Hi Venu: See, AK Antony thanked the CPM for helping the Congress sweep the 2009 Loksabha elections while speaking in a reception programme after he became the Defense Minister for second time.
What you say is that it is the resentment against CPM policies and style of leadership that resulted in UPA getting 16 seats. But the question remans how the Congress gained from the resentment. Other than paying some lip service, did the Congress anyway took anysteps in giving land to the landless poor. May be Congress party is more diplomatic on their attitude toweards new social mobilizations- be it adivasis or dalits. But can it be mistaken for democracy. ( for eg: Mayawati has again equated Rahul Gadhi with MKGandhi for the great the dramatics on Dalit empowerement) The UPA were als follwing the policies of neoliberalism. The AP govt had sanctined more no: of SEZs than any other state govt.s, I suppose. NREGA, for instance, has to be seen in the light of "reform" measures since neoliberal pursuits of UPA. For more on this, see Kalyan Sanyal's article in the recent EPW special issue on Labour. Also see on the problems of election results interpretation, the current EPW editorial- Fractured Social Science. D.Prasad On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 10:14 AM, Venugopalan K M <[email protected]>wrote: > I would suggest that in Kerala, it was not just the Lavlin case. > The fundamental mistake occurred when the Left lost touch with the masses. > The crudely self righteous sermons in favour of what they called > 'Development' and the criminal insensitivity toward the plights of victims > of a neo-liberal political agenda were never taken without a pinch of salt. > This seems true not just of those directly affected by new forms of > deprivation but also others, who expected sort of care for human rights and > natural justice on such things esp from a Left set up. While these > criticisms were totally ignored by the Party, the Kerala leadership( with > the backing of the Polit Bureau) even rubbished them as a handiwork of some > imagined 'bourgeois media syndicate'. > Kerala saw an entire Party being mobilised to defend Pinarayi, in the > context of clear accusation of huge misappropriation of public funds and > charges of corruption (Lavline). Thousands of landless people, mainly > dalits, occupying a big rubber estate land in Chengara (Pathanamthitta > dist) demanding it to be distributed to them was seen by the CPI(M) less a > land issue than a 'conspiracy' by (foreign funded) NGOs and psuedo > intellectuals. Direct assaults were unleashed (ostensibly in the name of > protecting the interests of rubber tapping workers unions, and by goondas > masquerading as CITU activists) against poor dalits including women and > children. An honourable negotiated settlement on the Chengara land struggle > was never attempted and is still pending. By and large, the media has been > sympathetic to this issue though the CPI(M) showed it as yet another proof > of 'meadia conspiracy'. Perhaps many of us we could even visualize the > worst- some thing like Nandigram developing. Apparently thanks to the > intervention by an enlightened section within and outside the Left set up, > that didn't happen. > In relation to the electoral debacle of the CPI(M) and the Left, I like to > quote a statement in an analysis by the CPI(ML) (Liberation): > ''...The epicentre of the anti-CPI(M) political earthquake lies > squarely in the Singur-Nandigram seismic zone where the CPI(M) has > been punished for its arrogant and coercive attitude to the peasantry > and the intelligentsia, for its ruthless attempt to implement the same > economic policies that it claims to have been opposing all along.." > > Though development like Nandigram did not happen here, land related issues > in many places where people face threats of imminent eviction and brutal > state violence are still continuing in Kerala. These have to do with issues > connected with anti poor ,neo-liberal agenda often aiding Corporate land > grabbings. > > > -- > http://venukm.blogspot.com/ > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
