, but never allowed domesticity to become fetters for her political life.
Her politics was full of anger against every oppression and discrimination that women have to suffer in our present society as women. But more importantly, her politics pulsated with the courage and commitment of a communist who knew that women could only breathe free in a new society and hence the fight for women’s liberation was inseparable from the battle for revolutionary social transformation. She was therefore on the forefront of every struggle against feudal violence and state terror, she fought as vigorously with students against police brutality, as within the panchayati system against corruption and anti-poor discrimination. If she was known for her outspokenness and militancy in the society, she was equally hforthright in putting forward her views inside the Party.
Since its inception, the Ranvir Sena has time and again exposed itself as an abominable instrument of feudal, patriarchal and communal violence. From Bathantitola to Bathe and Shankarbigha to Miyanpur, the Sena has killed hundreds of women, and perpetrated the same kind of unimaginably barbaric violence on pregnant women as one later came to see in the course of the anti-Muslim genocide in Modi’s Gujarat. But till date no serious effort has been made by any state institution to stop this barbaric outfit. Even the national and state women’s commissions do not have a single word to say about the Sena’s anti-women violence. In fact, the Bihar Women’s Commission has sought to justify its silence on the plea that Manju’s killing is a ‘political murder’!
But piercing the sinister silence of the state and the protagonists of ‘civil society’, the resolve of the democratic people, especially the toiling masses and the brave new women of Bihar has started rending the air. Let Comrade Manju’s martyrdom prove to be the last nail on the Ranvir Sena’s coffin.
First Conference of AIALA Concluded:
Unity of Agricultural Labourers and Toiling Peasants will Fulfil the Dream of Complete Social Transformation
The first Conference of All India Agricultural Labour Association (Akhil Bhartiya Khet Mazdoor Sabha) concluded in Ara (Bhojpur), Bihar with a resolve to strengthen the organisation of agricultural labourers and carry out militant struggles against anti-people-rural poor policies of NDA govt. at the centre as well as against governments of various hues in different states. It resolved to intensify struggle to defeat communal fascist politics and imperialist intervention in the affairs of the country in order to establish genuine democracy and rule of the masses. The two-day conference adopted the proposed manifesto and programme of AIALA and passed six-point resolutions on various issues of importance.
The inaugural session of the Conference started as an open mass session in the form of a rally on 14 November which was unprecedented in the history of Bhojpur, in terms of number and surpassed all expectations as almost every street of Ara was flooded with rallyists with red flags and banners in their hands.
Ara town was well prepared to receive the rallyists and delegates to the conference with every road and crossing carried specially erected gates and whole stretches of roads upto the Ramana Maidan, venue of the rally, were decorated with banners and flags to welcome the participants. A huge sickle, symbol of the organised strength of agricultural labour and rural poor, was also erected at the rally ground just in front of the dias besides the replica of a more than 20 feet long plow, artistically built with rice husk and sand.
The rally was addressed by CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya as the main speaker. Comrades Ram Naresh Ram, Malleshwar Rao, Krishna Adhikari, Kunti Devi, Convenor of All India Kisan Coordination Committee Rajaram Singh, CPI(ML) MLAs Satyadev Ram and Arun Singh and leader of Lal Nishan Party (Leninist) in Maharashtra also addressed the rally. Comrade Rameshwar Prasad, National Convenor of AIALA, conducted the proceedings.
Addressing the rally Comrade Dipankar said that three decades ago Bhojpur showed the way to the revolutionary peasant uprising of Naxalbari and today we have assembled here to carry forward that glorious legacy and struggles of rural poor. CPI(ML) is committed to fulfill the aspirations of people of Bhojpur who fought valiantly and many of them sacrificed their lives in the struggle for a revolutionary change. No power can defeat the organised strength of oppressed and toiling masses when they rise up to build a new society. I appeal to strengthen the unity of agricultural labourers and toiling peasants to fulfil the dream of a complete social transformation", Com. Dipankar said.
He said that those who came to power with the slogan of "Bhaya, Bhookh, Bhrashtachar se Mukti" are responsible for the large number of starvation deaths taking place in the country and corruption rampant everywhere.
"Comrade Manju was killed in a dastardly manner, but Ranvir Sena's motive was completely foiled by the people of Jahanabad, when whole of Jahanabad came to participate in the funeral procession of Comrade Manju. Their participation in large number have proved that anti-dalit, anti-women, and anti-development Ranvir Sena's days are numbered."
"Today agricultural labourers comprise the largest contingent of forces of production in the country and there is no doubt that they will organise themselves in their own organisation. We have also called for unity of agricultural labourers and peasants. They will struggle not only for their livelihood, dignity, equality and rights but also fight against serious crisis which country is facing today and will strengthen the freedom of the people of this country", Comrade Dipankar said.
"When comrades like Butan Musahar were fighting with the army and police in Bhojpur, it were the people of Bhojpur who proved that poor people can win the battle too. And they proved it again when they sent Comrade Ram Naresh Ram to Assembly. Only the power of the red flag can restore communal amity and peace for the masses by defeating outfits like Bajarang Dal, Shiv Sena and VHP. When VHP gave a call for Ayodhya on Oct 17, our comrades in Uttar Pradesh decided to hold a rally on real issues of the people on Oct 16. And this was CPI(ML)'s rally which got an overwhelming response while communal fascists' assembly was a damp squib on Oct 17. Now is the time to say 'Khali karo raaste, loktantra ke vaaste, vikaas ke vaaste' to counter propaganda of fascists and defeat them."
He further said "Twelve years ago Laloo Prasad had not arrested Advani and sent him to jail when he was holding his rath yatra, latter was merely stopped and allowed to stay in a govt. guest house. This time Togadia was treated with greater hospitality by Laloo and he was given a return air ticket at the cost of state exchequer to go back, while AISA and CPI(ML) activists who opposed Advani and showed him black flags were arrested under charges of treason and sent to jail. Laloo regime is responsible for Bihar's nondevelopment and poor image and this is time to say to Laloo too "khali karo raaste, lal jhande ke vaaste".
"Economic policies of the governments are forcing youth and students to large scale unemployment and same people are whipping up regional passions and unemployed youth are made to fight with each other" he said commenting on the sectarian violence in some parts of Bihar and Assam.
"Large scale unemployment and suicides and starvation deaths can only be stopped by acquiring freedom for the actual forces of the production. Agricultural labourers are the largest contingent of production forces. And we started with a target of 10 lakh membership for the khemas, but the response was such overwhelming that we soon completed 15 lakh membership of AIALA. This fact has proved that agricultural labourers are earnestly looking for their own organisation." he said and concluded, "Challenges before us are plenty. But we inherit a glorious legacy of revolutionary struggles. Our struggles and our martyrs have time and again proved oppressors of the people wrong. Coming times will be the time of militant struggles at various fronts and in various forms and befitting answer will be given to those who try to disrupt unity of agricultural labourers and peasants. Befitting reply will be given to communal and other forces of regression. This is the time to fight resolutely."
The rally also passed a six-point resolution and resolved to organise agricultural labourers throughout the country as a militant class force.
The cultural teams from different states including Karbi-Anglong, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar, presented programmes in the cultural evening after the rally.
The delegate session started in the late evening of 14 November at Comrade Ramayan Sabhagar (stadium ground) in a huge pandal erected for the purpose, with the presentation of the report by Comrade Rameshwar Prasad, Chairperson of AIALA convening body. Before that a number of guests including Bhimrao of LNP(L), AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee, RYA National President Mithilesh Yadav, AISA President Kavita Krishnan, Incharge of Jan Sanskriti Manch Ramji Rai and AIPWA National Secretary Saroj Chaube addressed the delegates and conveyed their greetings of solidarity. This session was conducted by a nine-member Presidium with Ram Naresh Ram as it's Chairperson and Krishna Adhikari, Kshitish Biswal, Rabi Kumar Phangcho, Pawan Sharma, Kunti Devi, Balasundaram, Bangar Rao and Shankar Mitra as members. More than a thousand delegates and guests, including leaders of various mass organisations of the Party, from sixteen states took part in this session.
A number of delegates took part in the discussions on the report presented before the house. The conference included some suggestions that came up during discussion and unanimously adopted the new programme, manifesto and constitution of the AIALA. The last session of the Conference, started in the afternoon of 15 November, elected a 123-member National Council which included representatives from almost all states. The Council elected a 29-member National Executive which formed a thirteen-member body of National Office-bearers with Ram Naresh Ram as President, Rameshwar Prasad as the General Secretary, besides five Vice-Presidents and a six Secretaries.
In the end, Comrade Dipankar congratulated the delegates for successful conclusion of the conference and said we must unite agricultural labour in the country as a class, breaking all types of regional and sectional boundries and launch struggle to democratise the existing land relations which currently undermines majority, to achieve comprehensive land reforms and redistribution of land. The glory of the strength of the agricultural labourers is amply reflected in the attractive and beautiful manner in which this historic Conference has been organised, he said.
All India Agricultural Labour Conference, Ara, Bihar
This November-thunder in the flaming fields of Bhojpur, the historic land of revolutionary peasant uprising which inherited "Naxalbari" and proclaimed aloud in the days of darkness "Naxalbari zinda hai, Naxalbari nahin mara hai, Naxalbari nahin marega" (Naxalbari is alive and will never die down), paves the way for a broader awakening, stronger movement and upsurge of the rural poor which will certainly prove a nightmare, a final blow, to the reactionary forces - old and new.
This conference, committed to mobilise and organise the largest contingent of the fighters for democracy and freedom reasserts that, in contrast to the anarchist and semi-anarchist groups like MCC or PWG who refuses to analyse the changed situations, follow the beaten track and get out of track, and as opposed to the social democrats like CPI and CPI(M) who do recognise the changes but looking for newer leadership among bourgeois-landlord parties and for dragging the working class behind them in the name of 'united front', the CPI(ML) adopts itself to the changed situations and take concrete revolutionary steps suited to concrete conditions. One may recall that during the crisis of sixties, the great uprising of the landless-poor peasantry in Naxalbari, coupled with the clarion call for a "kisan raj" by the communist revolutionaries, spread like a prairie fire and provided an unprecedented momentum to the Left and democratic movement throughout the country. Again, as the ruling class headed towards a fresh crisis in seventies and lead it to force 'Emergency' Rule, the upsurge of the landless-poor peasantry in Bhojpur regenerated the hope and confidence not only in the communist revolutionaries but also in the democratic masses at large throughout the country. And, in face of the new threats nation faces today, this emerging class of agricultural and rural labour stands as the most formidable force to take up the challenges of the day.
This assembly of the representatives of the fifteen lakh strong rural proletariat and semi-proletariat led by the CPI(ML), the revolutionary party of the proletariat, upheld the battle cry of our nation today - "Save Democracy, Save India!". This uprising of the agricultural and rural labour will definitely boost up the present-day movement of our people for democracy and self-reliance, to save our beloved motherland from the clutches of US-domination and from plunder by corrupt-criminal-repressive raj throughout the country under different shades of governments with BJP at the helm of affairs in the centre.
This historic conference marks a new milestone in our movement - a forceful assertion of the rural proletariat and the toiling peasantry to overthrow the old and new forces of reaction, to strengthen the ongoing course of advance for land, democracy and freedom.
Resolutions adopted at the Rally
1. This rally being held on the occasion of the founding conference of All India Agricultural Labour Association pledges to fulfil the yet unrealised dreams of all the martyrs - Comrades Jauhar, Jagadish (Master Saheb), Ramayan Ram, Nirmal, Rameshwar, Jiut, Sahto, Sheela, Agni, Lahri and others - of revolutionary peasant struggle of Bhojpur.
2. This rally strongly condemns and protests the ongoing attacks of the feudal-police-criminal nexus on the rural poor, mainly agricultural labourers, in West Champaran district of Bihar and calls upon the toiling masses to unitedly resist such barbaric attacks. The rally condemns the RJD government of Bihar and the BJP-Samata combine for giving patronage to feudal estates and criminals in this region.
3. This rally strongly condemns the murder of Comrade Manju, CPI(ML) leader, AIPWA district President and former member of zilla parishad in Jahanabad, by Ranvir Sena on Nov 10 in a cowardly manner at Arwal. The rally demands immediate arrest of the killers and stern actions against DM and SP of Arwal for being responsible for this brutal incident to happen.
4. This rally protests the continuing communal-fascist offensive of the Sangh Parivar and BJP and calls upon the people to resist this saffron aggressiveness by intensifying 'Save Democracy, Save India' campaign by organising wider sections of the masses on their basic issues such as wage, education, health, potable water, electricity, etc.
5. This rally demands withdrawal of the New Agricultural Policy of the government which is promoting the interests of the imperialist powers in our country and compelling the labourers and farmers to resort to suicides and face starvation deaths. The rally demands of the government of India to quit WTO.
6. Championing the glorious anti-imperialist legacy of heroic peasant rebellions and militant people's struggles of Bhojpur, this rally strongly protests the increasing imperialist attacks, mainly by America, on the people of the Third World. The rally denounces the BJP-led NDA government for adopting pro-American positions on every issue of national importance.
CPI(ML) Condemns Violence in Assam and Bihar
Calls for Maintaining Amity
(handout issued by CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya at press conference held at Patna on 17 November 2003)
CPI(ML) expresses grave concern over the recent spate of incidents of parochial frenzy and sectarian violence in parts of Bihar and Assam. Considerable sections of people in both Assam and Bihar who are forced to go out of their own states in search of education and employment are now haunted by a growing spectre of insecurity. We call upon the central and state governments of Assam and Bihar to guarantee adequate security to Bihari migrants and Assamese passengers passing through Bihar. We also appeal to the people of both the states to maintain calm and exercise restraint in the face of these irresponsible acts of mutual provocation.
CPI(ML) units of both the states are committed to resist all expressions of sectarian violence and defend the basic democratic rights of, and amity between, the people of the two states. In Assam, CPI(ML) has categorically condemned the anti-Bihari threats and called upon the progressive forces in the Assamese society and within the tribal autonomy movements to stand by the labouring people from Bihar.
Factors like acute unemployment and growing economic insecurity lie at the root of this crisis and the need of the hour therefore is a united and powerful struggle against the central and state governments and their unemployment-generating policies. CPI(ML) appeals to the students and unemployed youth in both Bihar and Assam to stop fratricidal violence and hatred and instead direct their anger and agitation against the NDA government at the centre and the Congress government in Assam and RJD-Congress coalition government in Bihar. Recruitment examinations for all-India services must be held in a decentralised manner so that applicants need not run from one state to another to appear in these tests.
For a state like Bihar which has always played such a central role in national affairs and whose people have the most extensive economic and educational ties with the rest of the country, sectarian regionalism can only be a recipe for disaster. It is important to note that the same forces which are responsible for the present economic backwardness of Bihar and growing unemployment in the entire country are busy stoking the fire of ugly regionalism and sectarian violence. The students and other democratic forces of Bihar who have been waging heroic struggles against all-pervasive corruption, criminalisation and repression must foil this diversionary ploy and must not let their energy to be wasted and image discredited in acts of sectarian hatred and violence.
Manju's Murder Condemned widely
Hundreds of CPI(ML) and AIPWA activists marched to Parliament Street on Nov 12 to protest against the brutal, blatant and dastardly killing of Comrade Manju. Protesters sent a memorandum to the Governor of Bihar demanding immediate arrest of the killers; effective implementation of ban on Ranvir Sena; all weapons of the Ranvir Sena be seized and licensed arms be provided to the rural poor for self defence; thorough investigation of links between the Sena and Political Parties including State Congress chief Ramjatan Sinha and RJD Minister Akhilesh Singh; and district Administration of Arwal be taken to task for dereliction of duty and the DM and SP be punished with suspension.
Internationally renowned sociologist in US James Petras has sent his message of solidarity and condemnation and expressed his support in Party's struggle to bring the killers of manju to justice. Farooq Tariq, General Secretary of Labour Party, Pakistan, has also condemned the incident.
Seminar On Right To Strike
A Seminar on –Right to Strike and Disinvestment—was organised by Karnataka Labour Representatives Forum at Bangalore on 16 November. The seminar was addressed by CC member of CPI(ML) Shankar on behalf of AICCTU along with the state leaders of CITU, AITUC and HMKP. Shankar stressed the need to go for waves of all-India strikes to nullify the effects of SC judgement rather than going for reviews and petitions.
Convention against Oil Sector Privatisation
An all India Convention was held at Guwahati, Assam on 16 Nov against Privatisation of Oil Sector PSUs by NEROWCC which decided to hold a nationwide 24-hour strike in oil sector on 16 December. Nationwide dharnas will also be held on 2 December on the same issue. Comrade Subhash Sen, National Secretary of AICCTU and General Secretary of NEROWCC Biren Kalita also addressed the convention.
Protests in Andamans
The Andaman and Nikobar State unit of CPI(ML) held a day-long agitational programmes all over the island on Nov 8 to emphasise on a 10-point charter of demands. A day-long dharnas were held at Port Blair, Campbell Bay Bazaar in South Andaman, and Diglipur Bazaar in the North. A procession was also held at Rangat Bazaar in Central Andaman. Party unit in Andamans has demanded for an elected legislative Assembly in the Islands; a tribal council in Nikobar islands; effective control over land of local inhabitants; land reforms; remunerative prices for indigenous farm products; employment generating schemes and policies and complete halt to policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, etc.
CPI(ML) demands arrest of Judeo
CPI(ML) demands immediate arrest and prosecution of the Union Environment Minister Dilip Singh Judeo for taking bribe from the representative of an Australian company for mining lease in Chhattisgarh and Orissa. Party has described this as 'Tehlka 2003' and 'yet another damning exposure of the BJP-led NDA government'.
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