CPI(ML) HOME Vol.8, No.47 22-28 November , 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:

Bihar’s Vote for Change

Bihar has voted emphatically for change. The February elections had given rise to a hung Assembly in which the RJD, though dislodged from power, remained the largest party. The huge pro-change wave this time has decisively catapulted the BJP-JD(U) combine into power with a secure majority and pushed the RJD down to the third slot behind the two NDA partners.

The huge gains scored by the JD(U) and the BJP – 33 and 18 seats respectively – have been primarily at the expense of the RJD and the LJP, the two parties conceding as many as 21 and 19 seats. The wave has also cost the CPI(ML) two seats, reducing its tally from seven to five. The CPI(ML) campaign evoked a highly encouraging and energetic public response beyond the party’s organisational frontiers, but in a highly polarised situation in which government formation became the uppermost concern of the electorate, the CPI(ML)’s independent campaign did not translate adequately into votes and seats.

The yearning for change had asserted itself quite forcefully in February itself. But back then, even though the NDA had emerged as the biggest bloc, other non-RJD trends had also done well, with Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party emerging as the biggest third force with 29 seats, the CPI(ML) increasing its tally from five to seven and the Samjwadi Party, too, opening its account with four seats. An arbitrary dissolution of the hung Assembly – widely perceived as a denial of opportunity to the NDA and a blatant attempt at perpetuating the RJD-Congress rule through the backdoors – dramatically transformed the scene and the wind of change became overwhelmingly unidirectional.

Had the UPA government at the Centre not rushed to dissolve the Assembly and allowed the NDA to form government with the help of LJP turncoats and the sundry ‘independents’ we would have had a very different scene now in Bihar. The ill-advised dissolution bestowed the NDA with the halo of a martyr and its boomerang effect is now here for all to see. The NDA has been allowed to ‘annex’ Bihar at a time when the BJP is otherwise passing through very critical times following its shock defeat in the last Lok Sabha elections. After Jharkhand, Bihar is the UPA’s greatest gift to the NDA.

It will now be interesting to see how the NDA rule unfolds in Bihar . The BJP’s thesis of ‘coalition dharma’ will face its toughest test in Bihar in the coming days. The scene in Bihar is quite different from that in either Maharashtra , where the BJP has very strong ideological common ground with its coalition partner Shiv Sena, or Jharkhand, where the JD(U) is still a very junior partner in the ruling coalition. In Bihar, Nitish Kumar would like to ‘deideologise’ his coalition with the BJP and in a TV interview during the elections he even tried to describe his alliance with the BJP as nothing beyond a seat-sharing arrangement to prevent a division in anti-establishment votes. He also tried to dissociate himself from the NDA advertisement that described Bihar under RJD rule as a paradise for ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’ and ‘Pak-trained terrorists’.

There are clearly two conflicting sets of elements in the wave that has propelled Nitish Kumar to this emphatic victory. On one side there is the BJP with all its conservative and communal characteristics and agenda. There are all these caste-based power groups who have a feeling of having been ‘excluded’ and ‘denied’ the spoils of power during the last fifteen years and are now desperate to secure a hefty ‘compensation’ for all these lost or wasted years. There are all these ‘victorious’ criminal MLAs who may agree to be away from the ministerial limelight only in lieu of more lucrative contracts and assured impunity. Also, there are these elitist development enthusiasts who want Bihar to catch up in the race of economic liberalisation and globalisation and emerged as a model of elitist development under the tutelage of the World Bank.

On the other hand, there are these vast sections of the rural poor, the artisans and lower-middle classes who belong predominantly to the most backward castes, dalits and the Muslim community. They have had their aspirations aroused and yet brutally denied and crushed during Lalu Prasad’s reign of ‘social justice’. There is this huge army of the landless and the jobless for whom any development must begin with land reforms, employment guarantee and minimum wages. There is the basic aspiration for better living conditions and greater security and dignity, for democratic rights and communal harmony. Only time will tell in which way and for how long would Nitish Kumar be able to ‘balance’ these conflicting agendas and aspirations and provide a semblance of governance.

Fifteen years ago, Lalu Prasad had arrived on the Bihar scene with a big mandate and an enormous social coalition. In fact, he had the benefit of a much more cohesive coalition and greater social vigour which he managed to reduce to a shrinking M-Y equation with multiple cracks. By contrast, the coalition that history has cobbled for Nitish Kumar is far more conflicting and fractious and it will be interesting to see how he handles this new challenge. No less interesting will be to watch Lalu Prasad’s new double role, as a Minister in Delhi and an opposition leader in Bihar .

As the most courageous and radical voice of the poor and the oppressed, as the most consistent champion of secular democracy and socio-economic transformation, the CPI(ML) is determined to intensify its efforts and expand its role to make sure that the process of change acquires greater momentum. The campaign against corruption and criminalisation must continue relentlessly, and the battle for dignity, development and democracy must scale newer heights.

CPI(ML) in Bihar Assembly Elections

Total seats contested: 85

Won: 5

(Following table shows the results for first ten seats in a descending order of no. of votes polled)

 

Assembly Constituency

Candidate Name

Votes Polled

Status

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

206

Sahar

RAM NARESH RAM

40868

won

2

144

Barsoi

MUNNAF ALAM

39872

won

3

207

Karakat

ARUN SINGH

36721

won

4

31

Darauli

AMAR NATH YADAV

30355

won

5

195

Paliganj

NAND KUMAR NANDA

30120

won

6

30

Mairwa

SATYADEO RAM

29768

Runner-up

7

196

Sandesh

RAMESHWAR PRASAD

26323

Lost

8

222

Obra

RAJA RAM SINGH

24023

Runner-up

9

22

Bhore

RAMNARESH RAM

15382

Lost

10

187

Masaurhi

SHASHI YADAV

15129

Lost

Third West Bengal State Conference of AIALA

‘Enact special laws at the state level for agricultural labourers to ensure their welfare’, ‘Include all the agricultural labourers in the BPL List' and 'Guarantee their health, education and better living and working conditions’, ‘Implement the Employment Guarantee Act strictly to ensure 100 days of work and extend it to all districts’, 'Don’t deprive peasants and agricultural labourers from their employment by selling out double or triple cropped fertile lands to capitalists in the name of development’.

Such were the main slogans shouted by the hundreds of agricultural labourers who participated in the open rally that was called at the beginning of the Third State Conference of West Bengal unit of AIALA in Bankura. The rally started from the Railway Station, passed through the main areas in the town and assembled in Machantala ground. The rally was addressed by CPI(ML) State Secretary Kartik Pal, Central Observer and Vice President of AIALA Krishna Adhikari, State Secretary of AIALA Srikant Rana, Peasant Association’s State Secretary Krishna Pramanik, CPI(ML) District Secretary Sudarshan Bose, District Secretary of AIALA Bablu Banerjee and Comrade Habibur Rahman.

Comrade Kartik Pal said, “poor peasants and agricultural labourers are continuously being evicted from vested and share cropping lands cultivated by them. Due to higher prices of agricultural inputs agriculture is becoming non-profitable and poor peasants and share croppers are being forced to lease out their lands to rich peasants and capitalists land owners. Govt. also tried to pass an amendment bill which would dilute the ceiling act and provide scope to sell more ceiling surplus land to the capitalists. All these facts demonstrate that the government is proceeding towards reverse land reform.”

Comrade Krishna Adhikari said, “Our country faced two main problems during the recent years: starvation deaths and suicides by peasants. The Left front backed UPA government could not resist these problems. The CPI(M) is supporting all the anti-national, anti-people activities of central government. We have to snatch the real flag from these betrayers.”

Comrade Srikanta Rana said, “In the 29 years long rule of LF government they claim that they have successfully implemented land reform in West Bengal , but the fact is just the opposite. The State government itself admitted that more than 4500 villages are languishing in destitution. So agricultural labourers will have to organise under their own banner – the banner of AIALA – to snatch their own demands.

Comrade Shankar Mitra, senior Party leader and Vice President of the state unit of AIALA, hoisted the red flag. Conference started with 328 delegates among which 28 were women. The report placed in the conference showed that 53,300 members were enrolled by that time. 38 delegates participated in discussion over the draft.

Our veteran fighter comrade Nimu Singh from Darjeeling said, “the state government is evicting poor and agricultural labourers from their lands and households to hand over cultivable lands for setting up BSF camps. We have to fight against this conspiracy”.

Conference elected a 65-member state Council and 21-member State Executive Committee. Comrades Sajal Pal and Srikanta Rana were re-elected as state president and state secretary respectively.

Conference took the decision of organising block level rallies, road blockades etc. to culminate in a state level rally on 12 January next year. Serious efforts will be made to fulfil the membership target of 1 lakh 20 thousands before the National Conference.

Convention on ‘Save Delta’ in TN

A Convention on ‘Save Delta’ was held in Tanjore on 19 November in the background of agricultural crisis getting further worsened and the perennial cycle of drought-excess cauvery water release-flood storming the peasantry in the region. Despite the tall claims by Jayalalitha Govt. of rise in statutory wages for agricultural labourers, migration and erosion in wages has added to the woes of this largest working population in rural areas. CPI(ML) Polit Bureau member DP Bakshi addressed the convention. He said that the green revolution was a response of the ruling class to the then agrarian crisis of sixties while it undernimed the involvement of a broader social base. The toiling peasantry takes a revolutionary path in response to such crises and launches the political movements to attack the inherent weaknesses of the system as was the case during Naxalbari and Telangana movements. The Green Revolution has started showing its ugly face after the initial round of enthusiasm. In the ongoing crisis, the ruling class is trying globalization as a response again from above, this has only accentuated the crisis further. Opening up the market, state withdrawing phase by phase leading to starvation deaths and suicides in the countryside are some of the manifestations of the ruling class response. Developing activities introduced as palliatives have led only to loot and plunder of development money by the powerful in the countryside. The politician-bureaucrat-neo-rich kulak section in villages is attempting to sustain in face of this crisis through rampant criminalization of politics in the countryside.

Speakers in the Convention were unanimous that ‘Save Delta’ actually means saving the agriculture of the Delta and this in turn means saving the agricultural labourers, the rural poor and the toiling peasantry from the current crisis. The latter will have to rise in struggles to politically challenge the situation while fighting on their immediate issues. The convention was presided over by Com Annadurai, State President of AIALA, while CPI(ML) Central Committee members S. Kumarasami and V. Shankar also attended it. S. Balasundaram, State Secretary of the CPI(ML) addressed the gathering.

CPI(ML)'s Protest in Karbi Anglong District Council

The Congress-led Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council’s 193 rd Session witnessed staunch opposition from two CPI(ML)/ASDC(P) Council members when their proposal to present a resolution for an immediate relief package of at least Rs. 500 crores from the central government to the violence affected people in Kabri Anglong, besides other demands, was turned down by the Congress-led majority.

When ruling Congress members became adamant for not including this demand in the agenda, both the CPI(ML) members started chanting slogans and went inside the well of the House in protest. The Congress-led majority decided to expel the two which they again protested by sitting on a dharna. This forced the Council to withdraw the expulsion order. Then CPI(ML) members continued to repeat their request to include that resolution considering the seriousness of the situation in Karbi Anglong. They were again expelled and bodily lifted outside the House in a very autocratic manner.

They sat on a dharna outside the House in protest. The members belonging to the other faction of ASDC also came in support of this protest.

When this session was in progress, CPI(ML) held a massive rally involving thousands in front of the Autonomous Council. The rally was addressed by Dr. Jayanta Rongpi and Assam State Secretary of CPI(ML) Rubul Sarma.

Silpi Bahini to raise relief fund

A cultural troop (Silpi Bahini) was formed at the joint call of Sadou Asom Janasanskritik Parishad and Karbi Cultural Society to raise relief fund for the affected people of Karbi Anglong. The troop is performing cultural programmes in Guwahati. On 10 November, many renowned artists of the city staged a cultural programme on Expo 2005 dais and raised contribution from the public. Renowned singer Khagen Mahanta, Samar Hazarika, Malabika Borah, Archana Mahanta, Nilima Khatun, Samsong Ingti, Tarali Sarma, Bibhuranjan Choudhury, Biju Phukan and Mridula Baruah, Dilip Tamuli, Bedanta Kr. Sarma and Dilip Sarma took part in the programme. Loknath Goswami, Chandrakanta Terang and Chandrasingh Kro initiated the programme on behalf of SAJSP and KCS. People’s response
was very inspiring and the troop collected Rs. 30,952.

KAKIS Workshop in Diphu

A two-day workshop of Karbi Anglong Kisan Shramik Sabha (KAKIS - affiliated to AIALA) was organised in Diphu on 16-17 November. This was attended by around 170 activists. The main aim of this workshop was to highlight the anomalies and weaknesses inherent in the National Food for Work Programme and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act as well as discussing about the growing agrarian crisis. The workshop decided to conduct a month long campaign among rural labour and, simultaneously, to go at village level for the submission of application forms at mass level for the employment as provided in the NREGA, and to demand the guarantee of 100 days of employment as per the Act.

AIALA Agitation against Land Acquisition

AIALA organised a protest at East Godavari district Collector’s office in Kakinada on Nov. 9 against the AP Govt.’s proposal to acquire 10,000 acres of land for an ONGC oil refinery project and a SEZ near Kakinada . These projects will evict nearly sixty thousand families in over 40 villages. The protest was led by CPI(ML) East Godavari District Committee member Ch. Nageshwar Rao and AIALA District Secretary B. Viplav Kumar. It was decided in the dharna to fight the government’s plan and launch a districtwide agiatation. A delegation met the district authorities which demanded to relocate the refinery and the SEZ projects to save thousands of livelihoods.

Protest Rally against Water Privatisation

The CPI (ML) Delhi unit held a protest rally and demonstration on 21 November at the conclusion of its state-wide month-long campaign against increase in water tariff, the blatant sell out of infrastructural resources at an abysmally low price and the shameful persistence of trying to implement the policies of privatization in the Delhi Jal Board as it calls for an immediate popular intervention. People from different cross sections of the society assembled in front of the Bhagat Singh Terminal and marched up to the Raj Ghat shouting slogans against the nefarious designs of the Congress government. A memorandum signed by several thousand citizens from all walks of life was submitted by a 4-member delegation. Rajendra Pratholi, Delhi State Secretary of CPI (ML) addressed the demonstrators where he said that the entire process of trying to expedite the process of privatizing the water sector is a sinister move by the Delhi Govt. He condemned the latter for hastily trying to finalise negotiations with the WB by the end of this month and added that any attempt to take away free access to clean and pure water which is a natural right of the people ensuring minimum living conditions will be opposed vehemently.

Samudra Paswan, President of the Delhi Nagarik Sabha too criticized the anti-people role of the Congress govt. in the state and said while the citizens are already reeling under the impact of privatization of the Delhi Vidyut Board, paying exceedingly high tariff for an intermittent and irregular supply of electricity, battling against high speed faulty metres, the water sector too is being opened up as a further pathway for extracting the hard earned money of the people.

The rally was also addressed by Surendra Panchal, Santosh Roy, N.M.Thomas, Uma Gupta, V.K.S.Gautam, Ravi Roy, Ramabhilash among others.

Flood Affected in Chennai

After the long spell of severe drought, the heavy downpour has brought immense loss and severe damage in Tamil Nadu. Till now, 51 have lost their lives and more than 2.5 lakh hectares of crop loss has been reported in various districts. As corrupt politicians and inept govt. officials distributed the relief in their long-familiar lackadaisical manner, that the relief had not reached to the needy. As the political managers and the govt. officials undermined the need for necessary fool-proof arrangements, 6 women had to loose their lives in a stampede. CPI(ML), AICCTU and AIALA took initiatives to force the government to act and to distribute the inadequately available relief material in a manner so that it could reach to the actual needy. In Tiruvallore district, our activists led the masses at several places and forced the administration to come to terms. In Karanodai, administration had to accept the demands put forth by CPI(ML) after a protest demonstration of nearly 1000 people. In Chennai, a 500 strong demonstration comprising of mostly women and youth in front of the administrative office of Ambattur Municipal Corporation was proved a morale booster for the worst affected flood victims. Officials had to agree instantly for the demands after seeing the militant mood of agitators. They accepted the list prepared after a survey conducted by the Party in the area. AIALA was successful in forcing the administration in Nagpattinam to provide shelter for the affected people in safe places and to provide food and relief materials to the agricultural workers and other affected sections. Our comrades effectively exposed and successfully foiled, at many places, the attempts of influential sections which were grabbing the relief meant for the poor.

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication, R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22518248, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org

 Please offer your comments at : mlupdate@cpiml.org