Rumblings within the BJP: Beyond the Uma Bharti Episode

The BJP once used to boastfully describe itself as a party with a difference. Today it has come to be ridiculed as a party with differences. That the return of the ‘iron man’ at the helm of the BJP has not helped iron out any of these differences was displayed dramatically by Uma Bharti’s walkout from the BJP office-bearers’ meeting last week in Delhi. Thanks to Advani’s decision to invite TV cameras to the meeting, the walkout was beamed live on several television channels. The spectacle of Uma Bharti daring Advani to take disciplinary action against her and a geriatric and patriarchal BJP leadership suspending the party’s prodigal poster-girl from primary membership is now one of the most telling images of the BJP soap opera.

The dramatic rise of the BJP in Indian politics over the last fifteen years coincided with the rapid rise of television journalism. Indeed, the BJP and the entire Sangh Parivar made the fullest use of this new medium to spread their tentacles and manipulate the mass mind. The BJP therefore should be the last party to grudge the fact that its internal differences are being played out through the electronic media. It is some poetic (and perhaps also technological) justice that the medium which played such a crucial role in catapulting the BJP from the fringes of Indian politics to the sanctum sanctorum of political power should also disseminate the message of its decline and the images of its crisis!

Some BJP watchers however believe that when Advani invited television cameras and went on to reprimand a few leaders by individually naming them, he was only taking a calculated risk. He must have had his share of doubt as to how Uma Bharti would react to this act of public criticism, but he was primarily interested in being seen to be taking on some of the ‘Hindutva hardliners’, albeit not on the question of the hard line but on the issue of the party’s image and discipline. And who could be a more ideal target within the BJP than the impetuous Uma Bharti! It would now be interesting to see if and how the BJP leadership works out a rapprochement with the party’s ‘defiant daughter’.

Where does the BJP go from here? It is common among both media commentators and a section of Hindutva fanatics to view the present crisis of direction and authority within the BJP as a rupture between ‘brand Vajpayee’ and the core ideology of the Sangh. They forget that ‘brand Vajpayee’ was very much an invention and product of the Sangh and that it also bore the unmistakable Advani mark so much so that one should actually describe it as the Atal-Advani brand. Post-Vajpayee, the Sangh may well be looking for a new brand to market its politics and the present crisis may well turn out to be the birth pangs of a new brand.

Speculation is also quite rife about a possible split in the BJP or about the Sangh floating a new political formation. There is no doubt that the differences now dogging the BJP and the Sangh cannot be attributed to mere personality clashes or a conflict between different immediate priorities. Many see the present crisis as a confirmation of the BJP’s innate inability to accommodate mass leaders coming from an OBC background, for them the Bharti episode is only a continuation of the BJP’s earlier predicament with leaders like Kalyan Singh or Shankarsinh Baghela or for that matter with the Sangh’s resident theorist of Mandal-Kamandal-Swadeshi synthesis, Govindacharya.

It must however be kept in mind that the Jan Sangh had not undergone a split, but was dissolved deliberately into the Janta Party in the specific political context that arose in the wake of the Emergency. The BJP is certainly passing through a period of crisis and transition, but it would be premature to say that the BJP has exhausted its political relevance in the strategic calculations of the Sangh. Instead of falling for facile conclusions or idle speculation that would legitimize any section of the Sangh, consistent forces of secularism and democracy must make the most of the BJP’s present crisis to push back the entire Sangh Parivar.

CPI(ML) Mourns the Demise of Yasser Arafat

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) joins the Palestinian people and their friends the world over in mourning the passing away of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. In the course of decades of ceaseless Palestinian struggle and heroic sacrifice for a free Palestine and for a dignified and just peace in the Middle East, Arafat had emerged not only as a rallying simbol of Palestinian aspiration but also as an inspiring icon for the worldwide anti-imperialist movement. His legacy will continue to inspire the Palestine people to reach their cherished goal of a free Paletine by defeating the us-backed Zionist conspiracy.

While paying tribute to the departed Palestinian leader, Indian people must force the Congress-led and Left-backed UPA government to abandon its policy of courting Israel and stand firmly by the Palestinian people against the US-Israel campain of brutal repression and occupation.

'VIKALP RALLY' IN JHARKHAND AGAINST DISASTROUS BJP RULE

State of Jharkhand is at the threshold of first Assembly elections. But the widespread feeling among the common citizens of this four years old state is that of disappointment and perfidy as the hopes of the youth are shattered by massive unemployment, peasants are becoming bankrupt, and the workers have to face the brunt of large scale closures and eviction. Similar is the case with other sections of the Jharkhandi society. Common man has become more insecure and the loot of development funds attains more brazen and corrupt forms.

Recently, dozens of people have been died of starvation in Palamou and Santhal Pargana regions and hundreds of lives have been taken away by diseases like malaria, diarrhea and TB, very much curable by modern medicine but spreading in the state in epidemic proportions. Though, the basic premise for the movement for a separate Jharkhand state was development and greater share of the people in economic and socio-political arena, the new government has failed to protect age old established industries like HEC, Sindri Fertilizers, Bhadaninagar, Basal and Copper mines, leave alone the talks of new employment generation measures. This has further increased out-migration to other states where people have to toil under exploitative conditions. Governmental schemes meant for food and employment guarantee are a cruel joke for the poor people of the state. Even the Supreme Court has criticized the BJP-led state government on this score, keeping in view the increasing number of starvation deaths.

But the government continues to conspire against its own people. State Cabinet has passed a proposal to de-reserve the posts of mukhiya in villages, in scheduled areas, where adivasi population is less than 40 percent and has asked the centre to do so. This goes against the interests of local tribals who form a majority in rural areas. The efforts to dilute the contents of CNT-SPT Act, which, to some extent, ensures the rights of the tribals, are still on.

Crimes like daylight murders, highway robbery, rapes and oppression of tribals and dalit have increased in last four years. Of late, there was an incident of police encounter of an innocent villager which secured a gallantry medal for an IPS officer Dipak Verma who enjoyed blessings of those in the government. His name also came to the fore in Prashant Sahay murder case. On the other hand, activists fighting for the rights of rural poor, workers and adivasis are being harassed and sent to jail in false cases, particularly CPI(ML) activists and leaders. Poor and Adivasis are facing worst kind of police and state repression in the name of dealing with extremism. The criminal-police-politician-bureaucrat nexus has made life miserable for the poor in the state.

Now the only alternative left before the people is to oust the BJP-led NDA government in Jharkhand. The people gave a verdict against NDA rule in last Lok Sabha elections and a chance to the combination of Congress-JMM-RJD and opportunist left. But the UPA rule in the centre betrayed the mandate with increasing prices of petroleum products, all time high inflation and anti-worker anti-peasant policies. As far as fighting with communal forces is concerned, Congress-brand soft Hindutva came to the fore when its Karnataka govt. withdrew case against Uma Bharti in Hubli Idgah incident. On the other hand, JD(U) and other constituents of NDA have no guts to forcibly oppose the BJP for the latter's coming back to the Mandir episode. The situation in the state, and in the country as a whole, clearly indicates that the only way left to come out of this mess in Jharkhand is to strengthen the left forces in order to further advance the people's assertion.

CPI(ML)'s forthcoming 'VIKALP RALLY' to be held in Ranchi in December 2 intends to build a strong left alternative and to strengthen the unity among all left and democratic forces. All Party cadres and members are working hard to make the rally a success and to make it the voice of the people for the change of the anti-people regime. They are campaigning throughout the state and calling upon the people to march to Ranchi on December 2 to give a befitting reply to the autocratic BJP rule of Jharkhand and UPA government at the centre for its betrayal of the mandate 2004.

For the preparations of the Rally, padyatras were held in all the blocks and panchayats of Ranchi district on 9-11 November. Wall writings are also being done in Ranchi city as well as in villages in the interiors. In the second phase fund raising, street corner meetings and torchlight processions will be carried out. Similar activities are also going on in other districts also. In Koderma, seventeen propaganda teams are campaigning in the villages. Agitational programmes at local level are also being taken up at many places. Dharna was held on 2 Nov by the people from eight panchayats at Barkatta. A convention was held in Hazaribagh on Nov 7, while padyatra were held at Mandu, Ramgarh, Gola, Patratu and Churchu blocks. A mass meeting was organised at Chamba on Nov 9. Various block level programmes were held at block level in Palamou region and demonstrations were organised at Barwadih, Chainpur, Patan, Daltonganj, and other places. In Garwah, mass meetings were organised at Tildang Mor, Lagma, Meral, Gerua, Gona, and Dandai, besides a demonstration held at Ramna block. RYA also organised a programme in Garwah. A 'Vikalp Rath' will campaign in Manika block. A people's court will also be organised in Mahuatand on Nov 19 against starvation deaths, state repression and loot of the development funds.

4th State Conference of CPI(ML) in Andhra Pradesh

4th CPI(ML) State Conference of Andhra Pradesh was held successfully of 7-9 November at Vinod Mishra Nagar (Vijaywada). The open session of the Conference was held in the form of a massive rally which was an all time record in Andhra by our Party. The rally started at 2 PM on 7 Nov from Zimkhana grounds which was led by Party General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya along with Polit Bureau members DP Buxi and Nand Kishor Prasad and Central Committee members B Sivaraman, N Murthy and B Bangar Rao. The colourful rally, with cultural troops at the front, passed through important places of the city and returned back to Zimkhana where a public meeting was held.

Delegate session started in the morning of 8 Nov after the Flag Hoisting by veteran comrade K. Venkatanarayana. In all 152 delegates participated in the Conference. The work report was presented by N. Murthy before the Conference. Delegates actively participated in the discussions and adopted the report along with resolutions for a steady expanded party work in the days to come.

The Conference reiterated the agrarian crisis getting deeper, resulting in continued features of farmers' suicides and chronic poverty and unemployment successively engulfing the rural Andhra, particularly the poor adivasis, agrarian labourers and poor peasants. The people of Andhra gave a befitting blow to the Chandrababu Naidu's hypocrisy. And, now, the Congress regime, true to its character, took no time to invite mass-anger for its betrayal to the people's verdict. The Conference resolved to mobilise, organise and lead the people's movement to a new height and for that matter gearing up the entire Party and its class and mass organisations without loosing a moment.

The Conference elected a 15-member State Committee with Comrade N. Murthy as Secretary. Comrade Nand Kishore Prasad presented the observation remarks as the Central Observer to the Conference while Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary of the Party, addressed in the concluding session and called upon the delegates to intensify the struggles for the land redistribution, various democratic issues significant to the people of Andhra Pradesh and against the policies forcing increasing number of farmers' suicides in the state. The Conference was concluded amidst the chanting of the Internationale<\i>.

'Patna Bandh' against Crime and Imposition of ESMA on Employees