CPI(ML) HOME Vol.8, No.08 22-28   February, 2005

The Weekly News Bulletin of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)(Liberation)

U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi 110092. Tel: (91)11-22521067. Fax(91)11-22518248


In this Issue:

The Message from Assembly Polls

For once , exit polls have proved reasonably accurate. Haryana was quite visibly fed up with Chautala and the Congress rode high on the backlash to secure an unprecedentedly huge majority in the 90-member state Assembly. In Bihar too, the accumulated resentment of the people finally caught up with Laloo Prasad and for all his boasting about a twenty-year contract with the people of his state, a heavily dented RJD was reduced to no more than seventy-odd seats in an Assembly of 243 members. The most surprising outcome has of course been witnessed in Jharkhand where a broken UPA frittered away all the advantages of the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and allowed the BJP to remain within striking distance of the majority mark.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA had disintegrated in Jharkhand and the BJP had to go it alone. By contrast, the Congress-JMM-RJD-CPI coalition was complete and it managed to overpower the BJP in all but one seat. In terms of Assembly segments too, the BJP did not lead in more than a dozen segments. This time around, the picture had been reversed; the BJP had patched up with the JDU while the UPA virtually broke down with the RJD taking on the Congress or JMM in 51 of Jharkhand’s 81 constituencies. On top of it, Shibu Soren’s insistence on fielding his own sons and relatives of some other JMM leaders as candidates created considerable resentment and dissension among JMM ranks, and damaged the organisation’s prospects in several areas. The JMM campaign did not articulate any of the major democratic concerns and demands of the state, and its reactionary political character can be best understood from the fact that instead of taking up the issue of the dastardly killing of Comrade Mahendra Singh, it chose to make a desperate bid for ‘snatching’ away the very Bagodar seat which Mahendra had been representing since 1990.

In Bihar too, the UPA went to the polls as a thoroughly divided house with the Congress finally tilting in favour of Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party. The outcome shows LJP as the biggest beneficiary of the popular resentment against the Laloo-led political establishment in Bihar . The whole gamut of opposition forces – from the Left and democratic opposition led by the CPI(ML) to the right opposition comprising the BJP and the JD(U) – have returned to the Assembly with increased strength. While our tally has gone up from five to seven, the CPI(M), which stuck to the RJD as its most loyal ally and even went to the extent of campaigning for the RJD in CPI(ML) strongholds like Sahar and Sandesh, has barely managed to retain just one seat with a very slender margin. The CPI has managed to win three seats, but interestingly enough two of these three seats have been won in ‘friendly’ contests with the RJD! The SP which fielded several former MLAs has succeeded in opening its account with four seats, and the BSP all of whose five MLAs in the outgoing Assembly had crossed over to the RJD has also succeeded in winning two seats in Gopalganj district bordering UP.

The CPI(M) views the fractured verdict in Bihar only as a reflection of the fracture in the UPA coalition. The CPI(M) leaders believe that the real issues confronting Bihar and its people can be endlessly brushed under the carpet of the so-called ‘secular charisma’ of Laloo Prasad. The ground reality of Bihar has emphatically rejected this bankrupt approach. Had the Congress and LJP stuck to the Laloo-led coalition the way the CPI(M) and CPI did, the NDA would probably have emerged far stronger. It however makes little sense to expect the CPI(M) and CPI leadership to draw any real lessons from the Bihar poll outcome. They have long bid good-bye to agitation politics to specialise in mediation politics and perhaps they can only be expected to remain busy brokering peace between Laloo Prasad and Ram Vilas just as they have been working overtime to bring Mulayam Singh Yadav closer to the Congress.

Another point worth noting in the context of Bihar elections is the intervention made by the Election Commission at least in the third and final phase. Once the EC chose to act and transfer some notoriously partisan officials, there was a steep drop in polling percentage and many heavyweight candidates who have been routinely polling above 50,000 votes in earlier elections could not poll beyond 20-25,000 votes. In many places the rural poor were denied their votes on the pretext of identification papers, but still the will of the poor and the deprived could prevail over the dented and defused might of the booth-grabbers and vote-looters. In politically sensitive seats like Mairwa and Darauli in Siwan and Paliganj in Patna , CPI(ML) candidates could emerge victorious by defeating RJD candidates, including a minister, all of whom enjoyed the backing of criminal gangs and the state. Clearly, the outcome of elections in Bihar could indeed prove to be considerably different if the EC is able to exercise a degree of control over Bihar ’s notoriously partisan and pro-feudal administration and the sundry gangs of booth-grabbers.

Both in Jharkhand and Bihar , the UPA constituents can still renegotiate around some new formula to form governments that are most likely to prove weak and rather unstable. As a party of revolutionary opposition, the CPI(ML) will carry forward the true spirit of change both within and outside the Assemblies. The decline of Laloo Prasad is a signal for a new phase of politics in Bihar in which basic issues and the basic masses are bound to play a big role. The CPI(ML) will make full use of this new situation to unsettle every settled equation and march forward in bold and determined steps.

Budget 2005:
Corporate and multinational friendly budget
A boost to militarisation of Indian Economy

New Delhi , 28.02.2005: The first full-fledged budget placed by the UPA government can only be described as a boon to big corporate houses, multinational companies and arms dealers while delivering yet another blow to the unemployed youth, unorganised workers and small farmers and the rural poor who are reeling under the pressure of escalating prices, vanishing jobs and depleting incomes.

The tax concessions extended to corporate houses, non-levying of taxes on big landlords-farmhouses and tax freedom extended to the neo-rich's vulgar display of wealth in socio-cultural life like, marriages, parties and travelling - all reflect the continuation of the NDA government's pro-rich economic policies. The continuing reduction of customs duties in key sectors like coal and textile will only add to the difficulties and disadvantages being faced by the domestic industry and thus fuel the process of deindustrialisation. The concessions granted to foreign capital coupled with the hikes already announced in FDI cap in crucial sectors like telecom and construction have exposed the UPA government's growing dedication to the interests of global capital.

The enormous hike of 6,000 crores (from 77,000 to 83,000 crores) in the defence outlay is another proposal in the budget which bears the stamp of the NDA govt.'s policy of militarisation of economy. Last year, the Finance Minister had sought to justify the unprecedented allocation of Rs,. 77,000 crore for the defence sector as a one-time measure to buy new weaponry. This year's allocation has only reinforced this militaristic thrust.

The concessions given to the corporate sector and the rich consuming sections and the boost provided to the defence sector have been entirely at the expense of the crucial social sectors. Once again key sectors like rural employment, health and education have received insufficient allocation while key infrastructural areas and the crucial sector of agriculture which must underpin any strategy of sustainable growth and development have been neglected yet again.

The CPI(ML) calls upon the UPA government to reduce the allocation for defence, withdraw the customs duty concessions and provide greater funds to social sectors and rural employment and development. The Party will join hands with other Left forces and organisations of various sections of the working people to unleash a popular agitation against the anti-poor anti-development measures of this year's budget.

Govt. of India Must not take any Step which will give Political Legitimacy to the Authoritarian Regime in Nepal

On 24 February, a convention of major political parties and prominent citizens was held in New Delhi’s Constitution Club to demand immediate restoration of democracy in Nepal. The convention was also attended by a large number of political leaders and activists from different parties in Nepal. Former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar inaugurated the convention and another former PM VP Singh delivered the concluding remarks. Among the prominent Left leaders who addressed the convention were General Secretaries of the CPI(ML), CPI(M), CPI and Forward Bloc – Comrades Dipankar Bhattacharya, HKS Surjeet, AB Bardhan and Debabrata Biswas. Endorsing the resolutions of the convention, Comrade Dipankar extended full support to the people of Nepal in their ongoing battle for restoration of democracy and expressed the hope that Nepal would now move towards a sovereign people’s republic. He warned against the US imperialist design on Nepal and South Asia and called for intensifying the anti-imperialist resistance of the peoples of India and Nepal. He also stressed the fact that any blow to democracy in Nepal also meant a blow to democracy in India. He said that the CPI(ML) would resist any attacks on the rights of Nepali citizens living in India or on the rural poor and revolutionary activists working among them in the Indo-Nepal border region.

CPI(ML) Wins Seven Seats in Bihar and One in Jharkhand

CPI(ML) has won seven seats in Bihar Assembly and one in Jharkhand. Though we have improved our previous tally by two seats in Bihar , we could not retain Obra seat where large scale booth capturing and gross malpractices using the state machinery were done by the ruling RJD on a massive scale. While we regained Sandesh and Darauli, the seats we lost in 2000 elections, we also won Paliganj where five of our comrades were assassinated few months ago by RJD-PW criminal nexus. Sahar, Karakat and Mairwa were retained with greater winning margins.

In spite of the fact that the Election Commission tried to maintain a relatively greater check on booth capturers and criminal-mafia-politician nexus, the latter were able to manage booth manoeuvering, particularly in the first phase of polls, at many places in many of our strongholds like Obra, Piro, Jehanabad, Arwal and Arrah in Bihar and Dhanwar, Panki and Jamua in Jharkhand. In Obra, there was more than 70 percent polling recorded at 46 booths against an average of around 46 percent in other places in Bihar . While the Election Commission intervened and ordered for repoll in 29 booths, it failed to agree with CPI(ML)'s demand for repoll in remaining 17 booths. If EC would have agreed for repoll the result would have been in our favour and we might not have lost by such a small margin in Obra.

People of Bagodar in Jharkhand gave a befitting reply to the assassins of Comrade Mahendra Singh by sending Vinod Kumar Singh to the Assembly with an unprecedented vote count. The overwhelming support of the people received by the Party in Bagodar and Dhanwar was not a sympathy wave, as described by some observers, but a genuine reflection of their anger and deep desire to see the defeat of feudal-criminal-politician nexus that is ruining their lives for generations and against whom Comrade Mahendra Singh waged a valiant battle and sacrificed his life.

It was widely perceived by a good section of the people, our sympathisers and a section of the media that CPI(ML) is going to wrest Dhanwar seat this time. We had lost in Dhanwar by a thin margin of less that two thousand votes in 2000 election. The spontaneous support this time we received from the masses was also reflecting a similar tone. But the BJP candidate Ravindra Rai, accused of masterminding the murder of Comrade Mahendra, made use of the state machinery and and conspicuously manipulated around twenty booths and retained the seat still with a very narrow margin.

RJD candidate from Panki Videsh Singh, a dreaded muscleman and terror in the area, was openly seen brandishing his muscle and gun power to terrorise voters. He displayed his might in the name of processions and rallies showing hundreds of riflemen, many of them outsiders. Local police openly came to his support. The ARO of Panki submitted a report to the District Electoral Officer detailing that "Bidesh Singh led a procession through the PS Panki in which about 16 Rifles were displayed and the procession passed through the village of scheduled caste people" and "One Tata Sumo visited the PS Panki several times in night, I do not know who was in the vehicle nor do I know what transpired between Bidesh Singh and the O/C of Panki PS". Moreover, the same ARO also made vediography done of many violations of election code of conduct by Videsh Singh. But his reports could not evoke any response by the district administration proving that they were serving the don, not the people. A large number of booths were captured by Videsh Singh in Panki on polling day.

Votes polled by CPI(ML) candidates in some selected constituencies :

Bihar

 

 

 

 

 

 

AC NO

AC NAME

ACTYPE

Candidate

Votes polled

Lead Margin

 

 

 

 

 

(% of total)

206

Sahar

SC

RAM NARESH RAM

46,288

34,040 votes (54%)

144

Barsoi

GEN

MAHBOOB ALAM

45,451

20,840 votes (37%)

207

Karakat

GEN

ARUN SINGH

35,954

6,680 votes (35%)

196

Sandesh

GEN

RAMESHWAR PRASAD

33,834

2,763 votes (33%)

30

Mairwa

SC

SATYA DEV RAM

26,654

10,770 votes (34%)

31

Darauli

GEN

AMAR NATH YADAV

25,197

1,573 votes (30%)

195

Paliganj

GEN

NAND KUMAR NANDA

22,389

3,274 votes (22%)

222

Obra

GEN

RAJA RAM SINGH

34,700

Runner-up

198

Arrah

GEN

SUDAMA PRASAD

22,773

 

224

Arwal

GEN

ANWAR HUSSAIN

17,851

-

205

Piro

GEN

CHANDRADEEP SINGH

14,627

-

13

Adapur

GEN

VIRENDRA PRASAD

14,548

-

187

Masaurhi

GEN

SHASHI YADAV

14,446

-

208

Bikramganj

GEN

ASHOK KUMAR SINGH

13,990

-

22

Bhore

SC

RAMNARESH RAM

13,364

-

227

Jahanabad

GEN

KAMLESH SHARMA

13,021

-

186

Fatwa

SC

SHIV SHANKAR MANJHI

12,789

-

204

Jagdishpur

GEN

MITRA NAND SINGH

11,654

-

228

Ghosi

GEN

KUNTI DEVI

10,769

-

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jharkhand

 

 

 

 

 

 

29

Bagodar

GEN

BINOD KR. SINGH

68,752

24,480 votes (48%)

28

Dhanwar

GEN

RAJ KUMAR YADAV

39,023

Runner-up

75

Panki

GEN

VISHWANATH SINGH

22,928

Runner-up

30

Jamua

SC

SATYA NARAYAN DAS

26,450

-

24

Mandu

GEN

PARMESHWAR MAHTO

15,280

-

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRIEFS :

Rally in Kakinada

AIALA held a dharna on Feb 28 in Kakinada, district headquarters of East Godavari. A memorandum was submitted to the Collector demanding distribution of ceiling surplus land to the landless, withdrawal of false cases imposed on AIALA activists by the police, resolution of various problems raised by villagers in parallel panchayat meetings, and distribution of housesites and allocation of pukka houses to the agricultural labourers. Similar dharnas were also held in other Mandals in the districts.

Land Struggle in AP

In Tetagunta and Gabarpeta village of Tuni Mandal in East Godavari district 600 AIALA members occupied 46 acres of ceiling and government lands on Feb 23 and hoisted red flags over those lands. The revenue department was trying to handover the lands to the landlords on lease through auction. 350 landless poor gheraoed the landlords and did not allow them to participate in the auction. The police has framed cases against the agitators and people are opposing this police highhandedness. S Raju, AIALA DC member, S Sathibabu, Mandal Committee member, K Bhushanam, A Arjun led the struggle.

Rally for Eradication of Liquor

Hundreds of AIPWA members organised a rally on Feb 20 in Tuni Mandal headquarters demanding eradication of Liquor. After the rally a dharna was also held before the MRO office to press upon the demand for the cancellation of government's order no. 1842185. Addala Papa, M Kumari, Maria, and Venkatkumari led the protest.

Area Conference in Delhi

CPI(ML)'s Narela unit concluded its fourth Area Conference on Feb 27 with a resolve to intensify mass political campaign against the ongoing privatisation of basic amenities in Delhi. Conference elected a 9-member Area Committee with Surendra Panchal as Secretary. Conference was inaugurated by State Committee member Chandan Negi and addressed by Amarnath Tiwari and AISA leader Ravi Rai.

Mass Convention in Rudrapur

A Convention was organised by the Bangali Shoshit Samaj Sangrami Manch in Rudrapur, District headquarters of Udham Singh Nagar, on Feb 28. Convention demanded immediate solution to the rehabilitated Bangla speaking population in the area who are facing discriminations for last four decades. It was addressed by CPI(ML) CC member Krishna Adhikari, Uttaranchal Party In-charge Raja Bahuguna and District Secretary KK Bora and Manch Convener Devashish Roy

 

 

 

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