Remembering Comrade Nagbhushan on his Sixth Memorial Day - 9 October:

“Never will the Party deviate from the cause espoused by
Comrade Nagbhushan…”

(Here we reproduce excerpts from the speech delivered by Comrade Vinod Mishra at the funeral of Comrade NB - as published in November '98 issue of the Liberation -Ed .)

Throughout his life Comrade Nagbhushan had been a relentless fighter against death. In the 70's he was sentenced to death. The ruling classes conspired to kill him. But in the face of powerful protests by democratic and progressive forces throughout the country, the President of India was compelled to commute the sentence to one of life imprisonment. On his part Nagbhushan never begged the mercy of the state. On the contrary he wrote to the President, “In case any body happens to plead compassion for me, let it be put on record that I'm totally against any such move.” Yet the pressure of democratic forces was so high that the President had to reduce the sentence. While serving the life imprisonment he was kept in solitary confinement and subjected to various tortures with an eye to killing him bit by bit. But Nagbhushan refused to die. He carried on his battle. Under the tremendous pressure of democratic opinion, once again a historic decision had to be taken — this time by the Supreme Court. Comrade Nagbhus han was released on indefinite parole. Technically, therefore, he is still a prisoner.

When he came out of jail, he was virtually standing on the brink of death. Myself or whoever met him then, did not expect that he would ever again undertake tours crisscrossing the country. But precisely that became the reality before long. Fourteen years of imprisonment or the fourteen surgeries conducted on his body — nothing could dampen his spirits. For building up the Indian Peoples' Front, he began to travel across the country. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Punjab to Bihar there was hardly any state where he did not go and address mass gatherings. He organised the IPF and in the process revitalised the party — the CPI (ML) itself. Thus with his great will power he conquered death once again.

But when he fell sick this time, the most modern treatments and the best efforts of our comrades in Chennai could not save him. His demise is not simply the death of a leader of our Party. In him the motherland lost one of her finest sons — one who devoted his entire life to the great struggle for ushering in a democratic India, a socialist India, a country where there would be no poverty, no fratricidal riots — a country which would walk in the community of nations with a head held high. Such a great son of India is no longer amongst us.

But Nagbhushan has left for us the rich legacy of his long, struggling life. He was deeply pained to see the unified CPI (ML) break into pieces. Let the party remain undivided — such was his most sincere urge. In the later phase too, he always wished that the party should preserve its unity, its discipline, and go from strength to strength. For this he fought relentlessly and this was his last wish. On behalf of the entire party I vow to Comrade Nagbhushan, that we would never let our party split. Rest assured, Comrade Nagbhushan, we shall always keep the party united, we shall always work for consolidating and expanding it.

Comrade Nagbhushan became Nagbhushan in course of the great battle of Srikakulam – a battle that generated a mighty revolutionary wave across the land. In those early days of the ‘70s, he led the struggle of Srikakulam on issues like land, dignity and rights of the poor peasants and for seizure of political power. During his last years too, his mind was set on rekindling the fire of Srikakulam along the Andhra-Orissa border, in the Srikakulam-Koraput area. It was to this endeavour that he devoted the last phase of his life. We vow to you, Comrade Nagbhushan, that our party will always place the greatest emphasis on the struggle of poor peasants, that we shall spare no efforts to re-ignite the fire of Srikakulam, once again in the Andhra-Orissa border. This is our last homage to you.

Nagbhushan was a front-ranking soldier both during the phase of armed struggle and that of the battle of ballots. He never endorsed the concept of pitting the ballot against the bullet or vice versa – for he regarded both as weapons to be wielded by communists depending on a concrete analysis of concrete conditions. True Marxist that he was, he taught our party that communists do not discard either of the weapons. We shall always adhere to your teaching, Comrade Nagbhushan and move forward along the path shown by you.

Comrade Nagbhushan knew that it would take quite some time for the debates among the leftists – the CPI, the CPI (M), the various factions of the CPI (ML) and others – to be resolved. He wondered why despite the existing debates it was not possible for all of us to unite on the basis of a minimum programme against the bourgeoisie? To develop such a unity was his constant endeavour. A few months back, an organisation that claims to be a revolutionary one made an attempt to assault Comrade Nagbhushan. Although he was not physically harmed, mentally he was very much hurt. It was beyond his imagination that there could be a leftist organisation — and a self-proclaimed revolutionary one at that – which would launch an attack on him. Despite this anguish, he did not turn sectarian. In his cherished left unity he sought to mobilise all, including those who attacked him. We take our oath in front of you, Comrade Nagbhushan, that we shall never slacken our efforts to unite entire left forces on one common platform.

Comrade Nagbhushan strove to unite all the progressive and democratic forces of India through the Indian Peoples' Front. In the process he himself emerged as a symbol of united front. And after his death the entire country is paying respect to him. Tributes are flowing in from different cross-sections of people, from various strata of society and from different political parties.

Comrade Nagbhushan is no longer with us. But our party and our country will never forget him. His memory will forever inspire us, his thoughts will lighten our path. His indomitable will power will embolden us to overcome all difficulties. His sacrifices will encourage us to emulate him and take deeper plunges into revolution. This is our firm pledge to him.

Comrade Nagbhushan had dreamt of a beautiful India , a democratic India . I, on behalf of the Central Committee of the CPI (ML) as well as all the members, supporters and sympathisers of the party, declare that our party will go on fighting for this dream without let-up and fearing no sacrifice. I think that would be the best tribute on our part to Comrade Nagbhushan.

One last point I would like to make. It is commonplace in history that as long as a revolutionary leader remains alive, he is assaulted, tortured, conspired against and sought to be eliminated. But after his death, the bourgeoisie tries to project him as a demigod. We must be on our guard on this score. Comrade Nagbhushan was above all a communist revolutionary, a founder-leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). He fought for the noble ideal of communism and therefore, fought against all brands of opportunism.

Comrade Nagbhushan had many political opponents, many class enemies were ranged against him, but he had hardly one personal enemy.

Our party will forever hold high the ideal, for which Nagbhushan lived and died. That is the pledge we take in the name of Comrade Nagbhushan. Long live Indian revolution. Long live Comrade Nagbhushan!

PWG-RJD-Police Nexus Continues It's Killing Spree :
CPI(ML) Calls for Bigger Mass Resistance

Comrade Vijendra Prasad was assassinated by RJD-People's War goons when he was returning after attending a Block level Party meeting held at Shripalpur in the evening of Sep 28. He was also an elected mukhia of his village panchayat in Punpun block of Patna . As if police already knew, immediately after this ghastly murder it removed the body of slain comrade and sent for postmortem, though it is notoriously known for not coming to the place of the crime even after hours had passed. This prompt action also indicate towards a nexus that wanted to avoid public ire. But this criminal intention proved much weaker than the popularity of the assassinated leader as thousands of masses spontaneously assembled at the place of the postmortem and condemned the spree of killings going on by PWG-RJD-police nexus.

While police, as usual, has not arrested any of the murderers even after a week, State Chief Minister Rabri Devi refused to meet thousands of anguished people who marched to Patna on foot right from the place of the postmortem with the body of comrade Vijendra Prasad to ask for justice. A massive procession with the dead body marched through streets of Patna , led by comrades Ramjatan Sharma and Rameshwar Prasad. Police used force and barricaded the road to stop the marchers, but could not stop the growing resentment and altercations continued for hours. The roads at many places remained blocked due to the protest.

Few days earlier the same nexus massacred five of our comrades at Paliganj that attracted statewide protests which forced RJD to expel one of its MLAs from the party. But despite arrest of one of the killers from his house the MLA himself was not arrested. Rabri Devi refused any inquiry into the matter as she also knows, as we know, that it will expose the involvement of PWG and RJD. We asked for a CBI inquiry.

This time again, we demanded CBI inquiry. Comrade Rameshwar Prasad said, while addressing the people over the barricades, that the fact that the 'self-proclaimed messiah' has refused to see the slain body and to meet thousands of poor who came to seek justice itself proves it is anti-people government that suppresses people struggling for democracy in Bihar. And this refusal also means that the struggle for a New Bihar will be fought and won in the flaming fields and streets of Bihar , he added.

The body of comrade Vijendra Prasad was later taken to the cremation ground, Bansghat, in Patna in a huge procession to perform the martyr's funeral.

IRASU's National Conference

Indian Railways Artisan Staff Union's Second National Conference was held at Jamui on Oct 2-3 and opposed the changes being done in the basic structure of Indian Railways as well as increasing problems of its employees. The Conference attended by delegates from Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, NER, Eastern Railway, ECR, Northern Railway, NFR, NCR, NER, SER, etc. was inaugurated by AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee. He called upon the workers and trade unions in Railways to resurrect the spirit of 1974 to combat the attack of the policies of liberalisation in Railways. The Conference reelected comrades Avinash Sharma and Ravi Sen as President and General Secretary respectively.

BJP's Designs Condemned in Andamans

Andaman units of CPI(ML) and AICCTU held a protest dharna and took out a procession in Port Blair to condemn BJP's fascist designs simultaneously at the time when Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi were staging their court arrest drama in front of Cellular jail on Sep 21 on Savarkar issue. The Party unit in Andamans protested "the bad intentions and ugly politics of BJP and condemned its programme of communal agenda to disturb the peace and communal harmony in these islands".

Starvation Deaths in Rajasthan :
Wrong Policies Leave Lakhs of People Starving

The recent starvation death reported from the Kraska village of district Alwar reflects the sorry plight of lakhs of poor villagers who have been left to starve without any means of livelihood after their fertile lands, which they were tilling for generations, were taken away forcibly by the govt. nearly a decade ago for the Sariska sanctuary project. Once a lot of flourishing peasants are now left to survive on occasional toil in the absence of any regular work. That too on a meagre wage of Rs. 20-25 per day. Minimum wage is a cruel dream for them. But this year's drought left them in a situation of total joblessness and starvation.

A CPI(ML) team comprising Polit Bureau member and Vice President of AIALA Swadesh Bhattacharya, Party's Haryana Incharge and Co-convener of AIKSS Prem Singh Gahlawat, Leader of Rajasthan Khet Mazdoor Sabha Phoolchand Dheba along with comrades Om Prakash and Jitendra Prasad conducted an inquiry on Oct 1-2 into the recent incident of starvation death in district Alwar of Rajasthan.

Sending forest dwellers to such inhuman conditions in the name of development of forests exposes the reality of government's Forest Act. Amidst high profile glitz of corporatised roads, tiger project, national sanctuary, modern resorts and restaurants for national and international tourists exists such a village named kraska, not too far from the Delhi-Jaipur highway, that could be equated with nothing less than the "death-well for humanity". Villagers have to make a two-hours walk on difficult hilly terrain without any road or even a footpath in search of work. They live in mud houses in very inhuman conditions without electricity and potable water. None of the governments in Rajasthan had ever thought of improving their plight. But the forest mafia is reported to work here well, like other parts of the country, endangering species and exploiting bio-resources with active connivance of the forest officials.

Situation is much severe here. Otherwise there are reports of starvation deaths in other districts also and almost whole of the state is suffering from drought. Worrying fact is that the perimeter of famine affected areas is increasing day by day in the country.

CPI(ML) has demanded immediate suspension of DM of Alwar for his criminal negligence and to provide food, housing, employment, etc. to the affected people. It was also demanded to give them back the legal rights over their lands, and to start a comprehensive development package besides providing all civic amenities like electricity, water, health, education, old-age pension and other things. Party has criticized state govt. for its callousness and launching useless debate, in order to escape responsibility, of whether the people are dying of illness or starvation.

9 th National Conference of Jan Sanskriti Manch Concluded in Ranchi

The 9 th National Conference of Jan Sanskriti Manch, held at Pt. Raghunath Murmu Sabhagar in Ranchi , Jharkhand on 2-3 October, concluded successfully with the election of the new body followed by a series of cultural performances staged by cultural teams from various states of the Hindi belt as well as from Punjab and West Bengal . The conference was focused on the question of developing culture of new resistance against culture of communalization.

The programme started with a protest rally against repression in Jharkhand, participated in by cultural activists from various parts of the country, but the rally was prohibited by the BJP-led Arjun Munda government and therefore it turned into a resistance-pledge taking meeting, held at Sainik Maidan, where homage were also paid to the martyrs of Jharkhand. Noted Jharkhandi scholar B. P. Kesari, JSM General Secretary Ajai Singh and Jharkhand Convenor Anil Anshuman addressed to the resistance meeting.

In the open session, welcome address was delivered by Dr. B. P. Kesari, President of Jharkhand Sanskriti Manch. This session was also addressed by CPI(ML) MLA Mahendra Singh and representatives from other Left and progressive cultural organizations who emphasized the necessity of developing cultural resistance against the forces of reaction.

The Conference was inaugurated by noted critic and President of JSM Dr. Manager Pandey, who categorically stated that culture of commercialization is not different from globalization and the US is acting as its strong-arm. He stressed that the danger of communalism has not lessened with the defeat of the NDA govt. He criticized the government for criminally neglecting its duty by remaining mute in face of starvation deaths, floods and drought which is affecting more than half of the population of the country and called upon the cultural activists to reach out to the broad masses, especially in the countryside, and organize the new streams of resistance particularly from among women and dalits. The relevance of literature lies in its contribution to the resolution of social crisis, he said.

The conference was addressed by novelist Maitreyi Pushpa as the chief guest and Jwalamukhi, veteran revolutionary Telugu poet, as the main speaker. Ajay Singh, General Secretary of JSM, presented report before the conference. The report discussed the plight of rural poor and violation of human rights and ruthless state repression, government's failure to nab the culprits of Babri masjid destruction and Gujarat genocide, violence against women and freedom of expression and commercialization and degeneration of values, and other issues. This draft identified the forces of cultural resistance and expressed hope to raise the level of unity among the Left cultural organizations.

The Conference elected a 65 member National Council with Manager Pandey as President and Ajay Singh as Secretary. A number of resolutions adopted at the conference include condemnation of VHP-ABVP-led slanderous attack on noted historian Irfan Habib and Subira Jaiswal of Aligarh; repeal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958, withdrawal of all POTA and TADA cases, probe into the death of Bangladeshi writer Humayun Azad in suspicious conditions in Germany, condemnation of the attacks on editors Nikhil Wagle and Sajid Rashid (Mahanagar) in Mumbai, and strongest condemnation of the most heinous and murderous attack on Nyugiva Thiongo, a revolutionary writer from Kenya, and rape of his wife.

The Conference paid homage to noted writer Mulkraj Anand, veteran socialist thinker Kishan Patnaik, freedom fighter Kultar Singh (brother of Bhagat Singh), noted classical singer Shobha Gurtu and dancer Kelucharan Mahapatra.

B R I E F S

State-wide Dharna for Bonus by Tea Workers in Assam

Assam Sangrami Chah Sramik Sangha (ASCSS) staged dharnas in different dist HQs and Subdivisional HQs of Assam demanding 20% bonus on Sep 27. Protest processions and Dharnas were held in Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Nagaon and Biswanath Chari Ali. In Biswanath Chari Ali more than two thousand tea workers were gathered and pressed their demands. A memorandum was sent to the Chief Minister of Assam through respective administration at all places. In Guwahati AICCTU held a demonstration at Deputy Commissioner's office and sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister of Assam . The memorandum demanded i) to stop discrimination on bonus issue and to ensure 20 % bonus to the tea workers, ii) enquiry into the death of tea workers in different gastro diseases and to punish the concerned authority of the gardens and Rs. one lakh compensation for each victim family, iii) raise wage to Rs. 75/- through new wage agreement and hold discussions not only with ACMS but also invite ASCSS for the talks, iv) stop wage cut in the name of high electricity bill, connect individual meters for every house, v) pay wages for Sunday, vi) solve problems of Assam Tea Corporation (ATC) gardens. ASCSS has also taken a series of programmes on these issues. Dharnas will be held at every Tea garden on 29th Sept and Demand Day will be observed on 4th Oct.

Fast unto Death by Rural Workers

Bajali block Committee of Rural Workers Union, Barpeta , Assam , staged a fast unto death from 24th Sept, demanding declaration of BPL list, payment of the pending wages to the rural workers, enquiry into the corruption in Sadari Panchayat and punishment of the corrupt engineers and contractors and Green Cards to the rural workers. Local leaders of the Rural Workers Union, viz. Baijo Ali, Jadav Ujir, Robin Talukdar, Hitesh Talukdar and Purandar Talukdar continued the fast till the authority's gave an assurance to fulfill the demands. Various left and democratic parties and organisations including CPI(M) extended their support to the demands. Administration's repeated attempts to break the fast could not succeed. Later, on Sep 28 fasting comrades lifted the agitation temporarily after getting assurance from the concerned authorities in a citizen meeting held at Pathsala on Sep 27 that was also attended by AICCTU, ASCSS and AIPWA leaders.

Aipwa District Conferences in AP

On Sep 20 AIPWA East Godavari District conference was held at Kakinada . 400 delegates from 15 mandals attended the conference. The delegates were elected through branch conferences. Each branch conference elected 50 delegates to represent district conference. AIPWA State Convener R. Nagamani and District Secretary of CPI(ML) B. Bangarrao addressed the conference which elected a 31-member District Council and a 9-member executive. A rally was held after the conference.

AIPWA Krishna District Conference was held at Vissannapeta on Sep 28. Prior to the conference a rally was organised which was led by comrades Srilatha Swaminathan, AIPWA National president, R.Nagamani, T. Aruna. Srilatha inaugurated the conference. A 13-member District Committee was elected.

AIALA Rally in Rudrapur

AIALA Udham Singh Nagar unit held a district level protest rally in Rudrapur on Sep 29 to press for the demand of BPL cards to all agricultural labourers in the district. The rally, participated by hundreds of agriworkers, also raised the issues of land redistribution, to raise minimum wage to Rs. 73 and rampant practice of usury. The rallyists sent the memorandum of demands to the President of India after passing a condemnation resolution against the DM who was absent from his office.

TU Struggles in Dinajpur

AICCTU affiliated union of a Plywood factory launched a successful agitation against the closure of the mill which was opened after a month long agitation through tripartite talks. Earlier a strike was organised in the same factory against the eviction of 40 workers, which also was a success. In the same district at Raiganj AICCTU held a demonstration to protest the practice of moneylending among workers in NBSTC Depot. Here a worker, unable to bear pressure-tactics of moneylenders, had committed suicide on Sep 15.