McCarthyism in Uttar Pradesh:
Anti-Communist Witch-hunt in Mulayam’s ‘Samajwadi’ Regime

Mulayam Singh Yadav never misses an opportunity to invite the Left to join forces with his party and launch a third front. Last week while he was once again busy renewing his call for a third front, the UP police were busy carrying out a systematic witch-hunt against communist revolutionaries and their rural poor supporters in the state. Even a s a key member of the Maoist squad responsible for the Naugarh landmine blast that killed 15 policemen was nabbed by the police in Bihar’s Rohtas district, the Up police have unleashed a veritable campaign of terror and torture to intimidate the rural poor in the eastern districts of the state bordering Bihar and Jharkhand.

On Novermber 23, the UP police raided and ransacked the Mughalsarai office of the CPI(ML) and seized all office files. The next day, the police whisked away Comrade Shankar Kol, President of the Mirzapur district unit of Khet Mazdoor Sabha from a dharna (sit-in) being staged against starvation deaths and growing rural unemployment in the region and he was presented before a magistrate only after three days of illegal detention in police custody. Already a case of custodial death has been reported from Naugarh police station in Chandauli district.

This pattern of systematic repression - marked by sudden police raids of Party offices and houses of Party activists, combing operation in villages, indiscriminate arrest, illegal detention, intimidation and torture, and wholesale slapping of false cases on Party activists and supporters - can only be described as veritable wave of McMarthyism in Mulayam’s ‘Samajwadi’ regime. And these atrocities cannot be explained away as a sporadic police reaction to the Naugarh blast. Over the years, the Chandouli-Mirzapur-Sonebhadra belt has emerged as a laboratory of state repression, where successive state governments have been trying out the weapons of cold-blooded massacres, fake encounters and custodial killings.

The UP police are trying to utilize the Naugarh incident as pretext to intensify attacks on the democratic movement in every corner of the state. In the Pilibhit-Lakhimpur region, where the administration had already invoked the notorious ‘Gangsters Act” against our leaders, senior police officials are openly clamouring the ‘decisive preventive action’. The bogey of Nepali Maoists infiltrating into India is also being used to the hilt to justify an intensive campaign of state repression. Egging on the Mulayam government on this course of repression is not just the BJP but also the Congress, which is negotiating with the Maoists in Andhra Pradesh.

On their part, the self-styled Maoists are now holding a series of public meeting and rallies in different part of the country, celebrating the recent merger of the PWG and MCC. In Andhra, they are now in the thick of negotiations with the Congress-led state government. The Naugarh blast, preceded by a similar action on a smaller scale in West Bengal, is probably their way of telling the world that the talks do not signify a farewell to arms. Of course the venue of this action has been chosen in a way that may not immediately jeopardize the future of their relations with the Congress and the progress of the talks with the Andhra government. And as is their wont, in the face of state repression they always leave the people in the lurch. Naugarh has been no exception.

Mulayam Singh had described his return to power as restoration of democracy in Uttar Pradesh. But his campaign of democratic restoration has ended with the release of the notorious Raja Bhaiya who, freed from POTA charges, now decorates the Mulayam Singh cabinet as an ‘honourable minister’. As for the rural poor and other toiling sections of the people and their most consistent defenders, the communist revolutionaries, denial and murder of democracy remains the bitter reality. Defenders of democratic rights and civil liberties in the country must take note of the growing police repression in Uttar Pradesh and put an immediate halt to Mulayam’s policy of McCarthyism.

Jan Sankalp Rally in Patna:
People Pledged to give a decisive blow to the forces of crime, repression, plunder and communalism

People of Bihar made Nov 30 a historic and memorable day when they thronged the huge grounds of Gandhi Maidan in Patna leaving no space empty and took pledge to overthrow the crime-rule of Laloo-Rabri government whose criminal insensitivity has left thousands of poor to starve in a situation of acute famine while criminals are moving freely under government protection. People from every corner of Bihar, especially rural poor, agrarian labourers, dalits and other oppressed and marginalised sections of Bihari society, started to pour in in the state capital a day earlier on trains, buses and every possible mode of transport they could get to give a befitting reply to the Rabri government of Bihar as well as centre's UPA govt. of which Laloo Yadav is an important constituent.

The streets of Patna, flooded with red banners, flags and placards, reverberated whole day with militant chanting of slogans in tune with beating of drums and nagadas telling Laloo regime that its days are numbered. Many teams sang revolutionary songs while on the way to Gandhi Maidan. The traffic of all the main roads of the town, including station road, Chiraiyyatand, IT Golamber, Frazer Road, Exhibition Road, Dak Bangla Chowk, Danapur Road, Nala Road, etc. came to a stand still when rallyists passed through them.

The venue of the rally was beautifully decorated with huge banners on both sides of the dais with the main slogan "Dangaee raj mitaya hai, apradhi raj mita dainge, Garibon se gaddari ka ab badla chuka dainge". A big cartoon installed before the dais attracted everybody's attention. This showed a running train with Laloo Yadav as the engine and Shahabuddin, Pappu Yadav, Brahmeshwar Singh, Nithish Kumar and Sushil Modi as the bogies, while Ram Vilas Paswan was shown running behind to board it.

Speakers in the rally said that the false pretences of 'social justice', state repression, nexus with gangs like Ranvir Sena and Shahabuddin have taken a naked form under the criminal-mafia raj of Laloo-Rabri Government and the situation of perennial floods and drought, starvation , epidemics, intense agrarian crisis and migration of agri. labourers will have to be opposed to the extent that this govt. fails to secure a return in the coming elections. An intensive mass movement which will give Bihar's politics a left turn and march ahead towards a New People's Bihar can be the only answer.

Party General Secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya, called upon the Left and other democratic parties to form a third alternative keeping equidistance from both the BJP and the Congress and appealed to the people to vote the RJD out of power to end its 15-year old 'misrule'. He expressed concern over Rabri govt.'s failure to address the problems of flood and drought affected people as also the growing criminal-politician-police nexus and non-revocation of TADA in the state and said, "The Party would make all out efforts to dislodge the corrupt, repressive and anti-poor Rabri government in the state". He reminded that starvation deaths have been reported from almost all districts of central Bihar and remarked, "while state is reeling under severe drought conditions, Laloo is busy in pilgrimage and shooting films". He also criticized centre's UPA govt. for rising inflation and failure to implement the employment guarantee and food for work schemes. He equated Laloo and Ram Vilas Paswan as two sides of the same coin and said the one is advocating criminalisation of politics the other is bringing criminals into politics. And the BJP too was no better as it was patronising criminals to grab power. Only Left parties have the capability of bringing the state back on the rails of development, added he in the concluding remarks.

The rally was presided over by CPI(ML) Polit Bureau member and leader of Bihar Legislative group of the Party Comrade Ramnaresh Ram, while Rajaram Singh, MLA, conducted the proceedings. Party General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya addressed the rally as the main speaker. AIALA General Secretary Rameshwar Prasad, Central Committee members KD Yadav and Dhirendra Jha, Party MLAs Mahboob Alam and Arun Singh, UP State Secretary Akhilendra Pratap Singh and AIPWA leader Shashi Yadav also addressed the rally. CPI(ML) Polit Bureau members Swadesh Bhattacharya, D. P. Buxi and Nand Kishor Prasad and veteran leader Yogeshwar Gope were present on the dais. Comrade Saroj Chaube welcomed the rallyists in the beginning.

The 4th National Conference of AIPWA Concludes

The two-day 4th National Conference of the AIPWA concluded on 25 November at the Shaheed Manju Devi Hall (Gaur Bhavan) in Delhi. The Conference began with hoisting of the AIPWA flag by Com. Meera, a veteran activist of the organisation. This was followed by 2 minutes silence in memory of the women martyrs Manju Devi, Jharo Devi and others who had sacrificed their lives for the movement.

Ms. Zohra Segal, veteran communist and eminent theatre artiste addressed the gathering at the inaugural session. She said that women, in general, were suffering much hardship and that she was happy to be among the struggling women of AIPWA. Zohra recited a poem written by the great Faiz-Ahmad-Faiz, Intisaab (dedication) which was dedicated to the common people, especially the suffering women of the country. The keynote address was delivered by the eminent historian and human rights activist, Dr.Uma Chakravarti, where she spoke on the topic "Resistance against Repression, Fighting for Women’s Rights". She asserted that the US had been conducting a war against the peoples of Afganistan in the name of liberating women, on Iraq in the name of protecting democracy and against Palestine in the name of fighting terrorism. This has devastated women’s lives and there was a need for the people of the world to resist the danger of Imperialism. The Indian Government has resorted to state repression and the neo-liberal policies of the present Government have aggravated the problems in the economic sphere, catering to the interests of the MNCs, leading to farmers suicides and starvation deaths.

The other speakers were Linda Waldron of the Democratic-Socialist Perspective, Tin Tin Aung, Joint Secretary of the Women’s League of Burma, Taslima Akhtar of Bangladesh Viplavi Mahila Sangh, Suman Sahai of the Gene Campaign, Bushra Khaliq, General Secretary of the Women Workers’ Helpline of Pakistan and Dolores Chew, leader of the South Asian Women’s Community Centre, Montreal, Canada, who said the women in her country were inspired by women like Manju Devi and had released a poster commemorating her on 8 March. Others who addressed the session were Sehba Farooqi, General Secretary of the NFIW, Dr. E Rathi Rao, scientist and convener of Samata, Mysore, Rajni Tilak of the National Congress of Dalit Organisations, Hemawati from the Manipur Students Union, and Sucharita from Purogami Mahila Sangathan. Solidarity messages were sent by the Women’s Fightback Network of Boston, the South Asia Solidarity Group, Vina Mazumdar, former director of the CWDS and Brinda Karat, former General Secretary of the AIDWA.

Kumudini Pati, General Secretary of AIPWA delivered her address on behalf of AIPWA. She said ‘we have named this hall after Manju Devi because we believe that instead of anti-nationals like Savarkar, the fighting women of India should be remembered as heroes of the struggle for India’s second freedom. She said that it was a shame that women of Manipur had to demonstrate in the nude in order to be heard. The UPA Government had amply displayed that it did not care tuppence for the welfare of women. She also said that women were being economically marginalised in society and were being forced back into the four walls of their homes. She appealed to all the organisations working for women to bring their struggle onto the streets, because there were volumes of data and research but the question remained as to how the struggle for women’s rights could be sustained in the face of repression.

The Inaugural Session was conducted by Savita Singh, a scholar of political science and leader of AIPWA Delhi. Srilata Swaminathan, President of AIPWA, who chaired the session, gave a vote of thanks by reiterating that the challenge before us was great, but with the cooperation and solidarity of all who had made the conference a success, we would certainly be able to forge ahead.

Cultural performances by JSM Delhi, Prerna from Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu delegates, Shramik Mahila Morcha of Maharashtra, Karbi song by KNCA and Bihu dance by Assam made the inaugural session a colourful event. A song was sung by delegates who were workers in the tea gardens of Assam.

The delegate session began late at night with the presentation of Report of 3 years of AIPWA work by Kumudini Pati. Resolutions to guide future work were also read out. Next day, discussions were conducted and they mainly centered around increasing violence on women and the failure of the democratic institutions to protect them, the need for a legal cell for AIPWA, the need for raising issues of working women at the national level, formation of working women’s cell in AIPWA, need for increasing the participation of Muslim women in AIPWA, the question of repression by feudal forces and the state besides many other issues.

A 67-member National Council and 17-member Executive committee was elected. Srilata Swaminathan and Kumudini Pati were elected President and General Secretary respectively. Saroj Chaubey, Anju Borkataki, Medha Thatte, Tahira Khan and Vijaylakshmi were elected Vice Presidents while Meena Tiwari, Ajanta Lohit, Kanaklata Dutta, R. Nagamani, and Jita Kaur were elected National Secretaries.

Mass Convention against Famine and Starvation Deaths in Bhojpur

CPI(ML) organised a Mass Convention against famine and starvation deaths in Sandesh block of Bhojpur district on Nov 20. The Mass Convention condemned the insensitive attitude of state govt. in strong terms and demanded to declare whole of Sandesh block famine affected, to improve irrigation facilities, to stop collection of taxes, loans or any other monetary liability from the people, to waive loans of weaker sections and for immediate relief measures for lakhs of starving people as well as to provide employment to them through a 14-point demand charter. The Mass Convention also decided to launch a militant struggle on these demands.

Bihar State Secretary of the Party Ramjatan Sharma addressed the Convention and said that the govt. in Bihar is under illusion that it will again succeed in exploiting various religious, caste and regional sentiments and, therefore, it doesn't need to address the serious problems of the people. But the people, especially peasants, agri. labourers and poor, this time, are uniting themselves at the grassroots against the anti-people government to throw-out the insensitive and repressive Laloo-Rabri regime. He emphasized on the need to launch the organised movement on various basic issues, especially famine, starvation, criminalisation and repression.

AIALA General Secretary Rameshwar Prasad criticized the govt. for hiding the starvation deaths and other ruling class parties for taking a similar stand by terming this grave situation a natural calamity.

Many starving poor people spoke at the Convention and told about their sorry plight and helplessness. The story of Shivnarayan Ram of Dihra village, where three starvation deaths have occurred so far, moved everyone present in the Convention. The extreme famine has also created a fodder scarcity and poor are unable to feed their livestock. Governmental schemes like Red cards, Antyodaya, Annapurna, and BPL are proving to be totally farce as they have become rich source of plunder for officials in nexus with corrupt politicians and criminals. There were many people who do not support maley but came to the convention to hail Party's efforts and struggle against the famine and starvation deaths in the district.

Stop This Criminal Neglect :
Halt the Growing Number of Starvation Deaths

Though the number of starvation deaths in Bihar have crossed hundreds and most of the cases have not come the limelight owing to governmental apathy, we reproduce here only few cases, from two-three districts, which the government failed to hide due to people's vigil. Most of such deaths are happening among dalits and rural labourers.

Sl.	Name	Age	Village	District	Date
1	Ramavatar Bhuian	25 yrs	Chafel	Navada	Sep
2	Daso Bhuian	55	Chafel	Navada	-
3	Pachia Devi	40	Chafel	Navada	-
4	Dinesh Bhuian	-	Chafel	Navada	Nov
5	Mugia Devi	50	Musahari	Nalanda	09-Sep
6	Bachchi Devi	55	Nijampura		05-Nov
7	Sahodari Devi	46	Pariona	Nalanda	10-Nov
8	Subhash Ravidas	55	Pariona	Nalanda	10-Nov
9	Bambam Bharti	24	Shahpur	Nalanda	09-Nov
10	Jawahar Ram	48	Maliksarai		13-Nov
11	Dwarika Paswan	40	Amat	Nalanda	13-Nov
12	Dhanmati Devi	50	Amat	Nalanda	15-Nov
13	Ramlakhan Mahto	60	Rajgir	Nalanda	17-Nov
14	Maksudan Ram	-	Dihra	Bhojpur	-
15	Lakhmina Devi	-	Dihra	Bhojpur	-
16	Chiraiya Kunwar	-	Dharmpur	-	-
17	Sachidanand Chaudhary	-	Patit	Rohtas	-

Oppose Barbaric Police Atrocities on CPI(ML) and AIALA Leaders in UP

On 24 November, AIALA was holding a dharna raising important issues like starvation deaths, unemployment and red cards at district headquarters in Mirzapur when police came to the venue in large number and forcibly took away comrade Shankar Kol, District President of AIALA. Party's Chandauli district office in Mughalsarai has been raided on the previous day and important files and documents kept in the office were seized by the police without any reason. Police is raiding and arresting common villagers, activists of left parties, cadres and leaders of AIALA and CPI(ML) in particular, in Chandauli, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra and other adjoining districts trying to spread a reign of terror. This is the region where agricultural labourers, poor adivasis and dalits are organising themselves under the banner of CPI(ML) and Khet Mazdoor Sabha and are asserting for their rights against the prevailing landlord-mafia-criminal-police-bureaucrat nexus in this eastern part of UP. This growing movement has posed a threat to the ruling nexus which rules the roost in villages.

Earlier in Lakhimpur-Kheri, two of CPI(ML) District Committee members along with activists of AIALA were framed under Gangster Act on false charges when they were leading the struggle of the landless against the land-mafia which captured hundreds of acres of land of the poor peasants. Now, series of police attacks and the process of framing Party leaders and activists under concocted charges is still continuing there.

There are amply instances of repression on poor dalits and agri. labourers in many districts of UP - in nexus with criminals, police and administration - where no action was taken against the real culprits as they are having close links with the ruling political establishment in the state, leaders of the rural poor are selectively being targeted to sabotage the growing democratic movement. CPI(ML) and Khet Mazdoor Sabha (AIALA) have pledged to strongly oppose these police atrocities and has decided to further intensify the movement for right to employment, Red cards to all poor, to stop to starvation deaths, cheaper education and heath servises, purchase of farmers' produce at adequate prices, repeal of black laws like Gangster Act and for democracy at the grassroots level.

CPI(ML) and AIALA have demanded, through separate memoranda sent to the Union Home Minister and Chief Minister of UP, to put an immediate stop to such shockingly cruel and inhumane acts by police administration and attempts to violate constitutional right of democratic protests; to set up an inquiry against all the instances of feudal repression and police atrocities on CPI(ML) leaders as well as an inquiry into the prevailing nexus of criminals, feudal oppressors, landlords and land mafia with the police and administration in Uttar Pradash. It has also been demanded to take action against those police officials who ordered raid on Chandauli district Party office and to withdraw Gangster Act framed against CPI(ML) leaders in Lakhimpur-Kheri with immediate effect.

Obituary

Freedom fighter and veteran communist leader Comrade Premi Azad died on November 25 in Patna. He was 85. He actively participated in 'Quit India Movement' of 1942 and went to jail many times during that period. He joined CPI(ML) in 1980 and in 1985 he was elected Patna District President of Indian People's Front.

Comrade Azad played a very active role in Party's struggles against the infamous Arwal massacre and remained always on the forefront of the struggles of rural poor against police atrocities and criminalisation of politics in Bihar.

CPI(ML) Polit Bureau members Ramnaresh Ram and Nand Kishor Prasad and Central Committee member K. D. Yadav along with many other comrades went to his house at Peer Muhani in Patna to pay homage. He was cremated at Gulabi Ghat.

While paying tributes to Comrade Azad, Comrade Ramnaresh Ram said that he was among those rare breed of revolutionaries who fought two freedom struggles in their lives, one till 1947 and another after India attained freedom from colonial occupation but the struggle of the poor and oppressed classes continued for real freedom and democracy.