Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)

Press Statement

2009-10-07T02:57:00.000-07:00

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 5^th 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

अपील

2009-07-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

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

DHARNA CONTINUES IN KASHIPUR

2008-03-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

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)

The War Against ‘Sympathy’

2008-03-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-17T01:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

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)

Press Statement

2008-03-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

'I was released from Prison today': P. Govindan Kutty, Editor, People's March

2008-02-25T05:15:00.000-08:00

Sunday 24th February, 2008.

I was released from prison today around noon. I thank the print and mass media in extending their support for my struggle in prison. I thank the civil and democratic rights organisations, Kerala Working Journalists Union, Advocates P.A. Pauran, Madhusudan in extending legal assistance, Arundhati Roy, Girish Karnad, Maheshwata Devi in espousing my cause. People's March publication will be resumed as early as possible.

Normally police seize only the hard disks of any computer. In My case they seized the whole C.P.U., Monitor, Key Board, Mouse, Speakers everything. I have to buy everything as the seized items will be returned only after the closure of the case by court. Normally police seize only the SIM card. In my case police seized the mobile instrument itself. That means I have to spend money for a computer and mobile. The owners of the printing press which prints People's March were threatened by police. They refuse to print People's March.

These are the problems before the People's March. Even though People's March is a Registered Newspaper registered under the Registrar of Newspapers for India.Liberal financial assistance is the need of the hour to resume People's March publication.
-P. Govindan Kutty, Editor, People's March

Press Release

2008-02-13T03:22:00.000-08:00

CONDEMN THE ARREST OF LACHIT BORDOLOI,

JOURNALIST AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST!

EXPOSE THE DEVIOUS DESIGN OF THE INDIAN STATE

TO BREAK THE TALKS WITH ULFA!

We condemn in the strongest words the arrest of Lachit Bordoloi a journalist and civil rights activist from Assam. He was arrested by the Assam police. He is the advisor of the Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS), the convenor of the Peoples Committee for Peace Initiatives in Assam (PCPIA) and the People's Consultative Group that was set up in 2005 to initiate discussions between the Government of India and the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).

The circumstances leading to the arrest followed by the planted stories in the media all point to a larger design of conspiracy on the side of the Indian State to subvert the present initiatives that are developing in Assam as well as among the various communities in the North East.

The media has flashed the story of Lachit being arrested and charged by the police of conspiring to hijack a plane. On the midnight of February 9, 2008, Guwahati police personnel had raided Bordoloi's rented flat in Guwahati, where his wife and daughter were staying alone. He had left earlier that day for a meeting at Tinsukia district in upper Assam. The police personnel seized his laptop and other material and did not offer a seizure form to his spouse.

The media also reported that the Guwahati police had arrested two supposed ULFA activists from the city on February 8-9, 2008. At a press statement, police spokespersons said that the arrested activists were in the city to try and hijack planes and that there were several prominent persons in the city who were helping them out.

What all this indicate is very clear: that the Indian State does not respect the possibility of a dignified resolution of the aspirations of the people of Assam or for that any other community be it the Kashmiris or the Nagas. This is evident from the observation of Lt Gen B S Jaswal, GoC 4 Corps: ''They must come to designated camps, deposit weapons and talk. In 2006 when we had unconditional ceasefire, they took advantage and consolidated and as a result there was mayhem.''

The arrest and then the framing up of someone like Lachit Bordoloi who is a known civil rights activist and journalist and who has been championing the cause of the Assamese people is a clear indicator from the side of the Indian State that they are ready to violate the confidence building that was done as part of the peace initiative process.

This is not something new for the Indian state and its comprador rulers. They have done the same with the Maoists in Andhra Pradesh when they had initiated the dialogue with the state government there in 2002. What came out of the talks was a series of planned murders of the leadership of the Maoist party. The Nagas are still continuing with the dialogue hoping that the Indian State would honour the commitments made at various junctures. The arrest of Lachit Bordoloi should be seen in this context as he had emerged as a mediator between the Assamese people and the Nagas thus becoming a thorn in the divisive strategies employed by the treacherous Indian state.

We once again condemn this arrest as it is breach of the trust that the Assamese people have conferred on the Indian government. It is a design to breach the trust forged between the Assamese and the Nagas in solving their problems among themselves and thus delimiting the role of the divide and rule tactics of the Indian state.

Such people who work for the betterment of their people as well as the common good of the peoples of the North East should not be arrested and kept behind bars as part of the devious designs of the Indian state. He should be unconditionally released.

Raj Kishore
Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)
12/02/2008

Press Release

2008-02-13T01:29:00.000-08:00

STOP THE REPRESSION OF REVOLUTIONARY PEOPLES' ORGANISATIONS!

IMMEDIATELY RELEASE THE SIX ARRESTED ACTIVISTS OF

PEOPLES' ORGANISATIONS IN JHARKHAND!!

In Ranchi, Jharkhand, people from various walks of life participated in a convention to highlight the abysmal condition of women Political Prisoners on 21 January 2008. Out of the hundreds of patrticipants in the convention, 21 people including women and cultural artists were illegally detained by the police in Hazaribagh while returning to their places. They were kept for 4 days in illegal police custody and tortured. Ramesh Ghanju of Jharkhand Abhen, a revolutionary cultural organisation, Pratima Kumari and Salina Besara of Nari Mukti Sangh, as well as Ashok Mahato and Govind Mahato were sent to Girdhi Jail. RDF condemns the fascist means adopted by the Jharkhand Government to crush the democratic rights of the people and their organisations, by framing false charges, illegal arrest, custody and torture etc. and demand the immediate and unconditional release of all the arrested activists.

Appeal

2008-01-24T18:13:00.000-08:00

A MOTHER’S APPEAL

by Anasuya Sen

I am a woman in my eighties. When we were young, people were inspired by the examples of karmayogis who were patriotic, motivated by ideals of service, wise and virtuous. We considered ourselves blessed if we could follow in their footsteps.

I had so far been a silent spectator to the injustice and violence that pervades our free democracy today, but only because I was personally untouched by it. But now, as an aged mother, and outraged by the blows of injustice, I wish to break my silence. Inconsolable in my pain at the age of eighty-one years, I now wish to make a humble appeal to the people of free, democratic India.

As perhaps many of you are aware, my son Dr. Binayak Sen is today held in jail, a victim of extreme injustice. At the age of four years, he was troubled by questions of injustice: why didn’t the boy who helped us at home not eat with us? Why did he have to eat alone on the kitchen floor? Why couldn’t he join him at meal times?

When he graduated with his first medical degree with distinction at the age of twenty two from the Christian Medical College in Vellore, he refused to heed his father’s wish for him to go to England to study for the MRCP. Whatever knowledge he needed to practice medicine in his own country, he insisted, he could acquire right here. He was subsequently awarded the M..D. in paediatrics from Vellore, and then joined JNU as an assistant professor with a wish to study for a PhD in Public Health. But he could brook no further delay. He left his academic position to take up a position at the TB Research Centre and hospital run by the Friends’ Rural Centre at Hoshangabad (MP). After a couple of years there, he found an opportunity to work among the miners in Chhattisgarh. There he joined the late independent trade unionist Shankar Guha Neogi and devoted himself selflessly to serving the daily wage labourers of the Bhilai factories and the mineworkers and their families at the mines of Dalli Rajhara and Nandini, aiding and organizing the poor and the oppressed untiringly in their daily struggles to rid themselves of their many social ills. It was here, while working with Shankar Guha Neogi’s Chhattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh, that Dr. Sen set up a health centre run for and by the workers of the area. Within a few years this grew to a 25 bed hospital. Dr. Sen then left this hospital in the care of the workers and a few other doctors who had been inspired by his example to work there, and joined his wife Dr. Ilina Sen in Raipur in starting a NGO called Rupantar. This organization worked in the areas of community health, ecologically sustainable agriculture, helping women become independent, and formal and informal education for children and adults. Work proceeded apace in all areas successfully. When a rice research centre had opened at Bhatagaon, a scientist cited Dr. Sen in one of his works as “Dr.Binayak Sen, a farmer”. Dr. Sen also opened community health centres in the villages of Dhamtari and Bastar districts, devoted to treating patients and training health workers for administering primary health care and raising awareness of their own communities in matters of health. Primary and adult education centres were opened at various villages.

Dr. Sen’s example inspired several other doctors from famous medical institutions like AIIMS to give up lucrative careers and comfortable lifestyles to open similar health centres in Bilaspur. These centres are now running very successfully.

While working with Rupantar at Raipur, Dr. Sen joined the People’s Union of Civil Liberties as an all-India Vice President and Secretary for the state of Chhattisgarh. In the course of his medical work among the poor and the oppressed, which was already occupying all his time, he became aware of the abuses of the state towards the poor adivasis of Bastar district, and protested against the state sponsored Salwa Judum movement that pitted adivasis against one other. The state did not take kindly towards his protestations on behalf of the poor.

When the brother of an aged and ailing prisoner of Raipur Central Jail asked Dr. Sen to visit and treat his brother in prison, Dr. Sen did so with the permission of the jail authorities. The fact that the prisoner was a Naxalite gave the state an opportunity to arrest and imprison Dr. Sen on May 14, 2007 under the state’s Public Security laws. The patriot who had devoted his entire professional life to the untiring service of the poor – a record acknowledged by the Paul Harrison Award bestowed on him by his alma mater – that very person was now in jail charged with being a terrorist waging war against the state.

When the Chhattisgarh High Court denied Dr. Sen his appeal for bail, his wife Dr. Ilina Sen appealed to the Supreme Court. The date for the hearing of the bail petition was fixed for Monday, December 10 2007.

A Bench consisting of a senior and a junior judge was appointed to hear the appeal for bail. The initial junior judge was subsequently replaced by another. On December 8, the Chhattisgarh government invited the senior member of this Bench to Raipur as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of a Legal Aid Centre, and extended its hospitality to him till December 9 when the senior judge returned to New Delhi. The very next day, the Bench dismissed Dr. Binayak Sen’s appeal for bail in just thirty-five minutes.

Here, without casting any doubts or aspersions on anyone’s integrity, I humbly wish to pose my question to all the people and revered leaders of free, democratic India: SHOULD I REGARD AS JUSTICE the refusal of bail to one who even as a child was moved by injustice, who having devoted his entire working life selflessly to providing food and health to the poor, who without coveting wealth survived for days on dal, rice and green chillies, who is accustomed to living like the poor, who dedicated his life to serving the people of his country, and who is now arraigned for breach of public security and waging war against the state?

If this is justice, where I should I seek redress against injustice? Should I remain a victim of injustice even at this age? Does this son of mine – a selfless, wise, virtuous, humble, peace-loving karmayogi, motivated entirely by the ideals of service, and living among the poor - have to spend his days in prison? My simple question to all compassionate readers of this appeal is: How much longer to that day when Dr. Binayak Sen will receive justice?

I ask this question not just for myself and for my son, but also on behalf of all mothers suffering from the injustice meted out to their children. Is justice so elusive in our free, democratic country?

Appeal

2008-01-24T18:06:00.000-08:00

AN OPEN APPEAL

RELEASE PRASHANT RAHI, A SENIOR JOURNALIST

Dear friends and comrades ,

This is to inform you of the recent arrest of Prashant Rahi, a senior journalist of Uttarakhand, by the state police. Prashant was arrested on 15 th of this month in Dehradun and was allegedly charged of being a Maoist commander. The police secretly confined him for five days after which he was shown arrested from the forests of Hanspur Khatta on 21 st December. The police have charged him with various sections of IPC including 121, 121A, 124A, 153B, 120B. All the media carried the same version as stated by the police.

Just to give you a background, Prashant Rahi had been working in close association with the local people's struggles in Uttarakhand since last 17 years. He has been a journalist by profession. Started his career from Himachal Times, moved on to The Statesman and worked many years covering people's issues. He is a native of Maharashtra and pursued his education from Banaras Hindu University .

This incident is in continuance of the trend set by many innocent arrests in the last few months including that of Binayak Sen and some journalists in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh of targeting pro-people intellegentsia. The trend has become increasingly apparent in those parts of the country where people's movement is strong.

We firmly believe that this state action is a part of the efforts being carried out by the various state governments to secure hefty amount of funds from the central government in the name of combating naxalism. For this, it becomes imperative for them to prove that the state is inflicted with this insurgency.

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the arrest of Prashant Rahi and call upon all the concerned individuals, civil society organisations, journalist unions, writers unions, people's movements and struggling groups to join hands in solidarity and support.

Rajendra Dhasmana (President, PUCL, Uttarakhand)
Manglesh Dabral (Poet and Journalist)
Pankaj Bisht (Editor, Samayantar)
Anand Swaroop Verma (Journalist and Human Rights Activist)
P.C. Tiwari (National Secretary, Indian Federation of Working Journalists)
Suresh Nautiyal (General Secretary, Uttarakhand Patrakar Parishad)
Anil Chaudhary (President, INSAF)
Jagdish Yadav (Photo Editor, Pioneer)
Harsh Dobhal (Managing Editor, Combat Law)
Shekhar Pathak, Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
Gautam Navlakha (Consulting Editor, Economic and Political Weekly)
Ashish Gupta (Asamiya Pratidin)
Anil Chamadia (Journalist)
Jaspal Singh Siddhu (UNI)
A.K. Arun (Editor, Yuva Samwad)
Madan Kashyap (Poet)
Pankaj Singh (Poet and Journalist)
Karuna Madan (Journalist)
Piyush Pant (Editor, Lok Samwad)
Sarvesh (Photo Journalist)
Panini Anand (Journalist, BBC Hindi)
Avinash (Journalist, NDTV India)
Bhupen Singh (Journalist, STAR News)
Sukla Sen (CNDP India)
Aanchal Kapur (Kriti Team)
Vijayan MJ ( Delhi Forum)
Sanjay Mishra (Special Correspondent, Dainik Bhaskar)
Prem Piram (Director, Jagar Uttarakhand)
Ashok Pandey (Poet)
Arvind Gaur (Director, Asmita Theatre Group)
Pankaj Chaturvedi (Poet)
Satyam Verma (Rahul Foundation)
Ranjit Verma (Advocate)
Bishambhar (Secretary, Roji Roti Bachao Morcha)
Ajay Prakash (Journalist, The Public Agenda)
Swatantra Mishra (Journalist, IANS)
Vandana (Special Correspondent, Nai Dunia)
Shree Prakash (INSAF)
Abhishek Srivastava (Freelance Journalist)
Rajeshwar Ojha (Asha Pariwar)
Raju (Human Rights Law Network)
Rajesh Arya (Journalist)
Kamta Prasad (Linguist and Translator)
Abhishek Kashyap (Writer)
Thakur Prasad (Managing Editor, Samprati Path)
Rajiv Ranjan Jha (Writer)
Srikant Dube (Journalist)
Rishikant (Journalist)
Pankaj Narayan(Journalist)

Statement of Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist)

2008-01-24T17:57:00.000-08:00

WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL
RELEASE OF COM. GOVINDAN KUTTY!

WE DEMAND THE CONTINUATION OF THE PUBLICATION
OF PEOPLE'S MARCH MAGAZINE!!

The Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist) strongly condemns the arrest of comrade Govindan Kutty, editor of People's March and demands its immediate and unconditional release.
We express our solidarity to the Indian comrades and also to the people of India who are being subjected to state terror by the Govt. of India for many years. The governments and the imperialists all over the world are trying to gag the progressive and revolutionary individuals, organizations and parties. They are trying to keep the people into the dark, to stop them by organizing themselves and fighting back. They are trying to abolish all the democratic rights like the freedom of speech and of expression, rights that were won by the people through long and bloody struggles.

They are trying to stop the revolutionary attempts that are gaining ground in Southeast Asia, in Latin America and elsewhere. Day by day the people of the world find out their strength and the system its weakness. That's what they are afraid of and that's why they use state terror against progressive people and revolutionaries, that's what they are trying to stop. But they will not succeed. We will continue our right cause and struggle.

Chris Mais
International Bureau
Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist)

Article

2008-01-24T17:12:00.000-08:00

AUGUST 15, 1947
THE TRANSFER OF POWER: REAL OR FORMAL?

Suniti Kumar Ghosh*

(From Aspects of Indian Economy, No. 43, July 2007)

It is held as an axiomatic truth that India became an independent, sovereign state from 15 August 1947 when the British imperialists transferred power to Indian hands. Do facts bear out what is generally supposed to be true?

At the end of World War II India stood at the crossroads. One road led to genuine independence, the overthrow of colonial rule as well as its domestic props, transformation of Indian society, destruction of all the structural barriers – foreign and domestic – to her regeneration – all the barriers that inhibit her development. Genuine decolonization means that the old order of the colonial era must yield place to a new one – political, economic, social and military. The other road led to formal transfer of power to classes that were traditional Indian allies of imperialism, continued integration into the capitalist-imperialist system and revolving around metropolitan powers as a satellite, continued existence of the development-inhibiting structural barriers that colonial rule had created and consequent ‘development of underdevelopment’.

At the end of World War II, British imperialism was beset with several contradictions –with U.S imperialism (on which it depended for its post-war reconstruction), international communism, national liberation struggles in colonies, its own armed forces who mutinied in some places to realize their demand for speedy demobilization, etc. Of all the contradictions with which British imperialism was confronted, its contradiction with the Indian people was no doubt the principal one.

Two forces at work
In India there were two forces at work, besides the Raj , at the end of the war. When the war in Europe ended, Viceroy Wavell released the members of the working committee of the Congress from prison and convened a conference at Simla in June-July 1945. As V.P Menon wrote, the Congress came in for co-operation without any conditions.1 The Congress leaders were eager to join the Viceroy’s Executive Council (which Wavell intended to reconstitute with representatives of Indian political parties) “on the basis that they would whole-heartedly co-operate in supporting and carrying through the war against Japan to its victorious conclusion”. (The Congress leaders’, including Gandhi’s, faith in the creed of non-violence was remarkably flexible.) Nehru felt overjoyed and said: “We feel we must succeed at Simla …I am very hopeful.”2 But the Simla Conference foundered on the rock of the League’s claim to nominate all Muslim members of the reconstituted Council.

Wavell wanted the Congress leaders to “see to it that a peaceful atmosphere is preserved in the country”. Wavell was afraid of a post-war upheaval in the country. So was Gandhi.3 The Congress president Abul Kalam Azad wrote to the Viceroy: “… the contacts established between the Congress and the Government had largely allayed past bitterness and marked the beginning of a new chapter of confidence and goodwill.”4

As we shall see, it was that surge of “confidence and goodwill” for the British imperialists that continued to rise and yielded the transfer of power. Congress leaders had reasons to feel “confidence and goodwill” for the British imperialists. Close co-operation between the Raj on the one hand and the Indian big bourgeoisie and Congress leaders on the other had already started. The Raj regularly invited discussions with Congress leaders on constitutional issues, the future administrative set-up, “a scheme of army reorganization” and other matters like education, industry and planning. Nehru was being consulted on constitutional questions and army reorganization. In June 1944 Sir Ardeshir Dalal, a Tata director and an author of the Bombay Plan, so much lauded by Nehru, had been appointed a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council in charge of planning and development. During the war the British Raj and the Indian big bourgeoisie were bound with close ties of collaboration, for instance, in the Eastern Group Supply Council and on various official committees.

On the other hand, after the end of the war the people – workers, peasants, the youth, office employees, even sections of the Raj’s regular armed forces and the police did not share the Congress leaders’ “confidence and goodwill” for British imperialism and though not led and organized by any political party, rose throughout India to liberate themselves from imperialist fetters. Nehru appraised the revolutionary situation correctly and joined hands with the imperialists and tried by all means to dissipate the revolutionary situation. Nehru said that India was on the “Edge of a Volcano” and that “We are sitting on the top of a Volcano”.5 P.J.Griffiths, the leader of the European group in the Central Legislative Assembly, also said: “India, in the opinion of many, was on the verge of revolution.”6

India on the “verge of revolution”
In the winter and summer months of 1945-6 India, as all sorts of reactionaries feared, was on the “edge of a volcano” – ready to erupt at any time – as Nehru said. Almost immediately after the end of the war, on 21 to 23 November 1945, Calcutta saw the first outburst of the pent-up fury of the people who had suffered incredibly under the fascist British Raj during the war. The immediate cause of it was the police firing on a procession of students demanding the release of the Indian National Army (INA) officers who were then on trial. A student and another youth became martyrs and several were wounded. That set Calcutta and the suburbs ablaze. The city was completely paralyzed. Trains were stopped. Barricades were set up and street battles took place. All communal considerations were forgotten and the people fought with primitive weapons the heavily armed forces of the Raj. Police and military vehicles were burnt down – about 150 of them. According to official estimates, 33 persons including an American, were killed and 200 civilians, many policemen, 70 British and 37 American soldiers were wounded.7 The whole of Bengal was surcharged with bitter anti-imperialist feeling.

Describing the mood of the people, Bengal Governor Casey wrote: “Both in North and South Calcutta a feature of the disturbances … was that the crowds when fired on largely stood their ground or at most only receded a little, to return again to the attack…. Throughout the forenoon and early afternoon of the 23rd [November], Congress and some Communist propaganda cars toured the affected areas dissuading the students from further participation.”8

Viceroy Wavell rushed to Calcutta. On 27 November he informed the Secretary of State: “Casey was impressed by the very strong anti-British feeling, behind the whole demonstration, and considered the whole situation still very explosive and dangerous.” Significantly, Commander-in-Chief Auchinleck made an appreciation of the internal situation within India on 24 November, the very day after the uprising. The Viceroy agreed generally with the appreciation. Auchinleck wrote:

“If the Indian Forces as a whole cease to be reliable, the British Armed Forces now available are not likely to be able to control the internal situation or to protect essential communications, nor would any piecemeal reinforcement of these forces be of much avail. To regain control of the situation and to restore essential communications within the country nothing short of the organized campaign for the reconquest of India is likely to suffice.”9

The lesson of the November uprising went home to the British imperialists. On 24 November itself, Auchinleck met some representatives of provincial governments about I.N.A trials. In his letter to Wavell of the same day Auchinleck wrote that the provincial representatives agreed that “the trials should be limited to those involving brutality and murder of such a nature that it could not be defended as an act committed in good faith by a combatant”. He added: “The evidence reaching us now increasingly goes to show that the general opinion in the Army … is in favour of leniency.” On 30 November – within a week of the uprising – the Indian Government issued a press communiqué which stated: “Until all investigations are complete, it is not possible to state the number who will be brought to trial but the total is unlikely to be as many as fifty and may be as few as twenty, and, as explained above, trials will be limited to those against whom brutality is alleged.”10 The charge of ‘waging war against the king’ was dropped and the sentences already passed were remitted.

It may be noted that in the meantime the British had brought home as captives tens of thousands of captured I.N.A officers and men and started court-martials of them. The original plan which had received the “gratified approval” of the Congress leaders11 had been to release some, sentence many others to imprisonment and execute 40 to 50 prisoners. As we have said, the plan was changed almost immediately after the November uprising.

As stories of Subhas Bose and the I.N.A, who had founded the provisional government of Free India in Southeast Asia and planted the flag of Indian freedom in Kohima, spread, they sent a thrill from one end of the subcontinent to another. As R.P. Dutt said, the example of the I.N.A and “the subsequent trials of the I.N.A leaders kindled to white heat the flame of militant patriotism and the conception of the armed conquest of power in place of the old non-violent struggle.”12 The most alarming thing to the British imperialists was the impact of the I.N.A on the British Indian armed forces.13 Nehru wrote to Commander-in-Chief Claude Auchinleck: “Within a few weeks the story of the I.N.A had percolated to the remotest villages in India and everywhere there was admiration for them and apprehension as to their possible fate … The widespread popular enthusiasm was surprising enough, but even more surprising was a similar reaction of a very large number of regular Indian army officers and men. Something had touched them deeply.”14

On 26 November 1946, Auchinleck wrote to Wavell that “there is a growing feeling of sympathy [among the men of the British Indian armed forces] for the I.N.A.”15 The loyalty of the British Indian armed forces was thoroughly shaken by the I.N.A; large numbers of them transferred their allegiance to their motherland.

Gandhi rushed to Calcutta immediately after the November uprising. He had a series of interviews with Governor Casey. He assured Casey that “our future long term relations would be good”, that he would do his utmost in bringing about a peaceful solution of India’s constitutional problem, and that he was lulling the people into the belief that “India was going to get her freedom out all right” and asking them to “work on that assumption and no other”.16 The Congress working committee met in Calcutta and reiterated its faith in non-violence “for the guidance of all concerned” and clarified that nonviolence “does not include burning of public property, …” and so on. Before and after the November upheaval, Nehru went on emphasizing “the necessity of maintaining a peaceful atmosphere…” He went on telling the people that the “British are packing up”, that “in the present day world the British empire has ceased to exist” and expatiated on “the folly of disorder and violence”. He advised students not “to take suddenly the reins of the nation in their own hands” and “to leave political leadership to those… qualified to lead”.17 On 3 December 1945 he assured Sir Stafford Cripps, an important member of the British cabinet (and through him the entire British cabinet), that he was doing his “utmost to avoid conflict and restrain the hotheads”.18 Sardar Patel advised the youth not to waste their energies in “fruitless quarrels”.

Again, on 27 January 1946, Nehru wrote a long letter to Cripps, in which he stated: “Elections have somewhat held people in check but as soon as these are over, events of their own motion, will march swiftly…. What happened in Calcutta two months ago and what is happening in Bombay now are significant signs of the fires below the surface. A single spark lights them”. He said that any delay on the part of the British to take the initiative “might well lead to disastrous consequences”. He assured Cripps (and obviously the British cabinet) that the gulf between India and Britain, which “has never been so wide”, could perhaps “be bridged even now with a great effort” and that he worked “to that end”. 19

Ignoring the Congress leaders’ sermons upholding law and order and the creed of non-violence, Calcutta rose again from 11 to 13 February 1946. The occasion was a protest demonstration by students against the rigorous imprisonment for seven years passed on Abdul Rashid of the I.N.A. The city’s life stopped because of a general strike. For two days mills and factories in Calcutta’s suburbs remained closed; trains did not run; people fought bitter street battles with the armed police and army units riding armoured cars. A marked feature, like that in November, was strong solidarity among Hindus and Muslims who together directed their attacks against Europeans. The upheaval surpassed that in November. According to official estimates, 84 persons became martyrs and 300 injured. As in November, the anti-imperialist wave in Calcutta and the suburbs sent ripples throughout Bengal. Bands of Congress, Muslim League and Communist volunteers moved along the streets of Calcutta and neighbouring areas jointly and helped in restoring order. On 13 February Swadhinata, the Bengali organ of the CPI, condemned indiscipline and disorder as the Congress president was doing.

Waves of anti-imperialist struggle rose one after another in different parts of India – from North to South, from East to West _ and lashed at the regime of the imperialists. The most spectacular and most significant among them was the uprising in Bombay which began on 18 February 1946. The ratings of the Royal Indian Navy (R.I.N.) rose in revolt first in Bombay and then in Karachi, Calcutta and Madras. The rebel navymen, who had various grievances – bad food, racial discrimination, insults meted out by British officers and so on – were inspired by the deeds of Subhas and the example of the I.N.A.20

By 22 February 1946 the rebel sailors were in control of about 22 vessels in Bombay, including the flagship of the British Vice-Admiral. A total of 78 ships of the R.I.N., 20 shore establishments and 20,000 ratings were involved in the struggle. Over a thousand men in the Royal Indian Air Force camps in Bombay came out on a sympathy strike. When ordered, Indian soldiers refused to fire on the R.I.N. ratings in Bombay as well as in Karachi. On 21 February the strike by the navymen developed into a pitched battle between them and British troops who had been called in as Indian soldiers refused to fire.21 And Bombay’s workers and youth, irrespective of the community to which they belonged, stood by the heroic men of the navy, carried food to them, erected barricades and fought pitched battles with armed policemen and several British battalions equipped with armoured cars and tanks. On 22 February, Bombay observed a general strike in the teeth of the opposition from big Congress and Muslim League leaders.

Ignoring the Congress and League leaders, the entire working class of Bombay came out at the call of the Naval Central Strike Committee, which was supported by the CPI. For two days there were pitched battles on the city’s streets, in which, according to official estimates, there were about 1,500 casualties including more than 200 dead. “The British tanks could clear the streets”, wrote B. C. Dutt, one of the leaders of the revolt, “only after hundreds had been shot down. This was the first time in the turbulent history of India’s freedom movement that the rulers were forced to use tanks to battle with unarmed and leaderless people…. February 21 had been the ratings’ day. February 22 belonged to the workers of Bombay.”22

In his ‘Foreword’ to Dutt’s book, S. Natarajan wrote: “What was impressive among the ratings was their complete freedom from communal or sectarian prejudices and their staunch loyalty to each other.”23 To quote Dutt, “The R.I.N. mutiny was the one conspiracy against the crown in which there was no king’s witness. They tried their best. They drew blank”.24

Besides Bombay, Karachi was the scene of actual fighting between navymen and British soldiers. Gurkha soldiers refused to obey orders to fire on the Hindustan, an old sloop, which put up a brave fight. The Gurkha soldiers had to be replaced by British soldiers. Not only did the Indian army units refuse to obey orders to fight the navymen, they went on strike in several places in sympathy with the rebel navymen. We have noted that one thousand men of the Indian Air Force went on sympathy strike in Bombay. So did the men of the Air Force in Poona, Calcutta, Madras and Ambala. To quote Dutt, “An R.I.A.F. squadron, which had been ordered to proceed to Bombay, was grounded at Jodhpur; every aircraft had mysteriously developed engine trouble.”25 Hallett, then Governor of the U.P., informed Wavell on 19 November 1945 that soldiers of the Air Force stationed in Allahabad, Bamrauli and Cawnpore had sent their contributions to the I.N.A. Defence Fund.26 The Indian Air Force stationed in Calcutta opposed the court martial of the I.N.A. men. It sent its subscription to the I.N.A. Defence fund with the words: “for the defence of the brave and patriotic sons of India.”27 Penderel Moon noted: “There was also unrest at this time in the R.I.A.F. and in some of the technical units of the Indian Army.”28 Not only was there unrest in some technical units of the army but army units, as pointed out before, disobeyed orders in Bombay and Karachi. In the Jubbalpur cantonment soldiers staged a revolt in March 1946 and in Dehra Dun Gurkha soldiers went on strike. In some places the police also rose in revolt. In March 1946 the police in Allahabad and Delhi went on hunger-strike. In April 10,000 policemen struck work. In September the military police went on strike in Patna and Begusarai. There was a widespread strike by policemen in Bihar in March 1947. The wall sedulously erected by the British Raj to segregrate the armed forces from the people crumbled down. At no time since the First War of Indian Independence in 1857-8 did the regular armed forces come out to defend the cause of freedom as they did now.

The brave men of the navy refused to be cowed by any threat – not even the threat of Admiral Godfrey (who had flown in bombers) to sink the navy. They appealed to political parties to lead them, promised to hand over to them the navy which they had renamed the Indian National Navy. But no political party, not even the CPI, responded to their appeal though they could have access to the rebel men of the navy.

Jinnah’s appeal to them, especially the Muslims among them, to surrender came in the early hours of 23 February when their representatives were meeting to decide their future course of action. Dutt wrote: “… the overwhelming majority were for a fight to death and not for surrender.”29 The Naval Central Strike Committee ultimately took the decision to surrender, stating that they were surrendering not to the British Raj but to the Congress and the League. In their last message to the people, they said: “For the first time the blood of the men in the services and the people flowed together in a common cause. We in the services will never forget this. We also know that you, our brothers and sisters, will never forget. Long live our great people. Jai Hind.”30

After the surrender the man-hunt began. More than two thousands of the rebels were arrested and kept in detention camps; about five hundred were sentenced to prison terms to serve as common criminals. The top Congress leaders, who had given the pledge that “no disciplinary action” would be taken, did little to keep their pledge.31

What role did the Congress leaders play during the historic naval revolt? Sardar Patel, Abul Kalam Azad, S.K. Patil (secretary of the Bombay Provincial Congress Committee, and later, minister of the central government), Jinnah and Chundrigar of the Muslim League openly opposed the call for a strike on 22 February issued by the Naval Central Strike Committee and advised the navymen to surrender to the British. Patil had secret confabulations with the Bombay governor and the Congress and the League placed ‘volunteers’ at the service of the Raj to “assist the police” and British army units to fight the people.32 Colville wrote to Wavell that on 22 February he “saw several of these volunteers… and they did useful though limited work”.33

Bombay observed a successful general strike in the teeth of the bitter opposition of the Congress and the League leaders. Workers and students of Bombay fought pitched battles in the streets with British army units and the armed police, who were assisted by Congress and League volunteers.

At a mass meeting held in Bombay with the permission of the Bombay government on 26 February, Nehru and Patel strongly condemned “the mass violence in Bombay”, that is, the resistance of the navymen and workers who had dared to raise the banner of anti-imperialist revolt. Addressing the press next day, Nehru thundered: ‘The R.I.N. Central Strike Committee had no business to issue such an appeal [to the city of Bombay to observe a sympathy strike]. I will not tolerate this kind of thing.”34 The Nehrus alone had the right to issue calls for strikes!

Gandhi, the prophet of non-violence, condemned the rebels for their thoughtless orgy of violence – not the real orgy of violence by the Raj, of which the people were victims. To him the “combination between Hindus and Muslims and others for the purpose of violent action is unholy…”35 He went on denouncing those who disbelieved in British professions that they would grant freedom to India.

It was a country-wide anti-imperialist revolt. Wavell noted in his diary on 7 March 1946 that the victory parade that was organized in Delhi was boycotted and crowds of men burnt down the Town Hall.36

Workers were on the march everywhere despite the opposition of Congress and League leaders. The number of workers who went on strike in 1946 was 1,961,984 and in 1947, 1,840,784. There was an unprecedented upsurge of anti-imperialist struggle throughout the country, in which workers, peasants, students, other youths, office employees, navymen and sections of the Indian army, air force and police and lower rungs of the bureaucracy took part, and armed confrontations were frequent.37

Peasant revolts took place in different parts of India. In the Thana district in Maharashtra the struggle of the Warlis broke out. In the Alleppey district of the native state of Travancore (now a part of Kerala) peasants and workers launched a united struggle. In several districts of Bengal, especially in North Bengal, the Tebhaga struggle broke out under the leadership of the Communist Party. It was a struggle of the peasantry, mainly sharecroppers (who bore the expenses of cultivation) for a two-thirds share of the produce. Peasants fought heroically. In the undivided district of Dinajpur, forty peasants became martyrs. In 1946 began the historic struggles of the peasants in Telangana districts of the native state of Hyderabad (Telangana, now a part of Andhra Pradesh) under the leadership of the Andhra State Committee of the CPI. It developed into a struggle for land and power. Large areas were liberated. The struggle continued even after the march of troops of the Indian government in 1948 to suppress it, until it was withdrawn unconditionally by the CPI leadership in 1951. In several other native states ruled by princes, puppets of the British Indian government, there were revolts of the people, especially in Travancore and Kashmir.

Imperialism unable to rule in the old way
We have noted Commander-in-Chief Claude Auchinleck’s appreciation, of 24 November 1945, of the Indian situation, with which Viceroy Wavell generally agreed. On 19 February 1946, Wavell recorded in his diary that he had seen Porter, Secretary, Home Department, who was all for capitulation to the I.N.A; that he had discussed with Bewoor, Secretary, Posts and Air Department, about a postal strike; that he had talks with Carr, A.O.C-in-C, about R.I.A.F mutiny; with Griffin, Chief Commissioner of Railways and Conran Smith, Secretary, War Transport Department, about a railway strike; and “finally the C-in-C, most gloomy of all, about R.I.N. mutiny in Bombay and the I.N.A trials; What a cheerful day – prospect or reality of three mutinies and two strikes”, commented Wavell.38

After referring to the “serious rioting in Bombay”, “a mutiny in the R.I.N., much indiscipline in the R.I.A.F., some unrest in the Indian Army” and “threatened strikes on the Railways, and in the Post and Telegraphs”, Wavell wrote to King George VI on 22 March 1946: “Perhaps the best way to look at it is that India is in the birth-pangs of a new order…”39

When in late March 1946, the Cabinet Mission with Secretary of State Pethick- Lawrence, Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander came to India to negotiate, mainly with Congress and League leaders, a settlement of the constitutional issues and met the Viceroy’s Executive Council, Edward Benthall said on behalf of it that “ the Council was unanimous that a change of Government at the Centre was imperative... It [ the Council’s lack of confidence] is due to the uncertainty of Indian troops and police to whom they must look for defence and support in the future.”40

The role of ‘the big boys of Congress and League’
Towards the end of March 1946, Turnbull, Secretary to the Cabinet Mission, wrote: “The only hope is that the big boys of Congress and League are said to be much alarmed lest their followers break loose and of Russia.”41

The “big boys of Congress and League”, particularly “of Congress”, did not fail the imperialists; they acted in more than one way to save the Raj from the wrath of the rebellious people. As negotiations with the Cabinet Mission started, a bitter “war of succession” began. The seemingly endless negotiations and the brave declarations with communal demands of the leaders for a larger share of the British legacy were having an insidious effect on the people, much to the satisfaction of the Raj and the Indian reactionaries. “Amidst these ‘summit talks’,” wrote Michael Brecher, “the poison of communalism penetrated deeper into the body politic of India.”42

It is a cruel irony that Calcutta, the city of many glorious anti-imperialist struggles which the people fought shoulder to shoulder, irrespective of faiths, and other democratic struggles, the latest being the very successful general strike in sympathy with the All India Postal strike, – the city of nightmares to the imperialists and their underlings in India – became the first scene of a communal blood-bath. The people elsewhere, too, became victims of the vicious ‘war of succession’ between the two rival sets of compradors in the absence of a revolutionary party which could lead and co-ordinate their struggles to win victory. The imperialists, instead of trying to extinguish the communal flames, welcomed them and their Indian henchmen spread them by their acts and rhetoric. Later, on 24 January 1947, the director of the Intelligence Bureau, Government of India, noted for the benefit of the policy-makers:

“The game so far has been well played, in that (a) both Congress and the League have been brought into the Central Government; (b) the Indian problem has been thrust into its appropriate plane of communalism; … Grave communal disorder must not disturb us into action which would reproduce anti-British agitation.”43 After the communal carnage in Calcutta, Gandhi told Wavell “that if a blood-bath was necessary, it would come about inspite of non-violence.”44 On 21 July 1946 he wrote to Vallabhbhai Patel: “A great many things seem to be slipping out of the hands of the Congress. The postmen do not listen to it, nor does Ahmedabad, nor do the Harijans, nor Muslims. This is a strange situation indeed.”45

Again, writing to Patel on 24 July, Gandhi lamented: “There are other strikes on top of the postal strike. All this looks significant…. The Congress position may seem strong on the surface but it appears to have lost its hold on the people. Or it may be that the Congress itself is involved in these troubles if only from a distance. This must be clarified; otherwise the battle which we are on the point of winning will be lost.”46

The Mahatma released a torrent of denunciation of strikes and strikers, especially political and ‘sympathetic strikes’, and asked Patel to do the same.47 Nehru condemned the all-India strike of one lakh extremely low-paid postal employees as “against the interests of the common people”. But the fact is, the common people went on ‘sympathetic strikes’ throughout India on 29 July to give the postal employees their support. Those who opposed these strikes were the imperialists and the Gandhis and Nehrus. These were not adversaries but allies and they were on the same side of the barricade and the people on the other. The waves of struggle continued to rise. The situation in India was growing alarming for the British Raj and the Congress leadership. At the end of July the India and Burma Committee of the British cabinet concluded that if “some positive action” was not taken “without delay”, “the initiative might pass from His Majesty’s Government. The postal strike and the threatened [all-India] railway strike were symptoms of a serious situation which might rapidly deteriorate.” Wavell agreed and wired to Pethick-Lawrence on 31 July: “Widespread labour trouble exists and general situation is most unsatisfactory. The most urgent need is for a Central Government with popular support. If Congress will take responsibility they will realise that firm control of unruly elements is necessary and they may put down the Communists and try to curb their own left wing.” Wavell added that he disliked “intensely the idea of having an interim Government dominated by one party [Congress] but I feel that I must try to get the Congress in as soon as possible.”48

From U.P. Governor Wylie reported: “This strike business, for instance, is most unsettling…. With all this strike fever about, it would be too much to expect that the police would remain totally unaffected …”49

The director of the Intelligence Bureau, Government of India, warned: “… the labour situation is becoming increasingly dangerous…. I am satisfied that a responsible government, if one can be achieved, will deal more decisively with Labour than is at present possible.”50 On 6 August Wavell again wired to the Secretary of State: “I think it is quite likely that Congress [if it joins the government at the centre] would decide to take steps fairly soon against the communists, or otherwise the labour situation will get even worse.’51

British imperialism found itself unable to rule in the old way. In an undated note Attlee wrote: “In the event of a breakdown of the administration or a general alignment of the political parties against us are we prepared to go back on our policy and seek to re-establish British rule as against the political parties and maintain it for 18 years? The answer must clearly be No.” Among the reasons he cited was the lack of the necessary military force.52 In a “top secret” message to the Viceroy on 25 November 1946, the Secretary of State informed him that “We could not contemplate anything in the nature of reconquest and retention of India by force against the nationally organised opposition, and quite apart from the desirability of such a decision we do not believe that it would be practicable from a political, military or economic point of view”.53 In a footnote it has been stated that “the terms of this reply [to Wavell’s letters] were agreed at a meeting” between Attlee, Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps and officials of the India Office.54

When the British Raj felt unable to stem the tide of revolutionary struggles, it wanted some political party or parties of India with popular support to do it for them. The Congress leaders were lending their support from the outside but that was not enough. As the Muslim League refused to join the Congress in an interim government on Congress terms, the British imperialists decided to entrust the Congress with the task of running the state machinery for them.

When British imperialists found it unwise to take extreme measures to suppress the people, Congress leaders were entrusted to do so. The Congress leaders felt no less worried at the situation as it was developing. They were only too eager to join hands with the British imperialists to fight back the revolutionary tide and suppress the rebellious people. In August the Congress Working Committee adopted a resolution condemning the growing lack of discipline and disregard of obligations on the part of workers.55

On 5 August Wavell reported to Pethick-Lawrence that, according to an unimpeachable source, “Patel… was convinced that the Congress must enter the Government to prevent chaos spreading in the country as the result of labour unrest.”56 The British cabinet had decided on 1 August that ‘if the Muslim League were unwilling to come in [on Congress terms], it would be necessary to proceed with the formation of an Interim Government with Congress only”.57

So Congress president Nehru was invited to form an ‘interim’ government with himself as vice-president under Wavell. The Congress leaders undertook to fight and suppress the rebellious, anti-imperialist people – not only from the outside but also from the inside of the imperialist state machinery – to serve as imperialism’s shield and protect it from the wrath of the people. There was a preliminary round of ‘transfer of power’ when the ‘interim’ government was installed in office on 2 September 1946 – the first round of ‘transfer of power’ through which imperialism tried to save itself. In his letter to Mountbatten, dated 18 March 1947, appointing Mountbatten Viceroy of India, Attlee wrote: “… while the Interim Government would not have the same powers as a Dominion Government, His Majesty’s Government would treat the Interim Government with the same consultation and consideration as a Dominion Government…”58

Imperialism’s hopes were more than fulfilled, its reliance on the Congress leaders to extricate it from an “increasingly dangerous” situation was more than justified. On 9 October 1946 Nehru informed Wavell that “A short while ago the [U.P. Congress] Government issued an ordinance of the kind we have been issuing here to tide over the period from 1st October…” The U.P. ordinance “provided for the maintenance of public order and essential services through preventive detention, imposition of collective fines, and the control of meetings and processions.”59

On 21 January 1947 Wavell informed Pethick-Lawrence that searches, still then incomplete, had been conducted, that “the Madras [Congress] Government appear to have taken action against communists and are contemplating a conspiracy case [conspiracy against the King–Emperor] against leading members of the party…. The Bombay [Congress] Government have also written strongly for Central action or a Central directive against the party and indicating that they propose, in the absence of either of these, themselves to take strong action for detention of Communist agitators who constitute a great threat to public tranquillity in that Province.”
In this holy war against the anti-imperialist people, the Congress leaders would brook no interference even from British Parliament. Wavell’s message added that Home Member Patel deprecated the idea of any discussion in British Parliament of the action taken against Communists “as it can only impede the efforts of Congress to deal with the revolutionary element in the country.”60

A discussion in Parliament would expose the fascist nature of the Congress leaders’ attack on “the revolutionary element in the country”. The country-wide search of the offices of the CPI, trade unions, Kisan Sabha, Students Federation, Friends of the Soviet Union, etc., was carried out “under the direction of the Government of India”, of which Patel was Home Member. But in reply to R.P. Dutt’s cable, Nehru unhesitatingly wired back: “The police raids on the Communists took place without the authority or knowledge of the Ministers.” A similar reply he sent to Harry Pollitt.61

Even Wavell was amused. Communicating to Pethick-Lawrence on 29 January 1947 that “the Congress Government in Bombay had decided that the only way to deal with the Communists was to resort to detention without trial”, Wavell had a dig at the Labour Party minister: “it may come as a shock to you if they should resort to such ‘imperialistic’ methods”.62

On 27 February the Bombay Governor reported to Wavell that Bombay’s Congress ministry “are determined to handle the communist and other extreme Left Wing elements firmly, and are bringing forward this session a new Public Safety Measures Bill which re-enacts all our Ordinances in full…”63

The Bombay Governor also wrote on 2 April to Viceroy Mountbatten that the Congress ministers of Bombay felt that “their real opponents are the Congress Socialists and the Communists”64 – not the British imperialists.

At its twenty–second session held in Calcutta from 13 to 19 February 1947, the All India Trade Union Congress expressed its concern at the “indiscriminate firing by the police on workers” and stated in a resolution: “Firing was resorted to in Coimbatore, Golden Rock, Kolar Gold Fields, Ratlam, Amalner and Kanpur, resulting in the death of more than 50 persons including women and children and injury to more than 400.”

After referring to “the suppression of civil liberties”, ban on workers’ meetings, arrests and internment of trade union workers, destruction of union properties and so on, the resolution added: “In Madras alone, hundreds of labour workers are in jail, and in some places, Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been applied demanding security of good behaviour from labour leaders.”

The AITUC also protested against “the recent amendments to the Bombay District Police Act and the enactment of ordinances in the provinces of Punjab, Madras, Bengal, United Provinces and the Central Provinces under which persons can be arrested, externed or detained without trial.”

It also condemned the governments of Madras, Bombay and the Central Provinces [all Congress-ruled provinces] for detaining trade unionists in jail without trial and for externing some of them.65

It was an all-out war against the people who were fighting against cruel exploitation and oppression and for freedom, that the Congress leaders waged before and after their assumption of office at the Centre. At the Meerut session of the Congress presided over by Kripalani and addressed by Nehru among others, held in November 1946, Sardar Mota Singh, a delegate, “thundered that the British were using Pandit Nehru and his colleagues as ‘political cows’ to prevent the masses from attacking the British power, standing behind the cows.”66 As we shall see, it is to these “political cows” that the British transferred power in what became the Indian Union.

The Congress leaders found that along with repression other means were necessary: they tried other means also. One of these was to try to break the workers’ unity, which had withstood all communal tension. On 12 August 1946 the CWC adopted a resolution drafted by Nehru to organize the Hindustan Mazdoor Sevak Sangh on an all-India basis.67 This organization had been functioning in Ahmedabad under another name on Gandhian lines as a stooge organization of Ahmedabad’s textile magnates. When militant working class struggles threatened the very foundations of British imperialism and the Indian big bourgeoisie, the Nehrus took upon themselves the mission of splitting the working class.

And at its meeting in Calcutta on 7 December 1945 the CWC took disciplinary action against the communist members of the AICC and asked all subordinate committees to purge the Congress of all communists. As part of their fierce onslaught against the people, they accused the communists of having cooperated with the government in order to isolate them from the people. The irony was that when they themselves were acting as willing agents of the Raj to war against the people they accused the communists of having cooperated with the Raj after Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union – which they did for ideological reasons. And what about Gandhi who pledged cooperation with British war efforts in 1944 and 1945 – and people like Rajagopalachari?

Gandhi’s disciple D.G. Tendulkar observed that Gandhi “was aware of the deep hatred of the British rulers that was in the people’s heart. To forestall and prevent the conflagration of the deep-seated hatred was his constant concern.”68

On 4 December 1946, Nehru said: “There was a great urge among the masses of India for political progress. The Congress leaders had tried with some success to restrain that urge and keep it behind the Government.” 69

Though essentially true, it is an understatement. Throughout the twenties and the thirties and the Second World War years and after, the Congress leaders acted as the enemy within (of all the top Congress leaders, Subhas Chandra Bose alone was a patriot and that is why he was hounded out of the Congress in 1939). The others did not hesitate to stoop to any falsehood and deception and occasional, atrocious attacks on the people (as when they held ministerial offices in eight provinces between 1937 and 1940 and again from 1946) to kill their “great urge” to become free.

Nor did the CPI emerge as a rallying point for nationalists. Its leadership strengthened the people’s illusions about the Congress leaders instead of shattering them. To cite only one instance here, P.C. Joshi, then general secretary of the CPI, wrote in Congress and Communists (1944): “To us the Congress is our parent organization, its leaders our political fathers…” He described his own party men as “Communist Congressmen”.70 Individual communists and groups of communists stood by the people bravely and selflessly and led many of their struggles.

But in the absence of an organized revolutionary party – the crucial subjective factor – the objectively revolutionary situation gave rise not to revolution but to counter-revolution: the most unnatural partition of India on communal lines costing enormous blood-baths and close integration of the two new states into the capitalist-imperialist system, which preserved all the structural barriers to her development. A telegram from London to Campbell-Johnson, Viceroy Mountbatten’s press attaché, dated 3 June 1947, said: “A packed House of Commons listened with intense interest to Prime Minister’s announcement [ of the agreement between the British Raj and the leaders of the Congress and the League to create two new states on the basis of partition of India and dominion status] this afternoon. Proposals and first reaction from India undoubtedly created profound gratification among all Parties. Sense of unity and recognition of tremendous issues and possibilities involved were comparable only with most historic moments during war.... This has been a great day for us all.”71

India was regarded by the British imperialists as “the essential linchpin in the structure of the Commonwealth”.72 They devoutly wished that India would remain within the British Commonwealth. As early as 16 April 1943, when World War II raged, the Secretary of State, L. Amery, wrote to Prime Minister Winston Churchill: “To keep India within the Commonwealth during the next ten years is much the biggest thing before us… [ and ] should be the supreme goal of the British policy.”73 He wrote to British Foreign Secretary Eden in a similar vein on 9 May 1943.74 The goal of the British imperialists was to have a self-governing India within the British Commonwealth and to enmesh her with Commonwealth ties – economic, political and military.

When “much the biggest thing before us” was achieved, with Nehru and Patel themselves seeking dominion status,75 it was, no doubt, a “great triumph” of the British imperialists. The reaction of the U.S.imperialists was quite enthusiastic, though there was “the most appalling bloodshed and confusion” in India.

The Nehrus assured the British Raj that “in their view Hindustan would not ultimately leave the Commonwealth, once Dominion Status had been accepted”. But they emphasized “the need for secrecy on this matter because if it became known that Congress leaders had privately encouraged the idea, the possibility of their being able to bring their party round to it would be serious[ly] jeopardized.”76

How independent and sovereign did India become after the transfer of power?
Did India become truly independent and sovereign with the transfer of power or in name only? Did she undergo a revolution – the overthrow of the rule of imperialism, big comprador capital and feudalism, the structural barriers to her development? Or, did imperialism make a formal withdrawal behind its flunkeys – the “political cows”, as Sardar Mota Singh said – in order to blunt the edge of the national liberation struggle? Was the old order of the colonial era – the order the colonizers built in order to help them best to exploit and oppress the Indian people, after destroying the pre-colonial society – economic, social, political and military, refashioned by an independent, sovereign India which would lead to her regeneration?

The Indian economy had no independence of its own and remained an appendage of the economy of Britain during the colonial rule. British capital dominated every sector of Indian economy and sucked the life-blood of our people. We shall cite a few facts to point out that Indian economy did not become free from imperialist fetters after the transfer of power: the stranglehold of metropolitan capital was more and more tightened instead of being relaxed. Nehru assured the British capitalists in December 1946 that they would have full freedom to flourish here.77

In different official resolutions, speeches and so on, the Indian government extended a warm welcome to imperialist capital. An official memorandum of the Indian government in September 1949 declared: “The policy of the Government of India was to allow foreign capital to come in to operate freely in the industrial field…. Every attempt must be made to secure the maximum possible influx of foreign capital in the shortest possible time.”78

The Birlas’ Eastern Economist wrote in a leading article: “India for many years to come will need foreign capital and technical skill which must come mainly from the United States and Great Britain… it is clear from the Eastern Economist’s recent calculations so far as India is concerned that without foreign investment, it is quite impossible now to maintain our standard of life [already quite abominable]… India’s hunger for food this year is great but her hunger for capital – if less evident – is nearly as deep.”79

Some Indian magnates such as Tata and Birla had been negotiating with British and U.S. monopolies for the establishment of joint enterprises in India even before the ‘transfer of power’ and some deals were already concluded. On 2 May 1945, Manu Subedar, a small industrialist and leader of an anti-collaborationist group in the Indian Merchants’ Chamber, Bombay, denounced in the Central Legislative Assembly the collaboration between foreign monopolies and Indian big capital as “illegitimate marriage”.80 The joint ventures between imperialist monopolies and Indian big capital soon became the norm in India, encouraged by the Indian government. And trade followed the old colonial pattern.

For some years after the transfer of power the Indian rupee was tied to British sterling. When in September 1949, Britain was forced to devalue the pound in relation to the dollar by 30.5 per cent, India had to devalue the rupee in the same proportion. Announcing the devaluation, John Matthai, India’s then Finance Minister, said that he “had to act, not on conviction born of logical necessity but, so to speak, by the compulsion of events; since sterling was devalued, there was no other course open to us.” As a result, India’s exports became cheaper and imports dearer and the people became poorer.

The sterling debts – between Rs 1,700 crore and Rs 1,800 crore in 1946 – tied the Indian economy to the metropolitan economy. These sterling balances, which Britain owed to India, represented the value of goods and services compulsorily taken away from India during World War II and in the months following it. Indian food, raw materials, textiles and other finished products were taken away not only for the army but for the civil population of England and other countries when the Indian people were victims of acute scarcity, steep inflation, sky-kissing prices, black markets and famine. The goods were taken by Britain at controlled or negotiated prices at which Indians could not get them. “The price paid by India”, to quote Subedar, “runs into millions of lives.”81 The British government refused to give any assurance that it would not scale down the debts: it even refused to enter into any negotiations about them. The Anglo-U.S. Financial Agreement of December 1945 made it mandatory on the U.K to scale down the debts. In his memorandum on Indian Sterling Balances, dated 5 August 1947, Hugh Dalton, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, wrote like a super-imperialist: “The Indians have asked for releases of £48.5 millions [out of £1,160 millions estimated by him] from the blocked account for the remainder of 1947. On my instructions the request has been rejected… No commitment for further releases after the end of 1947 has been made in the present negotiations, nor are we committed to recognize the total, without further cancellation or adjustment …. More than three quarters of them earn only one-half per cent [as interest].”82 This was one of the swindling tricks of imperialism. The Indian ruling classes collaborated in it even after the transfer of power.

In a note on India’s sterling balances, Subedar wrote: “There is no reason why assets, at least those who [which] belong to Britishers non-resident in India, should not be mobilized by the British Government with a view to reducing the outstanding balance.”83 He wrote to Patel, “It is most extraordinary that three Cabinet ministers [ members of the British Cabinet Mission, who came to India in March 1946] should have come here and not a word was said to them by any Indian in regard to the sterling balances.”84 On 7 July 1950, Nehru said that, “our economy is obviously tied to England and other allied powers.”85

In November 1951, G.D.Birla proposed the formation of an Indo-American Development Corporation with business magnates and officials of the two countries – a kind of “supertrust directing the future of Indian economy.”86 And in January 1952, B.R.Sen, then India’s Ambassador to the U.S.A, “recommended an investment company in which both American and Indian private capital would participate initially on a 70:30 per cent basis”.87 Both the representative of the Indian government and an outstanding leader of the Indian big bourgeoisie were keen that the future of the Indian economy should be directed not by the Indians but chiefly by U.S. big capital. Were these the voices of an independent, sovereign India or of a client state?

As regards feudal or semi-feudal relations in the vast countryside, there was no fundamental change, except that some grosser manifestations of feudalism were curbed. There was no democratic, or agrarian, revolution in India. There was no basic change in the property structure in the rural areas.

We shall confine ourselves to a few words on the changes in the political and social system in India after the transfer of power. The long-cherished aim of the alien rulers to have India within the British Commonwealth was fulfilled. The British imperialists of all hues celebrated the transfer of power on the basis of partition and dominion status as a “great triumph”, as a gain not a loss.88 They were sure that those to whom they had entrusted the subcontinent would defend and preserve their long-term interests in India and in the Indian Ocean region. And this is how they resolved their bitter contradiction with the Indian people. Indian ‘independence’ was the new face of British imperialism in India – a manoeuvre very deceitful and very successful.

India’s ‘freedom’ was ushered in with the playing of ‘God Save the King’ followed by Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka.89 Nehru toasted the health of the British king and Mountbatten toasted the health of the Dominion government.90 It was symbolical that Union Jack was not lowered; it flew proudly when the Indian flag was unfurled.91

The last Viceroy and Governor-General of India became the head of the new Indian state and Nehru and Patel “wanted him to stay on as long as he would”.92 H.V. Hodson, a former Reforms Commissioner of India, observed: “By a strange paradox Lord Mountbatten as constitutional governor-general of independent [!] India exercised more direct executive authority in certain spheres than he had enjoyed as autocratic viceroy.”93 Nehru and his colleagues sought Mountbatten’s advice about the composition of the cabinet for post-colonial India, “tore up the list of cabinet” they had prepared and changed four members of the old list.94 The trust that the top Congress leaders, quite astute men, reposed in Mountbatten reflected their trust in – and their closeness to – British imperialism. Gandhi had said earlier: “The sole referee of what is or is not in the interest of India as a whole will be Mountbatten in his personal capacity.”95 Leonard Mosley wrote that “from that moment on” – Nehru’s first meeting with Mountbatten in India – Nehru became “Mountbatten’s man”.96 We shall not refer here to Patel’s effusive expressions of gratitude to Mountbatten. These were the persons who, with the complementary role played by the leaders of the CPI – P.C. Joshi and his associates – left a profound influence on the course of Indian history.

Invited by the Congress leaders, Sir John Colville and Sir Archibald Nye (who became next year U.K High Commissioner in New Delhi) remained as governors of the two largest provinces – Bombay and Madras. While in ‘free’ India, they flew Union Jack on the bonnets of their cars. Campbell-Johnson commented that the invitation to Colville and Nye to continue as governors “gets our relations with the new India off to a start good beyond all expectations”.97

As President of the Indian Constituent Assembly Rajendra Prasad requested Lord Mountbatten, the head of the new State, to convey “a message of loyal greetings from this House” to the British King. It said: “That message [ the King’s message to the new dominion] will serve as an inspiration to the great work on which we launch today, and I have no doubt that we anticipate with great pleasure association with Great Britain of a different kind. I hope and trust that the interest and sympathy and the kindness which have always inspired His Majesty, will continue in favour of India and we shall be worthy of them.”98

As the Congress leaders had assured the British imperialists, the Indian Union joined the British Commonwealth of Nations, which recognized the British sovereign as head of the Commonwealth, to whom all dominions had to swear allegiance. It may be noted that on 2 May 1949, almost immediately after the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference in London, Attlee declared in the House of Commons “with reference to the London agreement that no distinction should be drawn between the use of the terms ‘Commonwealth’, ‘British Commonwealth’ or ‘British Empire’, all of which should be regarded as interchangeable”.99 Appreciating Nehru’s role in the 1949 London Conference, Attlee said: “Mr. Nehru for India showed high statesmanship in accepting a new relationship whereby in respect for India the [British] monarch was recognized as Head of the Commonwealth."100

Both Nehru and Jinnah agreed that India and Pakistan would fly the Union Jack on twelve days in the year but wanted that this should not be publicized. “In fact,” Mountbatten wrote, “they are worried about their extremists agitating against over-stressing the British connection although they are quite willing to retain it [ the Union Jack in the upper canton of the Indian flag, as designed by Mountbatten] themselves.”101

Indian society underwent no radical change. The administrative structure built by the colonizers remained. The British-trained Indian Civil Service (I.C.S.), the steel-frame of the colonial administration, continued as before. Its successor, the Indian Administrative Service (I.A.S.), to quote Francine Frankel, “retained the structure and style of its elitist forerunner, perpetuating a national administrative system that in numbers and outlook was more suitable to carrying out the narrow colonial functions of law and order than the broad responsibilities for economic development of an independent government.”102 The police and the judiciary continued with little change. The same laws prevailed with few changes, only the repressive laws were given more teeth and the coercive apparatus of the State has been strengthened with the passing of years as para-military forces have proliferated. Formally, colonialism died but the colonial spirit and structure remained.

The Indian Constitution, under which we are governed, owes much to the British. The Constituent Assembly, that framed the Constitution, was constituted on the basis of the 16 May (1946) Statement of the British Cabinet Mission and the Viceroy. The members of the Constituent Assembly were not elected on the basis of adult suffrage, which Congress leaders like Nehru had promised several times. The then existing provincial legislative assemblies of ‘British India’, formed under the Government of India Act of 1935 (which Nehru called a “charter of slavery”), which restricted the franchise to about 11.5 per cent of the people and provided for separate electorates for different religious communities, were asked to elect their representatives by single, transferable votes of their members (except Europeans), Muslim and non-Muslim members voting separately. And, according to an agreement between Nehru and the Chamber of Princes, on the accession of the native states to the Indian Union, about fifty per cent of the seats allotted to them in the Constituent Assembly were filled by nominees of the princes (who had been stooges of the British government) and the rest were supposed to represent the people of those states.

The first session of the Constituent Assembly was convened by Viceroy Wavell and held on 9 December 1946. Speaking at the subjects committee meeting during the Meerut session of the Congress in November 1946, Nehru declared: “when we attain freedom, we shall have another Constituent Assembly.”103 Deception was the name of their game. The draft of the Constitution was prepared by members of the I.C.S., chief among whom was Sir Benegal N. Rau, the constitutional adviser to the Constituent Assembly. Campbell-Johnson pointed out that dominion status made possible the maximum administrative and constitutional continuity, on the basis of the great India Act of 1935.104 “Approximately 250 articles [out of 395 articles],” wrote Michael Brecher, “were taken either verbatim or with minor changes in phraseology from the 1935 Government of India Act, and the basic principles remained unchanged.”105 G.D. Birla proudly claimed that “we have embodied large portions of the [1935] Act as finally passed, in the Constitution which we have framed ourselves and which shows that in it [the 1935 Act] was cast the pattern of our future plans”.106 “The new constitution accepted the basically British compromise of 1935”, observed Thomas Balogh, the Oxford economist who was for some years adviser to the British cabinet.107

As regards military arrangements, the old order continued in the main. Immediately after the transfer of power Claude Auchinleck, the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian army, became the Supreme Commander of the armed forces of India and Pakistan. The commanders of the three branches of the armed forces of India – the army, the navy and the air force – remained British. Until the late fifties the commander of the Indian navy was British. An appeal was made to British officers and other British personnel in India’s armed forces to continue and a 50 per cent increase in ‘India Allowance’ was granted to British ‘other ranks’. 49 per cent of the British officers and 94 per cent of ‘other ranks’ were retained in the armed forces of ‘free’ India.108 But there was no place in the Indian army for the officers and men of the I.N.A.(whom Nehru described in 1945 and 1946 as “the pick of the Indian Army”, “a splendid lot”, “a fine lot” – “brave, stout-hearted and capable and very politically minded” – whose “standard of… fighting is admittedly very high” and “It is possible they will be acceptable to the future army of free India”).109 The navy men who rose against the British in February 1946 and the Indian soldiers who joined the Indonesians in their struggle against the Dutch imperialists who were trying to reconquer their country at the end of the war, were not reinstated for their revolt against imperialism.

The Joint Defence Council of India and Pakistan was composed of Mountbatten, Auchinleck, Baldev Singh and Liaquat Ali – two Britishers and one representative each of India and Pakistan – with Mountbatten as Chairman. Both Nehru and Jinnah “wholeheartedly welcomed” the British government’s proposal to negotiate “overall Commonwealth defence arrangements”. The Joint Defence Council was empowered to conduct negotiations on behalf of India and Pakistan. To quote from Mountbatten’s message to London dated 8th August 1947:

“As I shall continue to be Chairman of the Joint Defence Council after 15th August, I shall hope to be able to regulate these discussions [with the British military delegation to decide on ‘overall Commonwealth defence arrangements’] and trust that the desired objects will be achieved.”110

India became a partner of the “overall Commonwealth” military arrangements. Besides, as L.Natarajan pointed out, “India signed its first military agreement with the United States under the Mutual Defence Assistance Programme in March 1951...”111 These military agreements were concluded not between equals but between giants and a pigmy, between powerful imperialist countries – one of them a superpower seeking to dominate the world – and India, an underdeveloped country teeming with “half-naked, half-starved” people. “Thus came to an end”, wrote Attlee later, “the direct rule of the British in India.”112 Do all these facts indicate that India became independent and sovereign with the transfer of power?

“…the fact is”, writes Robin D.G.Kelley, “while colonialism in its formal sense might have been dismantled, the colonial state was not.”113 Imperialism today, as Thomas Balogh said, does not require overt political domination to enforce its rule.114 Instead of directly administering a dependent country, it dominates it through local agents and using the levers of capital (both direct investment and ‘aid’, a euphemism for loan-capital), technology, military hardware, etc. Besides, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other international institutions, set up on the initiative of U.S. imperialism, play the role of the colonial administration of enforcing the rules of the imperialist game. The essence of neo-colonialism or semi-colonialism lies in subordinating the dependent country’s economy, politics and military strategy, to the economy and global strategy of imperialism.

Though India did not become free, an important change occurred. From a colony India became a semi-colony: India’s dependence on Britain yielded to dependence on several imperialist powers, chief among which is the U.S.A. A semi-colony is formally independent, but in reality, it is dependent on several imperialist powers. In this ‘semi-dependent country’ the domestic ruling classes enjoy political power but within the framework of basic dependence on imperialist powers. As part of the world capitalist-imperialist system, they cannot shake off this dependence, for they can survive and expand by collaborating with and serving imperialist monopoly capital as they did before – at the cost of the abysmal misery and wretchedness of the people.

References and Notes:

*The following has been abridged from the first chapter of a forthcoming publication by S.K. Ghosh. Interested readers may also pursue related themes in the following works by the same author: The Indian Big Bourgeoisie: Its Genesis, Growth and Character (2nd edn., Calcutta, 2000), India and the Raj (2nd edn., Calcutta, forthcoming), and The Tragic Partition of Bengal (Allahabad, 2002). (back)

1. Mansergh, N. (Editor-in-Chief), Constitutional Relations between Britain and India: The Transfer of Power (TOP), XII , pp.790-1; S.Gopal (ed.), Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru (SWJN), XIV, p. 47. (back)

2. Ibid, p.27; also p.37. (back)

3. TOP, IV, pp.333-8; 340-4, 365-9; V,pp.1-2, 127, 424, 431; Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWGM), LXXX, pp. 444-5; H.M. Seervai, Partition of India, p.32 and fn 15.TOP, IV, pp.333-8; 340-4, 365-9; V,pp.1-2, 127, 424, 431; Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWGM), LXXX, pp. 444-5; H.M. Seervai, Partition of India, p.32 and fn 15. (back)

4. TOP, VI; p. 455; SWJN, XIV, p.497 – emphasis added. (back)

5. TOP, VI, p. 1117. (back)

6. Cited in R.P.Dutt, Freedom for India, London, 1946, front cover page. (back)

7. TOP, VI, p. 713. (back)

8. Ibid, p. 725. (back)

9. Ibid, pp. 543, 582. (back)

10. Ibid, pp. 531-3, 588. (back)

11. Philip Mason (Joint Secretary to the War Department of the Govt of India, who drew up the plan), “Foreword” to Hugh Toye, Subhas Chandra Bose, p. IX; Hugh Toye, ibid, p.188; John Connell, Auchinleck, London, 1959, p.799. (back)

12. R.P. Dutt, Freedom for India. (back)

13. TOP, VI, pp.382-3, 507-8, 530-3, 536, 542-3, 807. (back)

14. SWJN, XV, p.92 – emphasis added. (back)

15. TOP, VI, pp. 382-3. (back)

16. Ibid, pp. 589, 599, 633, 679; CWMG, LXXXII, p.452. (back)

17. See SWJN, XIV, pp. 195, 207, 229, 231, 241, 252, 254, 491, 493, passim. Emphasis added. (back)

18. Cited in R.J. Moore, Escape from Empire, p. 76. (back)

19. SWJN, XIV, pp. 141-2, 146, 147. (back)

20. B.C. Dutt, Mutiny of the Innocents, p.61, for the report of the R.I.N, Enquiry Commission; Hindusthan Standard (a daily now extinct), 21.1.1947. (back)

21. See SWJN, XV, p. 1, note 2. (back)

22. B.C. Dutt, op cit, pp.174, 175. (back)

23. S. Natarajan, “Foreword” to ibid, p.7. (back)

24. B.C. Dutt, ibid, p. 78. (back)

25. Ibid, pp. 174, 175. (back)

26. TOP VI, pp. 507-8. (back)

27. SWJN, XIV, p. 543, fn. 4. (back)

28. Penderel Moon (ed.), Wavell the Viceroy’s Journal, p. 216. (back)

29. B.C. Dutt, op cit, p.181. (back)

30. Ibid, p. 185. (back)

31. Ibid, pp. 185-6. (back)

32. See Bombay governor John Colville’s report to Viceroy Wavell, 27 Feb. 1946, TOP, VI, pp. 1079-84; see especially p. 1082. (back)

33. Ibid, p.1082. (back)

34. SWJN, XV, pp. 4, 13; TOP, VI, p. 1083 – emphasis added. (back)

35. CWMG, LXXXIII, pp.171, 183, 184, 241-2, 243, 304, 360, 403, 441. (back)

36. Moon (ed.), op cit, p. 220. (back)

37. See G.Adhikari, Resurgent India at the Crossroads. (back)

38. Moon (ed.), op cit, p. 215. (back)

39. TOP, VI, p. 1233. (back)

40. Ibid, VII, p. 7 – emphasis added. (back)

41. Ibid, p.72 – emphasis added. (back)

42. Brecher, Nehru: A Political Biography, pp. 318-9. (back)

43. TOP IX, p. 542. Copies of this note were sent to Prime Minister Attlee, Alexander and Stafford Cripps. (back)

44. Ibid, VII, p. 262; VIII, p.313; X, p. 69; CWMG, LXXXV, 17; Moon, (ed.), op cit, pp. 260, 341 and the editor’s note; Alan Campbell- Johnson, Mission with Mountbatten, p. 52. (back)

45. CWMG, LXXXV, p.35. (back)

46. Ibid, p. 49. (back)

47. Ibid, pp. 82, 116-7; LXXXIV, pp. 8, 102-3, 336. (back)

48. TOP, VIII, pp.150, 154, 155 – emphasis added. (back)

49. Ibid, p.161 – emphasis added. (back)

50. Home Poll (1) 12/7/1946, cited in Sumit Sarkar, Modern India, 431 – emphasis added. (back)

51. TOP, VIII, pp. 190-1, 194. (back)

52. Ibid, IX, p. 68. (back)

53. Ibid, IX, p.174. (back)

54. Ibid, IX, 171. (back)

55. Note on Labour by J. B. Kripalani, A.I.C.C. Papers, File No. G 26/1946, cited in Sumit Sarkar, op cit, p. 429. (back)

56. TOP, VIII, pp. 190-1. (back)

57. Ibid, p. 169. (back)

58. Ibid, IX, p. 973. (back)

59. SWJN, Second Series, I, p. 177 and fn. 5 – emphasis added. (back)

60. TOP, IX, pp. 524-5 – emphasis added. (back)

61. SWJN, Second Series, I, p. 616 and fn.2, p.617 fn. 2, p. 618. (back)

62. TOP, IX,p. 575. (back)

63. Ibid, p. 822. (back)

64. Ibid , X, p. 87 – emphasis added. (back)

65. AITUC, Report: Twenty-Second Session, pp. 77, 78 – emphasis added. (back)

66. Hindustan Times, 22 Nov. 1946, reprinted in TOP, IX, pp. 133-4. (back)

67. SWJN, XV, p. 636. (back)

68. Tendulkar, Mahatma, Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, VII, pp. 106-7 – emphasis added. (back)

69. SWJN, Second Series, I, p.128 – emphasis added. (back)

70. Joshi, Congress and Communists, pp. 2, 20. (back)

71. Alan Campbell-Johnson, Mission with Mountbatten, p. 110 – emphasis added. (back)

72. TOP, VIII, pp. 224, 348-50, 547; VII, pp. 122, 591; VI, pp. 561, 659-60, 666, IX, p. 307, passim. (back)

73. TOP, III, pp. 895-7 – emphasis added. (back)

74. Ibid, p. 955; see also ibid, IV, p. 388. (back)

75. Ibid, X, pp. 716, 732, 735. (back)

76. Ibid, pp. 974-5 – emphasis added; see also pp.897-8. (back)

77. SWJN, 2nd Series, I, pp. 426, 428. (back)

78. Cited in L. Natarajan, American Shadow Over India, p. 71. (back)

79. “India and the United States”, Eastern Economist, 14 Jan. 1949, 44 – emphasis added. (back)

80. Cited in L. Natarajan, op cit, pp. 52, 266 (note 1). (back)

81. Quoted from Subedar’s article in Tribune, reprinted in Modern Review (now extinct), July 1945, p.4; see also Subedar’s Note on Sterling Balances in Durga Das, (ed.), Sardar Patel’s Correspondence 1945-50, III, pp. 214-6. (back)

82. TOP, XII, p. 540. (back)

83. Quoted from Subedar’s Note in Durga Das (ed.), op cit, p.215; see also p. 225. (back)

84. See Durga Das (ed.), op cit, p. 230. (back)

85. Quoted in Natarajan, op cit, p.147. (back)

86. Hindustan Times, 5.11.1951; cited in ibid, p. 92. (back)

87. New York Times, 30.1.1952, cited in ibid. (back)

88. TOP, X, p. 945. (back)

89. TOP, XI, pp. 107, 127, 146, 156, 279; XII, p. 731. (back)

90. Campbell-Johnson, op cit, p. 158. (back)

91. Ibid., p. 161. (back)

92. Ibid, p. 36. (back)

93. Hodson, “The Role of Mountbatten”, in Philips and Wainwright (ed.), The Partition of India, p.123. (back)

94. TOP, XII, p. 601. (back)

95. Campbell-Johnson, op cit, p. 71. (back)

96. Leonard Mosley, The Last Days of the British Raj, Bombay, 1966, p.101. (back)

97. Draft Note by Campbell-Johnson (undated), TOP, XI, p.842; see also ibid., XII, p. 193. (back)

98. TOP, XII, p.777, fn. 55. (back)

99. R.P. Dutt, India Today, Bombay, 1949 edn.,p. 575. (back)

100. Attlee, op cit, pp. 186-7. (back)

101. TOP, XII, p. 231. (back)

102. Frankel, India’s Political Economy, 1947-1977, Delhi, 1978, p. 81. (back)

103. SWJN, 2nd Series, I, p.19. (back)

104. Campbell-Johnson, op cit, p.355 – emphasis added. (back)

105. Brecher, Nehru: A Political Biography, p.421 – emphasis added. (back)

106. Birla, In the Shadow of the Mahatma, p.131 – emphasis added. (back)

107. Balogh, The Economics of Poverty, 2nd edn, 1974, fn. p.260. (back)

108. TOP, XII, pp. 94, 765. (back)

109. Nehru to Krishna Menon, sometime in September 1945; 27.10.1945; and Nehru’s speech in Delhi, 23.1.1946; SWJN, XIV, pp. 98, 343, 374. (back)

110. TOP, XII, p. 599. (back)

111. Natarajan, op cit, pp. 102-3. (back)

112. Attlee, As It Happened, p.186, fn. 55 – emphasis added. (back)

113. Kelley, “A Poetics of Anti-Colonialism”, Monthly Review, (Indian reprint), Nov 1999, p.19. (back)

114. Balogh, op cit, (1st edn, 1966 ), p.29. (back)

RDF Appeal

2008-01-24T15:13:00.000-08:00

31 December 2007

RELEASE GOVINDAN KUTTY, THE EDITOR OF PEOPLE’S MARCH!

UNCONDITIONALLY WITHDRAW
FALSE CASE FABRICATED ON THE EDITOR!!

On December 19th the Kerala Police, under the orders of Ernakulum Police Commissioner, raided the room of Govindan Kutty, 65, the editor and publisher of Peoples March which is not a banned publication and confiscated all his literature and computer hard disk. Govindan Kutty was arrested under the charges of spreading sedition and indulging in unlawful activities and was remanded in judicial custody by a lower court at Aluva in Kerala. He was implicated in a fabricated case under a number of clauses like section 134 A and 163B of Indian Penal Code and 13 of (1) b of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and sent to Aluva prison.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the State under the close instructions of UPA Government at the Centre resorted to this crackdown on the popular revolutionary magazine. Govindan Kutty, according to his lawyers, was harassed and psychologically tortured for a day in the name of interrogation before being sent to judicial custody. Ever since he was arrested he was on hunger strike protesting against the trampling down of his right to freedom of speech and Freedom of Press.

He continues his protest within the four walls of the prison demanding his unconditional release. His lawyer who met him two days ago said that his health condition was serious given his age and chronic ailments with which has been suffering. His life is in a serious threat.

The arrest of Govindan Kutty and the police crackdown on the office of the publication was an attack on the freedom of press. As hundreds of thousands of people from all corners of the world know, the People’s March supports all revolutionary movements including the Maoist movements in India , Nepal and elsewhere. It is a fully legal publication registered with Indian registrar of Newspapers of the Government of India with the RNI number KER ENG/2000/2051 and the postal registration number: KL/EKM/614/2007-09. The magazine has been coming out for over 7 years (since 1998) meeting all the legal requirements. The magazine has been freely available not only in bookstalls all over India, but also in prominent libraries in New Delhi and other major cities in India and abroad.

The People’s March publishes news reports and interviews of Maoists, both from India and abroad like all other hundreds of magazines and newspapers in India. It is People’s March today which is under attack, tomorrow all other media will face the same threat if we don’t raise our voice against this attack on freedom of press.A year ago the website of People’s March was blocked by the Indian Government without assigning any reasons. When its editors started publishing the online magazine through a blog on googlepages, it was also blocked by Google in December 2007, under the pressure of Indian Government.

The arrest of the editor and the foisting of fake charges against him are nothing but an attempt of the Government of India to further stifle freedom of speech in the country. The so-called largest democracy in the world with a gigantic army, Paramilitary and police force feels threatened by a mere monthly magazine with a limited circulation of a few thousands in print. This action displays the fascist character of the Indian state and the cowardly action of the Kerala police.

The Revolutionary Democratic Front appeals to all democratic and revolutionary organizations and individuals to raise their voice against the arrest of the editor of People’s March, a popular independent revolutionary newspaper from India.

We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Govindan Kutty and allow the continued publication of People’s March. We hold the government entirely responsible in the face of any damage to his health or threat to his life due to hunger strike within jail.

Rajkishore
General Secretary

All India Committee
Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)
rdfindia@gmail.com

Interview

2008-01-24T15:04:00.000-08:00

INDIA: A CATASTROPHE OR A BREAK WITH IMPERIALISM?

Interview with G.N. Saibaba
Revolutionary Democratic Front, India
By Lars Akerhaug
December 10, 2007
Sweden

India is at a turning point, says GN Saibaba, a representative of the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF). He stresses the deep poverty and terrible living conditions of ordinary Indians co-existing with the economical boom. Either India breaks with imperialism or sectarianism and Hindu right-wing nationalism will prevail, he warns. His is a message of hope, but also fearful warnings.

Poverty Boom
The economy of India, when measured in USD exchange-rate terms, is the twelfth largest in the world, with a GDP of US $1.09 trillion (2007). It is the third largest in terms of purchasing power parity. India is the second fastest growing major economy in the world, with a GDP growth rate of 9.4% for the fiscal year 2006–2007.

• If these are indicators of growth, I’m afraid that these indicators could never speak about the real growth that is developing in India, says GN Saibaba, the deputy General Secretary of the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF).

India’s huge population results in a per capita income of $4,182 at PPP and $964 at nominal (2007 estimate). The World Bank classifies India as a low-income economy. Co-existing with the economical growth is widespread poverty. The population of the vast South-Asian country is among the worlds’ poorest and most down-throdden. The UN Human development index ranks India as 126th.

An economy of impoverishment
• This poverty is a real indicator of how growth develops in India, says Saibaba. An even better indication is the fact that 150,000 farmers have committed suicide. Even in Sub-saharan Africa these kind of numbers don’t exist. These are forced suicides, not voluntary!

Saibaba sees the Western picture of India as a state of economical and technological progress as a fiction. - The growth rate is illusive! It’s mostly based on calculated and speculated capital, which is very fragile. One day the capital could be here and another day it will fly to another territory in the world. This growth rate is artificial and calculated.

Special Economical Death Zones
Currently the Indian government is designating and building more than 500 “Special Economical Zones” to stimulate further growth in the Indian export industry. The zones are put at the disposal of large multi-national companies and products will mainly be exported.

• These are fragile investments, one would never know if they would remain permanently. Any kind of turmoil could easily cause a shift, says Saibaba. Through the Revolutionary Democratic Front he’s participating in Visthapan Virodi Jan Vikas Andolan, which is an umbrella organization consisting of more than one hundred local mass movements all over India.

To build the new zones local peasants are being bought out off or expelled from their land. Violence is often applied to expel those who are determined to stick on to the soil, like in Nandigram, close to the capital Kolkata of West Bengal, where the official Communist Party (Marxist) are heading the regional government. 150 were massacred and 2000 wounded when militias hired by the “communist” government were rushed in to clear the peasants out.
Many intellectuals and others concerned about the social and sometimes deadly consequences of the “economical wonder” are also connected with the movement.

Still a feudal economy
Traditionally the maoist analysis applied by the inspired Indian naxalite rebels has been to say that the Indian economy is a feudal economy. Yet this image is contrasted by a sharp growth in the economical standards of the bourgeoisie and the upper middle class.
But Saibaba denies that there’s any development towards real capitalism in the country. - The capitalist entrepreneurs in India are dependent on imperialist capitalists, they are unable to take independent decisions. India is a traditional supplier of raw material. They export raw material cheaply and remain on the receiving end of the market for the finished goods, so in a double way you are helping the imperialist entrepreneurs.

The new economics also give little in terms of investment to the people. While money is tossed into building new universities and campuses, the beneficiaries are foreigners and the Indian diaspora, not the common man, in the view of Saibaba.

• They build some good educational institutions, but ordinary people don’t have the opportunity to go. And though there are developments of science and economy, it’s dependent on the Western powers. New campuses are being built financed by foreigners.

Several Sub-Saharan regions in India
• India is a very complex phenomenon says Saibaba. - There are several Nepals in India, there are several regions in India resembling Sub-Saharan conditions. In other words, India has multiple modes of production. So similarly you have a capitalist development, a feudal system, a slave system and a tribal systems. You have people still remaining in the hunting system, you have a feudalist system and also a capitalist system, dependent on monopoly capital from abroad.

Given these multiple modes of production, you can say that all modes of production from human history exist in India. The category called semi-feudal and semi-colonial have these multiple modes of economies existing together built within it. Another trait is subsistence economy, the majority produce just to survive.

A vicious trap
In present India 55% of the GDP is from the service sector, 19% of the GDP is from agriculture, 55% is employing only 0,5% of the work force. 19% of the GDP is giving employing 70% of the work force. Only 3% of the GDP is located in the manufactural sector.

• These numbers show clearly how the Indian economy is completely based on agriculture, says Saibaba. 55% of the GDP is from the service sector, but only sheltering 0,7%, while a vast majority is surviving on agriculture while their share of the GDP. This figure clearly shows how India is semi-colonial and semi-feudal and the weakness of the manufacturing sector is also clear from this picture.

• 77% of the Indian population live on 20 rupi a day (0,5 USD). The growth rate is only for the top ten percent and it doesn’t effect the vast majority of the people. If you add together all the rich people in India, you’ll get huge numbers, but they are just 13%. Numbers are huge because the population is huge.

• The vast majority of the indian population has no power, they have no purchasing power, if they had purchasing power, industry could grow. This is a vicious circle.

Change is possible
• The only way entrepreneurship could grow is if the people got purchasing power, says Saibaba.
• It’s possible, if the ruling elite would like to change, but they don’t have the will to do it. If agriculture is given importance, indigenous ways to develop agriculture is taken into consideration, land is distributed so that the population could move forward in agriculture, people would get purchasing power.

Those who depend on agriculture in today’s India are mainly landless, 70% of the land is in the hands of 23% of the people, only 13% of the land is in the hands of the 70% of the population occupied in the agricultural sector.

• Huge amounts of land is left uncultivated in India. If this would have been distributed among the people there would be a real development boom. This population is skilled workers, they could improve the productivity, if land is given to them, apart from the land in the hand of the big owners. Huge amounts of land is left uncultivated.

Rise of Hindutva fascism
While the picture of an economical boom is being contrasted by roaring poverty, another feature of modern Indian society is politics being played out in an increasingly sectarian pattern of bigotry.

• No single party can form a government of their own, explains Saibaba. The all-India parties lost their importance. Different layers of maldevelopment in different regions has created different politics. The situation now is much worse than at the time of liberation from the British in 1947.

In the end of the 80s the movement of hindutva nationalism, a right-wing movement based on a hinduist identity began to gain momentum and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party of the wider right-wing nationalist movement, held government from 1996-2004. The BJP government in the Indian regional state Gujarat was criticized widely for its failure to prevent widespread violence against the minority Muslim community in the year 2002. Amnesty International’s annual report on India in 2003 claimed the “Gujarat government did not actively fulfill its duty to provide appropriate relief and rehabilitation to the survivors”. It also claimed that “the same police force that was accused of colluding with the attackers was put in charge of the investigations into the massacres, undermining the process of delivery of justice to the victims.”

• Regionalism has grown together with hinduvatva fascism, because of the conflicting situation, Saibaba explains. - This is related to politics and economics. Politics because with 60 years of malgovernment, which has given a scope for the right-wing and regionalist forces to grow. Politics, because the revolutionary left is growing. The lumpenization of the economy is contributing to the growth of the right-wing in the urban cities, while the impoverishment of peasants is resulting in the growth of the left on the country side.

Together with the muslim minority
Together with the rise of hindutva nationalism, islamic movements are on the rise in India. The Revolutionary Democratic Front believes that this comes as a reaction the marginalization and insecurity muslims experience in modern India.

• They are pushed into a corner, says Saibaba. - Muslim fundamentalism is no doubt growing, but this islamization is because of severe acts by the majority. The revolutionary forces would like to win over the muslim population, while the hindu fundamentalists belong to the ruling classes.

Bigotry attacks on muslim minorities is common in many Indian states, while poverty remains high among ordinary muslims. - Small section of muslims are pushed towards fundamentalism, but security the main issue, Saibaba explains. - They could be attacked by hindutva forces anytime and are pushed into ghettos. Opportunities are not given to the muslims, because most of them are workers, most of them are hand skilled workers, poverty is very rampant.
The Revolutionary Democratic Front compares the rise of hindutva nationalism with the rise of islamist movements elsewhere. - The islamization of Pakistan would be similar to Hindutva in India, says Saibaba. - If I was in Pakistan, I wouldn’t understand the fundamentalists as I do in India. The fundamentalist forces in Pakistan are much more reactionary and tied to the state, while muslims in India are only fundamentalist because there is a threat to security.

Today the Indian revolutionaries are seeking cooperation with all kinds of muslim organisations because they believe the muslim groups have to be looked upon as minority groups without equal rights.

• The question would not be whether they are fundamentalists or not, they are the allies of the people. As a minority section they are an ally of the revolutionary forces. So the revolutionary forces are in a process of aligning themselves with the religious people. The question of fundamentalism in India is the question of the hindutva forces. This doesn’t mean that the rev forces ignore the fundamentalism of the muslims, the revolutionary forces take a different point than them. But to bring them out of fundamentalism you have to take the them out of the physical conditions that are making fundamentalism attractive to them. They should have their full religious rights.

Maoist surge
• The last two years you have seen in the central part the growth of the maoist movement, consolidated in CPI(M), it’s an indication of two things. First, the revolutionary forces have come together and formed a unified party and secondly, the popularity of the communist ideology among the masses.

Indian government officials say that for the first time in history “the single biggest threat internal security is the Naxalites”. - This is an indicator of the phenomenal growth, a formidable challenge to the right-wing forces and imperialists, says Saibaba.
Saibaba does not see a contradiction between the different political and economical tendencies in the urban and rural areas.

• The strategy of the maoists is not only to capture the countryside, but to wage armed struggle to capture power finally at a country level. In fact those who have power in the vast rural areas ultimately will acquire power in Dehli. Neither BJP or Congress cannot win power based only on the urban centers, in terms of representation, only rural centers will matter. When the BJP comes to power it comes to power with a large number of regional parties, with the congress it’s the same, but they have also a rural base.

Sometimes the sectarian forces, like in Ghujarat and Utar Pradesh, these are the states where the revolutionary forces have not grown, are using muslim-hindu tensions to create a vote bank.

The last moghul of Congress
Historically the Indian Congress Party founded by Mahatma Gandhi led the anti-colonization movement. Today, according to the Indian revolutionaries, they are the resembling their former oppressors.

• It’s a traditional force, representing the feudal elements, says Saibaba. - But today there’s little difference left between congress and BJP. Though the BJP is more dependent on the trading class while congress is more dependent on the rural, feudal class, but in terms of the nature of both parties, there’s hardly any difference remaining. So congress congress could easily succumb to the BJP.

• It looks like their new leader, Rahul Gandhi, would be the last moghul of congress. The only difference is that the last moghul was an anti-imperialist who fought the british, while history repeats itself in a very sad way, in that this moghul is on the side on imperialism.

The official left is losing
The parliamentary left would be the biggest loser. The current government is dependent on the left. For the first time have the largest number of parliamentary seats in the history.
In the 2004 elections the official Indian left parties, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxists) gained a historical high number of MPs, by many seen as a reaction to the neoliberal policies of the BJP 1999-2004 government.

• Since Congress took power, they’ve been the biggest supporters of the same policies. It was a shock of the peoplel that the Communist Party (Marxists) is supporting US imperialism, like implementing the Special Economic Zones in West Bengal, where they are in government, and also in central government. They vote against pension schemes, people’s livelihood, security, in support of the unhindered loot of the imperialists.

Because of this the revolutionaries in India believe the official, parliamentary left will lose ground. So it depends on the revolutionary forces, if they gain the ground lost by the parliamentary left. If they gain ground, it could be a revolutionary situation comparable to that of Nepal.

A dark or bright future
But the picutre isn’t only bright. There’s a danger, if the revolutionary forces don’t gain space, that the most reactionary right-wing forces would be able to control the situation for a longer period. The in-between forces have no space now. You have to choose a side, if the right-wing forces gain more space, then the chaos of civil war will be much more serious, if the revolutionary forces gain ground, it’d be paving a way for better developments

• I can’t confidently say that either side will gain grown, but there’s a chance for the revolutionary forces. Of course, ultimately, the rev forces, but now, I don’t know. With the class contradictions and the class struggle going on, either side could win, but ultimately the revolutionary forces.

Whatever way India turns, it’d have a large impact, the situation in India would have a great impact on the world situation.

Article

2008-01-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

NANDIGRAM: THE ROAD TO SOVEREIGNTY OF INDIA

G. N. Saibaba
Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)

(Paper presented at the Kolkata Conference Against SEZs and other
Industrial Projects displacing people held on 2nd and 3rd of June, 2007)

Dearest Delegates of the Conference,

Introduction:
This is not perhaps the first attempt by people’s organizations in this country to come together to forge a platform against the question of displacement. And when this effort is on we have in front of us the shocking and gripping accounts of violence and repression from the killing fields of Nandigram—perpetrated by the West Bengal police ably supported by the CPM cadre armed to the teeth. In Singur, one could see the photographs of the same CPM cadre moving in two-wheelers with a red flag and the life size portrait of Ratan Tata trying to ‘educate’ the people about the virtues of the TATAs as the harbinger of industrialization in post-47 India. What was more shocking for the opinionated middle class was the shattering of that myth of a pro-people face of the so-called left front people’s government in West Bengal.

But at this juncture arises the most fundamental question: Is displacement due to development or the development of displacement an inevitable thing like ones own shadow—a necessary evil that has to be lived with when one thinks about development? Or is there a possibility of a development which is free of any form of displacement; any form of violence on the people? Is this phenomenon of displacement due to development a new feature in the trajectory that India followed post-47? These are vital questions we cannot shy away from if we are serious in fighting the question of the four dreaded Ds—Displacement, Destruction, Destitution and Death. The Heart of India is for sale. The spectre of development of displacement is not a phenomenon restricted to West Bengal. The state of Orissa has become a virtual battleground with the giant steel company from South Korea, the Tatas and other big monopolies having investment plans which spell doom for the people of Orissa as the package is a veritable sell out of the valuable resources that makes Orissa one of the richest states in terms of mineral deposits. The neighbouring states of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh have similar tales to say. The massive dam at Polavaram in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh, which would displace more than 2,00,000 people—mostly tribals—is certainly the largest ever displacement due to a dam in the history of post-47 India. Besides there are massive projects of bauxite mining, Uranium Projects, Ring Road in Hyderabad and open cast mining which would wreak havoc to the ecological balance of the state. In Chhattisgarh, MoUs worth lakhs of crores of rupees have been signed with various monopolies, international and domestic, eager to extract all the mineral wealth that the state is abound with. The situation in Jharkhand is no less different. All these states mentioned above are the sources for more than 60 percent of the mineral deposits in India. Besides these minerals are the rich sources of forest wealth. The local tribal people who are the forest dwellers have been asked to move out as they have become stumbling blocks to that hyperbole of excitement of the sensex curves in the stock exchanges of Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta etc. which, please don’t misunderstand are the essential determinants, the sure signs of growth, of India shining.

The Legacy of 1947:
Friends, this is the bitter truth of the present phase of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation of the Indian economy, of the south Asian sub-continent. That today CPM has become the defender of local and foreign monopolies like TATAs and the Salim group from Indonesia is not a coincidence. Not even a matter of surprise. It is the logical culmination of the trajectory of a development model that was inaugurated in Post-47 India which saw big dams, big industries, as the ‘Temples of Modern India’. From Bhakra to Hirakud and from Narmada, Tehri to the Polavaram dam to be constructed in Andhra Pradesh the logic has been the same. It is again interesting to note that the Tatas who would never miss a chance to invest in educational
institutions, as part of their commitment to improve academic excellence had taken extra care not to start a college or any other educational institution when it started its steel township in Jamshadpur. And the technology that was brought for the core industry was mainly from the erstwhile Soviet Union doled out as its strategy of division of the world with US imperialism. There was never an effort to develop that technology and further fuse it with the specificities of the Indian economy.

In fact, in 1947, when Nehru went ahead with the Hirakud dam the main plea that he made to the protesting people was the need to sacrifice for the greater common good. And today when the West Bengal chief minister calls on the people of Singur and Nandigram with the promise of prosperity and development he is no different from his predecessor. It is significant that till date not even a single case of displacement due to ‘development’ was successfully addressed from the point of view of rehabilitation. Millions displaced by development since 1947 are still awaiting their rehabilitation speaks volumes about the anti-people nature of development that was being promoted ever since 1947 when the British left the sub-continent. Again, it is not the first time that the people have protested against displacement. Against they being displaced from their lives and livelihood.

Displacement is inevitable in the present model of development:
The present model of development that was ushered in after the British left the sub-continent in 1947 had little to do with the interests of the vast sections of the people. It was tempered by a strategy that perpetuated dependence on imperialist capital and technology. It is this dependence that left its mirror image in the ‘democratic planning’ of Nehru promoted as the Five Year Plans. This particular model of development left the sub-continent market captive to the needs of imperialist capital and technology. And it is this process that has made displacement inevitable when the state undertakes any form of development activity. The apologists of the so-called Nehruvian model of development cannot any longer close their eyes to this hard reality.

Thus displacement was inevitable in a development0 path which was subservient to the needs of imperialist technology and capital the sole motive of which was the insatiable search of captive markets and profits. In this arrangement, displacement was the only way one could bring in a capital intensive technology that would engulf the local technology and its market; big capital that would eat away the entrepreneurial possibilities of small savings or enterprises. This development induced through capital penetration from outside—mainly foreign capital or domestic comprador capital—will strengthen the edifice of those structures in the economy which would facilitate the process of surplus extraction through such grand projects as green revolution, PL-480, white revolution, garibi hatao, five year plans, all forms of yojanas for employment generation and infrastructure development, health campaigns. All these are geared towards addressing fundamentally the need of the economy to maintain its exploitative dominating structures, hierarchies while at the same doing out crumbs to the poor and the needy.

It is the same development path which would build a Hirakud dam with Japanese technology near Sambhalpur Orissa and when the dam develops a crack will not seek expert opinion from the engineering college that is just 4 km. away but would again run for 'experts' from Japan. It is thus an economy driven by experts, using the same lingua franca alien to the common people and their livelihood. It is the same mentality of the expert who would weigh the stakes of different sections in the economy vis-à-vis their purchasing power, their stakes in the stock market. For these experts, the agrarian crisis that has gripped the economy, the rising spectre of rural impoverishment is hardly a matter of concern as the purchasing power of an IT professional is equivalent to 100 peasants put together. And so peasants really don't matter. It has led to the destitution of people and destruction of our natural resources. This model of development has been responsible for displacement of crores of people from their land and other sources of livelihood. The aggressive process of globalization and the present policies of the various governments as part of what they say ‘second phase of reforms’ is nothing but a much more ruthless way of furthering the displacement of people.

Any development that perpetuates inequality will bring displacement:
What do we mean by displacement? Does it only comprise of the people displaced due to the construction of dams? Of Super highways? Of mining? Of big industries? We have to move beyond the conventional way of looking at displacement. Then only can we find the root cause of the reasons of an economy that promotes displacement as the fundamental principle of its reproduction; its perpetuation; its survival strategy i.e. to benefit a few at the cost of many. In that sense the fundamental necessity of a development that engenders displacement is the common running thread when one talks about Special Economic Zones, dams, mining, super highways, urban beautification, retail marketing by monopolies and so on. Here we have to grasp the point that all these forms of displacement are intertwined so as to reinforce each other in realizing the fundamental axiom of imperialist globalization—that of value and profit maximization. The strategy is to retain all regressive structures within the sub-continent economy that would facilitate and perpetuate this process while weeding out all possibilities within the economy that can generate a dynamic of resistance primarily in the form of development while not ruling out other forms of resistance.

In other words, we have to locate the prime motivating factor of displacement in the matrix of the production relations and productive forces that is the fulcrum of any economy. India is primarily an agrarian economy with vast sections of her people dependent on agriculture. It is the surplus generated in the agrarian sector that is being extracted to run the economy including the so called industrial sector. This has created an economy with huge disparities; wealth getting concentrated at the urban centres and massive impoverisation of the rural sector. This in itself is displacement with a whole lot of people unable to utilize their productive capabilities held as captives under the confines of a skewed market in the rural sector. Thus this development model creates disparities between the urban and rural, between agriculture and industries, big industries and small industries, big capital and small capital, big labour and small labour and finally mental and manual labour. As have been mentioned before there will pockets of 'growth centres' while the rest of the regions suffer from lack of opportunities and impoverishment. Men, women, young and old, none are left out of the ambit of this development menace.

Such a development path despite all its pretensions of being democratic, socialist or what not cannot but hide itself from being complicit to the horrors of displacement and dispossession. The imperialist capital that enters the economy of the sub-continent is not in search of creating jobs, prosperity, livelihoods for the vast sections of the masses. Its need is to expand relentlessly. To expand and expand is the rule of the game. The moment it ceases to expand it ceases to be capitalism and imperialism in the present context. Its need is to maximize the profits. Without this, the purpose of imperialist globalization or imperialism and the structures that reproduce it at the local level is meaningless.

Today this development model has reached a flash point from where the only way out for it is through a violent restructure of the existing economy in favour of a much more brutal exploitation of the people and the resources. This crisis to restructure—for profit and value maximization— within the existing semi-feudal and semi-colonial mode of production, the only way of survival and reproduction of this mode of production can be ensured through the violent maximization of value and profit for the imperialist capital and their local agents.

Integrated Struggle against Displacement of all Kinds is the Need of the Hour:
The enormity of the crisis that is gripping the ruling classes is getting manifested in various forms. The initial inference is the readiness of the state and its various arms to break the law of the land. The manner in which the repressive machinery of the state is being mobilised to brow beat the people into submission by violating constitutional guarantees and other norms and procedures of a democratic polity speak volumes about the need of the ruling class to some how go ahead with these policies. At the same time the state is also enacting new laws to clamp down all forms of dissent. The state is tying to divide the people fighting against various forms of displacement.

The struggles against various kinds of displacement should be integrated taking into consideration the underlying commonality of the issue that is confronting the various sections fighting against displacement. This can only ensure a mighty stream of struggle that can ensure an alternative not only as empty slogan but also as a reality. The people in their local areas have been building valiant struggles all over India against various projects displacing millions of people from their local habitats. These projects have been either under way or are in pipeline through MoUs signed by the Union Government or state governments. The variety of projects that have been planned to massively uproot the people include Special Economic Zones, mega projects, super highways and other infrastructure schemes, big dams, urban renewal and beautification, corporate agriculture, national parks and sanctuaries, etc.

These struggles waged at the local areas of displacement which erupt at different spells of time are being crushed by the governments using the police and paramilitary forces along with local goons, ruling party henchmen, and the good old divide and rule tactics of the firm involved in the project. A network of people’s struggles at all India level, or let us say the sub-continent level, is the need of the hour so that these diverse grass-root movements are expanded by collectively
facing the onslaught of state repression.

A separate front of people’s movements solely against SEZs will divide the anti-displacement movement, which has to be knitted across the country. SEZs are part of the large plan of the imperialist forces and the Indian ruling classes to take ahead the so-called second phase reforms as part of the Globalization process. It is the unmitigated and unprecedented loot of all our natural resources on a massive scale.

Hence our efforts to build an all India front of hundreds of peoples movements that have been fighting against SEZs, or big dams or superhighways or large scale mining or urban displacement should be brought together under a single umbrella, without which it is easier for the ruling governments to suppress these movements. At the same time, we should at this juncture focus our attention on building a people’s resistance movement against SEZs. But this movement should also target the entire agenda of imperialist globalisation and its ideology. The resistance should be planned in such a way that we challenge the present model of development and in the process simultaneously we should be able place an alternative model of development.

A formidable resistance is possible across the country if all the genuine resistance movements against displacement can be brought together without any narrow-minded short term benefits for any individuals or organizations involved in this process. The broadest and lofty goal of this process should be to build boundless resistance and solidarity among the fighting forces as it is clear for all of us that the Indian rulers and their imperialist masters 00000are determined to use the highest repressive mechanism to suppress the movements against land acquisition and implementation of their projects.

We, the genuine fighting forces, should not divide among ourselves into separate fronts. There is not much time left for us. There should be only a single front of people’s organisations against all kinds of displacement whether it is through SEZs or Urban beautification or mining or big dams and hydel projects or national parks and super high ways. A separate front against SEZs and industrial projects would necessitate different fronts on other kinds of displacement. Since the nature of displacement and the larger issues related to it are the same here a united front of people’s forces against all kinds of displacement would inspire everyone to make a formidable resistance movement.

An all India level united resistance struggle should be initiated by bringing together all struggles against all kinds of displacement, though we can gather the largest support possible by focusing on SEZs at the beginning. The integrated movement against displacement of people from their natural habitats due to the large scale intrusion of the Industrial monopolies of the imperialist countries should have certain clear demands before the people of the country. Some of the points of immediate interest are:

1. The Special Economic Zones regime should be done away with by repealing the SEZs Act, 2005. Wherever land is acquired should be returned back to the farmers with adequate
compensation for the period of time the land is held away from the farmers.

2. The Land Acquisition Act, 1894 should be repealed. The concept of ‘eminent domain’, which gives unlimited power to the rulers to exercise control over people and their resources should end.

3. No big dams should be built. The river-interlinking project should not be taken up. Only small scale irrigation projects which do not displace the people and impact the environment adversely should be built after proper consultation with the people.

4. No mining projects should be opened without proper evaluation of the use of minerals underneath for the use of people in the country. Mining of minerals should not be given to
any monopoly company--foreign or domestic. Large scale mining which displaces local people and degrades environment should not be taken up.

5. The displacement of people in the urban areas in the name of beautification and restructuring the cities and towns should be immediately stopped.

NGOs and the diffusion of People’s Movements:
Any development or any aspiration of the people to build a different world--a new world--a world free of exploitation and inequalities, off the beaten track of 'development' followed by this semifeudal, semi-colonial state subservient to the needs of imperialism is met with violent response from the state. For an alternate model of development, an alternate model of values, ethics and morality implies total negation of legitimacy of the existing state apparatus, its rule of law which is but a justification of its necessity to exploit, dominate, breeds inequality, unevenness--islands of prosperity and oceans of misery, destitution and devastation.

It is in this juncture that the need for a militant, uncompromising resistance becomes inevitable. And it is precisely this aspect that is missing in the orientation of NGOs and hence the politics of NGO-isation. What at best NGOs does is, to put it crudely, build a consensus towards the legitimacy or primacy of the existing state and its legal etiquette. In other words it builds a consensus towards the existing model of development.

In a scenario where it is difficult for the state to tap the rich surplus abounding the rural economy due to skewed markets and production relations NGOs become handy tools to reach out to the rural population. This process is facilitated through projects of 'capacity building', 'self help groups', 'empowerment' of various kinds which become easy ways to tap the surplus generation in the rural markets. Thus NGOs instead of breaking the fetters that are holding back the productive capabilities of the rural masses will instead strengthen it by maintaining the hierarchy of the society which is the basis for exploitation and domination. The recent relief works in the tsunami effected areas of Tamilnadu or the earthquake effected areas of Gujarat are striking examples.

One need to study deeply into the various 'development' initiatives undertaken by NGOs in the North East, Jammu & Kashmir as well as the various tribal belts in Central India. Any attempt at a united struggle should also take a serious note of the penetration of imperialist agencies in different forms directly or indirectly in the name of ‘capacity building’, ‘conflict resolution’, ‘institution building’ or ‘facilitating good governance’ 'participatory democracy' which are quite often facilitated through Non Governmental Organisations heavily funded by imperialist agencies. NGO-isation of the people’s movements is a common phenomenon in all parts of our country today. We should take extreme care in checking this phenomenon. Otherwise the entire effort of bringing together various grass-roots movements will become counter productive. The pacifist world outlook of the agencies under the guise of people's organisations could smash a movement like Nandigram in no time.

For the NGO’s, the militant movements like Kalinganagar, Singur, andigram or Polavaram are the fields for study and projects for earning enormous amounts of money or shaping fighting forces into fine-tuned elite activists who are made to turn away from their own people and their struggles. The movements are diffused by co-opting sections of the youth from the same displaced people as agents of imperialists through projects of ‘capacity building’ with the so-called modern institutions of ‘good governance’.

Displacement and Rehabilitation Policies:
The uncompromising principle of our fight should have at its centre the slogan of ‘a big NO to displacement’. Similarly, a big NO to rehabilitation packages, however progressive it may sound. No compensation whatever the magnitude it maybe should be acceptable for all of us. The total rejection of displacement-and-rehabilitation frame should be the central motto of such resistance movement.

However, we should demand for the just and proper rehabilitation of all those millions of families and people who have been displaced since 1947 as a result of mining, mega-projects, dams, industries, etc. Displacement as a concept should be removed from the notion of development.

Displacement is an exclusivist principle which is central to the present model of development. Any policy of rehabilitation is used only to divide the people who oppose the imposition of sacrifice on them for the benefit of others who benefit from the projects. For example, after 1947, there has been no project or dam where at least a sizeable population is rehabilitated. Rehabilitation is an impossible scheme, no matter whatever the progressive nature of the rehabilitation package/policy is, in this model of development. We must understand that rehabilitation means throwing some crumbs of leftovers. We should also realise that no just rehabilitation can ever be made possible.

Alternative Model of Development:
An alternative model of development can be built only by smashing the present model of development which is inspired by the colonial world order and in turn serves it. An alternative model of development is a people-centred model based on a self-reliant economy which is free from all kinds of imperialist influences and pressures. It must smash the feudal structures that are still in vogue in our country and it should rise from its death knell. This model basically addresses the well-being of the people and serves their interests. A people-oriented model of development allows the natural resources of the country to be used in a limited way for the needs of the masses of people, not for surplus generation for the capitalists and imperialists or for extravagant business of a handful of elite class or for creating a consumerist market.

An alternative model of development could be built as part of the resistant movement of the people to the present exploitative model of imperialist development. The resistance struggle of the people against the present model of development cannot be seen in isolation from what the people’s struggle should build in the course of it.

The SEZ policy has to be totally reversed. In the place of the present exploitative regime, indigenous industry that generates employment and displaces none from their natural habitats should be developed. Not only protecting labour rights should be the policy while building the indigenous industry be pursued, but the industry should be run and managed by the workers themselves. This kind of an alternative model of development is possible only when we start from below by depending and developing agriculture sector through distributing land to the landless peasants. The agro-based industry which serves the purpose of absorbing the agrarian produce and surplus labour from the rural sector should be developed. This model should develop with an aim to drive towards ‘community ownership and individual right to use land and industry’. Land should not be allowed to concentrate in the hands of a few nor should it be allocated to build large and mega industrial complexes. The infrastructure projects should in fact concentrate on building people’s health care and education systems instead of building super high ways or mega malls.

Protection of environment, developing regeneration methods of natural resources should be integral part of this alternative developmental model. Industry and business that aims at super profits could never address this question. It’s only by smashing the concept of surplus generation in the hands of a few people that one can build towards environmental regeneration. People take the decision-making power into their hands in this developmental model. Reproduction of everlasting methods of equitable distribution of resources and produces should be ensured.

We cannot fight effectively against the present model of development without also simultaneously projecting an alternative model of development which should gradually take concrete shape in the hands of the struggling people. This in turn is possible only by the people’s organizations with vast experience of working among the peoples’ resistance movements to come up with a model to be placed before the people. As part of the united resistance movement on a short term basis, people’s sectors of production should be built like the soviets in the revolutionary Russia. The gains of the resistance movements should be turned into at least partial successes by consolidating into people’s sectors. However, one should be extremely careful not to fall into the reformist mould and these small projects of alternative models of development should be protected as part of continuation of the resistance movement further till imperialists and their local agents are removed from power.

Towards a United Struggle:
We should all work together to build a resistance movement to put an end to the present developmental model, the sole purpose of which has been opening up of our natural resources to the imperialist monopolies and exploitation of our labour resources at cheapest possible rates and opening up of our market for the MNCs goods. We should hold this developmental model for the perpetuation of inequalities of unprecedented proportions in our society.

Dear Friends,
Nandigram has become an icon. It is a dynamic icon, a living symbol, of the struggling masses of India. It is like Naxalbari. Like Naxalbari sprouted everywhere in India. Like Naxalbari which challenged the mighty Indian dalal state in the world. It challenges the so-called left rule in West Bengal. It tore apart the pretensions of the so-called socialist, secular democracy, the largest democracy in the world.

And it challenges the Indian Parliamentary democracy. It may not carry all the ideological overtones of Naxalbari with it. It may not have reverberated with all that Naxalbari stood for. Nevertheless Nandigram promises all that Naxalbari gave us. Nandigram has evolved as the model of peoples’ resistance against displacement of people across the country today from their local habitats whether it is through SEZs, big mining projects, big dams, big industrial complexes and urban displacement in vast proportions.

Let us take Nandigram to our hearts.
And our deeds. Because it is anti-imperialist; anti-feudal. Because it tells us to sacrifice our lives and our comforts and professions and makes us realize it is the stepping stone to fight for all freedoms of life.

Email: rdfindia@gmail.com

RDF Press Release

2008-01-24T14:58:00.000-08:00

12 December 2006
New Delhi

MAKE SUCCESS DECEMBER 14 ALL INDIA GENERAL STRIKE!

The Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) calls upon the people from all walks life to support the All India General Strike on 14th December 2006 being observed by thousands of workers’ and employees’ unions from across the country.

The RDF calls on the workers and employees to make the strike a great success and use it as a first step to initiate a larger struggle.

The ruling classes have stepped up their pro-imperialist and capitalist policies in the recent years in the name of ‘second phase of globalisation’ or ‘human face globalisation’. The economic policies pursued by the UPA government have been pro-imperialist and capitalist, and anti-worker and anti-people. The UPA government is preparing a legislation on unorganised workers unilaterally without their representation in the committee. The labour policy for the Eleventh Plan is also being prepared without consulting the workers. The government has decided further to amend the labour laws to provide hire and fire policy despite strong opposition of all the trade unions. The reduction in the rate of interest on the Provident Fund deposits of Rs 128,000 crores has made employees feel insecure and introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme in the place of old pension scheme and the reduction in the pensionary benefits have caused anger among the workers. The dismantling of the public distribution system has been responsible for a sharp rise in the prices of all essential commodities, badly affecting the livelihood of poor people.

Employment Guarantee Scheme is neither properly implemented nor is it extended to all parts of the country. Notwithstanding all the show about 10% rate of growth and India on the path of becoming a superpower, the unemployment has sharply increased in the last 2 ½ years phenomenally under the UPA regime

The labour laws will not be implemented in hundreds of SEZs that are going to mushroom up all over the country. These SEZs are going to be the deemed foreign territories where workers will have no rights to organise themselves. The right to strike will not be allowed.

A number of workers’ and employees’ unions like All India Federations and Associations of employees and workers in bank, central & state government departments, insurance, railway, civil aviation, defence, postal, petroleum, telecom and several other sector unions and hundreds of independent unions have joined together to implement the General Strike. Among the major sponsoring trade unions are AICCTU, AITUC, CITU, HMS, TUCC, UTUC and UTUC-LS, the leaders of which trail behind the same comprador ruling sections and parties, always deceiving the workers and employees and all sections of the masses of people. The real reason behind losing many a battle front initiated by the workers is this leadership.

The RDF calls on the workers and employees to make the General Strike a success and come out militantly to lead their own struggles leaving behind the traitorous leadership to the pro-imperialist and anti-people parties like Congress, BJP, CPI (M), CPI, Janata Dal, TDP, AIADK, DMK, Shiv Sena, Trinamul, RJD, Samajwadi, etc., to whom they, anyway, belong.

Let us build uncompromising struggles that can make the workers and employees decide to their own future without getting deceived by the traitorous leadership belonging to the same parties which are responsible for the anti-worker and anti-people policies.

RAJKISHORE
General Secretary
RDF

RDF Press Release

2008-01-24T14:56:00.000-08:00

09 December 2006

CONDEMN THE FABRICATED CASES BOOKED
AGAINST THE STUDENT LEADER ABHISHEK MUKERJEE!

STOP REPRESSION ON THE PEOPLE STRUGGLING AGAINST
THE ACQUISITION OF LAND IN SINGUR!!

Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) strongly condemns the arrest of Abhishek Mukerjee, General Secretary of Revolutionary Students Front (RSF), a constituent of RDF, West Bengal on 8th December 2006. Abhishek was returning after attending a public meeting at Jadavpur University. The public meeting was organized by RSF to protest against the repression being let loose by the West Bengal state and its police on the people and organizations struggling against the forced acquisition of the farmers land at Singur in District Hoogly.

The West Bengal 'Left' Front Govt. lead by CPM is bent upon leaving all the doors open for the foreign capital. For the last many years it had been ambiguously opposing the imperialist penetration into West Bengal but actually trying to woo it by saying that it is preparing ground for industrial peace so that the foreign capital may find a conducive ground for huge investments. Now they have started nakedly inviting FDI. As it has been impossible for it to create this "peaceful" social and industrial environment, it is resorting to massive repression against the people who are opposing such projects and the acquisition of land. Now CM, Budhadeb Bhatacharjee, has openly asked the people to stop their resistance.

RSF has been actively involved in opposing this acquisition. As it is well known, this land which is about one thousand acres is being handed over to the Tatas for their small car project.

This meeting was attended and addressed by Medha Patkar convener of National Alliance of Peoples Movement (NAPM), Sujato Bhadra, General Secretary of Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, W.B., Shebendu Das Gupta, Professor Kolkota University and Nabarun Bhatacharji, a well known poet and many others.

Abhishek was picked up along with five other members of RSF and they were taken to Beniapukur police station. While others were let off, Abhishek was arrested and has been charged under sections 120-B, 147, 148, 149, 452 and 427 Cr.P.C. It is learnt that he has since been taken to Police Headquarters at Lal Bazar and it is feared that he will be tortured in police custody.

RDF unequivocally demands the unconditional and immediate release of Abhishek and upholds the democratic right of people to protest against the anti-people policies of the State. RDF condemns the repression let loose by the Left Front Govt. of West Bengal against the people who are resisting these pro imperialist policies and projects.

RDF calls on the people to support and participate in the All India industrial Strike on December 14th by observing it in West Bengal as Bangla Bandh. This Bandh is being organized by Gana Pratirodh Manch (RDF) against the West Bengal Govt.'s Industrial, Land and Agriculture policies

CATAS Press Invitation

2008-01-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

4th November 2006

COMMITTEE FOR THE ASSISTANCE OF TRIBALS
AFFECTED BY SALWA JUDUM (CATAS)

Invitation for Press Conference

To,
The Chief Editor/ Correspondent/ Bureau Chief,

Salwa Judum has been now established as the notorious design of the state machinery to terrorise indigenous people of Bastar. It is unfortunate that in the misguided mission of the State against the people struggling for their right to life with dignity, the very essence of a democratic polity, hundreds of villages have been literally burnt down, thousands of tribal have been uprooted and huddled together in camps reminiscent of the war-time concentration camps and notorious regrouping exercise in Mizoram that has left a permanent anti-Indian mark on the suffering people of that area. A 7-member team of adivasi young cultural artistes has taken a long tour of all the States to arouse the conscience of the people of this country with an appeal for standing by the suffering humanity and help in ending this darkest chapter in the history of our country that is known for the vivacious diversity enriched by hundreds of tribal communities.

This team of Artistes’ is concluding its humane sojourn on the 8th of November at Delhi with a grand public performance at Ambedkar Bhawan, Pahargunj and organizing a protest rally on 9th November from Mandi House to Parliament Street. In this context, we hold this Press Conference seeking to provide an opportunity for the young adivasi cultural artistes, coming from the Dantewara area where Salwa Judum atrocities have been taking place, to speak to the press with a view to air their feelings and emotions.

The Press Conference is scheduled on 7th November, 2006 at 3 P.M. at Press Club of India, New Delhi. Along with the adivasi team, Dr B D Sharma, Hari Singh Tarq, N D Pancholi, Varavara Rao, Rajkishor, Vinayak Sen, G N Saibaba, and Kumar Sanjay Singh will address the Press Conference.

We request you to depute a senior reporter and a photographer/ cameraperson to cover the press conference and the performance of the adivasi young cultural artistes and cover the same in your esteemed newspaper/ television channel.
Thank you very much.

Dr. B D Sharma
I.A.S. (Retd)
Former Vice-Chancellor of North Eastern University, Shillong and
Former Commissioner for Schedule Castes and Tribes, Government of India
Contact Address: 11-A, Nangli Rajapur, Nizamuddin (East), New Delhi 110013
Phone Number: 011-24353997. 09868140997 (Anjani)

RDF Appeal

2008-01-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

RELEASE COMRADE BUDHINI MUNDA IMMEDIATELY!

Comrade Budhni Munda, President of Nari Mukti Sangh was arrested by the Sundergarh and Rourkela Police in Orissa along with two other activists, Sanjay alias Bijay Tudu, and Rajan Rahul Munda at Gati Jaran in Ladhi Matha Police Station limits on 7th September 2006 at 7 A.M. They were interrogated for 36 hours illegally in the CRPF camp at Lathikata before producing before a local magistrate.

Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) severely indicts the illegal arrest of comrade Budhini Munda and others. Comrade Budhini Munda is also known as Sobha and Shila. It was learnt that she had been to Orissa as part of her organization’s work. She organizes Nari Mukti Sangh in four states including Orissa.

Nari Mukti Sangh is working legally and uses all open means of protest methods. Budhini Munda and two others who have been arrested along with her were remanded to police custody on the 8th evening in the name of further police investigations. We condemn this act of police taking her into their custody and further torturing her psychologically.

We demand that her police remand be cancelled and she should be sent to judicial remand. We demand her release on bail or by scraping all illegal cases booked on her.

The RDF calls for a 24 hours bandh in Orissa, Jharkhand, and Bihar on 14th October, 2006. We appeal to all sections of people in these three states to observe bandh (General Strike) voluntarily and make it a success. We also appeal to all democratic organizations to support the bandh call.

Rajkishore
General Secretary

Post Box No. 11664
Pushpa Bhawan
New Delhi-62
rdfindia@gmail.com

RDF Press Release

2008-01-24T14:50:00.000-08:00

RELEASE RAJANNA, GENERAL SECRETARY OF CPI ML (JANASHAKTI) !

We have received information that five leaders of CPI ML (Janashakti) including its all India General Secretary, Rajanna were arrested between Lucknow Bara Banki railway stations at 2.30 P.M. on 31st August 2006. The other four are A. Narasimha Reddy, a retired teacher from Andhra Pradesh, Narasimhaiah, Central Committee member, Ashok Kumar, UP and Ramu Pawar, Maharashtra – all belonging to the same party. All these CPI ML (Janashakti) comrades are senior leaders of the party.

Rajanna is the present all India General Secretary of CPI ML (Janashakti), who hails from Andhra Pradesh. Ramu Pawar belongs to Maharashtra and secretary of that state committee of CPI ML (Janashakti), while Narasimahaih is the Central Committee member of the same Party. A. Narasimha Reddy is a Government school teacher and the President of Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation.

Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) demands that they should be immediately either released unharmed or produced in a court of law. There is a threat to their lives as it is know that revolutionary and social activists whenever are detained illegally are many a time killed in the name of encounters.

We also appeal to the National Human Rights Commission to intervene and save the lives of these five leaders.

We appeal to all democratic rights, civil rights and human rights organizations to immediately intervene and pressurize the government to safeguard the lives of these revolutionaries and social activists.

RAJKISHORE
General Secretary
Post Box No. 11664
Pushpa Bhawan
New Delhi 62
rdfindia@gmail.com

CATAS Appeal

2008-01-24T14:46:00.000-08:00

July 2006

COMMITTEE FOR THE ASSISTANCE OF TRIBALS
AFFECTED BY SALWA JUDUM (CATAS)

All India Mass Campaign Against the Attack on the
very Existence of Adivasis, their Culture and Habitat,
in the name of ‘Salwa Judum’.

STOP THE STATE TERROR!
LEND SUPPORT TO THE DISPLACED TRIBALS!!

It is now over one year since the Government of India launched its massive onslaught against the tribals of Bastar in the name of Salwa Judum. Their only crime is that they have lent full support to the Naxalites who have now spent 25 years amongst them. It is now clear that the initial reports were a government spread lie that the Salwa Judum was a spontaneous uprising against the Maoists. Numerous visits of journalists, academics and even government officials have proven that it is nothing but a state sponsored terror campaign. It is estimated that till now over 250 have been mercilessly and brutally killed, about 100 women have been gang-raped (and many then killed), 3,000 houses have been burnt down in 700 villages and over 60,000 tribals have been forcibly displaced and re-settled in what are de-facto concentration camps. A whole populace has been uprooted from their habitat of which they were an organic part and re-settled in horrifying conditions on the roadside next to the police and para-military camps under the watchful eye of the Salwa Judum hoodlums.

Why Salwa Judum Now?
Even after the so-called independence the tribals of Bastar, as in other parts of the country, lived a marginalised existence in extreme poverty and backwardness looted by one and all. Their own village elders would fleece them, so would the forest officials, the traders, the police, and the entire bureaucratic apparatus. Tendu leaf contractors, paper mill contractors, and others would exploit their labour for a pittance. The tribal women were used by these contractors, traders, police, bureaucrats, etc at will and had to be at their beck and call. There was no education in the region, no medical health care, no development of agriculture and no means of livelihood. Even the meager amounts they earned through agriculture and sale of forest produce were robbed from them by the exploiters. It was worse than an animal-like existence. This continued during British rule and there was no change whatsoever after 1947.

It was in this scenario that the Naxalites entered their lives in 1980. They integrated deeply with the tribals; shared their woes; ate the same food that they shared with them; and taught them a life of self-respect. They showed them the reasons for their poverty and organised them to fight the exploitation of the landlords, forest officials, police, bureaucrats and traders. They organised them for a decent wage for tendu picking and cutting wood. They stopped the fleecing by traders by demanding a reasonable rate for forest produce and a proper rate for purchase of essential items like salt.

Over the years as the Naxalites gained in strength the tribals got a whiff of freedom for the first time ever. Not only did they end generations of exploitation they began to take control over their lives and habitat. The three slogans resounded in ever corner of Bastar: ‘Forest, Land, Water belong to the Adivasis’; ‘Land to the Tiller’; ‘All Power to the Kisan Organisation’. Having put an end to the exploitation their living standards began to improve; and the Naxalites also brought basic education and health care to the tribals. The government and landed interests sought to crush this new awakening many a time through mass repression but the tribals, led by the Maoists, successfully beat them back. Of course, many in the process heroically laid down their lives, including some top leaders. But the movement grew in depth and width spreading to newer and newer areas.

By the 1990s the exploiters had been chased away, the power was in the hands of the Kisan organisations and they asserted their new power through building up their agriculture, small irrigation projects and other developmental works and adjudicating justice through the people’s courts. All this development was done through shramdan. By 2000 the tribals began building the rudimentary forms of their new people’s government in the form of the Revolutionary People’s Committees.

Then came the era of globalization and the post 9/11 scenario, a even more vicious offensive of imperialism on backward countries of the world. Our slavish rulers, no matter which party was in power, capitulated totally, implementing fully their policies of loot of our country. The new UPA government outdid the NDA and within just one year signed over Rs.3 lakh crores of MoUs to the international and comprador mining mafia. A month before the Salwa Judum was launched, in May 2005, the BJP Chief Minister of Chhathisgarh went on a trip to the USA and signed many a secret agreement, including one with the US power company, Texas Power Cooperation. In the very month the Salwa Judum was started, June 2005, a MoU was signed with the Tatas for iron ore mining in Dantewada (the focal point of the initial attack). Then in February and May 2006 the Mumbai-based US consulate made two trips to Chhathisgarh and even visited the Jungle Warfare military camp at Kanker. The Chhathisgarh government have signed MoUs worth Rs.60,000 crores with the mining mafia.

Bastar is extremely rich in mineral and forest wealth, including high grade iron ore, limestone, dolomite, diamonds, bauxite and a host of precious forest produce, besides the normal wood and tendu leaf. The imperialists and compradors have their eyes on this huge wealth and they know that this loot is impossible without crushing the Naxalites in the area. And this is the prime reason for the present vicious attack in the name of Salwa Judum. Its ruthlessness and brutality can be measured by the potential profit from this area.

Destruction of Adivasis Culture and Habitat
The Adivasis of Bastar have a deep relation with their habitat — the land, forests, rivers — in which they have existed for centuries. They have seen what ‘development’ the Bailladilla iron ore mine has brought them, where top grade iron ore is fully looted by the Japanese imperialists. Not one tribal was given a proper job; they work for rapacious contractors for 12 hours per day for a pittance; their women have been forcibly use by contractors and traders and hundreds pushed to prostitution — in this mining town life is a living hell for the tribals while the ‘outsiders’ have reaped crores. They know this will be their ‘development’ when the others too move in. The new proposed plants being private could be even more horrifying. So they have uncompromisingly been opposing all such ‘development’ as in the Nagarnar Steel Plant and have stopped attempts to set up mines in Raoghar and other places. Seeing this effective resistance the moneybags have pushed into service their mercenary forces to physically liquidate the tribals and the revolutionary movement of which they are a part.

The level of state brutality, whether by the Naga forces, the CRPF or the Salwa Judum hoodlums, is unbelievable. Heads are chopped off and planted on posts in the village to terrorise the populace. Women are gang-raped and then their stomachs ripped open and foetus thrown out and crushed. Youth are brutally tortured and then killed. Many are chopped to pieces even while alive. Entire villages are being burnt down, all their belongings looted and even their crops destroyed. Thereby they are being forced into the roadside camps under direct vigil of the police/paramilitary and control of the Salwa Judum hoodlums. Here their entire tribal existence is sought to be destroyed as they are being forcibly removed from their natural habitat.

Now over 50,000 have been forced into these hell holes. Tribals are told that “either you live in these camps or we will consider you a Maoist and kill you”. They use the Bush formula “either you are with us (here Salwa Judum) or we consider you an enemy (here Maoist)”.

The purpose of such settlements are, first, to separate the population from the influence of the Maoists and thereby make their attack on the Maoists easier; second, to clear the forests forcibly and hand it over to the imperialists and compradors.

All the camps are located next to the para-military/police camps which have been set up every 5 kms in the name of carpet security. They are ‘guarded’ (terrorized) by the Salwa Judum goons now converted into SPOs (Special Police Officers) on a salary of Rs.1,500 per month. These SPOs are a law to themselves, and regularly beat, torture, and kill people and rape the women. The camps have no hygiene, no medical facility and the people no source of income. They have to work like slaves on any work given by the mercenary forces and at a payment they decide. The health conditions of the children, old and women in these camps are particularly bad. All young women are regularly used by both the Salwa Judum goons and the para-military. If anyone is suspected to show sympathy to the Maoists they are cruelly tortured and even killed. Their bodies are thrown into the Indravati river and no record is kept.

Salwa Judum is a Gondi term meaning “cooperative (joint) hunting”. Here the hunters are the state forces and the victims are the tribals. They are to be hunted down until they surrender to the moneybags and go back to their earlier slavish existence and serve the mining mafia docilely. Meanwhile a whole populace is sought to be destroyed and an entire culture uprooted by the so-called forces of civilization.

Appeal to the People of our Country
Inspite of this terror the people of Bastar and the Maoists have been putting up a heroic resistance. They have been fighting back to maintain the gains achieved over the past two-and-a-half decades. So far, inspite of the inhuman terror they have been able to successfully beat back the mercenary forces and expose the real character of the Salwa Judum. The people of Bastar are confident they will win, as justice is on their side.

Today it is the tribals of Bastar, tomorrow it will be the people of Orissa, Jharkhand, AP, West Bengal, etc. and elsewhere where huge projects are planned. In the past decade over one lakh peasants have been forced to suicide. This is the official figure the actual toll will be far worse. What is at stake is the very future of this country and its people being pushed to the brink by the present imperialist/US-sponsored model of development. Tomorrow it will be you. Except for the top elite no one can escape the ill effects of the imperialist sponsored rapacious polices in our country.

And while crores are being pushed to destitution a handful of urban elite are allowed to mint crores and crores of rupees. There are two Indias: one comprising 90% of the oppressed masses living in hell-holes; the other of the malls and multiplexes living a luxurious life as an adjunct of the imperialist project. The first is the real India; the second a foreign/imperialist enclave. All must choose where they belong.

Dear friends,
We Appeal to you to actively come out in support of the oppressed tribals of Bastar. We Appeal to you to strongly condemn the brutalities being perpetrated on these tribals in the name of Salwa Judum. We appeal to you to protest in whatever way possible against the genocide going on there. We appeal to you to help the tribals there in whatever way you can, whether it is through giving monetary support, medicine, clothing, or in any other small way. We Appeal to you to join the battle against the imperialist/US sponsored policies of development which is destroying our country and its people. We appeal to you to say a big NO to Salwa Judum type actions whether in Bastar or in any other part of the country.

Orissa Govt.'s Ban on Democratic Organisations

2008-01-24T14:43:00.001-08:00

Dear friends and comrades,

Orissa Govt. has banned seven mass and democratic organizations today on 09-06-2006. These are peasant-workers-cultural organizations including democratic organizations like Daman Pratirodh Manch and Revolutionary Democratic Front.

We condemn this undemocratic and repressive measure of the Orissa Govt. We call upon all the democratic and justice loving organizations and individuals to raise their voice of protest against this anti people decision of the Orissa Govt.

PRESS CLIPPINGS

Orissa to Ban CPI (Maoist), 7 Front Forums
Bhubaneswar, June. 9 (PTI): The Orissa Government today decided to ban CPI (Maoist) and its seven front organisations. The seven naxalite organisations are Daman Pratirodh Manch, Revolutionary Democratic Front, Chasi Mulia Samiti, Kui Mulia Samiti, Kui Lawenga Sangha, Jan Natya Mandali, Krantikari Kissan Samiti and Bal Sangam, Home Secretary Santosh Kumar said after a cabinet meeting. The state cabinet has also announced a comprehensive rehabilitation package for naxalites who would surrender before the administration

NDTV Correspondent
Friday, June 9, 2006 (Bhubaneshwar):
The Orissa government has banned the CPI-Maoist and seven of their front organizations. The state cabinet took the decision after an escalation in naxal violence.

However the state home secretary has clarified that this will not lead to arrest of the office bearers of the organisations or any raid on their offices. But they will not be allowed to hold any more rallies or public meetings, although simultaneously the cabinet recommended a rehabilitation package for surrendered extremists.

The rehabilitation package includes cash incentives up to Rs 20,000, allotment of homestead land, bank loan and subsidy and withdrawal of cases involving minor offences. The seven organisations which have now been declared unlawful in the state are: Daman Pratirodh Manch, Revolutionary Democratic Front, Chasi Mulia Sangh, Jana Natya Mandali, Krantikari Kisan Samiti and Bal Sangam.

Press Release by Independent Citizen's Initiative

2008-01-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

29 May 2006
New Delhi

Citizens’ Panel Warns of Civil War in Chhattisgarh.

Calls for End to ‘Salwa Judum’ Campaign
and Judicial Inquiry.

An Independent Citizen’s Initiative of writers, senior journalists and former civil servants visited Dantewara district of Chhattisgarh State between 17 and 21 May 2006. It traveled through the entire district talking to a wide cross-section of people – displaced villagers in camps, political leaders, government and police officials, social workers, journalists, and other citizens. It found that the situation in Dantewara district is extremely serious. There is an atmosphere of fear and a great deal of violence in which ordinary villagers, and tribals in particular, are the main sufferers. The violence by Maoists guerillas continues. On the other side, in several areas the Chhattisgarh administration appears to have ‘outsourced’ law and order to an unaccountable, undisciplined and amorphous group which calls itself Salwa Judum. The leadership of this group has passed into the hands of criminal elements who are not in the control of the administration. Violence is no answer to violence.

Our investigations show that the civil administration is on the point of collapse. Despite carrying letters from the Additional Chief Secretary and informing all officials of our visit, our movement was strictly curbed. We were prevented from visiting villages where serious human rights violations were reported. We were physically attacked three times by Salwa Judum members, manhandled, and our possessions stolen, with the police standing by.

We found that society has been deeply divided. Villages and families have been set against each other. Minors are being used as Special Police Officers (SPOs), and armed with lathis and guns. An entire section of society is being criminalized by being made complicit in salwa judum’s violence, and also made vulnerable to retaliatory attacks by Maoists and their village level supporters. Instead of bringing in peace and security, Salwa Judum has increased insecurity all around.

The Independent Citizen’s Initiative found evidence of killings, the burning of homes, and attacks on women, including gang-rape. Only the killings by Maoists are recorded, while the killings and other incidents of violence by Salwa Judum have been ignored. Arrests appear arbitrary, and several people seem to be missing. All these incidents need to be thoroughly investigated. The press is tightly controlled and intimidated, and feels unable to report the truth.

Thousands of villagers have been forced to come and live in camps. Camp conditions are seriously inadequate. Beyond building some roadside houses, the government appears to have no long-term plans for the rehabilitation or safe return of villagers.

We believe that for the violence to end, and for the citizens of Dantewara to live peaceful and normal lives, the Government of Chhattisgarh needs to immediately take these corrective measures:

1.The Salwa Judum must be stopped immediately, its members disarmed, and control reasserted by the state administration.

2.To restore governance, the government must revamp all top level administration in the area and position those known to have empathy for adivasis. The law-and-order machinery must be repaired and restored so that it is fully accountable and protects the lives, security and dignity of the citizens of Dantewara.

3.The government must facilitate and enable the return to their villages of those in camps. For this, both Maoists and the government must come to a ceasefire.

We appeal to the Government of India, jointly with the Government of Chhattisgarh, to:

4.Institute a full, impartial, credible and time-bound enquiry into the incidents of violence by Maoists as well as Salwa Judum in Dantewara in the last one year.

5.Since the Maoists are not confined to Chhattisgarh, the Government of India must start a national dialogue with the Maoists.

We appeal to the Maoists to stop violence, to facilitate conditions of peace and normalcy, and enable the return of displaced people to their own homes and villages.

The members of the Independent Citizen’s Initiative were:

Dr Ramachandra Guha (historian and columnist, Bangalore)
Mr Harivansh (editor, Prabhat Khabar, Ranchi),
Ms Farah Naqvi (writer and social activist, New Delhi),
Mr EAS Sarma (former Secretary, Government of India, Visakhapatnam),
Dr Nandini Sundar (Professor of Sociology, Delhi University),
Mr. B. G. Verghese (former editor, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, New Delhi).

RDF Circular on Political Prisoners

2008-01-24T14:38:00.000-08:00

As per the decision of the last EC meeting in Delhi, an All India Committee for the release of Political prisoners has been formed in Delhi in a meeting held on 23rd April 2006.

All the state units of RDF are requested to take up the following tasks to take the activities of the Committee in all states where RDF is working.

1.Form similar committees with the same name if possible in all the states immediately. A prominent democrat can be requested to be the convenor of a state committee. He/she should be active and attend the all India committee whenever a meeting is called for.

2.Contact as many lawyers and civil rights leaders and activists as possible and request them to be part of the committee. All pro-people organisations who are interested in raising their voice for the release of political prisoners should also be contacted to be part of the state committee.

3.The name of the committee as indicated in the decisions of the Committee is “Campaign Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners’.

4.Kindly collect and send the following information:
a) Lists of all political prisoners in your state. This should include political prisoners belonging to other organisations including political prisoners belonging to the Muslim organisations, if any, in your state. You can send the lists or details as and when you collect some without waiting for the full details and can send the rest later.
b) Also send the case profiles and personal profiles of some important political prisoners.
c) Send the details of the common masses on whom cases are imposed for their afflictions with political movement.
d) The details of pending/ ongoing TADA/POTA / CLA cases should compulsorily be sent.
e) Please go through the list of members of the Campaign Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners and contact more people and request them to be part of this. And send their names to the address given for the Committee in Delhi. Also send these names through the email given here.
f) Please consult and include IAPL Lawyers if that organisation is there in your state.
g) Address of the Committee for correspondence for the Campaign Committee
Prof. Nirmalashu Mukherjee
38/2, Probyn Road,
Delhi 100 007
Email address: notoprisons@gmail.com

With revolutionary Greetings,
Yours in struggle,

RAJKISHORE
General Secretary
RDF

Meeting on Political Prisoners in India

2008-01-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

23rd April, 2006
Ambedkar Bhawan
New Delhi

MEETING TO DISCUSS THE ISSUE
OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN INDIA

A number of democrats and democratic organisations mainly from Delhi but also from other states met in Delhi on 23 April 2006 in Ambedkar Bhawan, Pahargunj and discussed the problems of thousands of political prisoners incarcerated in various prisons across the country.

The following decisions were unanimously taken at the end of the meeting:

1. A committee with a name Campaign Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners is formally and initially formed in this meeting with an open invitation for organisations and individual democrats to join in the committee. Some organisations, participated in the meeting as observers, would later confirm their participation after discussing in their respective organisations.

2. A number of organisations and individuals who have been approached from various states are announced as part of the Campaign Committee.

3. More organisations and individuals will be approached to join the committee.

4. The committee will have a 10-member executive initially working from Delhi to initiate and to look after the work of the Campaign Committee. The persons who offered to be on the committee are: Prashant Bhushan, Nirmalanshu Mukherjee, SAR Geelani, N D Pancholi, Vijay Singh, Saibaba and Rakesh Shukla. Three others will be approached to join this committee.

5. Professor Nirmalanshu Mukherjee, University of Delhi offered his residential address for the Campaign Committee. Now onwards his address 38/2, Probyn Road, Delhi 100 007 is the address for correspondence for the Campaign Committee. Email address: notoprisons@gmail.com

6. It was decided to collect the concrete details of the cases of the political prisoners from various states. A data bank of the political prisoners is be to prepared with the help of which an analysis has to be prepared.

7. Two activists based on Delhi with the skills of documenting and preparing the analysis of the cases of political prisoners will found to work fulltime for the committee. A team of senior lawyers will guide these activists.

8. It was decided to form the similar Campaign Committees in all states with the active initiation of all those who consented to form the committee.

9. It was decided to approach all civil and human rights organisations in the country to assist the Campaign Committee in securing and compiling the data regarding all cases of political prisoners and conditions of prisons. Organisations which are part of the committee or organisations whose activists and leaders are arrested will also be approached to provide the details of the political prisoners.

10. The tabulation sheets or proforma models for collecting the details will be prepared by the senior advocates in Delhi. Prashant Bhushan has taken the responsibility for this.

11. A note on the concept of political prisoners will be prepared by the 10-member executive committee.

12. A mass campaign will be launched to take the issue of political prisoners to the wider people in India and abroad. The campaign will create a public opinion for the release of political prisoners of all organisations irrespective of their political opinion or perspective.

13. Initially some important political cases will be gathered and analysed to present them before the people and government.

14. A Jan Sunwai will be held in August/ September 2006 in a big way.

15. The Campaign will be run all over India and internationally.

Delhi
1.Achin Vanaik, University of Delhi
2.Akhilesh Gaur
3.Anand Chakravarti, University of Delhi
4.Anand Swaroop Verma, Social Activist
5.Anil Chamaria, writer, Columnist
6.Arundhati Roy , Writer, New Delhi
7.Bela Bhatia
8.Bhim Sen Tyagi
9.Dasharatha, Advocate, IAPL, Delhi
10.Debashish, Doctor, (Observer), PDSU, Delhi
11.Deeptika Tandon, Delhi University
12.Gautam Navlakha, Editorial Consultant, EPW
13.Haripal Tyagi, Artist, Delhi
14.Harish Dhawan., Delhi University
15.Sidhantkar, ICTU
16.Javed Malik, University of Delhi
17.JP Sharma, ( Observer), AIFTU, Delhi
18.Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Professor, JNU
19.Manorajan Mohanti, Lok Chakra, retired Professor, University of Delhi
20.N K Bhattacharya, Jan Hastkshep, Delhi
21.N.D. Pancholi, Advocate, New Delhi
22.Nagaraju, Social Activist, Delhi
23.Neeraj Malik, University of Delhi
24.Nirmalanshu Mukherjee, University of Delhi
25.Pankaj Bist, Writer
26.Praful Bidwai, Writer, Delhi
27.Prashant Bhushan, Advocate, New Delhi
28.Prempati, Social Activist
29.Raj Kishore Secretary, R.D.F.
30.Rajendra yadav, writer
31.Rajesh Tyagi, Advocate, Delhi
32.Rakesh Shukla, Advocate, Delhi
33.Ramesh Anand
34.Ramkumar Kishak
35.Rona Wilson, Research Scholar, JNU, New Delhi
36.Saibaba, University of Delhi
37.SAR Geelani, University of Delhi
38.Shahana Bhattacharya, Delhi University
39.Sharmila Purkuyastha, Delhi University
40.Sohan Chaudhary
41.Tripta Wahi, University of Delhi
42.Ujjwal Kumar, University of Delhi
43.Umachakravorty, Professor, Delhi University
44.Vijay Singh E.C., DUTA, Delhi.
45.Viswanath Tripathi

Uttar Pradesh
46.Anupam Sharma, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
47.Ashok Prakash, Convenor, Shahid Bhagat Singh Chetna Manch, Aligarh.
48.Bhagawant Prasad, Rtd. District Judge, Allahabad
49.BM Nagar, Ex President, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti
50.Charles Samuel Singh, Aligarh Civil Court
51.Chaudhary R P Singh, Aligarh Civil Court
52.CP Sharma, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
53.Abinesh Agrawal, Dept., of Physics, Bareilly College
54.Ful Singh Baghel, Aligarh Civil Court
55.H.N. Singh, Advocate, Chairman, Bar Council, Aligarh Civil Court
56.Hari Om Barsheney, Advocate, Aligarh Civil Court
57.Hasmat Ali, Advocate, Bareilly Court, Bareilly
58.Md. Israr Khan, Reader, Economics Department, MJP
59.Mira Bhattacharya, Rtd., Prof. of Political Science, Gorakhpur University
60.Nahar Khan, Advocate, Bareilly Court, Bareilly
61.Ramdeo Shukla, Professor & Head, Department of Hindi, Gorakhpur University.
62.Rajen Mishra, Aligarh Civil Court
63.Ruhelkhand University, Bareilly
64.S.P. Singh, Advocate, Allahabad High Court, DHRF
65.Surendra Mohan Yadav, Advocate, Bar Council, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
66.Upasana Gautam, Convenor, Jagruk Chatra Manch
67.Y.M. Mishra, Advocate, Allahabad High Court, IAPL

Bihar
68.Meera Dutt, Editor, Talash
69.Mithilesh Kumar, Adocate, IAPL
70.Preeti Sinha, Editor, Filhal

West Bengal
71.Amit Bhattacharjee, Professor, Jadavpur University
72.Amitdyuti Kumar, Vice President, APDR
73.Chotan Das, General Secretary, Bandi Mukti Committee
74.Ram Ratan Chatterjee (APDR), Kolkata
75.Sujata Bhadro, Secretary, APDR

Orissa
76.Anadi Das, Ex-M.P.
77.Dandapani Mohanty, Darman Prathirodh Manch, Orissa
78.KPK Rao, Advocate & TV Reader
79.S.K. Mahapatra, Advocate
80.S.N. Mudali, Advocate
81.Viswapriya Kanunga, Advocate

Jharkhand
82.Jitan Marandi, RDF, Jharkhand
83.Neetai Ravani, Advocate
84.Satyanarayan Bhattacharya, Advocate
85.Shashibhushan Pathak, Democratic Rights activist
86.Tridib Ghosh, Civil Rights Activist

Andhra Pradesh
87.Bojja Tarakam, Advocate, Andhra Pradesh
88.KR Choudhary, Professor & Agricultural Scientist, Andhra Pradesh
89.Lateef Md. Khan, CLMC

Maharashtra
90.K.D. Rao, Advocate, IAPL, Mumbai

Haryana
91.Balbir Singh Saini, Advocate, Ambala, Haryana
92.Balbir Singh, Advocate
93.Ramesh, Democratic Rights activist

Uttarakhand
94.Sunil, President, Progressive Students’ Union, Uttarakhand
95.Prashant Dhayani, Journalist

More names will be included in this list soon.

RDF Press Release

2008-01-24T14:28:00.000-08:00

09.04.2006
BHUBANESWAR

Condemn the Brutal Fascist Onslaught on the
Revolutionary Movement by the Central and State governments!

Stop State and State-sponsored Terror
in the name of Salwa Judum in Chhatisgarh!

The reactionary government of India, with the active support and advice of the US imperialist global terrorists, had unleashed a massive all-round offensive, with the military offensive as the chief component, against the revoltuinary movement in India. Declaring that Maoists are the principal threat in the country today, the reactionary ruling classes have drawn up plans to drown the people’s movements in rivers of blood.

The UPA government led by the Congress at the Centre and the state governments of AP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chathisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra, West Bengal, MP, UP, Uttaranchal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu etc., led by various parties including the revisionist parties, have launched joint operations and countrywide coordinated attacks under the Joint Operational Command. The Chief Ministers, Chief Secretaries, and DGPs of 13 states are meeting frequently to effectively implement this gory plan of enacting blood-bath in these states.

The region stretching from Jharkhand to AP is strategically important for the Indian ruling classes and the imperialists as this region contains most of the minerals and forest wealth in the country. The new alternative movement of the masses at the grass-roots which represents genuine democracy is, obviously, intolerable to the exploiters, ruling our country whose so-called democracy is exposed as the rule of the corrupt, authoritarian, communal and fascist forces that bulge at the expense of the vast majority of the masses of our country. Hence the ruling classes have drawn up a complete plan to unleash a brutal reign of terror to pave the way for investments from the big capitalists of India and the MNCs in this vast mineral-rich region and to nip the growing revolutionary people’s democratic power in the entire region.

The ruling classes have resorted to the age-old dual policy of carrot and stick i.e., reform and repression, to divide the people as well as to suppress them most cruelly. They have poured huge sums of money to win over a tiny section of the people in the areas of struggle, set up private armies on a big scale in almost all the states to eliminate revolutionaries and democratic individuals and create terror, created covert agents and informers from the poorer sections through coercion and outright bribery, killed hundreds of people belonging to the Maoist Party or sympathetic to the revolution, arrested and tortured thousands of people, raped and molested women and destroyed the property of anyone suspected to have links with the revolutionaries.

And this onslaught has reached horrendous proportions in Chhatisgarh where over a hundred people had been killed, including 15 women, 2 minors, 9 old-aged persons, 35 women were raped, 1300 houses in 70 villages were burnt down, and property worth over RS 3½ crore was looted from the poor adivasis during the murderous campaign of Salwa Judum (so-called shanti yatra) since June last to February, 2006. Led by feudal gangster and the pet-dog of Marvari traders lobby, Big capitalists and imperialists, Mahendra Karma; Ram Vichar Netam, the state Home Minister and police and central security forces are invading the hamlets of revolutionary masses of Bastar (Dantewada, Bastar and Kanker) and taking up mopping up (destroy all, loot all and kill all) campaigns. More than fifteen thousand people were forcefully displaced and forced to stay in the slavish like concentration camps of the mercenary armed forces and local reactionary armed gangs. The government, in order to cover up its heinous campaign, has launched a big false propaganda campaign claiming that Salwa Judum is a people’s revolt against the armed hegemony and atrocities of the Naxalites. The media, particularly of Chhattisgarh, is trying to manufacture the consent for this campaign of terror by spreading blatant lies and falsehood and willfully suppressing the truth. While the facts are quite opposite.

Following are the main findings of the all India fact-finding team consisting of PUCL Chhattisgarh and Jharknhand, PUDR, Delhi APDR, West Bengal and IAPL (Indian association of peoples lawyer) about the Salwa Judum:
[An all India team looking into the reality of the alleged violations of human rights and its impact on people’s lives in the course of the Salwa Judum in Dantewada district conducted an investigation between 28 th November and 1st December. The 14-member team met local people in camps as well as in their villages; people arrested during the operation, leaders of Salwa Judum, Police and Civil Administration officials (Collector, SDM) in between 28 th November and 1st December]

The Salwa Judum is far from the spontaneous uprising of tribals against Maoists that it is claimed to be. It is an organized, state managed enterprise that has precedents in the Jan Jagaran Abhiyans that have occurred earlier under the leadership of Mahendra Karma. The Collector himself has been part of 75% of the Salwa Judum meetings and security forces have been backing the Judum’s meetings. The main cadres of Salwa Judum are comprised of Special Police Officers who are being paid and armed by the state, at a rate that is standard in counter insurgency operations across the country.

The Salwa Judum has led to the forcible displacement of people throughout Dantewada, Geedam and Bijapur areas, under police and administrative supervision. According to official estimates approximately 15,000 people from 420 villages are living as refugees in temporary camps. People have left behind their cattle and most of their household goods. The entire area is being cleared of inhabitants even as new roads are being built and more police and para-military stations are being set up. The region is being turned into one large cantonment. In many places regular economic activities like weekly haats have stopped.

We observed a pattern in the dislocation: when Salwa Judum meetings are called, people from neighbouring villages are asked to be present. Heavy security forces accompany the meetings. Villages, which refuse to participate, face repeated attacks by the combined forces of Salwa Judum, the district force and the Naga battalion. In addition, there are separate raids by the Naga Battalion. These raids result in looting, arson and killings in many instances. In some villages, the raids continue till the entire village is cleared while in other cases, only old people, women and children are left. Many villages are coming to camps to avoid these attacks in the first place.

Once in camps, people have no choice but to support the Salwa Judum. Some of them are forced to work as informers against members of their own and neighbouring villages and participate in attacks against them, leading to permanent divisions within villages. Individual families are sometimes being split between Judum supporters and those who wish to remain in their villages. We also came across instances where the Salwa Judum took young people away from the village and their families are unaware of their whereabouts.
It is frightening to note the collapse of civil administration in many parts of Dantewada District. Salwa Judum members man checkpoints on roads, search people’s belongings and control the flow of traffic and buses. They enforce an economic blockade on villages that resist coming to camps. They also try to force civil officials to follow their dictat.

FIRs registering the looting, burning, beatings/torture by Salwa Judum mobs and the security forces are not recorded. We were told of specific instances where Security Forces threw dead bodies inside or near villages. These killings are not reported, and therefore hard to corroborate. Some reports suggest that 96 people from 34 villages have been killed. However, the only killings that are officially recorded are those by Maoists. In the period since Salwa Judum started, it is true that the killings by Maoists have gone up substantially and the official figure today stands at 70. Rather than being a “peace mission” as is claimed, the Salwa Judum has created a situation where violence has escalated.
The Salwa Judum is strongly supported by certain sections of Bastar society. This section comprises of some non-adivasi immigrant settlers from other parts of India, sarpanches and traditional leaders whose power has been threatened by the Maoists, powerful local politicians like Karma, and his network of supporters. Both the local Congress and the BJP are supporting the Salwa Judum together.

In AP, state-sponsored terrorism became one of the chief means of suppressing the revolutionary movement. The lumpen gangs, which call themselves Nallamala Tigers, Narsa Cobras, Green Tigers, Kranti sena, Kakatiya Tigers, Palnadu Tigers, Nayeem gang, etc., were set up, equipped, and trained by the SIB. These gangs had brutally murdered several leaders of democratic organizations and family members of revolutionaries under the direction of the YSR fascist government.

In Jharkhand, the SP of East Sighbhum had openly declared sendra (collective hunting) against Naxalites in 2003 itself and the feudal goondas-police combine killed 9 Maoists in Lango village. In Giridih and Saranda area in West Singhbhum, the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi, and his brother had organized several gram raksha dals forcing muslims to be in the forefront thereby making them scapegoats. Nagarik Suraksha Samiti, Gram Suraksha Samithi and Shanti Sena are being formed in Jharkhand.

In Bihar, the massacres by private armies of the feudal forces, aided and abetted by the state, are well known. Ranaveer Sena, Lorik Sena, Brahmarshi Sena, Sunlight Sena etc., were used extensively against the revolutionaries and the struggling masses. Although the revolutionary people defeated most of these senas, the state has been trying to revive Ranveer Sena and others.

Thus Salwa Judum and sendra are part of the bigger plan of plundering the entire region from Jharkhand to AP without hindrance. The police, para-military and army act as the yes-men of POSCO, Tata, Jindal, Mittal, Ruia, World Bank and various imperialist powers and pounce on the revolutionary movement branding all those democratic forces struggling against their exploitation as “terrorists”. This is but natural as in the past year alone, MOUs of over Rs. 3,00,000 crores were signed by these business houses and the imperialists in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Orissa alone . The massacre of 12 adivasis in Kalinga Nagar industrial area in Orissa on January 2nd shows the pre-hatched conspiracy of the imperialist-big business-bureaucrat-politician criminal combine to spread terror among the adivasis and subdue their protests . The ferocity of the white terror reflects the insatiable greed of the imperialist vultures and the big business houses for mineral and forest wealth.

The huge mining and extraction industries being set up by these houses, the hydel, irrigation and multi-purpose projects being built with the aid of the World Bank, the so-called social forestry in the adivasi areas do not lead to ‘development’ but ‘destruction’. Destruction of the forests, pollution of the rivers and environment and the plunder of the vast mineral wealth of the country by the mining mafia—such is the result of the neo-liberal LPG policies pursued by the ruling classes in league with the imperialists, who leave no stone unturned to suppress the local adivasis and the revolutionaries to achieve their greedy ends.

The people of our country face a clear choice — and that is not between so called peace and ‘terrorism’, but between the rule of this mafia led by the imperialists and that of the masses led by the democratic and revolutionary forces. The lines are clearly being drawn; all must decide where they stand.

The Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) calls upon the people and demands:

1.Stop State and State-sponsored Terror in the name of Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh!
2.Fight to Scrap the Steel Plants and Mining industries in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa!
3.Punish the police officials responsible for the Kalinga Nagar massacre! Hand back all lands snatched from the adivasis in the name of development!
4.Stop all fake encounters, arrests, torture and harassment of Maoists and their sympathizers; disband armed private lumpen gangs.
5.Scrap all Black acts and stop infringement of the fundamental rights of citizens!
6.Fight against the imperialist-dictated LPG policies that are ruining the lives of the masses!

Thanking you,
With Greetings,
Yours,

Dr. Darshan Pal
Vice President, Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)
67-A, Rameshwar Nagar
AzadPur, Delhi
Tel:+919417269294, +91-11-27675001

RDF Release

2008-01-24T14:26:00.001-08:00

10.01.2006

RELEASE REVOLUTIONARY LEADER
NARAYAN SANYAL ALIAS VIJAY ALIAS PRASAD!

Friends,

A popular revolutionary leader Narayan Sanyal was lifted by the Intelligence Branch of Police from Raipur on 28th December, 2005.He was abducted in such a manner, which actually exposed once more, the real undemocratic and repressive character of the Indian state and democracy. He was continuously put under illegal police custody for 7 days, violating all the directives of the Supreme Court, given in respect of Arrest and Interrogation of a person. During police custody, Narayan Sanyal had to face many kinds of mental tortures. He was even threatened to be killed in fake police encounter. But when PUCL, PUDR, HRF, RDF and other civil rights and democratic organizations, along with different press and media raised strong voices against this illegal police arrest, the A.P. police, ultimately had to produce him before Kothagudem court of Khammam district in the evening of 3rd January, 2006.Afterwards, he was implicated in several serious cases and sent to Warangal jail.

From the Press Release of CPI (Maoist), it has come to notice that Narayan Sanyal is a senior member of its central committee. He is active in the revolutionary movements of the country since more than 35 years. Following the call of Charu Majumdar, the leader of Naxalbari Peasant Revolt, he jumped into Naxalbadi movement, leaving his Bank job in West Bengal, and continued his journey till date. He went to Bihar to become part of the movement there in 70's and was arrested in 1973. He was kept in various prisons in West Bengal and Bihar till 1978. Inside the jail he led several struggles for the rights of the political prisoners. The post-emergency movement to release the political prisoners, including naxalites forced the Bihar government to release him. He stood steadfast for the unity of communist revolutionaries. Immediately, he jumped into revolutionary movement and his efforts paved way to form CPI (ML) (Unity Organisation). Later, it was metamorphosed into CPI (ML) (Party Unity) which led many heroic struggles in (the then) Central Bihar. He became the Secretary of the Central Committee of CPI (ML) (Party Unity) in 1987. When CPI (ML) (Party Unity) and CPI (ML) (PW) merged into CPI (ML) (PW) in 1998, he became its CC Member. He played an important role in the unity process between CPI (ML) (PW) and MCCI, which merged into CPI (Maoist) in September, 2004. He also became the CC Member of the CPI (Maoist). He is about 68 years old, and in recent years suffering from ill health. He had gone to Raipur on 28th December, 2005 for his medical treatment, when picked by the Police.

As soon as PUCL, Chattisgarh got the news of the arrest of Narayan Sanyal, it put the demand to the government to safeguard his human rights and declare his arrest, immediately. It also sent the massage of his arrest to PUDR, Delhi and other civil rights organizations, along with the press and media. PUDR, Delhi issued an Urgent Appeal and demanded to announce the formal arrest of Prasad (alias Narayan Sanyal). Likewise, Revolutionary Democratic Front also issued An Appeal at country and world level, urging the progressive and democratic forces to come forward to defend the life of Narayan Sanyal. It organized a Protest Dharna in Delhi on 3rd January, 2006 and handed over a Memorandum to the Home Minister and the Resident Commissioner of Andhra Bhavan, demanding the immediate production of Narayan Sanyal before the court. The same appeal was also made by the International League of Peoples Struggle, World Peoples Resistance Forum and others international forums. The press and media also played positive roles by regularly publishing the news of the illegal arrest of Narayan Sanyal. Beside that, his family member filed a Habius Corpus in the High Court of Chattisgarh.

All these efforts forced the police and other government officials to declare the arrest of Narayan Sanyal. They did not succeed in inflicting any physical blow to the ‘most wanted’ maoist leader. At first the Home Secretary, Chattisgarh conveyed the PUCL,Chattisgarh and PUDR, Delhi on 30th December,2005 that Prasad ( alias Narayan Sanyal) had been picked up from Raipur, but not arrested formally. But, when the press people contacted him on 31th December, he refused to confirm the arrest of Prasad. In the meanwhile, the Human Rights Forum of A.P. asked to the Senior Police Officer of AP, who also denied the arrest of Prasad. But later on, one of the officer of AP Police accepted before the UNI that, ‘ The maoist leader has been arrested… and he is healthy’. Then the Chattisgarh Home Secretary also accepted before IANS that, ‘ I have come to know that a 67 years old maoist leader has been arrested, and he is in the custody of AP Police. The Chattisharh government has nothing to do with this matter’. And lastly, the AP Police produced Narayan Sanyal before the press on 3 rd January, 2006 at 3 PM.

The Khammam district S.P. told a blatant lie before the press that, ‘Narayan Sanyal has been arrested from Bhadrachalam town on 3rd January, 2006 at 3.30 AM. The AP Police produced him before the court of Kothagudam, by implicating in case of Arms Act. He was sent to Warangal Jail under 15 days of judicial remand. He has also been implicated in 21 other serious cases, including the cases related with attacks on Chandrababu Naidu, Bastar S.P., Police of Koraput and Jahanbad Jail, and the killing of a Congress leader of Dantewada. Now, the police has started the process of producing the aged and unhealthy maoist leader in the above mentioned cases, pending in the courts of different states. The police of different states are also trying to take him on remand, in the name of enquiry and interrogation. It’s very dangerous for the health and life of Narayan Sanyal to be transferred from one place to another for such dubious purposes.

It is known to all that AP Police is infamous in organizing a cruel repressive campaign against the maoists. They have killed about 200 maoists and their supporters and sent hundreds of them into jails, in the year of 2005 only. A few years back, they had killed three central leaders of CPI (ML) PW in fake encounter, by capturing them from Banglore. Recently, they have also killed a central leader of CPI(ML) Janshakti in the same way. Thus, in the custody and supervision of the AP Police, the life of Narayan Sanyal can never be safe and secured. Specially, when and intensive repressive campaign against the maoist movements of nine states is going on under the Joint Operation Command, directly formed by the central government, it has become a very serious concern to defend the life of Narayan Sanyal. It is to note that under the same Joint Operation, the polit bureau member of CPI (Maoist) Shushil Roy and its central committee member Patitpawan had been arrested in West Bengal, a few months before. They had also been illegally kept and tortured under police custody for 3 days.

Under these circumstances, it is the duty of all the human rights, civil rights organizations and democratic-revolutionary forces to come forward in the defense of the human rights of Narayan Sanyal. They should also put the demand of granting him the status of a political prisoner, before the government.

Finally, we call upon all the progressive, democratic and revolutionary forces to organize a broad-based people’s movement for the release of the popular revolutionary leader Narayan Sanyal.

Rajkishore
General Secretary
RDF
67-A, Rameshwar Nagar, Azadpur
Delhi-33

Response by CARC

2008-01-24T14:24:00.000-08:00

Committees Supporting Resistance for Communism (CARC)
Via Tanaro 7, 20128 Milano (Italy)
Tel/fax 0039 02 26306454
e-mail resistenza@carc.it
website www.carc.it

National Direction
International Relations Department
3335628297@tim.it

Ref.: Call by Revolutionary Democratic Front of India,

We answer to the call by the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India, wide-spreading it in Italian and English version, inviting all those who want to give any contribution to refer themselves directly to the e-mail address indicated in the call.

We express the greatest solidarity towards the people attacked, the communist involved in the fight against the attack, the Indian popular masses oppressed by a so-called democratic system, the communist parties struggling and fighting against this system and against imperialism.

CARC - International Department

International Appeal by RDF

2008-01-24T14:21:00.000-08:00

COMITATI DI APPOGGIO ALLA RESISTENZA –
PER IL COMUNISMO (CARC)
Via Tanaro, 7 20128 Milano Tel/Fax 02-26306454
e-mail: resistenza@carc.it sito: www.carc.it
Direzione Nazionale
Settore Relazioni Internazionali
3335628297@tim.it

Appello del Fronte Democratico Rivoluzionario dell'India,

Rispondiamo all'appello del Fronte Democratico Rivoluzionario dell'India, diffondendolo nelle versioni in italiano e inglese, invitando coloro che intendono contribuire in qualsiasi modo a riferirsi direttamente al recapito e-mail riportato nell'appello.

Esprimiamo la massima solidarietà alle popolazioni aggredite, ai comunisti impegnati nella lotta contro l'aggressione, alle masse popolari dell'India, oppresse da un sistema che si spaccia come democratico, ai partiti comunisti che lottano e combattono contro questo sistema e contro l'imperialismo.

CARC-Settore Relazioni Internazionali

Appello internazionale del Fronte Democratico Rivoluzionario (RDF) dell'India

Sosteniamo il processo rivoluzionario in corso e condanniamo gli attacchi genocidi fascisti attuati sotto il nome di "Salwa Judum" nel Bastar!

L'azione governativa in corso con il nome di Salwa Judum nel Bastar, regione del Chathisgar, in India, non solo ha prodotto centinaia di arresti, torture, assassinii e stupri di gruppo, ma ha distrutto le basi economiche necessarie alla vita. L'obiettivo del governo è quello di spegnere con il terrore brutale le scintille di rivoluzione che brillano proprio nel cuore dell'India.

Negli ultimi 25 anni la popolazione della regione ha vissuto un grande risveglio. Infatti negli ultimi 25 anni di lotta i Naxaliti, come sono chiamati i maoisti in India, hanno riportato queste popolazioni tribali al rispetto di sé, sconfiggendo la crudele e brutale autorità del meccanismo statale ed istituendo forme rudimentali di potere popolare. Si tratta di una lotta epica, di sacrificio e determinazione, in cui centinaia di maoisti e di loro sostenitori hanno dato la vita per la nascita della nuova società. Precedentemente alla venuta dei Naxaliti, trent'anni di cosiddetta indipendenza non hanno prodotto nulla per la gente del luogo. La loro condizione è anzi peggiorata: hanno perso le terre per i piani minerari, e sono stati regolarmente cacciati e rapinati dai forestali e da altri agenti del governo in combutta con i feudatari locali. Non c'erano istruzione, sistema sanitario, elettricità, né da vestire e nemmeno il minimo sviluppo agricolo. Il poco che riuscivano a guadagnare nel lavoro in foresta era loro sottratto dai commercianti, dai forestali e dai padroni del villaggio.

Ora, dopo questi 25 anni di lotta armata contro le forze del governo, hanno ottenuto educazione di base, medicine, conoscenze d'agraria e altro - senza dubbio in forma rudimentale - tramite il nuovo potere stabilito sotto la direzione dei maoisti che condividono con loro vita e morte. I media proclamano dall'alto che i Naxaliti impediscono lo sviluppo, ma in realtà il solo sviluppo che le popolazioni tribali hanno conosciuto è avvenuto dopo che i Naxaliti sono entrati nella regione. Ora si cerca di strappare i frutti di queste piccole vittorie attraverso la più orrenda brutalità.

Migliaia di persone sono state deportate con la forza, più di cento brutalmente assassinate, 70 villaggi bruciati, 40 donne hanno subito sturpi di gruppo, i raccolti distrutti, armenti e polli sottratti tutto sotto il nome di "Salwa Judum", che significa "campagna di pace". Tutto questo va avanti dal giugno 2005, ma i principali mezzi di comunicazione tacciono, attuando un sistematico e consapevole black-out. Eccettuati poche testimonianze, a mezzo stampa è stata passata solo la propaganda governativa.

Le brutalità sono orribili. Sono stati decapitati dei ragazzi. Le loro teste sono state conficcate davanti alle loro case. Delle donne sono state stuprate in gruppo, torturate, i loro seni recisi. A donne incinte sono stati strappati i feti e sono state abbandonate a dissanguarsi, ad agonizzare fino alla morte nel profondo della foresta. Interi villaggi sono bruciati, i raccolti distrutti, e tuttle bestie rubate o uccise. La gente è ammassata in campi di concentramento nello stile dei "villaggi strategici" usati dalle forze USA in Vietnam e in altre contro-insurrezioni. Vivono come schiavi in questi campi di concentramento estremamente anti-igienici, costretti a lavorare per la polizia, i battaglioni Naga e i paramilitari, per una miseria.

Tentano di prendere per fame le masse rivoluzionarie e di costringerle alla resa, e perciò prima hanno chiuso tutti i mercati settimanali locali, poi hanno smesso di fornire ai posti di razionamento gli alimenti base come il riso. Si sa che i mercati settimanali sono l'unica risorsa economica per i contadini Adivasi. È qui che vendono i loro prodotti e acquistano il necessario per vivere. Chiudere questi mercati non significa altro che tagliare le risorse per vivere e condannare le famiglie alla morte per fame. L'intento dello Stato è chiaramente quello di farli arrendere oppure morire di fame. Inoltre i raccolti sono stati distrutti, il bestiame portato via, e distrutte pure le case, i materiali e le riserve di grano. (...) Un enorme massa di popolazione, incluse donne e bambini, rischia la morte per fame. Con la campagna Salwa Judum che continua la situazione sta diventando infernale.

L'intera campagna è stata guidata dal Partito del Congresso, che sta alla guida dell'Opposizione, con il pieno appoggio del governo locale del BJP. Entrambi i partiti sono in combutta in questa campagna di brutalità e terrore dove operano associati in banda e sistematicamente forze paramilitari, sottoproletari, elementi feudali, ufficiali di governo e polizia. Hanno dietro i portafogli del grande capitale e degli imperialisti. La regione è ricca di minerale ferroso e ci sono progetti per l'appropriazione dell'area, che si fanno passare come progetti di sviluppo ma che comportano la deportazione degli indigeni. A questo i Naxaliti si oppongono con veemenza.

L'unico soccorso per la popolazione è il sostegno da parte dei Naxaliti, che nella foresta dividono il loro scarso cibo con le popolazioni tribali cacciate dalla loro terra. È per questo stato di cose che facciamo appello a voi perchè diate una mano alle popolazioni tribali affamate, che hanno affrontato atrocità disumane, per il solo motivo che si sono alzate in piedi, che hanno rifiutato di piegarsi alle regole dell'attuale sistema di sfruttamento, corruzione e oppressione.

Facciamo appello a voi perchè tendiate una mano a sostegno di questa storica lotta che ha luogo nel cuore dell'India. Potete farlo in vari modi, e anche piccoli contributi saranno apprezzati. Potete venire e portare la vostra competenza, risiedendo qualche mese nell'area, o contribuire con denaro, medicine e ogni altro articolo che possa essere utile alle popolazioni tribali e a chi combatte. Vi richiediamo anche che diate informazione su quello che sta accadendo nella cosiddetta più grande democrazia del mondo, quello che è scientemente nascosto al pubblico. È importante che la verità raggiunga il popolo del nostro paese, e i popoli di tutto il mondo.

Vi ringraziamo per il sostegno,

Khagen Das, Presidente
Raj Kishore, Segretario Generale

Fronte Rivoluzionario Democratico dell'India
e-mail: rdfindia@gmail.com

International Appeal by RDF

2008-01-24T14:18:00.000-08:00

LEND SUPPORT TO THE ONGOING
REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT IN DANDAKARANYA!

CONDEMN THE GENOCIDAL FASCIST ATTACKS GOING ON
IN THE NAME OF 'SALWA JUDUM' IN BASTAR!!

In the government action going on in the name of Salwa Judum in Bastar region of Chhathisgarh, India, not only have hundreds been arrested, tortured, murdered, gang-raped, but their entire economic lifelines have been smashed. Through brutal terror the government’s aim is to extinguish the sparks of revolution taking place in the very heart of India. Over the last 25 years the people of the region have witnessed a great awakening.

Over the past 25 years of struggle the Naxalites, as Maoists in India are known, awakened these tribals to a life of self-respect, smashing the cruel and brutal authority of the state machinery and establishing the rudimentary form of the new people’s power. It is an epic struggle of sacrifice and determination where hundreds of Maoists and their supporters in this region have given their lives for the birth of the new society. Prior to the entry of the Naxalites thirty years of so-called independence had done nothing for them; in fact their conditions had only worsened, losing their land to mining projects, and regularly hounded and looted by forest and other government officials in league with the local feudal elements. There was no education, no health care, no electricity, no clothing and even very little agricultural development. And what little they earned in forest produce was robbed from them by traders, forest officials, and the village elite.

Now, through these 25 years of armed struggle against the government forces they have got basic education, medicine, agricultural knowledge, etc. — no doubt in rudimentary form — through the organisation of the new power set up under the leadership of the Maoists who live and die with them. The media proclaims from the roof-tops that the Naxalites are preventing development; but the reality is that the only development the tribals have ever seen is after the Naxalites have entered the region. And now the fruits of these small victories are sought to be snatched away from them with the utmost of brutality.

Thousands forcibly displaced, over hundred brutally murdered, 70 villages burnt down, 40 women gang-raped, crops destroyed, cattle and poultry looted — all in the name of ‘Salwa Judum’ or ‘peace campaign’. This has been going on since June 2005, but due to a systematic black-out this has consciously not been reported in the mainline media. Except for a few fact finding reports, what at all has come in the press is only government propaganda.

The brutalities are horrifying. Young boys beheaded. Their severed heads stuck on the posts of their own houses. Women gang-raped, tortured and their breasts severed, pregnant women fetuses ripped open…and then left bleeding to die an agonizing death deep in the forests. Entire villages burnt down, crops destroyed and all the cattle/poultry robbed or killed. The people herded into concentration camps — along the style of the “strategic hamlets” used by the US forces in Vietnam and other counter-insurgencies. They are living as slaves in these extremely unhygienic concentration camps doing forced labour for the police, Naga battalion and para-military for a pittance.

In an attempt to starve the revolutionary masses to surrender to the State at first they closed down all local weekly markets and then stopped supplying essential commodities, like rice, to the ration shops. As it is well known, the weekly markets are the sole economic life line for the Adivasi peasants, as it is in these markets that they sell their produce and purchase all their daily needs. Closing them down amounts to nothing but to cut off their lifeline and starve their families to death. So the State’s intention is very clear — either surrender or starve to death. In addition their crops were destroyed, their cattle looted and their houses and all material and food grain stocks destroyed. Already living a subsistence existence it is estimated that roughly Rs.15 crores of destruction has taken place. A huge mass of population face starvation, including women and children. And with Salwa Judum operations still continuing the situation is becoming hell.

The entire campaign is being led by the Congress Party leader of the Opposition with full support from the local BJP government. Both parties are hand-in-glove in this campaign of brutality and terror where para-military forces, lumpens, feudal elements, government officials and police have all ganged up in a systematic and well-planned campaign. Behind them stand the money-bags of big capital and the imperialists. This region is very rich in iron ore and the Tatas have already signed an MoU for land in this area. The Naxalites have been vehemently opposing the displacement that takes place through such projects going under the signboard of ‘development’.

The only succour for the people is the support they get from the Naxalites in the forests who share their limited food with the displaced tribals. It is under these conditions that we appeal to you to lend a helping hand to the starving tribals who have faced inhuman brutalities, for the single reason that they have ‘stood up’ and refused to bend to the corrupt, exploitative and oppressive rule of the present system.

We appeal to you to lend a hand of support to this historic struggle going on in the very heart of India. This you can do in varied ways and even small contributions will be appreciated. You can come and lend your expertise by staying in the area for a few months, or contribute money, medicine and any other items that will be of use to the tribals and forces fighting there. We also request you to spread the message of what is taking place in the so-called largest democracy in the world, which is consciously being kept hidden from the public. It is important that the real truth reaches the people of the country and world at large.

We thank you for your support,

Khagen Das (President)
Raj Kishore (General Secretary)
Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), India

Email:rdfindia@gmail.com
Contact at this email id to send your contributions and teams.
Phones: +91+09417269294, 09416692452.

RDF Appeal

2008-01-24T14:16:00.000-08:00

10.8.2005

JOIN THE ALL INDIA CONVENTION ON
THE IMPACT OF IMPERIALIST GLOBLISATION
ON WORKING CLASS

DATE: 16-17th October 2005
VENUE : Raipur (Chattisgarh)

Friends and Comrades,

In the continuation of Mumbai Resistance – 2004, we organised an All India Anti – imperialist Convention in Kolkata in the first week of Oct.2004, involving about 200 organisations and some well known intellectuals of the country. The three day convention not only discussed the impacts of imperialist globalization on agricultural community, working class and other sections of the society, but also elected an All India Preparatory Committee , to continue the process of uniting progressive and democratic forces and to fulfill the tasks of Kolkata Convention.

In its first meeting of 7th Oct.2004, the All India Preparatory Committee decided to organise a convention on the role of working class in the movement against imperialist globlisation A four member team was formed to co-ordinate with worker’s organizations all over the country.

The Co-ordination Team met three times, respectively at Patna (Bihar), Raipur (Chattisgarh) and Dhanbad (Jharkhand).The Dhanbad meeting was held on 28th July, 2005 and it was very much successful. It was attended by all the members of the Co-ordination Team, along with some invitees of host and other organisations.

The participants of the meeting were as follows: 1.Vittal Raj (AIFTU, AP), 2.Chandranna (AIFTU, AP), 3.T. Hanumandalu (Telangana Aikya Vedika), 4.S. P. Singh (CMM), 5.Narendra (CCSS- Bihar), 6.Swapan Goswami (SSC- W. B.), 7.Darshan Pal (RDF), 8.Arjun Pd. Singh (RDF), 9.Bachha Singh (Majdoor Sangathan Samiti, Jharkhand), 10.Sanjay Kumar Singh (Rail Majdoor Sangram Samiti, Gaya) and 11.B.P.Rakshit (JPSM,Jharkhand).

In the meeting the dates, venue and the structure of the convention were finalised. It was decided to hold the convention on 16-17th Oct. 2005 at Raipur, Chattisgarh. The convention will have six sessions, in which the following papers will be presented by the representatives of different participating organisations:

1.Impacts of Imperialist Globalisation on Working Class (AIFTU,AP)

2.Imperialist Globalisation and Organised Workers (MSS,Jharkhand)

3.Imperialist Onslaughts on Un-organised Workers (CCSS, Bihar)

4.Globalisation and the Plight of Agriculture Workers (APCLC/Punjab Union)

5.Impacts of Globalisation on Service Sector Employees and Workers (SSC, W.B.)

6.Role of Working Class in the Movement against Imperialist Globalisation (Common Paper)

Any participating organization / individual may present its /his views orally /in written form in any of the session of the convention. Since, in the last session, a common paper is going to be presented on behalf of the Co-ordination Team, other participating organisations can also put forward their perspective of working class movement against imperialist globalization.

In the concluding session, some political resolutions will be taken up and a proposal be moved to make the Co-ordination Team more broad and effective ,by including some new members.

Thus, the Raipur Convention is going to be an important event, so far as its political and organisational content is concerned.

It is to note that in the current deadliest phase of imperialist globalization, the onslaught on different sections of the working class is going to be much more disastrous. The ruling class and the reformist parties are not only following the imperialist policies, but also snatching the hard won legal and democratic rights of the working class. Only the unity of the working class movements, with a clear-cut scientific perspective can put a strong challenge before the ruling classes of India and the capitalist / imperialist forces of the world.

With this perspective, we appeal to you /your organization to join the Raipur Convention and to help in organizing the event, as far as you can.

With fraternal greetings.

Arjun Prasad Singh
(On Behalf of the Co-ordination Team)

Contacts:

1.Arjun Prasad Singh, 67 A, Rameshwarnagar, Azadpur, Delhi-110033
Ph. 011-27675001, Mob. 9891703484, E-mail-rdfindia@rediffmail.com

2.Sheikh Ansar, C/O CMM Office, Shahidnagar, Birgaon, Raipur, Chattisgarh
Ph. 0771-2562488, Mob. 9425243719

3.Sudha Bhardwas, C/O CMM Office, Jamul Labour Camp, Bhilai, Chattisgarh
Ph. 0788-2285501

4.Vittal Raj, Ph. 040-32389081

5.Narendra, Ph.-0612- 2663340* 234

RDF Appeal

2008-01-24T13:49:00.000-08:00

01.10.2005

INDIAN REVOLUTIONARY LEADERS' LIVES IN DANGER!

Free Comrades Som (Sushil Roy) and Tapas (Patitpaban)!

Release Thousands of Political Prisoners
Languishing in Various Prisons Cross the Country!

Comrade Sushil Roy, known to millions of people in India and South Asia as Comrade Som and Barunda, was arrested by the Indian intelligence agencies on 15th May 2005. He has been a leader of the revolutionary masses in the country and a Politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). He was arrested from Konenagar railway station in Hooghly district along with comrade Patitpaban who is popularly known as comrade Tapas. Comrade Tapas is a central committee member and the secretary of the West Bengal State committee of CPI (Maoist).

Comrade Susheel Roy, comrade Patitpaban and other members of CPI (Maoist) were illegally detained and subjected to physical and psychological torture by the West Bengal police under the supervision of the leaders of CPI-Marxist, a leading partner of the ruling left-front coalition government in West Bengal and a major ruling coalition partner in New Delhi. Later, they were produced in a court of law on 24th May in Belpahari in West Midnapur after strong protests came from the people.

Comrades Som and Tapas have been implicated in a number of fabricated criminal cases and are at present incarcerated in a jail in West Midnapur. The arrests of the senior leaders of the CPI (Maoist) were made within a few weeks after the UPA Government formulated a major policy decision about internal security as the main issue of the country. CPI-Marxist is a major partner along with the Congress Party in framing this policy of cold blooded murders and witch-hunting of the revolutionaries in India.

Comrade Barunda (Comrade Som) is a senior leader of the united CPI (Maoist). His political life began with the Working class movement in Kolkata. He played a crucial role in the strike of Jai Engineering Workers (Usha Company) in 1966-67. He also a played an important role in the historical West Bengal Food Movement. Along with Comrade Kanhai Chaterjee, the founder Secretary of the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), he was one among the first visionaries who propounded the Chinese line under Mao as a suitable one for India. He was part of the Chinta Group and Dakshin Desh from the very beginning. He became the General Secretary of MCC after the martyrdom of Kanhai Chaterjee and was elected as General Secretary in 1989 in its first Conference. He continued in this position till 1996 when he chose not be the General Secretary owing to his ill-health. He played a significant role in merging the MCCI and CPI (ML) Peoples War forming the CPI (Maoist) in 2004. He was elected to the Politburo of the merged Maoist Party.

Comrade Sushil Roy is a great leader of the revolutionary masses of India and South Asia. He has been giving leadership to the toiling masses of India through all periods of ups and downs in the past 40 years. Such veteran Maoist leader is facing danger to his life in the hands of the brutal state mercenary forces of India. Today, it is the responsibility of all democratic forces in India, South Asia and in fact in the entire world to rise to the occasion and save his life.

Comrade Tapas (comrade Patitpaban) associated himself with the MCC since the days of his childhood. He hails from a middle peasant family and played a major role in building the peasant movement in West Bengal. He remained steadfastly with the correct revolutionary politics and gave leadership to the revolutionary cadres and masses in West Bengal for decades. Comrade Chandi Sarkar, another State Committee member of West Bengal unit of CPI (Maoist) has been also incarcerated in the West Bengal jails. He hails from a working class family and worked as the fourth class railway employee before the rise of Naxalbari. As soon the movement started, he became the full-time worker of the CPI (ML) and was jailed in 1970’s. He has been a popular leader of the peasant movement in Nadia District in West Bengal for the last 30 years.

There are many other Maoist leaders, cadres and revolutionary masses in jails in a number of other states. Among the well-known Maoist prisoners are comrade Varara Rao, a revolutionary poet of Andhra Pradesh and comrade G Kalyan Rao, a revolutionary novelist and literary critic from the same state. Comrade Ganti Prasadam otherwise known as Prabhakar, the media Secretary of Andhra Pradesh State unit of CPI (Maoist) has been also languishing in jail. Several state level leaders of the Maoist party in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Bihar have been languishing in various prisons across the country.

Hundreds of Maoists and their supporters have been lynched in extra-judicial killings called falsely ‘encounter killings’ ever since the merger of MCCI and CPI (ML) (Peoples War) and the formation of CPI (Maoist) in September 2004. Thousands of Maoists have been arrested throughout the country following the announcement by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi of a new policy in April 2005 about a perceived threat to the internal security of the country from the Maoists. This is a major shift in the policy of any Union Government at Delhi under any political formation since Naxalbari Movement days for so far all governments put external security, though imaginary again, as a major priority.

With a view to suppress the revolutionary movement, the UPA Government has built up a Joint Operational Command (JOC) comprising the various Special Task Forces, Paramilitary, intelligence forces and the police forces of the major regions in the country - Andhra Pradseh, Bihar, Jharkand, Chattisgargh, Orissa, Maharasthtra, West Bengal, Madha Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh - where the Maoist Party is believed to be strong by the security forces.

The Maoists are generally murdered in cold blood after inhuman and brutal third degree torture methods being employed on them in India when are captured by the state forces. In rare cases they are produced in courts of law. Even in such a context, there are several thousand Maoist leaders, cadres of different levels and revolutionary masses today incarcerated in several high security prisons in India. Invariably all these revolutionaries have been kept in prisons under various draconian legal sections for years together primarily for their political conviction and opposition to the ruling classes in power. Their involvement in the acts of practical armed revolutionary war is basically secondary for they will be immediately released, notwithstanding any number of pending criminal cases against them, if they declare to part with their political conviction.

In West Bengal alone there are more than 2800 prisoners who have been arrested for their political opposition to the ruling left front while 1200 of them belong to the CPI (Maoist). In Orissa about 1000 people are facing cases at present in connection Maoist activities and 400 of then are languishing in various prisons of the state. Similarly, In Andhra Pradesh several hundred Maoists are in prisons. Same is the case in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

In Kashmir and Northeast too, several hundreds people have been imprisoned for their political opinion and conviction. Again in Gujarat and various other states as well there several hundred Muslims who have been implicated in false cases including under draconian POTA for the only reason that they are Muslims and they have asserted their religious identity.
In these circumstances the need of the hour is that the democrats of this country should voice the rights of these political prisoners. We need to demand the release of all political prisoners in the country for they are continued to be incarcerated in prisons for their political convictions.

To discuss this issue of political prisoners, let us meet in Delhi on 10th December 2005, the international human rights day with a view to form a group of rights activists demanding the release of all political prisoners in the country.

Rajkisore
General Secretary
Revolutionary Democratic Front

RDF Report

2008-01-24T13:46:00.000-08:00

29th September 2005.

KARIMNAGAR FACT FINDING REPORT

Team Members:
1.Rajkishore, General Secretary, Revolutionary Democratic Forum (RDF), Patna
2.Harisingh Tarq, President, Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR), Punjab
3.Harigian Chowdary, Reporter, Haryana.
4.Ajay, Revolutionary Democratic Forum (RDF), Haryana
5.Surender, General Secretary, Maharastra Chapter, International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL)

The team went to Ambatpally village of Mahadevpur Mandal that falls in Mahadevpur police station limits, Karimnagar District. Ambatpalli village is situated near the river Godavari at the border of Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh, about 250 K.M from the state capital Hyderabad. Population of this village around 2500 to 3000 mostly comprises of peasants.

Victim Mr. Kilinga Rao aged 37 years survived with mother, father, three brothers, wife and two children. Daughter Mounika is about 13 years and son, Vishnuwardhan is about 3 years old. Mr. Kilinga Rao was killed on 15th Sept 2005 by self proclaimed “Victims of Naxalites”. One day before i.e. on 14th September 2005 his killing, Maoists killed a person belonging to Barmagudem village reportedly alleged as a police informer in Ambatpalli village.

The Fact Finding Team met the kin and kith of the victim Mr. Kilinga Rao along with some villagers. According to eye witness five to six unidentified persons came in the morning about 5 O’clock in a car. Two of them went to Mr. Kilinga Rao’s house while the others remained in the car. They woke up Mr. Kilinga Rao’s wife sleeping in the house and asked her “who is Kilinga Rao? Mr. Kilinga Rao introduced himself to the two people. They asked him to show the house of village Surpunch. As Mr. Kilinga Rao was ready to leave for Warangal, he replied them to enquire in village. However both of them forcibly taken Mr. Kilinga Rao in the car and fled away.

Suspecting danger, family members took a vehicle and proceeded to Mahadevpur police station. Hardly 1 K.M from their house they found the dead body of Mr. Kilinga Rao with a cut on the lift side of the neck. The news of killing Mr. Kilinga Rao was spread out immediately in the village as well as surrounding villages. People around 2000 gathered instantly and went to the Mahadevpur P.S. and gheraoed the P.S. People demanded to nab the culprits’ immediately and take action against them. The angry people set one bus on fire. Police assured them to nab and arrest the culprits. After the assurance from the police, people with drawn their demonstration.

Interestingly till 16th September 2005 police did not come to the place of incident. Police neither took the dead body for post-mortem nor did the panchanama. Police asked the family members to take the dead body to General Hospital of Mahadevpur. The dead body was brought back to Ambatpalli village and cremated on the same day.
Family members and villagers were in an impression that Mr. Kilinga Rao was by Police in retaliation to the killing of an informer by Maoists. However on the next day the murder was owned by “Victims of Naxalites” in the media.

Mr. Kilinga Rao’s kind heart and helping nature won the hearts of the peoples in the surrounding 20 villages near by Ambatpalli. We came to know that Mr. Kilinga Rao was never implicated in any case by the police in any time before his murder. There was no threat to him earlier either by police or by so-called “Victims of Naxalites” or by Cobra Gangs. Villagers claimed that as he was very popular and beloved amongst the people of 20 villages, police might have thought that Mr. Kilinga Rao is a sympathiser of Maoists and killed him on the name of so-called “Victims of Naxalites”. However villagers and the family categorically denied any connections with Naxalites or their activities to Mr. Kilinga Rao.

The fact finding committee visited the villages 12 days after the incident found surprisingly that police neither arrested any one nor interrogated any body on suspicion at least. On contrary police called villagers for interrogation in Bus burnt case and they informed the people that Mr. Kiling Rao was killed by “Victims of Naxalites and they cannot do anything in this case. The fact finding team in these circumstances had come to a conclusion that probably culprits might have killed Mr. Kilinga Rao at the behest of police.

The team also met Mr. L.Veeranna, Assistant executive engineer in irrigation department who got threatening calls from Kakatiya Cobras. He said that “on 11th September 2005 a list consists of 8 persons was issued by so called ‘Kakatiya Cobras’ in the local and electronic media threatening to kill them. In this list his name was also figured”. Two years back Mr. L. Veeranna was picked up by police from his house at mid night around 1P.M. His house was searched without any search warrant. His wife requested the S.I not to arrest her husband. But the request was turn down by police and she went to unconscious state on falling into the ground as the police thrashed her. In spite of being in unconscious state she left alone and Mr. L. Veeranna was taken to police station. He was kept in illegal custody for two days and police tortured him brutally. He was produced before Mandal Revenue Officer after two days, where he was released on personal bond. His daily work was under surveillance of police causing him a lot of mental tension. Many times he got death threatening calls from police at his residence as well as at his office.

During the fact finding we met Ambati Srinivas (45), advocate of Narasmpet Mandal, Warangal District who was also district t Secretary of APCLC. His name along with Dr.Burra Ramulu and 6 six others appeared in the threatening list issued by Kakatiya Cobras. Three backs Ambati Srinivas nephew Paka Srinivas and his friend Kodi Anand were arrested at Mahboobabad and taken to Narasampet police station. From there they were taken to Parkkal forest and killed in a fake encounter. Mr. Ambati Srinivas found the marks of torture and injuries on the dead bodies. He requested the senior officials to register a case under 302 of IPC against the C.I Gulam Sandhani who involved in the encounter. Gulam Sandhani threatened Ambati Srinivas in the court itself to kill him. Ambati Srinivas protested and filed a complaint petition in the district court and was accepted against the C.I. Gulam Sandhani. Again Sandhani warned Ambati Srinivas and misled the senior officials. However, he was transferred to other place. With an apprehension of danger Ambati Srinivas filed a case in High Court with the help of K.G. Kannabiran. High court ordered to provide two gunmen for his security. Police gave two gunmen to Ambati Srinivas. Ambati Srinivas withdrew the gunmen after one year. In 1996, some police men were killed in a landmine blast of Naxalites at Jakaram village. Police took a profession against the landmine blast and raised slogans to kill Ambati Srinivas and Dr.Burra Ramulu. Since then Ambati Srinivas is getting threatening calls. This is situation in Karimnagar district where mass organisation leaders and activists are under severe state repression.

RDF Appeal

2008-01-24T13:44:00.000-08:00

APPEAL FOR THE RELEASE OF
SOCIAL ACTIVIST DEBASHIS CHAKRABORTY

Debashis Chakraborty. Age: 34. Arrested on 29 July 2005 from his office at about 8:30 p.m. in Siliguri, Dist. Darjeeling, West Bengal.

He was summoned by the Additional. S.P., Siliguri with reference to Siliguri P.S. Case no. 109/05 dated 18.04.05, u/s 498-A of IPC against his brother-in-law upon a complaint of his sister but he was arrested in the police van on the basis of his alleged links with MCC (I) as mentioned in the FIR (139/04) of 18.05.04 filed by O.C., Matigara P.S. u/s 121/121A/122/ 123/124A of IPC and few floppies along with the CPU of his computer were seized. At the time of arrest the police had refused to issue any arrest memo despite repeated demands to produce it.

The FIR (139/04) includes a name of one Debashis Chakraborty with no address or name of father to recognise him. According to the FIR, on the night of 17.05.04 the Matigara O.C. raided the house of one Subhash Chakraborty and arrested 9 members of MCC and PWG. On interrogation, the 9 accused persons allegedly confessed that a few leaders of MCC and PWG were organising secret meetings in various places of North Bengal to spread their ideology to wage war through armed struggle against the State and Central Governments and to achieve this they had formed an armed wing called the Peoples’ Liberation Guerrilla Army. The list of leaders so named included the name of Debashis, supposedly a Central Committee member of MCC from Siliguri as stated in the FIR. Based on the documents (which include leaflets and newspapers with no reference to the names mentioned by the 9 arrested persons) and confessions of the 9 arrested persons the FIR states that “ …it is clearly established that the accused persons and the leaders and other members of MCC (I)/PWG have entered in to a conspiracy to wage war and overthrow the constitutionally established government of India and state of West Bengal and committed seditious activities to bring about disaffection to the established law of the land and procure arms, ammunition and explosives for PLGA to unleash an illegal armed struggle against the state. Thereby the accused persons have designed an abetment and aided with clear intention and motive to wage war against the state and as such clearly committed offences u/s 121/121A/122/123/124A IPC.”

In a strikingly similar performance of raid as mentioned in the FIR (182/04) filed by the O.C., P.S. Bhaktinagar, Dist. Jalpaiguri, West Bengal on 19.05.04 at the house of one Khidra Mohan Roy, two more arrests were made who once again confessed to similar links with MCC (I)/ PWG and gave the names of the same leaders who were conspiring to wage war against the democratically elected governments of the nation. Here too Debashis’ name features along with others.

Both these FIRs were lodged at a time when Debashis was in Bangalore working as a Business Development Manager for a Japanese multinational, Gestetner (India) Ltd. He has been posted in Bangalore by the same since March 2004. He resigned from his office in May 2005 on grounds of attending to family responsibility and started a business as agent of Gestetner (India) Ltd. as sales and services for Siliguri and the Northeast.

Debashis was first produced in the Siliguri Court on 30 July 2005. His bail plea was rejected and he was remanded to Police custody for 7 days on the ground that “…there is a chance of recovery of papers and arrest of other co-accused”. There was an simultaneous appeal made by his counsel on this day for keeping the seized computer and floppies in judicial custody to avoid its tampering which was also rejected by the lower court. He was produced in the lower court again on 5 August 2005. This time too his bail appeal was rejected. According to the ACJM, “… only mere technical mistake regarding arrest of the accused or any defect in the FIR shall not be a cogent ground to grant bail. Moreover, … the investigation is in preliminary stage. …(Also) materials in the CD which bar …grant (of) bail at this stage.”

However the plea of the prosecution to retain him in police custody was rejected and he was remanded to judicial custody till 17 August 2005. On the 17th his bail plea was rejected again and his judicial remand extended till the 30th. On the 30th his bail appeal was again rejected on the basis of the previous order of the Session Judge, Darjeeling at Siliguri. But the court did not grant permission of interrogation of Debashis by the I.B. Next hearing was on 14 September 2005 and bail was yet again rejected this time at the District court. Five bail pleas have till date been rejected by the lower and the district courts on no definite ground. No evidence has yet been produced by the prosecution which points remotely to his involvement in any activity directly or indirectly aimed at unsettling the democratically elected governments at the state level or at the centre.

While the judicial machinery of the state as well as the police are convinced that granting bail to Debashis would have a “bad impact upon the society”, the civil society, the media, both print and the electronic, as well as political parties, including smaller left front allies as well as the opposition, seem to be thinking otherwise. A spontaneous series of protest meetings were organised across the town of Siliguri the day after the arrest. A call for a 12-hour bandh on 4 August 2005 was given by the Citizens’ Convention on 30 July. The Deputy Mayor of the town (a district committee member of CPI), district leaders of RSP, the district secretary of CPI (ML)- Liberation, along with several professors from the North Bengal University and representatives from various voluntary organisations and NGO’s were present at the convention and each one of them vehemently condemned the arrest of Debashis. Representatives of 40 mass organisations and several intellectuals of the university town took to the streets in support of the bandh call given by APDR- Siliguri branch, Siliguri Welfare Organisation (SWO) and a few other voluntary organisations. The bandh was a complete success despite opposition from the largest constituent of the left front. This was followed by several street corners in Siliguri on 6 and 7 August, a 72-hour sit-in-demonstration by 40 organisations near Siliguri court from 9 August, a cycle rally across the five districts of North Bengal from the 13th, culminating to a protest meeting on 17 August, the day of his third bail plea. Representatives of voluntary welfare organisations, human rights and non-governmental organisations from Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Lataguri and Malbazaar along with several organisations from the Siliguri sub-division participated in these programmes. Writers, artists and cultural activists have also joined the ranks of the protesters. Mass signature campaigns have been organised to demand his unconditional release in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar. The media has also showed their dissent to this gross violation of human rights and has given wide positive coverage to the popular movement. A widespread dissent at the false implication of Debashis by the state has developed across the districts of North Bengal.

The spontaneity and spread of the protest at the arrest of an individual surely points at the fact that the civil society is certain that this person has been falsely implicated and that he has the right to a political opinion as long as that does not threaten the democratic structure of the nation. There is no evidence that he has played any role actively or even otherwise in unsettling the democratic structure of the nation. He is an ordinary member of the civil society but one with a conscience strong enough to be part of struggles for rights of people, against policies of the government that excludes access of the masses to benefits that should be provided by the state as well as one who plays an active role in relief operations organised by the state institutions using his expertise as a trained mountaineer. He has been called in by the local as well as district authorities from time to time both as an individual as well as a member of Siliguri Welfare Organisation, of which he had been the unanimously elected secretary for three consecutive terms, to be part of relief operations in flood and landslide ravaged districts of North Bengal. He was a part of the team that volunteered at the Gaisal train tragedy. He was also one of the few volunteers who had kept vigil at the Siliguri hospital and North Bengal Medical College at the time of the mysterious killer viral fever (when even the doctors and nurses had escaped from the town in fear of getting affected) that killed around 40 people in Siliguri alone in 1999. This is a man who has risked his life several times to facilitate the state machinery in emergency situations. Why would he do so if he were so committed to “waging war” against this very state? If he is so dangerous a person that he cannot even be granted bail then why has the state in so many earlier occasions called upon him to help them in exigencies?

Let us unite and demand
•Immediate and unconditional release of Debashis Chakraborty
•An end to victimisation of social workers in the name of democracy
•Restoration of a democratic environment with due respect for human rights in the state of West Bengal

___

To,
Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharya,
Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal,
Kolkata.

APPEAL FOR THE RELEASE OF SOCIAL ACTIVIST DEBASHIS CHAKRABORTY

Sir,
You might be aware that Sri. Debashis Chakraborty was arrested on 29 July 2005 from his office in Hakimpara, Siliguri u/s 121/121A/122/123/124A IPC against an FIR (139/04) of 18.05.04 filed by O.C., Matigara P.S., District Darjeeling.

Debashis has been an active social worker and has also taken part in various activities that have benefited the people of Siliguri in particular and North Bengal at large. Large sections of the civil society from all walks of life have joined in to seek release of Debashis. We feel that such arrests go against the basic democratic character of West Bengal.

Keeping Debashis’ past valuable contribution to the society in mind and the fact that he has a record of being a responsible member of the civil society we urge upon you to kindly take this case into consideration and seek for his immediate release from custody.

Thanking You,
.............................

RDF Press Release

2008-01-24T13:40:00.000-08:00

19.8.2005
Delhi

THE BAN ON DEMOCRATIC AND REVOLUTIONARY
ORGANISATIONS IN ANDHRA AND
THE ARREST OF VARVARA RAO CONDEMNED!

The Reddy Government of Andhra Pradesh has banned CPI (Maoist) along with many democratic and revolutionary organizations and started a crackdown on the cadres and leaders of the revolutionary democratic movement. Condemning the arrest of Varvara Rao, the revolutionary poet, the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India (RDF) has strongly criticized the state and central governments for reverting to unbridled and naked terror tactics to scuttle the ongoing revolutionary struggles of the oppressed and exploited vast masses of the country. The ban which was imposed on 17th August, 2005 has come after the failure of the state to cow down the revolutionary movement and leadership through talks. The talks between the revolutionary communists and the state had broken down in January 2005 because the state was not ready to genuinely look into the massive problems of the people and unwilling to take any steps to ameliorate them. Instead, it sought to destroy the revolutionary movement by making it to throw down arms and become part of the same oppressive system which had forced it to take up arms against it.

The RDF states that it is a desperate act on the part of the Andhra government after it failed to achieve its immoral objective through talks. The renewed fascist onslaught on the revolutionary and democratic movement will not be able to stop the march of revolutionary forces towards liberation from oppression, exploitation and state violence which is being perpetrated with all the despicable undemocratic and autocratic means. The ban only further exposes the truth that the state of India is undemocratic and anti-people in essence and is a servile agent of the imperialists as it looks after the interests of the imperialist masters and their MNCs and TNCs.
The state of Andhra, whether under the Telgu Desam or Congress Party has been ruthlessly unleashing oppression against the revolutionary and democratic movement. Two and a half decades of naked terror have been unable to break the resolve of the movement and the movement again will prove its mettle against the current onslaught.

The RDF calls on the revolutionary, democratic and progressive forces and the toiling masses of the country to take up the challenge thrown by the government and launch a wide reaching protest movement against the draconian act of ban. The RDF declares it to be a criminal act of the state not only against the banned organisations which include CPI (Maoist), Radical Youth League, Radical Students Union, Raitu Coolie Sangham, Singareni Karmika Samakhya, Viplava Karmika Samakhya, All India Revolutionary Students Federation, and Revolutionary Writers Association but on all the toiling and justice loving people of the country. It demands immediate and unconditional revocation of the ban orders on the CPI (Maoist) and all other mass revolutionary organisations. It also demands the unconditional and immediate release of Varvara Rao, the well known poet. It calls on the people to assert their democratic right to protest and the right of the conscience to support the revolution and revolutionary organisations of the people.

Khagen Das, President (RDF)
Rajkishore, General Secretary (RDF)

Issued by:
Dr. Darshan Pal,
Vice President (RDF),
Street No.8, Punia Colony, Sangrur, Punjab
Mb. 9417055994

ILPS Release

2008-01-24T13:38:00.000-08:00

ILPS CONDEMNS THE BAN ON DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATIONS
AND THE ARREST OF THE REVOLUTIONARY POET VARVARA RAO

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS)

We, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, condemn in the strongest terms the Reddy Government of Andhra Pradesh for banning many democratic and revolutionary organizations together with the Communist Party of India (Maoist), for undertaking brutal repressive actions against the cadres and mass activists of the revolutionary democratic movement and for arresting the revolutionary poet Varvara Rao.

In this regard, we join the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India in criticizing and condemning the central and state governments for reverting to naked terror tactics against the ongoing revolutionary struggle of the oppressed and exploited people. The ban imposed on 17th August 2005 is a callous act of desperation of the state after failing to hoodwink and intimidate the people with the malicious slogan of “peace talks or else”.

The talks had broken down because the reactionary state is unwilling to address the root causes of the civil war, to take up basic reforms and to accord the revolutionary negotiators with safety and immunity guarantees. The reactionary state is merely interested in seeking the disarming and capitulation of the revolutionary forces and people led by CPI (Maoist).

The anti-democratic ban and fascist onslaughts can only further incite the revolutionary forces and people of India to wage people’s war in order to achieve national and social liberation against the semicolonial and semifeudal system. The state of India is further exposed as an instrument of oppression and exploitation and as a shameless puppet of the imperialists and their multinational corporations.

We call on all participating organizations of the ILPS and all friendly organizations and personages in the world to express, in the form of statements and protest mass actions, solidarity with and support for the democratic organizations and individuals under fascist attack in India and demand that their democratic rights be respected and that the onslaughts against them be ended. We are united with the Indian people in undertaking a mass movement to protest the fascist ban and raise democratic demands.

We demand that the reactionary state lift its fascist ban and stop its criminal acts not only against the CPI (Maoist), Radical Youth League, Radical Students Union, Raitu Coolie Sangham, Singareni Karmika Samakhya, Viplava Karmika Samakhya, All India RevolutionaryStudents Federation and Revolutionary Writers Association but also against all the broad masses of the Indian people. We likewise demand the unconditional and immediate release of Varvara Rao, the well-known poet and leader of the people.

The real terrorists in the world are the US and other imperialist powers launching wars of aggression and pushing their puppet states to carry out the rule of open terror. They use their wholesale terrorism in order to plunder the world and shackle the working people to a life of poverty and misery. Thus, the ILPS is always urging the people of the world to rise up and assert their national and democratic rights against imperialism and the local reactionaries.

17.08.2005

Invitation

2008-01-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

To,
The Members of the Co-ordination Team for Raipur Convention

Dear Comrade,

In the last meeting of Dhanbad, we decided to hold our next meeting in Delhi on 3rd– 4th Sept.2005. The venue of the meeting is Ambedkar Bhawan , Rani Jhansi Road, New Delhi. It is about 2 k.m. from New Delhi Railway Station near Vediocon Tower. You can take Bus no. 166&181 from the Railway Station and drop at the bus stop of Paharganj P.S. to reach the venue of the meeting.

We will start the meeting at 11 a.m., so please try to come to Delhi in the morning of 3rd Sept. 2005.

The agenda of the meeting are as follows:
1.Reporting from states,
2.Discussion on papers and finalization,
3.Propaganda Materials : Leaflet and Poster,
4.Funds, and
5.Any other matters.

With revolutionary greetings.

Arjun Prasad Singh
(on behalf of the Co-ordination Team)
15-08-2005

RDF Press Release

2008-01-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

11 August 2005
Delhi

RDF CONDEMNS DHANBAD ARRESTS

Dear Friends,
Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) strongly condemns the illegal arrest of five activists of different mass organizations, viz., 1. Jeetan Marandi, the Executive Committee Member of RDF. 2. B P. Rakshit, Labour Leader of Jharkhand. 3. Animesh, Labour Leader of Jharkhand 4. Sunil, the Office Secretary of Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti, Katras and 5. Rajender Mahato, the Local Labour Activist.

All of them were picked up, without any warrant of arrest, by Dhanbad police from the Mazadoor Sangathan Samiti office of Katras (Dhanbad, Jharkhand), on 29th July, 2005, when they were holding their regular meeting. It is to note that Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti and its office are duly registered by Govt. of Jharkhand. The police seized some of the files and literatures of the office and implicated them under some sections of 17 CLA, a draconian Act enacted by the British colonialists. They were illegally put in the police custody for three days, violating the mandatory direction of the Supreme Court of India. During interrogation process, some of them were subjected to physical torture. Owing to the pressure from different democratic circles, the police had to produce them in the court after three days. The court has sent them to Dhanbad Jail, where they are being treated like criminals by the jail authority.

With an active cooperation of central government, the BJP led government in Jharkhand is creating a rein of terror, treating each and every democratic movement as terrorist activity. It is using the draconian 17 CLA, on wide scale, as an instrument to curb the democratic voice of the people. Widespread raids and arrests have become normal phenomenon in different areas of struggle.

We demand the immediate release of the 5 arrested political activists and the withdrawal of false cases implicated against them. We appeal all the democratic people and organizations to raise the strong voices against raid in the office of Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti and the arrests of the political activists.

With Regards,

Raj Kishore, General Secretary,Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)
Dr. Darshan Pal,Voice President,Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)

RDF Press Release

2008-01-24T13:33:00.000-08:00

23RD MAY, 2005
NEW DELHI

UNITY DECLARATION

All India People’s Resistance Forum (AIPRF) & Struggling Forum for People’s Resistance (SFPR) merge and form Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)

In the joint executive meeting held on 20th May, 2005, the ‘Struggling Forum for People’s Resistance’ (SFPR) & ‘All India People’s Resistance Forum’ (AIPRF) decided to merge in a single organisation named Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF). It is known to all that both the organisations have been fighting against the exploitation and repression of imperialism, comprador bourgeoisie and feudalism and supporting the agrarian revolutionary movements going on in India for a long time. It is a good development for the toiling and patriotic people of India who want an end to their misery and seek liberation from the clutches of imperialist sharks and anti-national and anti-people bureaucrat capitalist and feudal classes which have been obstructing the development of the country and unleashing repression on the people.

In the so-called independent India, the colonial times exploitation has only further increased rather than coming to an end. More than half of the population live in abject poverty and a vast majority of people live a wretched life without having any future and hope. The major part of land has remained in the hands of a small number of feudal forces comprising landlords, jotedars and moneylenders. Most of the agriculture labourers are landless. Though there are various land ceiling acts and acts for protection of tribal and dalit lands, they remain only on paper. These acts have proved a deception on the poor.

Following Mexico and Brazil, India has become the third biggest debtor country in the third world. Even when the country is deeply entangled in a vicious cycle of debt, the nominal restrictions which used to be imposed on the MNCs and TNCs, have totally been withdrawn by the rulers. Consequently, they have entered in a big way to several important sectors, including mines and energy production.

The Indian government has been taking loans from the World Bank under hard, and derogatory conditionalities. The fatal consequences of it have also fallen upon the working class –such as ‘golden hand shake’, ‘lay off’ and curtailment of actual wage as well as massive retrenchment. Various types of black laws have been imposed to suppress the working class movement. The trade union activities, the rights of workers have been limited more and more and their right to strike banned. The number of educated unemployed figures more than five crores, able unemployed and half employed reads 32 crores. Five lakh factories have been closed down. 41.72 % of the population live below the poverty line. 40 crores of people are illiterate. A vast number of people do not have any opportunity for medical treatment; lakhs of people have no dwelling houses at all. As the resistance of the people is rising the ruling classes are resorting to more brutal repressions. The leaders and cadres of the trade unions, civil liberties organisations and even the journalists are being killed. The state has butchered innumerable people; lakhs are being arrested and imprisoned while innumerable peoples have been and being tortured.

The exploiting classes always propagate secularism on the one hand while engineering the pogroms and riots by provoking casteism, communalism and religious fanaticism on the other. Socially degenerate rampant propaganda of the imperialists and feudal culture is on the rise through T. V. radio, cinema, dance, song, drama, newspapers and various types of periodicals. The use of liquor, gambling, and drugs are increasing by the folds.

The ruling class on the one hand is pleading for the protection of woman’s dignity while the system they preside is encouraging even more the reactionary practices of patriarchy, degradation, humiliation, and various other heinous crimes, including rape, against women.

The Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) desires that the people of India liberate themselves from the clutches of exploitation and repression of imperialism, comprador bourgeoisie and feudalism. The RDF wants the abolition of this exploitative and oppressive system. So it raises the slogan – “Rise”, “Resist” and “Liberate”.

The RDF, with its all capabilities, will wage a resolute struggle against feudal and imperialist exploitation, atrocity and oppression. the RDF will support and integrate with all the struggles of the oppressed people, the working class, the peasantry, the rural poor, the students, the women, the dalits, the tribals, etc. and the national and religious minorities, the nationality struggles and the liberation struggles of the people of Jammu & Kashmir and the North East. The RDF will uphold the path of Naxalbari i.e., the path of Andhra, Jharkhand, Bihar and Dandakarnya and will conduct intensive and massive propaganda highlighting this path and will help these struggles in every possible way.

The Indian Parliamentary system has no significance as per democracy. The legislature, bureaucracy and judiciary, every component of the state runs at the gestures and dictates of imperialism, the IMF and the World Bank. So the parliamentary system is nothing but bluff. So, “the boycott of elections is a democratic right of the people”.

The people of India have been living under increasing fascist repression and measures by the state for a long time. The state machinery is ruthlessly suppressing even the trade union type of ordinary movements of the people for economic and democratic demands. In such conditions to fulfil and accomplish the higher tasks of mass movements and to meet with the needs for the development of people’s struggles and organisations, we have formed the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF).

The RDF calls on the people and the greater masses of the democratic and progressive forces to involve in the programmes enmasse. The RDF will try its best to unite in the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggles with those individuals and organisations that will oppose the state repression. The RDF will unite with others too in issue based joint activities by forming platforms like “people’s action committees”.

We call on all justice loving individuals and organisations to come and join in with us and carry forward the struggle for emancipation of the people from all kinds of oppression so that conditions for a happier life are created on this part of the earth and a new era of progress is unleashed where there will be no imperialist, bureaucratic and feudal exploitation and tyranny.

Raj Kishor, General Secretary
G.N. Saibaba, Deputy Secretary
Dr. Darshan Pal, Vice President
Sunil, Deputy Secretary
Tara Singh, Treasurer
Adhoc Committee
Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)

Invitation for Press-Meet

2008-01-24T13:27:00.000-08:00

To,
Editor/Reporter

Newspaper/ TV Channel
New Delhi

Two major people’s organisations, All India People’s Resistance Forum (AIPRF) and Struggling Forum for People’s Resistance (SFPR), that have a considerable mass base across the country are merged to form Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) in a joint executive meeting held on 20th May 2005, in Delhi. A press-meet is held to declare the merger and to announce the future political orientation of the new organisation. You are kindly requested to attend the meet and make the coverage in your newspapers/TV channel. The press-meet will be addressed by:

1. Raj Kishore, General Secretary of erstwhile SFPR
2. Dr. Darshan Pal, President of erstwhile AIPRF
3. G. N. Saibaba, General Secretary of erstwhile AIPRF
4. Tara Singh, All India Executive Committee Member of erstwhile SFPR
5. Sunil, All India Executive Committee Member of erstwhile SFPR

The details of the press-meet are as follow:

Date: 23rd May, 2005
Place: Mulakat Restaurant, Constitutional Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi
Time: 3 p.m.

Arjun Prasad Singh,
All India Executive Committee Member of erstwhile SFPR
Date: 21-05-2005
Place: New Delhi