Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Press Statement

Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)

All India Committee

Press Release

6 October 2009

Raja Sarkhel, all Indian Executive Committee member of Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) and Secretary of the West Bengal State unit and Prasun Chatterjjee, Executive member of state unit (Gana Pratirodh Manch) have been arrested by West Bengal police on the evening of 5th October in Kolkata and implicated them in fabricated cases under the Unlawful Activities (Amendment) Act 2008 by showing false links with CPI (Maoist). The West Bengal police have claimed sources of information regarding the supposed links of these senior people’s activists with CPI (Maoist) based on false and fabricated confessions supposedly obtained from Chatradhar Mahoto, the spokesperson of People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities, who was illegally and immorally arrested and continuously tortured under illegal police custody.

Raja Sarkhel is a committed people’s activist for the last three decades in West Bengal and is well-known to the people of the state working for various mass movements including Singur, Nandigram and Lalgarh in the recent years. Prasun Chatterjjee has been actively working for the people’s cause for more than a decade. While Raja Sarkhel was picked up from a street while he was returning home, Prasun Chatterjjee was whisked away by the police from his residence when he was taking rest after his eyes were treated in a hospital.

The arrest of these two well-known activists of our organisation has come in the background of a vicious campaign orchestrated against the progressive and democratic intellectuals in Kolkata by the ruling CPI (M) leaders, the Chief Secretary, Asok Mohan Chakrabarti, the Home Secretary, and Mr Ardhendu Sen along with a number of police officials. Like Dr Binayak Sen who was incarcerated in Chhattisgarh by the right-wing communal BJP government for more than 2 years for bringing out the facts to the world outside the worst kind of atrocities committed on the tribals by Salwa Judum, a state-run armed mercenaries, these two selfless people’s leaders tirelessly brought out all the details of the people’s movement of Singur, Nandigram and Lalgarh including the worst atrocities committed against the struggling people by the CPI(M) armed goons and the police and paramilitary forces. This is the crime they committed.

The RDF calls upon the people of this country to defeat CPI (M)’s fascistic witch-hunt of progressive and democratic writers, artists, intellectuals and activists of Kolkata by raising voice of protest collectively. It’s time for all the democratic voices to come together firmly against the fascistic onslaught of the Indian ruling classes represented in the Union government or the state governments like that of CPI (M) led left front government or BJP Government in Chhattisgarh on the revolutionary and democratic struggles in South Asia.

Revolutionary Democratic Front demands immediate and unconditional release of Raja Sarkhel and Prasun Chatterjee by withdrawing the fabricated charges under UAPA act.

Rajkoshore

General Secretay

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

अपील

तमाम प्रगतिशील, बुद्धिजीवियों, लेखकों, कलाकारों, साहित्यकारों, संस्कृतिकर्मियों, सामाजिक कार्यकत्र्ताओं, मानवाधिकार संगठनों, जनसंगठनों, प्रबुद्ध नागरिकों, मजदूर-किसानों, छात्र नौजवानों तथा शुभ चिन्तकों के पास हमारी अपील
मित्रों,
अस्सी के दशक में मैं एक गरीब किसान परिवार में जन्मा हूं। गिरिडीह के पीरटांड़ थाना अन्तर्गत सुदूर देहाती क्षेत्र में है। हमारा गांव में मात्र छिट-पुट सरकारी सुविधायें हैं। जीवोकापार्जन है खेती-बाड़ी एंव कठोर मेहनत पर निर्भरता। बचपन की जिन्दगी उस गांव में केवल जैसे तैसे गुजरी। परिवार में कोई भी पढ़े-लिखे नहीं। गरीबी के चलते घर चलाने का जिम्मा सभी परिवार के कन्धों पर पड़ा। किशोरवस्था के बीच गाय-बकरी चराना मेरी मूल जिम्मेदारी बनी। दुनिया से कोई मतलब नहीं। इसीलिए कलम काॅपी के जगह हाथ में डंडा। गाय-बकरी की गिनती के लिए भी पत्थर का सहारा लेना। सुबह होने पर शाम का इन्तजार और शाम होने पर सुबह होने का इन्तजार करते उम्र गुजरी। किसी तरह समय निकाल कर तीसरा क्लास तक ही मुझे पढ़ने का मौका मिला। यही मेरा ज्ञान की पूंजी है।
एक समय आया, मेरी नजर खुल। जब मैंने देखा, दुनिया बहुत विशाल है। समाज व्यवस्था की गहराई को आंकना चाहा। मैंने देखा मौजूदा सड़ी-गली व्यवस्था को। अपनी जीवन के अनुभव को समझा। उड़ते विचारों को हवा लगी। दृष्टि ज्ञान की गवाह बनी। औरों के साथ व्यवस्था परिवर्तन करने की सोच जगी। इच्छा बढी। लम्बे लक्ष्यों के सथ परिवर्तन की इच्छाशक्ति का विकास हुआ। सबसे पहले अपने उम्र के बच्चों की जागरूकता के लिए व्यवहार व सुधारों का कार्यक्रम चलाया। बुरा मत बोलो, बुरा मत करना, बुरा को बुरा ही कहो, बुरा को भला में बदलो, बुरा को पहचानो, सुन्दर एवं समानता की सामाजिक व्यवस्था बनाओ। जागरूकता फैलाने के लिये गीत-नाटकों, एवं नाच-गान (लोक नृत्य) का शुरूआत किया। गांव में जागरूकता बढ़ी। लोग जागे, समाज बदलता नजर आया। हमारी लोकप्रियता बढ़ी। जनता में चेतना आयी आदिवासियों की परम्परा व लोक संस्कृति की रक्षा करते हुए इसे विकसित करने की। जनता की कतार खड़ी हुई। आम जनता की पूर्ण सहमति से जन संस्कृति का निर्माण करने हेतु कार्यक्रम बढ़ा। कार्यक्रम के दौरान जन-चेतना का विकास हुआ। इन कार्यक्रमों ने हमारी मानसिकता का अपेक्षाकृत विकास किया।
गांवों से शहरों की ओर पांव बढ़े, सिर्फ जनता के सहारे सही राहों पर पांव बढ़े। व्यवस्था परिवर्तनकारी रही मिले। फूल-माला की तरह भावनाएं मिली। पथ मिला, लक्ष्य मिला, दृष्टि बनी। वक्त के साथ जीवन ढलता गया। दृष्टि ही ज्ञान का स्रोत बना। ऐसी स्थिति में इस कार्य हेतु हजारों-लाखों जनता का मुझे प्यार मिला। साथ ही बुद्धिजीवियों, लेखकों, साहित्यकारों, कलाकारों, सामाजिक कार्यकर्ताओं, प्रबुद्ध नागरिकों, मानवाधिकार संगठनों, जन संगठनों आदि का मुझे भरपूर प्रोत्साहन मिला। केवल प्रोत्साहन ही नहीं बल्कि समय-समय पर उचित मार्गदर्शन भी मिला। इसके लिए आज तक हमसे मिले सभी जनता एंव शुभ चिन्तक धन्यवाद के पात्र हैं।
जिसने भी मुझे जाना लोक कलाकार के रूप में, सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता के रूप में, परिवर्तनकारी के रूप में जन चेतना जगाने हेतु प्रचारक के रूप में। यह सच भी है। सिने भी मुझे देखा हथियार, गोला-बारूद एव बम पिस्तौल के साथ नहीं बल्कि ढोलक, नगाड़ा, मांदल, बांसुरी, कैसियो, हारमुनिया एवं धोती-गंजी घुंघरू के खास पोशाक के साथ। एक हुजूम के साथ, बाल-बालिका कलाकारों के साथ। गांव से शहरों तक बेहिचक जन गीत गाते हुए एवं अपनी लोक कलाओं को बिखरते हुए ही लोगों ने मुझे देखा है। बचपन से लेकर आज तक गांव हो या शहर जीतन मरांडी नाम कभी नहीं छुपाया हूं। आवाज एवं कला ही हमारा सब कुछ है। जन जागरूकता के लिए कभी भी हमने बल का प्रयोग नहीं किया है। सिर्फ आवाज एवं कला को ही अपना मुख्य हथियार बनया है। आॅडियो-कैसेटों का भी जीतन मरांडी के नाम से निर्माण हो चुका है। सिर्फ आवाज एवं कला को ही अपना मुख्य हथियार बनया है। आॅडियो कैसेटों का भी जीतन मरांडी के नाम से निर्माण हो चुका है जिसमें हमारी आवाज में खोरठा, संथाली, नागपुरी एवं हिन्दी गीत समाहित है। अश्लील नहीं बल्कि सामाजिक गीत हैं। कैसेटों की बिक्री गांव एवं शहरों तक हुई। जनगीत बने। केवल मनोरंजन ही नहीं बल्कि वो प्ररेणा का स्रोत भी बने। कहीं से कोई विरोध नहीं, बल्कि जागरूक तबके की प्रशंसा हमें प्राप्त हुई। आज तक गांधी जी बनकर रहने के बावजूद आज मैं जेल में हूं। आज सभी के अन्दर सवाल उठता ही होगा कि आखिर जेल में क्यों ? क्या कसूर हैं जीतन मरांडी का ?
मैं साजिश का शिकार हूं
एक साल से मंडल कार, गिरिडीह में बंद हूं। मेरे ऊपर लगाए गए तमाम आरोप भी संगीन हैं। दिन-प्रतिदिन नई-नई घटनाएं भी मेरे साथ घटते रहती हैं। धीरे-धीरे गिरिडीह पुलिस प्रशासन की साजिश भी उजगार होती जा रही है। एक बात बता दूं कि जनता तो मुझे अच्छी तरह से जानती है कि मैं क्या हूं, साथ ही पुलिस प्रशासन भी मुझे अच्छी तरह से जानती है कि मैं क्या हूं। इसके बावजूद मैं साजिश का शिकार बना हूं। गिरिडीह पुलिस एवं राजनीतिक नेताओं का गठबंधन सामने आ चुका है। खास करके पुलिस एवं पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री बाबूलाल मरांडी के नेतृत्वकारी झाविमो की मिलीभगत से मेरे ऊपर सब कुछ हो रहा है। एक तरफ जहां बाबूलाल मरांडी भ्रष्टाचार एवं भय मुक्त राज्य की स्थापना के लिए हुंकार कर रहे हैं, वहीं दूसरी तरफ हमारे जैसे निर्दोष व्यक्तियों के साथ पुलिस की मिली भगत से दमन चलाव रहे हैं। जिसका जीता जगता मिसाल आगे पेश किया जा रहा है।
जरा गौर किया जाय। चिलखारी नरसंहार के बाद देवरी थाना कांड संख्या 167/07 के तहत प्राथमिकी दर्ज हुई। साथ ही न्यायिक दण्डाधिकारी के सामने 164 का बयान भी दर्ज किया गया था। इसमें कई नामों के साथ केवल एक जीतन का नाम आया था। कौन है, कहां का है विवरण कुछ नहीं। आश्चर्यजनक ढंग से प्रभात खबर में मेरे फोटो के साथ नाम एवं विवरण सहित बड़ी खबर बनायी गई थी। खबर में उस नरसंहार का मुख्य अभियुक्त मुझको बनाया गया था। खबर देखने के बाद मैंने उसकी कड़े शब्दों में निन्दा की थी। खबर का खंडन भी छपा था। इस खबर को सम्पादक ने बड़ी गलती के रूप में स्वीकारा था। पुलिस प्रशासन के उच्चाधिकारीगण की प्रतिक्रिया आयी की ये जीतन मरांडी नहीं हैं। वास्तविक तस्वीर सामने आने के बाद मैंने राहत की सांस ली।
अचानक पांच महीने के बाद दिनांक 5 अप्रैल, 08 को रांची रातु रोड से सादा पोशाकधारी पुलिस ने मुझे पकड़ा। गुप्त स्थानों में रखकर पूछताछ की गई। चिलखारी के मामले में उन्हें कुछ नहीं मिला। बाद में पलिस ने मुझको बातया की तत्कालीन मुख्यमंत्री आवास के सामने विगत 1 अक्टूबर 07 को प्रदर्शन के दौरान भड़काऊ भाषण एवं रोड जाम के आरोप में प्राथमिकी दर्ज है। उसके तहत ही तुमको जेल भेजा जा रहा है। इसके बाद बिरसा मुण्डा केन्द्रीय कारा, होटवार, रांची में मुझे भेज दिया गया।
दिनांक 12 अप्रैल 08 को देवरी थाना कांड संख्या 167/07 के तहत देवरी पुलिस ने वहां से रिमांड किया। और न्यायिक हिरासत में मंडल कारा, गिरिडीह मुझको भेज दिया गया। 17 अप्रैल 08 को 10 दिनों के लिए पुलिस अभिरक्षा में ले गई। उस बीच जो भी पुलिस अफसर मुझसे पुछताछ किये मेंने साफ शब्दों में बता दिया की मैं जीतन मरांडी जरूर हूं लेकिन नरंसहार को अंजाम देने वाला जीतन मरांडी नहीं हूं। पुलिस के उच्चाधिकारी ने भी मान लिया था। रिमांड के अवधि में मेेरे साथ बहुत कुछ हुआ मगर नहीं लिख रहा हूं। पुलिस डायरी में पुलिस ने यह विवरण कहीं नहीं दर्शाया है कि मैंने रिमांड की अवधि में क्या बताया है। डायरी मंे तीन और गवाहों को जोड़ा गया है। गवाहों के बयान को आधार बनाते हुए लिखा गया है कि दोनों जितन मरांडी घटना में शामिल थे। विवरण में बताया गया है कि एक जीतन मरांडी निमियाघाट थाना के ठेसाफुुली गांव के हैं और दूसरा जीतन मरांडी पीरटांड़ के करन्दों गांव के रहने वाले हैं जो झारखण्ड एभेन को भी चलाता है। एक और महत्वपूर्ण पहलू पर गौर करने की बात है कि मारे गए लोगों का एक भी परिवार का सदस्य गवाह नहीं बना है। साथ ही चिलखरी-देवरी का एक भी गवाह नहीं बना? था जरूर। लेकिन एक सोची समझी नीति के तहत सारा कुछ हुआ है। क्योंकि हमसे पहले कुछ लोग उस आरोप में ही पकड़ाये हैं। जबकि उन लोगों की पुलिस डायरी में किसी भी तरह से मेरा नाम नहीं जोड़ गया था। सभी को याद दिला दूं कि हमारी गिरफ्तारी के बाद नवम्बर में एक खबर छपी थी कि निमियाघाट थाना के ठेसाफूली गांव के श्यामलाल किस्कू उर्फ जीतन मरांडी के ऊपर लाखों के इनाम का घोषणा किया जाता है। इस तरह पुलिस द्वारा घोषणा करने का मतलब ही है कि उस जीतन मरांडी के नाम पर मैं शिकार हुआ हूं जो मानवाधिकार का घोर उल्लंघन है।
अभी तक मेरे ऊपर लगाए गए फर्जी मुकदमा आप खुद रेखांकित कर सकते हैं। गांव थाना कांड संख्या 56/99 और 54/2000 के लिये प्रोडक्शन मेरे ऊपर लग चुका है। उसके पुलिस डायरी में भी बस उसी पुराने धारा में ही लिखा गया है। दो जीतन मरांडी का नाम दर्शाया गया है। जबकि दोनों कांड के कई अभियुक्तों की पुलिस डायरी में ऐसा नहीं था और वे सभी बरी हो चुके हैं। दूसरी ओर पीरटांड़ थाना कांड संख्या 42/08 का फर्जी मुकदमा का प्रोडक्शन सटा। जबकि इस कांड के दौरान मैं जेल में हंूं। फिर तिसरी थाना कांड संख्या 44/03 और 9/04 फर्जी मुकदमा का प्रोडक्शन सटा। जबकि तिसरी 44/03 के समय मैं आदर्श केन्द्रीय कारा, बेऊर, पटना, बिहार में बन्द था। और 9/04 के समय अन्तरराष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस के अवसर पर आयोजित कार्यक्रम में मधुबन में था। इसके बाद भी मुझको नामजद अभियुक्त कैसे बनाया गया है? यह सवाल बहुत ही महत्वपूर्ण है। और यही फर्जी मुकदमा की असलियत है।
साजिश की असलियत
जेवीएम एवं गिरिडीह पुलिस के साजिशपूर्ण रवैया का उस समय पर्दाफास हुआ जब दिनांक 24 मार्च, 09 को दवेरी थाना कांड संख्या 167/07 अर्थात् एस.टी.एन. 170/08 में पेशी के लिए सभी मियादी न्यायालय पहुंचे थे। सेशन हाजत में सभी बन्दी लोग बैठे हुए थे। इस बीच गिरिडीह टाउन थाना के प्रभारी आये और मुझे बुलाया एवं नाम वगैरह पूछा। इसके बाद मैंने भी उनका परिचय पुछा तो उन्होंने अपने को टाउन थाना का प्रभारी बताया। प्रभारी का कोई पहचान नहीं था सादे पोषाक में थे। वे कुछ देर के बाद वहां से निकल गए। कुछ देर के बाद बाकी मियादी को छोड़ केवल कोर्ट में पेशी के लिए मुझको निकाला गया। इस संबंध में सिपाही से पूछन्े पर उसने कहा ‘सवाल मत करो। चलो।’ जैसे ही मैं सेसन हाजात से बाहर निकला वैसे ही बाहर खड़े लोगों के बीच टाउन थाना प्रभारी भी थे। उन्होंने सभी लोगों को मेरे तरफ इशारे करते हुए बोला यही है जीतन मरांडी, पहचानो। इसके बाद मेरे पीछे-पीछे सभी लोग माननीय न्यायाधीश महोदय मो. कासीम अंसारी अदालत तक गये। फिर वहां पर भी मुझको गौर से दिखाया गया। कोर्ट में दस्तखत किये बगैर पेशकार ने वापस लौटाना चाहा तब मैंने थोड़ी ऊंची आवाज में पेशकार से पूछा कि तब मुझे क्यों लाया गया था? जिसके चलते माननीय जज माहोदय को चेतावनी भी मुझे सुननी पड़ी। इसके बाद मैंने अपनी गलती को स्वीकारते हुए माफी मांगी। तब तक बाकी मियादी लोग भी कोर्ट पहुंचे। दस्तखत कर पुनः सेसन हाजत वापस आये। सेसन हाजत आने के बाद मेरे मियादी लोगों ने मुझे बताया कि वहां खड़े वे सभी लोग एस.टी.एन. 170/08 में बने गवाह थे। क्योंकि कुछ मियादी के पड़ोसी हैं इनमें से कुछ गवाह। इससे पता चलता है कि पुलिस और झावियों के बीच क्या संबंध एवं साजिश है। गैर कानूनी तरीके से गवाहों से पहचान करा देना कम अन्यायपूर्ण नहीं है। इस संबंध में मैं लिखित आवेदन कोर्ट एवं अन्य संबंधित विभाग को भी दे चुका हूं।
साजिश षड्यंत्र क्या सच है? हां! दिनांक 1 अप्रैल 09 को उसी कांड में ही गवाही था। गवाही देने मोती साव एवं सुबेध साव नामक गवाह आये थे। मोती साव ने अपने बयान में मुझको निशाना करते हुए कहा कि गोली चलाने वाले में एक जीतन मरांडी को पहचानता हूं। उस घटना में यही जीतन मरांडी भी शामिल था। इसी से प्रमाणित होता है कि गिरीडीह पुलिस और जेवीएम का क्या साजिश है! जबकि मैं उस घटना में किसी भी तरह से शामिल नहीं हूं और न तिसरी, गावां में देवरी इलाके में कभी गया हूं। हालांकि मेंरे अधिवक्ता द्वारा जिरह बहस के जरिए सही तत्व सामने आ चुका है।
ज्ञात हो कि मैं शुरुआती दौर से अपने ऊपर हो रहे पुलिस प्रताड़ना का विरोध करते आया हूं। साथ ही अपने पक्ष को स्पष्ट रूप मंे विभिन्न माध्यमों से पेश कर चुका हूं। जेल से मैंने अपने ऊपर हो रहे लगातार पुलिस प्रताड़ना एवं फर्जी मुकदमा के संबंध में कई बार लिखित आवेदन जेल अधीक्षक द्वारा माननीय मुख् न्यायिक दण्डाधिकारी महोदय व्यवहार न्यायालय, गिरिडीह, जिला जज, जिला उपायुक्त पुलिस अधीक्षक जेल आई.जी. मुख्य न्यायाधीश हाई कोर्ट, रांची तथा राष्ट्रीय मानवाधिकार आयोग नई दिल्ली तक प्रेषित कर चुका हूं। लेकिन दुःख के साथ मुझे कहना पड़ रहा है कि आज तक किसी भी विभाग द्वारा उचित कदम नहीं उठाया गया है। सिर्फ न्यायिक प्रक्रिया से ही मेरा कार्य आगे बढ़ रहा है जिसमें काफी अधिक धन की जरूरत होती है और इतनी बड़ी रकम को ऐसी स्थिति में व्यवस्था कर पाने में हमारा परिवार असमर्थ है ऐसी स्थिति में मैं न्यायिक प्रक्रिया के द्वारा जमानत पर बाहर नहीं निकल सकता हूं। मुझे ढेर सारी मदद की जरूरत है। मैं न्यायालय से पूरी उम्मीद करता हूं कि वह मेरे ऊपर लगाए गए आरोप को गहराई से देखते हुए निष्पक्ष ढंग से न्यायोचित फैसला सुनिश्चित करेगी।
मैं तमाम प्रतिशील बुद्धिजीवियों, लेखकों, कलाकारों, साहित्यकारों, संास्कृतिक कर्मियों, सामाजिक कार्यकत्र्ताओं, मानवाधिकार संगठनों, जन संगठनों, मजदूर किसानों, छात्र नौजवानों, वृहत नागरिकों, शुभचिन्तकों तथा आम जनता से अपील करता हूं कि मेरे ऊपर लगाए गए संगीन आरोप से मुझे निजात दिलाने हेतु आगे आवें। और हर तरह से हमें मदद करें ताकि मैं बाहर जा सकूं और जन संस्कृति तथा अदिवासियों की परम्परा व लोक संस्कृति की रक्षा करते हुए इसे विकसित करने के काम में अपना बहुमूल्य योगदान दे सकूं।


झारखण्डी जोहर के साथ
आज्ञाकारी
जीतन मारांडी
08.04.2009

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

DHARNA CONTINUES IN KASHIPUR

Date: 22.03.08

Today is 25th day of Dharna before Utkal Alumina Internaitonal Limited plant site (wholly owned byHindalco-Aditya Birla Group), in Kashipur. Since 27th February, 2008 the already displaced people of the project (nearly 147 families of twovillages e.g. Kendukhunti, Tala Karol and Ramibeda )are sitting on a dharna with active cooperation fromthe rest of the 24 villages to be affected by the UAIL- Hindalco.

Since then, ongoing illegal construction work, started by the company just after the second phase ofrepression in December, 2004, is stopped. The construction work started by the Hindalco- AdityaBirla is illegal because they don't have proper environment as well as mining permission fromconcerned departments of Governmnet of India. Their permission granted for five years was lapsed in 2000 and since then it has not yet been renewed.


But Hindalco- Aditya Birla company continued their construction work with "support" from Police and state administration. This the true picture of so called industrialization in the state for which the presentNaveen Patnaik government ( BJP-BJD combined) is becoming crazy.

This craziness in Kashipur which has a history of violations of human rights, laws of this landincluding constitutions, now has come to a halt because local people have come and are sitting on adharna.

For Better Compensation :This opposition and dharna are mainly for better compensation. This is obvious because the alreadydisplaced families (displaced in 2006 January from their old villages) don't have any other livelihoodother than better employment.

Rest of the local people including PSSP organization is supporting them. It is commonly decided that if the company fails to fulfill those demands ( like better price for their land, permanent jobs both for landloosers as well as for displaced people, permanent houses etc) then company should leave the area anddisplaced people would cultivate their own land this year when rain comes.

Within these three years, the company has physically occupied only fifty percentage of the required landand has done the earth leveling work as well as the railway track construction work connecting from Tikirito Doraguda Plant Site.

Pressure tactics by District Administration: The district administration headed by Mr. Jyotirmay Sharma, IAS initially was threatening the people toarrest if don't leave the area. They did it for few days. But people became farm. The government hereprobably felt not to arrest any body which may cause wide publicity of the issue again and their illegalconstruction work may come into question.
But local police officials are not forgetting to threaten of arrest. In between, we learned that thecompany has already lodged a criminal case against all of us.


Surprisingly, the local media is totally silent on this issue. They are not carrying any news or storieseven though the work has been stopped for last few weeks. Our apprehension is, probably, the districtadministration and police are pressuring the media not to highlight it otherwise would face consequences. The company's is money is playing a role also. We have experienced in kashipur in these years of struggle that whenever the media becomes silent of our actions, we have gone through sever police repression.

At this stage, the news of dharna should reach many. I request my friends to bring this event to light inwhatever form so that the tactics of company and administration behind implementing the project becomepublic.

For More information you can contact :
Chitrasen Naik,

Secretary, DPs committee

(Cell No: 09437913923)

Bhagaban Majhi,

Convenor, PSSP.

Vill: Kucheipadar, Post : Kashipur,Dist : Rayagada,

Orissa

(Cell No: 09437818854)

Monday, March 17, 2008

The War Against ‘Sympathy’

ENGAGED CIRCLE

activist arrests
The War Against ‘Sympathy’
The recent arrests of five journalist-activists show the State’s increasing hostility towards worldviews that empathise with the extreme Left, reports SHOBHITA NAITHANI
ON DECEMBER 20, 2007, while addressing a chief ministers’ conference on internal security, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a dramatic remark: “They (Naxalites) are targeting vital economic infrastructure so as to cripple transport and logistic capabilities and also slow down any development activity… They have also got involved in local struggles relating to land and other rights. I have said in the past that Leftwing extremism is probably the single biggest security challenge to the Indian State. It continues to be so and we cannot rest in peace until we have eliminated this virus.” He went on to assure states of greater investment in the police forces “to cripple the hold of Naxalite forces.”
The PM’s statement came in the wake of an ongoing crackdown by police in various states on anyone who remotely resembles a ‘sympathiser’ of extreme-Left ideology. The tools: the 1967 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 and the Andhra Pradesh Public Security Act, 1992 — laws that allow the government to arrest virtually anyone with political leanings or associations it does not approve of, and thus threaten the fundamental rights guaranteed to citizens by the constitution.
Govindan Kutty, Prafull Jha, Pittala Srisailam and Lachit Bordoloi — all of them journalists (or ‘former journalists’ as some would correct) and human rights activists who were arrested on charges of being Naxals or “sympathisers”, with the exception of Bordoloi, who has been charged with having links with the ULFA. This spate of arrests indicates a disturbing pattern. In most of the cases there is no charge of violence or any actual crime committed. There is merely empathy, tenuous links with extremist groups, or the accusation of such links. These arrests therefore reveal the government’s growing intolerance of people who hold political beliefs that are not statist and go against the new economic polices pursued by the government.
This, in brief, are the case histories and the story of the arrests so far.
PRASHANT RAHI

A 48-year old human rights activist and former Uttarakhand correspondent of The Statesman, Prashant Rahi was arrested on December 22, 2007 from the forest in Hanspur Khatta in Uttarakhand. Charged that he is a Zonal Commander of the banned CPI (Maoist) group, Rahi has been implicated under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. When asked about it, PVK Prasad, SSP, Rudrapur, said: “You go speak to him in jail. I am not supposed to discuss the activities he is involved in.” Rahi’s daughter, Shikha, who works and lives in Mumbai, however, tells you what her father told her when she met him at Nanak Matta Police Station in Uddham Singh Nagar district on December 25, 2007. “He was arrested on December 17, 2007 in Dehradun. The next day he was taken to Haridwar, where they hit him and threatened to pump kerosene into his anus. They also told him that they would force him to rape me in their presence. It was only on December 22, 2007 that they made his arrest records.”
“Rahi’s arrest is perfectly timed with the PM’s statement that the Maoist insurgency is the single largest threat in the country and the state Chief Minister subsequently demanding Rs 208 crore from the Centre for modernisation of the police forces,” says Hardip, a freelance journalist and former colleague. Ashok Mishra, another former colleague and the editor of Garhwal Post, feels Rahi is being persecuted because of his beliefs. “He has a Leftist ideology and was involved in various people’s movements like the one for the creation of the new state, and the agitation against Tehri Dam. They picked him up because he was mobilising people against the land, liquor and builder mafia in Uddham Singh Nagar that works in tandem with the police. I am only happy that the police didn’t plant an AK-47 on him and kill him in a fake encounter.”

PRAFULL JHA
Prafull Jha, in the words of Rajendra Sail, the president of PUCL in Chhattisgarh, is “one of the top 10 anthropologists in Chhattisgarh and a journalist whose analysis has been used by national TV channels many a time.” The 60-yearold former bureau chief of Dainik Bhaskar was arrested on January 22, 2008 for his alleged links to a cache of arms seized by the police in Raipur. “He and his sons were given money by the Naxals to buy cars to transport their leaders and ply weapons. He was also translating their internal literature into Hindi,” says Chhattisgarh DGP Vishwa Ranjan Jha, adding, “Please don’t call him a journalist.” Sunil Kumar, editor, Daily Chhattisgarh, picks up from where the DGP let off. “His case has nothing to do with the media and the suppression of freedom of expression. He was an active and a paid worker of the Naxals.” Kumar says Jha was thrown out of a publication he earlier worked with on charges of embezzling money. Sail however thinks that the arrests, whether of Dr. Binayak Sen or Jha, are calculated to silence voices that spoke out against official policies. “It is my belief that Jha is not a Naxal. It would be improper to say he is not a journalist,” he affirms.
GOVINDAN KUTTY
On December 19, 2007, the Kerala police picked up Govindan Kutty, the 68-year-old firebrand editor of People’s March, for his alleged connection with the banned CPI (Maoist) group. Charged under the 1967 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act among others, he was released on bail on February 24, 2008. On returning, Kutty found an order of the District Magistrate of Ernakulam pasted outside his house. It said that the registration of People’s March was cancelled as it contained materials that are “seditious in nature, bringing about contempt and disaffection against the Government of India by projecting ideologies and activities of CPI (Maoist).”
But why now, seven years after it started publication? “The articles go against the spirit of the Indian state. Police say they wanted to ban the magazine earlier, but attention was paid to it only after the arrest of Kutty,” says District Collector, Ernakulam, APM Mohammed Hanish. Kutty meanwhile feels it has become easy for the police to brand those who oppose government policy as Maoists, and audaciously admits that one is free to call him a Maoist if supporting the ideology makes him one. “There is violence everywhere. Corruption is violence, prostitution is violence, not paying minimum wage is violence, child labour is violence, caste discrimination is violence,” he says, adding, “I am a law-abiding citizen.”



PITTALA SRISAILAM
Pittala Srisailam, the 35-year-old editor of online television Musi TV and co-convener of Telangana Journalists Forum (TJF) was arrested according to him on December 4, 2007, but according to the police (as reported in the papers) on December 5 in the Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh on the pretext of acting as a ‘courier’ of the Maoists. “I had gone to interview a Maoist leader and they slapped false charges on me (Andhra Pradesh Public Security Act, 1992 for abetting and helping the banned CPI (Maoist)),” says Srisailam, who was released on December 13. Both Musi TV and TJF support the idea of a separate statehood for Telangana. His colleague and convener of TJF, Allam Narayana sees this as a conspiracy by the government to silence those opposing the government. “After Srisailam’s arrest, the government implicated the TJF of having links with the Maoists. But we are journalists and know our limitations. Our only goal is Telangana and we will achieve it through a parliamentary system.” Srisailam explains that it’s not unusual for journalists or activists working with the poor and marginalised in the hinterland to encounter, or even interact with Maoists at some point. “But that doesn’t make them Maoists,” he clarifies.

LACHIT BORDOLOI
A human rights activist and freelance journalist, who is actively involved in mediation between the government and the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Lachit Bordoloi was arrested on January 11, 2008 from Moranhat in Assam’s Dibrugarh district. He was charged with links to ULFA’s alleged plan to hijack an aircraft from Guwahati airport; to the recovery of arms and ammunition seized by the police in Assam’s Rangia town in 2007; and fund collection for ULFA. When asked about the charges, Guwahati SSP VK Ramisetti said, “In the hijack case, we got a statement from an apprehended ULFA militant in which he implicated himself and Bordoloi.”
The police’s claim is dismissed outright by Bubumoni Goswami, chairman of human rights body Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS), of which Bordoloi is secretary general. “Some officials in the government and the police don’t want the ULFA problem to be solved. The Centre has always allocated a huge fund to tackle rebel activity in the state. If the situation continues, they will continue to benefit,” he points out. Bordoloi’s lawyer, Bijan Mahajan trashes the allegation of his client’s involvement in the Rangia case. “The investigating agencies should have picked him up immediately if it was true, but they didn’t. It is simply pick and choose politics that the State is indulging in,” says Mahajan.


The timing of the five arrests and the nature in which they were carried out indicates the government’s growing impatience with what the prime minister called “the single biggest security challenge to the Indian State.” The facts bear this out. Under the 11th Five Year Plan, an outlay of Rs.2500 crore has been approved to tackle internal security threats and beef up the Central and state security apparatus, which is nearly four times more than the allocations during the 10th Five Year Plan. Under the revamped Police Modernisation scheme, from 2005 onwards 76 districts affected by Naxalism will be provided Rs 2 crore each every year (for the first five years) for strengthening basic police infrastructure.
The government’s treatment of Naxalism purely as a law and order problem, while ignoring its socio-economic roots, has often come under sharp criticism. “The government is targeting all Left-wing activists who are exposing the government’s policies towards Maoists and Naxals or those who are involved in movements resisting the government’s land grabbing activities,” says civil liberties lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who practices in the Supreme Court. “Targeting peaceful activists will only fuel Naxalism in the country because it will force them to go underground and eventually join the Maoists,” he adds.
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 11, Dated Mar 22, 2008

Road Show of Indian Democracy

The veracity of Indian democracy
From Gujarat to Nandigram

Sushmita
If you disagree with the state, you will be killed. If you are not a Hindu you will be killed. You are a human being and think like one. This can provide enough reasons for killing you. Didn’t you hear this during the honorable tour of Indian democracy? Our right to live will be decided by the thermometer of majority of the parliamentary politics of India. The honorable journey in the service of finance capital is moving ahead crushing the oppressed masses. Chief Minister of a state challenges all those who oppose the mass killings by saying that he is elected by the majority. Not only this he even challenged his opponents to contest the elections to find it (let elections decide whether he is right or wrong). If we follow Narendra Modi or other monks of Indian democracy, we get to the conclusion that the people of Gujarat have not only welcomed the killings organized by Narendra Modi but also provided him a license to continue.
Crisis of Indian Democracy and Fascism.
Discussions are hot on the reelection of Narendra Modi. At many places caste equations and equations of congress and BJP are being discussed. But there are much important questions which are left out.i.e. Is Modi the first person to be elected after organizing mass killings? Indira Gandhi was responsible for enforcing an emergency. Repression reached to heights, people got killed but she got re elected with majority in just three years time. The facts lay strong emphasis on the questions that are being raised on democracy in India. This democracy based on semi feudal and semi colonial relations becomes more regressive with the deepening of economic crisis. If we talk about the present structure of parliament we find that power has been centralized to the cabinet and more so in the pre determined standing committees which are found to be serving the finance capital. Even the roles of ministers are decided by this finance capital. More importantly fascism has been borne out of the Indian parliament itself. The decision to put an emergency can be undemocratic but in no way unlawful in the parliamentary framework. If in majority the government has a right to reject crores of masses on the basis of decision taken by the cabinet as the whip of cabinet is a compulsion to all members of the parliament. Today the Indian parliament is undergoing severe crisis despite using caste, religion and other regressive measures. There is a contradiction between democracy and feudalism. The growth of democracy means decline in role of feudal institutions (such as caste, creed, religion etc) in our social political life. But what we find here is that these institutions have made a strong hold. Indian parliamentary politics has made all these feudal relations more strong. Apart from this we can get a glimpse of the increasing crisis in the present structure of governance where there is multi party position and multiparty opposition. Still it is hard to complete five years tenure. And now they are talking of revising the constitution. It is harsh reality that the parliament can do nothing more than have a mock debate on economic and external affairs. Now ordinance have taken the place of bills in parliament. Emergency powers are becoming the common tools of governance. In this way Indian democracy is becoming more and more another weapon to repress the masses. Political crisis is increasing in the country. If we read the indicators in the country we find that the whole of ruling class is busy serving finance capital. The rights and struggles of working classes are being curbed. The judiciary is all set to follow the directions provided by finance capital. These indications are found in many anti-struggles and anti strike decisions given by the court. Arundhati Roy was punished for standing by the people who are displaced in the Narmada project. Whereas, Narendra Modi was spared, when he announced that, “enemies of humanity will be killed as Sohrabuddin”. May be this is not contempt of court. The rulers use a section of people to built private gangs to crush any mass struggle by the masses. In Gujarat we saw that Narendra Modi mobilized all the classes against the Muslims. Even the dalits and tribes were mobilized for the genocide. We can also see the glimpse of these regressive measures taken by that state in organizing anti struggle gangs amongst the people against struggling masses of Orissa and Nandigram. After 1990’s there has been increase in private gangs backed by the state in areas of nationalities and naxal struggle. State consciously creates an environment of terror to garner the support of masses for its repressive measures. Time and again the masses are being told that they are in constant danger. They are sitting on a heap of gunpowder which can be ignited from anywhere in Pakistan or Bangladesh. This terror is being used by the government to justify its huge expenditure on intelligence and army (legal as well as illegal) such as Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh, grey hounds and cobra in Andhra Pradesh, NASUS in Jharkhand, SULFA in Assam, etc and black laws. In such a way it creates have inner contradictions amongst the masses.
The signs of fascism are quite clear. One thing the ruling classes have in common that they have all been using and organizing masses into reactionary forces. Fascism is deep rooted into the economic and political system. We also find that riots take place at those places were indigenous and handicraft industry have a strong hold. Such as Bhagalpur (silk mills), Aligarh (lock industry), Gujarat where there are a large number of small industries. Imperialism conflicts with indigenous techniques. It uses riots as means to destroy indigenous techniques. We find that not a single industrial organization protested when large numbers of small scale industries were destroyed during the riots.
Fascism in the country could be traced back to 1970s when the signs of world wide depression could be seen. Imperialism again plunged to a long term crisis from the 70s. This is the time when India faced the consequences of emergency. Indira Gandhi in her later years used Hindu chauvinism. The anti people decisions introduced fascism to the people of India in the times of growing economic and political crisis. By giving loans IMF started its structural adjustment programs in 1980s. Rajiv Gandhi’s reign saw many such anti people policies as well as concept of a strong Hindu nationalism.
The rise of Hindu fascist forces into a political force
The Hindu fascist ideology has been in existence for as long as seven and a half decades with the inauguration of the RSS in 1925 at Nagpur. But it did not play any significant role in state power. It has risen to power in the last 25 years and since then has become a strong political force. Initially its bases were upper caste people and Hindu merchant communities. In 1980s ruling classes decided to develop this fascist ideology. It has increased day by day and has made a place even amongst the dalits and backward castes. All the ruling classes have played a significant role in developing aiding and abetting the growth of fascist forces. The different fronts made with an intention of parliamentary alliances have legalized Hindu fascism. It has maintained a mask by making alliances with regional parties. BJP in its tenure associated with big commercial households and together with its organizations-CII, FICCI, and ASOCHEM-formed various committees with different ministries. It went so far as to make acquaintances with the PM office. We see that Hindu fascism is basically a result of a course of political events, which has been brought by the ruling class, which centers on imperialism and increasing political and economic crisis of national and foreign capitalists and ruling classes.
Does fascism have any definition?
According to the 13th meet of Communist International, “comrades, fascism in power was correctly described by the Thirteenth Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International as the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital”.(1) Dimitrov warns also of development of fascist ideology by the rulers if there is economic and political crisis .i.e. the main question is of economic and political crisis and class character. A special character of fascism is that, it is supported by regressive forces and it uses these forces to legalize its works. The regressive mass movement aroused by fascism is used by the rulers to terrorize and repress the people’s struggles. According to Togliyati,
“Fascism should be used only when the attack start on working class & it is being carried out on depending any mass base as petty bourgeoisie. We get this specificity in Germany, Italy, France, England, & all those other places where fascism is in existence.”2 ( translation ours)
If we read the signs coming from different parts of the country, it becomes clear that state is becoming fascist. Its roots are well dug into the crisis of imperialism which is leading to rise in dangerous political crisis.
Dying Imperialism And Growing Fascism
Fascism is directly related to finance capital. This relation can be understood by reviewing the past. After 1930’s, imperialism again went into deep and long term crisis in 1970’s. Before this period, surplus capital searched ways to grow. IMF, IBRD and globalization brought a solution for this. In 1980 inoperative capital found a way in giving loans to the third world. After 1990 .i.e. with the introduction of globalization, the surplus capital tried to make a place in the world market and come out of the depression. This technique helped a little but the crisis had come to say. After the dot.com bubble brusted in 2002, the situation became worse. The American economy started shrinking. Then came the housing bubble started by the Federal Reserve (central bank of America). It also gave fruits for some time but on august 16, 2007, the tree collapsed, which was called sub-prime crisis. This crisis had far reaching effects. According to Rodigo Rato, “US will bear the burnt of the economic consequences of the crisis, with the bulk of the impact not being felt until next year… The potential consequences of the episode should not be underestimated and the adjustment process is likely to be protected. Credit condition may not normalize soon, developed in the structure … it has an real effect on the real economy which will be felt more in 2008, with greater intensity in US, less in other areas.”(3)
The impact of the crisis of the American economy on the world economy is evident. Signs of depression cannot be ignored as it would increase the economic crisis globally.
The crisis in American sub prime market, lead to instability in all the share markets of the world. The results were so drastic that many of the leading banks of the world were endangered. So to save them, the central banks had to pour in a lot of wealth. The European Central Bank invested $130 billion, Japanese Bank invested $1 trillion and American Federal Bank invested $43 billion. As imperialism has already used all techniques, it has no other alternative left than to loot the already poor countries. This it would attain through the medium of globalization. “ To give some idea of the importance of profits from investments abroad in the total US economy, these represented about 6% of the total business profits in 1960s, 11% in 1970s, 15-16% in the 1980s &, 1990s, & have averaged 18% for the five years period 2000-2004.(4)
There has also been an increase in purchase and sale of stocks. “If we see trend of last 30 years in 1975, 19 millions stock shares traded daily on the New York stock exchange, by 1985.the volume had reached 109 million & by 2000, 1,600 million shares with a value of over $ 60 billion. Even larger is the daily trading on the world currency markets, which has gone from $ 80 billion a day in 1977, to the current average of $ 1.8 trillion a day. That means that every 24 days the dollar volume of currency trading equals the entire worlds annual GDP. (5) we can easily draw conclusions that the finance capital will search more and more avenues for profits and economic instability would increase.
Apart from this concentration has grown many folds. According to a study published in 2005 we find that the top 10 companies controls almost 59% market share of the world’s leading 98 drug firms. The top 10 companies control almost half of the $29,566 million global pesticide market. Analysts predict that only three major companies will survive in the conventional pesticide business by 2015. In 2004, the 10 global food retailers accounted for combined sales of $ 84,000 million – 24% of the estimated $ 3.5 trillion global market. We can asses from these oligarchies how trance national companies are controlling & shaping our social-economical-political life. At the beginning of this decade it was predicted by many analyst that the period of corporate mergers as seen in 1990s was over but in 2004, the global value of corporate mergers & acquisitions climbed to $ 1.95 trillion- a 40% jump over the $ 1.38 trillion in 2003. Combined sales of world’s largest 200 largest corporations account for 29% of world’s economic activity in 2004. It was about $ 11,442,253 million. We can asses the concentration of wealth from this fact that the total wealth of 946 world’s billionaires grew 35% year to year while income levels for the lower 55% of the world’s population declined or stagnate.
According to James Petras, “Given the enormous class and income disparities in Russia, Latin America and China (20 Chinese billionaires have a net worth of 29.4 billion USD in less than ten years), it is more accurate to describe these countries as ‘surging billionaires’ rather than ‘emerging markets’. In backward countries globalization was produced as the solution of all their problems. Mainstream economists preach us that capital always seeks the highest returns & typically flows from rich countries to poor ones- but The Economist notes that emerging economies sent about $350 billion to rich countries in 2004.(6) These all facts of concentration show that the crisis in imperialism is deepening. We know that the fundamental reason of the crisis of the imperialism is the contradiction between social form of production & private form of ownership. These all process would intense the contradictions of imperialism to a large extent. We can say that if imperialism in the period of com. Lenin was moribund & parasite then it is thousand times more moribund & more parasite. To come out from this crisis imperialism would take more reactionary measures. As result the plunder of oppressed nation would rise at huge level. The expenditure on imperialist war would increase. The market of weapon would be promoted. In all countries racial & religious sentiments would be ignited. To keep the level of profit high many genocide & mass killings would be organized. It is the last tool in hands of imperialism.
The leaders of the Indian economy are showing the economy to be full proof, but they themselves are not sure about it. The sales of shares, by the FIIs were the largest in August after the sub prime crisis. The monthly sales reached to a record figure since they were allowed participation in the Indian markets in the early 1990s. This means that a single crisis in American market has the potentiality to shake the whole market. Big comprador houses of India are bound as never before to the imperialists. Most of the private banks in India have become more foreign than Indian. The reasons for the flow of funds by the FIIs are the serious sub-prime crisis and low interests rates rather than the strong position of Indian economy. The foreign control on Indian economy has reached to dangerous limits. The foreign investment in telecom sector is about 74%. The real estate boom in India is going the U.S way. The crisis in Indian agriculture is known to all. In the past 30 years there is a record decline in food grain production. India’s foreign debt has grown by massive 23% during 2006-07 and stood at $165 billion. It constitutes 16.4% of the GDP. From May 2007 onwards there are signs of slowdown in the economy. With such high level of dependence on foreign capital, it is inevitable that even small shocks in the international economy will badly impact India. Apart from this concentration has increased during the period of globalization. According to James Petras, in India which has the highest number of billionaires (36) in Asia with total wealth of $191 billion, Prime Minister Singh declared that the greatest single threat to India’s security are the Maoist led guerrilla and mass movements in the poorest parts of the country. In China, with 20 billionaires with $29.4 billion net worth, the new rulers, confronting nearly a hundred thousand reported riots and protests, have increased the number of armed special anti-riot militia a hundred fold.( 7)
Social democrats and fascism
Social democracy in India which has changed to social fascism has also contributed to the growth of fascism. It has consciously ignored the class character and relation with finance capital. This is because It belongs to the same class of rulers in places where it has been for along time and its hunger for finance capital is well known.
In neck deep parliamentarianism, these fake Marxists consciously engage the struggle against fascism in equation of parliamentarianism. It even left behind the rulling class parties in becoming an agent of finance capital. Not only it mobilized the masses in interest of finance capital but it also used them against the struggling masses who fought against finance capital. It propagated largely about land reforms, but the fact is that distribution of a large part of acquired land is still pending in the court. The social democrats were not so serious to take the land from land lords and distribute amongst the landless than to snatch it from the farmers and give to the imperialists. Coming of fascism into power and role of social democrats in it is very rightly explained by Dimitrov, “Comrades, fascism also attained power for the reason that the proletariat found itself isolated from its natural allies. Fascism attained power because it was able to win over large masses of the peasantry, owing to the fact that the Social-Democrats in the name of the working class pursued what was in fact an anti-peasant policy. The peasant saw in power a number of Social-Democratic governments, which in his eyes were an embodiment of the power of the working class; but not one of them put an end to peasant want; none of them gave land to the peasantry. In Germany, the Social-Democrats did not touch the landlords; they combated the strikes of the farm laborers, with the result that long before Hitler came to power the farm laborers of Germany were deserting the reformist trade unions and in the majority of cases were going over to the Stahlhelm and to the National Socialists”.(8) is not the statement very apt for the social democrats in India? They in india advised the working class not to strike in interest of development. They told that it is time for class collaboration and not class struggle.
The social democrats frequently form alliances with other sections of compradors bourgeoisie and feudal rulling classes who have ample reasons to grow as fascist forces. On this Dimitrov writes “Was not the German Social-Democratic Party in a coalition government? It was. Was not the Austrian Social-Democratic Party in office? Were not the Spanish Socialists in the same government as the bourgeoisie? They were. Did the participation of the Social-Democratic Parties in the bourgeois coalition governments in these countries prevent fascism from attacking the proletariat? It did not. Consequently it is as clear as daylight that participation of Social-Democratic ministers in bourgeois governments is not a barrier to fascism”. (9). Dimitrov’s words expose these social democrats.
From 2002 Buddhdev Bhattacharya started to speak against madarasas & in favour to implement a draconian law like POTA in West Bengal.
These signals unveil the character of the social democrats. A chief minister orders to kill the masses in interest of foreign capital and reacts by saying that they have been paid back in the same coin. The same CM apologises for the attack on fascists In case of attack in Tapan Sikdar case. Does it not clear things? These social democrats declared that the largest threat were the struggling forces in the rural areas. They advised the ruling classes to understand the threat of Maoists in Nandigram. In Dimitrov’s words “Only such monstrous philistines, such lackeys of the bourgeoisie, as the superannuated theoretician of the Second International, Karl Kautsky, are capable of casting reproaches at the workers, to the effect that they should not have taken up arms in Austria and Spain. What would the working class movement in Austria and Spain look like today if the working class of these countries were guided by the treacherous counsels of the Kautskys? The working class would be experiencing profound demoralization in its ranks”. (10)
Social democrats today tell us to forget the dream of socialism. We should forget that barbarous states have plunged the world into ocean of blood just to make profits. We should forget that our friends have up rooted czar and chiang kai seik and gave there lives to create a new social system. We are being told that the martyrdom of crores of daughters and sons of the working class went in vain and socialism was there mental mayhem. We should forget that Hiroshima and Nagasaki was destroyed for profits. We should forget that the hands of these profiteers are dripping with the blood of our sisters and brothers in Vietnam and Chillie and other countries. But they should know that masses can never forget the dream of socialism. Kautsky’s legacy is not peoples’ legacy. Peoples’ legacy is with the legacy of writers such as the great Christopher Coldwell, Lorca, ken saro viva and philosophers and those great soviet daughters and sons , who under the leadership of Stalin, cut the claws of Hitler who dreamt of changing the world map.
The facts reveal that the crisis of imperialism and entrance of foreign capital and the rise of hindutva as a fascist force occurred in the same period. As the rate of foreign capital increased in the economy, more and more riots and hatred and hatred and anti people tools came into play. The road show of Indian democracy from Gujarat to Nandigram is also related to this foreign capital. The ruling classes have no other alternative than fascism to come out of this political crisis. By exaggerating the force of fascism, the social democrats and other liberal forces ultimately fulfill the interest of fascism. It ignores the fact that to crush the mass struggles it takes the path of fascism. To be in power it uses all reactionary means and create contradictions among masses. But mass uprisings take place from within these.\ and organize itself for bigger struggles. Struggle is the prime aspect here. About this Lenin says “ The school of civil war --- does not leave the people unaffected. It is a harsh school, and its complete curriculum inevitably includes the victories of the counterrevolution, the debaucheries of enraged reactionaries, savage punishments meted out by the old governments to the rebels, etc. But only downright pedants and mentally decrepit mummies can grieve over the fact that nations are entering this painful school; this school teaches the oppressed classes how to conduct civil war; it teaches how to bring about a victorious revolution; it concentrates in the masses of present day slaves that hatred which is always harboured by the downtrodden, dull, ignorant slaves, and which leads those slaves who have become conscious of the shame of their slavery to the greatest historic exploits”.(11)
The ruling classes are again becoming fascists. Fascism is not invincible. It would lead the ruling class to downfall. On the other side the struggles of masses have also increased. To crush this the ruling class is becoming more and more fascist. Today again imperialism is suffering from crisis and depression. It is becoming more and more reactionary. But on the other hand in latin America and Asia more and more masses are joining hands in struggle. Today the responsibility to smash fascism falls on the hands of inheritors of warriors & daughters and sons of soviet who sacrificed their lives in fight against profiteers state & fascism. Victory of the working class is in inevitable because only & only masses are creators of history. State only and only represses.

1. United front against fascism – Dimitrov
2. Palmiro Togliatti on Fascism
3. The Independent, 25 September 2007.
4. Monthly Review, December 2006
5. Ibid
6. The Economist, 24 September 2004
7. Global ruling class, James Petras
8. United front against fascism – Dimitrov
9. Ibid
10. Ibid
11. [V. I. Lenin, Collected Works 15:183]
(Sushmita is a researcher .Translated from Hindi by Lalima.)

Representing Nayagarh

G N Saibaba
MORE than the event it is often the representation of the event that leaves an impression on the human mind. And when it is a political movement based on Maoist ideology it becomes the battle for the hearts and minds. Media representation of the synchronised attacks carried out by the CPI (Maoist) on police stations and armoury at Nayagarh in Orissa, 85 km from Bhubaneswar, becomes important in this context. How the image got imprinted in the opinion of the civil society was for everyone to see.As has been reported, the attack was carried out simultaneously in Nayagarh District on the armoury, town police station, police training school and the police stations at Daspalla, and Nuagaon, the police outposts at Galeri and Mahipur. Media quoted government authorities as saying arms to the tune of thousands, lakhs of rounds of ammunition as being taken by the Maoists. These simultaneous attacks were spread over about 75 km in the districts of Nayagarh, Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, and Kandhamal. In the ensuing gun battle 13 police personnel and two others were killed. Nine police personnel were injured.The media reported this as yet another story of the inability of the state to match the strike power of the Maoists. Words strategically deployed to name the act, the ethics or the politics that defined the act, finally became the act itself. Both the print and electronic media gave countrywide coverage of the incident for over a week with contradictory figures of casualities on both sides, the quantity of arms, ammunition carried away by the Maoists. It also reported the alleged brutality of the Maoists on the police.No one asked as to the need for the state to have such a huge stockpile of sophisticated arms in the remotest villages in Nayagarh where some of the poorest live. From whom or where was the threat? There is another story to which the media turns a blind eye. Orissa is one of the richest states in India abounding in minerals, forest wealth, precious stones, etc. But it has the poorest of people unable to eke out a living, even one square meal a day. But then this hardly makes news.This is also the state where POSCO, TATA, Jindal, Mittal, Vedanta and others have made a beeline for the resources of the people, which the government euphemistically calls second-generation reforms. So then we come to the old question. Who needs such security? Such a pile-up of sophisticated arms? But then this question hardly bothers the media. This is evident from the silence on the massive built up of security forces in the area post-Nayagarh with Air Force choppers to boot. That this has terrorised villagers is for anyone to see with many fleeing fearing air raids.An independent fact-finding team headed by a former professor of Delhi University, Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty in an initial report released from Bhubaneswar, on February 24, stated that “the environment of excessive deployment of (state armed forces) creates unnecessary tension, insecurity, and fear in the day-to-day life of people.”The Orissa Government has reinforced the existing forces with four more companies of the notorious Greyhound police borrowed from Andhra Pradesh, five companies of CRPF sent by the Centre and two battalions of Orissa State Armed Police. Post-Nayagarh saw fierce gun battles on the Gasama hills bordering Kandhamal District, 50 km from Nayagarh between the police / paramilitary forces and the Maoists. Three police personnel were killed including an Assistant Commandant of the Special Operation Group.Two days later, the Chief Minister declared that in the continuing combing operations to capture the Maoists the state forces recovered 40 per cent of the weapons while killing 20 of them. But a report sent by the Joint Command Centre of the CRPF, Orissa Police and Greyhounds to the CRPF headquarters in Delhi, as cited by a section of the press, contradicts this version. It says that the arms recovered were burnt ones - made useless by the Maoists and left behind before they moved into the dense forests - perhaps those which were mainly used for training purposes by the police. The report didn’t mention any casualty on the side of the Maoists.The fact-finding team mentioned above also confirms that the “casualties on the Maoist side are not known even though there were unconfirmed reports of some killings.” Not a single Maoist body was recovered. Air Force helicopters were used for co-ordinating the ground forces resulting in a war-like situation in the region bordering Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. A section of the press was told by the intelligence that helicopters were called in to bomb the Maoists.Security personnel were moved from place to place as per the information provided through helicopter surveillance. Though the Central government maintains that the army will remain non-interventionist in the operations in the heartland of the country, after Nayagarh the IAF set up a task force headed by a senior officer to oversee search and reconnaissance. Even though in the past some army officers opposed drawing the army to fight citizens, post-Nayagarh developments come as bad omens.Police and paramilitary forces were upset about a so-called directive that the NHRC had sent to the state Government prohibiting aerial bombing. Tribals in and around Gasama hills fled their villages fearing full-scale war and harassment. Some of them now live in a temporary camp in a school near Bhanj Nagar.On Nayagarh, the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil chose to contradict the learned Prime Minister as he refused to consider Naxalism “the single biggest security threat to the country”. The strange argument is that Naxalism is a “scourge” and so it shouldn’t be termed the ‘single biggest threat’. The logic sounds postmodern and feudal simultaneously.He argues that Naxalism is more or less contained in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar and is now limited to Chhattisgarh- Orissa-Jharkhand. Therefore, the learned Prime Minister is misplaced despite his insistence for the last four years that Naxalism is the ‘biggest internal security threat’. Shivraj Patil betrays himself in the same interview as he calls for constitutional changes to get the Centre “special powers to handle Naxalism.” Further, “for the deployment of forces in the states, the Constitution has to be amended with a two-thirds majority in Parliament and backing from half of the State legislatures.”The Home Minister speaks his mind when he presses for a major constitutional amendment. Perhaps the stories that the media is silent about will answer the urgency in the need for the Home Minister to amend the Constitution for a further centralised authoritarian state. All words, ‘single largest threat', ‘constitutional amendment', ‘development’, ‘violence’ and ‘victims’ are placed in the larger narrative: that it is because of the Maoist tribals have to face the ire of the state. It successfully hides the situation prevalent in this region.A life of skewed choices for the tribals reduced to sub-humans between life and death. More and more capital investment in this region has only made their plight worse. Demonisation or romanticisation of the Maoists misleads any genuine attempt at understanding the Maoist movement. The Maoists are neither the rustic heroes nor Robin hood-like saviours of the rural populace. They are the only force responding to the aspirations of the people. They oppose the politics of destruction, destitution and death brought forth by Liberalisation-Privatisation-Globalisation. It is this story that the media is again silent about.The author teaches at the University of Delhi

(This article appeared in The New Indian Express in South India in the OP-Ed Page as main article, Friday February 29 2008 06:50 IST)