CPI(ML) HOME Vol.9, No.20 16 - 22 MAY, 2006

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

Message from the Assembly Polls

Manmohan Singh has described the outcome of the recent Assembly elections as a victory for the UPA and its policies. Considering that the NDA had no real stake in these elections, Manmohan Singh's claim regarding a UPA victory may sound like an obvious truism. But the claim is actually made not in relation to the NDA. The Prime Minister also cannot be unaware of the fact that his own Congress party which heads the UPA coalition had little to show for itself in these elections except for retaining power in Assam and Pondicherry and securing an improved tally of 34 seats in Tamil Nadu after a long time. The real thrust of his claim can therefore only be understood in the context of West Bengal and Kerala where the CPI(M)-led Left Front secured quite massive victories.

To understand the riddle, we should perhaps turn to West Bengal , the celebrated fortress of the CPI(M), where the Left Front won its seventh straight victory by winning four out of every five seats in the state Assembly. How does one analyse the massive scale of this victory? The overwhelming refrain in the national as well as West Bengal media is that the victory only confirms the immense consumer appeal of ‘Brand Buddha', the CPI(M) version of pro-market pro-globalisation economic reforms. The CPI(M) too largely endorses this argument except that it emphasises the party's ability to carry the poor along! One must thank the CPI(M) for its new-found candour about the party's actual relationship with its traditional base among the rural poor in West Bengal .

The ‘Brand Buddha' campaign in West Bengal elections repeatedly appealed to the West Bengal electorate to give the Left Front government more support and more ‘courage'. The word ‘courage' which occupies such a key place in the ‘Brand Buddha' vocabulary obviously means the courage to defy all opposition in implementing the entire package of economic reforms from more FDI and greater privatisation to massive land acquisition and contract farming. The CPI(M) in Delhi may haggle with the Congress over the UPA's common minimum programme, in West Bengal the Left Front government runs on the basis of its common maximum partnership with the UPA government's central economic agenda of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. Now that the LF has secured such a massive majority, West Bengal is all set to witness a more ‘courageous' implementation of this common maximum partnership programme.

A closer look at the Assembly election results, including the West Bengal outcome, will however reveal signs that would rebut all Manmohan Singh's self-congratulatory claims. The DMK coalition's emphatic victory in Tamil Nadu, for example, has not been won on the basis of the UPA government's commitment to ‘free trade' or strategic partnership with the US . It has been scripted by Karunanidhi on the basis of his promise to waive farm loans and deliver rice at Rs. 2 a kg. Such is indeed the level of mass poverty and hunger in a supposedly developed state like Tamil Nadu. Agrarian crisis and unemployment have been equally pressing concerns in elections in neighbouring Kerala as well.

Even in West Bengal , the limits of the CPI(M)'s ability to carry the poor along while catering increasingly to the rich have started becoming visible. Among the Left Front ministers who lost, two prominent losers have been the ones who held the portfolios of ‘labour' and ‘relief', perhaps to highlight the redundancy of these two subjects in today's Left model of governance. Some flamboyant high-tech ministers fighting on a plank of harmony between IT investment and self-employment schemes, flyovers and ‘improved slums' barely managed to scrape through. Indeed, the victory margins of many Left Front nominees have been considerably reduced.

Another significant feature in these elections has been the changing voting preference of large sections of Muslim voters. In Kerala, sizeable sections of Muslim voters seem to have voted for LDF candidates in many traditional Muslim League constituencies, enabling the LDF to record its biggest ever seat tally. In Assam , the Assam United Democratic Front, launched on the eve of the election by an enterprising Muslim businessman-turned-politician, walked away with as many as 10 seats. Apart from specific local factors (e.g., Muslims being branded ‘foreigners' and harassed in Assam , and Muslim leaders being slighted by the Congress government), there is clearly a growing resentment within the community against the UPA government's pro-US policies.

Far from being a vindication of the UPA and its policies, the Assembly election results have thus highlighted the growing disillusionment of the people with the UPA's economic and foreign policies. More particularly, there is a simmering anger against the continuing suicides in the countryside and the UPA government's sheer callousness in tackling the serious issue of agrarian crisis. The incidence of suicides is the highest in Maharashtra , the home state of the Union Agriculture Minister who seems more preoccupied with his new role as President of the Board of Cricket Control of India! The Union Cabinet, meanwhile, is busy procuring American wheat to meet Indian hunger, a revealing new dimension of India 's strategic partnership with the US ! Indeed, can there be a more telling commentary on the UPA's commitment to the aam aadmi !

CPI(ML) Performance in Recent Assembly Elections

In the just concluded Assembly elections, our Party had put up 14 candidates in Assam , 25 in West Bengal , 10 in Tamil Nadu, 1 in Kerala and 4 in Pondicherry . Of all these states, it was only in Assam where the Party had hoped to win any possible victory. In the remaining states, our objective was to conduct a vigorous election campaign and try to increase our votes.

The result shows that our goal of an electoral victory has once again eluded us in Assam . We have finished second in one constituency and third in two and fourth in five constituencies. In terms of votes, four of our candidates have polled between 15,000 and 20,000 votes and two others have polled more than 7,000 votes each. Altogether, we have polled just about 1,00,000 votes in Assam .

Of the 1,00,000 votes polled in Assam , a little more than 61,000 have come from the five constituencies in the hill region, Karbi Anglong district in particular. Here our campaign revolved primarily around three major themes: (i) the question of Congress-sponsored extremist violence and growing insecurity faced by the people of Karbi Anglong, Karbis in particular, (ii) all-pervasive corruption and non-implementation of food-for-work and employment guarantee schemes, and (iii) persistent refusal of the Congress to implement Article 244 A and upgrade the autonomous councils of Karbi Anglong and NC Hills to the level of an Autonomous State within Assam.

During the last couple of years the Party organisation in Karbi Anglong has run a sustained campaign on these issues. In the wake of recurrent DHD-UPDS clashes that left a heavy trail of death, destruction and displacement, our Party has been in the forefront of organised relief efforts and peace campaigns. The newly launched Kisan-Shramik Sabha unleashed commendable mass initiative to expose the Congress regime's monumental lies and loot and launch a militant mass campaign on the issue of implementation of the employment guarantee act. All this had certainly recreated a popular platform for the Party but the election results show that everywhere we have fallen at least 5-10,000 short of our vote targets. The Party will obviously have to closely examine the reasons underlying our inability to translate our mass influence into votes as well as the basis for continuing Congress victories despite growing mass resentment against its misrule.

Beyond the hill districts, our work in Assam has mainly been developing in tea garden areas. For long, the community of tea workers used to be a key support base of the Congress in Assam . But the utter neglect of the community's primary demands like extension of ST recognition and the deteriorating work and living conditions of tea workers have started alienating and distancing the tea community from the Congress. In recent years we have been able to make some primary progress on this front. This time we had fielded candidates in half-a-dozen tea garden constituencies in the districts of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sonitpur and Jorhat. Altogether we polled more than 30,000 votes from these constituencies including 18,000 from one seat and 7,000 and 3,000 from two other seats.

Between 1996 and 2006, there has been a steady increase in our votes beyond the hill districts of Assam . From a total of 14,656 votes in 1996 (from 5 constituencies) our votes went up to 20,847 in 2001 (from 9 constituencies) and have now reached 38,011 (from 9 constituencies). This increase is primarily a reflection of our growth and expansion in tea garden areas, and the general level of our rural work and urban area work in Assam remains still very weak on the whole. To realise the possibilities of Party expansion and growth in Assam , we must urgently develop some strong pockets of rural work while expanding our work in tea gardens and the hill districts.

In West Bengal , we have polled a little more than 63,000 votes from 25 constituencies, a marginal increase of over 10,000 compared to the 2001 polls. The highest vote polled by any of our candidates is just a little above 5,000 in one seat. In two other constituencies, our candidates have polled between 4 and 5,000 votes while in four cases, the votes have been in the range of 3 to 4,000.

Among the 25 seats that we contested in West bengal , 10 were in the three districts of Bardhaman, Hooghly and Nadia - the main zone of our rural work; and 9 in the North Bengal region. We also contested two seats in Bankura and one each in Birbhum, Murshidabad, and North and South 24 Parganas districts.

The results show some elementary signs of growth in Darjeeling and Malda districts in North Bengal , and some encouraging expansion in Bardhaman, Hooghly and Bankura districts in the southern and western region of the state. By contrast, in Nadia, Murshidabad and North Dinajpur , three of our old districts of rural work, our votes have either been declining or stagnant. In Rajnagar (Birbhum), Falakata (Jalpaiguri) and Bishnupur West (South 24 Parganas), three seats contested for the first time, we have polled between 1,500 and 3,500 votes and if we are able to consolidate our organisation in these areas we can surely develop some new pockets of work.

The expansion in Bardhaman and Hooghly holds some special lessons for us. These are among the most developed districts of West Bengal and considered to be invincible CPI(M) strongholds. In the early 1990s we saw some initial signs of class antagonism and political dissidence within the CPI(M) in Bardhaman and around the time of the 1993 panchayat election we had reached a position where we could make our presence felt in several panchayats. To stop this trend the CPI(M) unleashed a systematic campaign of violence and terror. Five agricultural labourers were lynched to death at Karanda village (in Memari PS of Bardhaman district) for showing the courage to challenge the CPI(M)'s hegemony and campaign for the revolutionary class line of the CPI(ML). More violence followed, some emerging leaders were killed and many members and supporters were subjected to brutal physical coercion and intimidation. The Party organisation in Bardhaman however displayed the necessary grit and determination to withstand this terror and now we are in a stronger position to develop our work among the rural poor and even among sections of middle peasantry. The work in Hooghly began with some initial impetus from developments in Bardhaman, but now it seems to have acquired its own internal momentum.

There is also a general lesson for the entire M-L movement in West Bengal . Some individual M-L leaders without any organic association with the ongoing class struggle in West Bengal had joined hands in these elections with the Trinamul Congress (TC) led by Mamata Banerjee. Some former leaders of the CPI(M) too have trodden a similar path of crossing over either to the Congress or the TC. All these people have only discredited themselves in the eyes of the people. Devoid of any active support of the oppressed and deprived rural poor, the Maoists too could manage to produce only some ‘sensational news items' with their occasional armed actions in the region bordering West Bengal , Jharkhand and Orissa. In clear contrast to these liquidationist and anarchist tendencies, our Party and some other CPI(ML) organisations have persisted with the complex and painstaking practice of class struggle. The failure of the Congress and the TC-BJP combine to provide a rightwing replacement to the CPI(M)'s three-decade-old rule does indeed provide better conditions for strengthening a Left opposition at the grassroots and this is the only way to combat the right reformist rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Front.

In Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry , our votes have been miserably poor, crossing the 1,000 mark in only two constituencies. We must closely examine our practice and work hard in a few pockets with single-minded determination.

Now It's the BPL Scam in Bihar

By March 2001, during Laloo-Rabri regime, food-grains worth Rs. 300 crores were lifted through fake BPL cards. The short supply of grains to BPL card holders was projected at the time worth Rs. 146 crores, clearly indicating that the shortage was attributed to the swallowing of the grains by scamsters-bureaucrat-corrupt politician nexus. An investigation by the CID and Vigilence Investigation Bureau unearthed that the poor of Bihar were deprived of their right to get subsidised rations to the tune of 1400 crores. Though Bihar Govt. has accepted that 21 lakhs 'imaginary' BPL cards were later cancelled, but it is unable to give details of same number of cards which were issued against cancelled ones. At that time an official action was recommended against some 40 officials but the state govt. took no action.

This practice of pilferaging the grains meant for the extremely poor was going on for, as per official records of the Economic Offences Wing of CID, as far back as 1998. Although even a layman can tell that this is a very common characteristic of PDS and is going on since this scheme was launched by the government, and is still prevalent today, not only in Bihar but throughout the country. Recent reports in the media revealed that in one of the villages in Darbhanga only brahmins were included in the BPL list, including a serving IPS officer. AIALA has pointed out that the musahars were deliberately excluded from the list in many villages.

AIALA unit in Bihar has criticized Bihar Govt. for failing to make a list of genuine BPL families in the state even after five full years and for including names from rich and influential sections in the list. The whole process of BPL survey lacked transparency and the interests of the poor are deliberately undermined in the survey to serve scamsters at the behest of corrupt politicians and bureaucracy. AIALA has demanded central intervention and that the central governement should directly take responsibility to enlist poor families in the BPL list in Bihar .

R E P O R T S

Block Office Locked Up in Protest

The officials came to listen to the demands of the poeple only after the latter locked the block office in protest at Charpokhari of Bhojpur district. When an AIALA investigation revealed that not a single job cards has been issued under NREGA in any of the villages under this block, it was decided to hold an indefinite sit-in at the block to force the officials to act. But no one turned up to listen to the people even after five days of protest. Then it was decided to put on locks on the office that failed to serve its very purpose. This forced the SDO to come from Ara and start negotiations. He then agreed to implement all the demands under his jurisdiction. This incident amply demonstrates that without effective movement and mass pressure even central programmes will not be implemented in villages.

Dharna against Electricity and Water Crisis in Delhi

CPI(ML) Delhi unit held a day-long dharna on May 15 to condemn severe shortage of water and electricity and handed over a demand charter to the Chief Minister's office demanding immediate resolution to these problems. Party conducted a week-long campaign that was culminated in this protest dharna. Since the electricity was privatised in Delhi , despite much opposition, and thrown into the hands of Tatas and Ambanis, the consumers' bills have been inflated to almost double. Moreover, these private companies are swallowing lot of money from the state exchequer on the pretext of recurring losses which have been shown to be more than triple than what it used to be under the public sector DESU. The Delhi Govt. is favouring these private companies in spite of adverse recommendations by CAG and the Joint Parliamentary Committee. There seems to be a scam of much bigger proportion.

The water supply of Delhi is also going to meet a similar fate as there are plans to hand it over to private companies. This is being done at the behest of World Bank whose suggestion to increase water tariffs has already been implemented.

An ultimatum was given to the Delhi govt. to reverse these policies through the dharna. This was led by Delhi State Secretary Rajendra Pratholi and VKS Gautam, Surendra Panchal, Ram Abhilash, Ravi Rai, Uma Gupta and Nandji.

Indefinite Fast in Pilibhit

CPI(ML) District Committee member Jawaharlal is sitting on an indefinite fast in Puranpur of Pilibhit district from May 15 to press upon the long pending demands of BPL cards for all poor families and to stop police repression on the rural poor. A dharna was already going on on these demands since May 1 which culminated into the hunger strike. A dharna is also being held at the district headquarter in support for the last few days.

Other Briefs from UP:

The Construction Workers' Union held a protest demonstration at DM office to demand compensation to jhuggi dwellers whose houses were burnt in a fire.

A protest was held against police atrocity on a dalit woman at Bakshi ka talab near Lucknow on May 11. A pregnant dalit woman was brutally beaten up by policemen causing her abortion. Khet Mazdoor Sabha has demanded severe action against involved policemen and compensation to the victim.

Protest dharna was organised in Narauli of Moradabad district on May 11 to demand BPL cards, electricity, water and other civic amenities for the poor. A similar dharna was also held on May 15 at Kundarki block.

AIALA in Sonbhadra handed over a memorandum to the Director, Rural Development, GoI, demanding proper implementation of Employment Guarantee Act in UP when the former was on an official visit in that district. Attention was drawn towards administrative callousness, corruption and deliberate delay in the Scheme and it was demanded that works on hard soil should not be carried out on peace-rate, use of contractors must immediately be stopped, work without the consent of gram panchayat should not be carried out, safety and health provisions given through the act should be strictly implemented, and the State employment guarantee council should be constituted and UP Khet Mazdoor Sabha be incorporated into it as member. Similar monitoring bodies should also be constituted at lower levels.

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