---------- From: "cpimllib" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 19:32:44 +0530 To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;@tonto.eunet.fi> Subject: ML Update, Vol.-4' No,-25; 20- 6- 2001. ML Update A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine Vol.-4; No.-25; 20-6-2001 Ominous Contours of Saffron Statecraft Imphal is burning. As protesters burn down effigies of Vajpayee and set the Assembly afire, security forces have gunned down a dozen protesters. Curfew has been clamped down, but the unrest is only likely to spread with more and more people asking the centre to revoke its decision of extending the cease-fire with NSCN without territorial limits. A month ago, the BJP had managed to destabilise the state government. Faced with threats from the Samata Party, the BJP high command eventually gave up the attempt to instal a BJP-led government, putting the state instead under President's Rule. And now with this latest agreement of an extended cease-fire with the NSCN(I-M), the Vajpayee government has managed to upset the entire social and political balance in the state. Resentment is also running high in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh against the agreement arrived at in Bangkok. It is well known that armed NSCN guerrillas operate in all these states running something like a parallel administration. With the cease-fire now being extended over the entire North-East, NSCN will have a free hand in expanding its areas of operation and tightening its grip. Many in Assam, Arunachal, and especially Manipur, where politics revolves largely around the contradiction between the Manipuris and Nagas, view this extension as a first step towards fulfilment of the NSCN vision of a Greater Nagaland. It may be noted that short of complete independence, NSCN is now insisting on the creation of a greater Naga homeland with a special status comparable to Sikkim or Jammu and Kashmir, if not like Bhutan. Knowledgeable political observers however believe that the BJP is working on a gameplan of eventually creating rifts within the Naga movement, splitting the community on different ethno-political lines. In the process the saffron rulers have now entangled the whole of North-East in a dangerous political mess, igniting passions all around. Ironically, the extension of cease-fire with NSCN came close on the heels of the withdrawal of cease-fire in the Kashmir valley. Not only have "encounters" again become the order of the day in Kashmir, the government has also put senior Hurriyat leaders under house arrest. All this is of course sought to be rationalised as a precautionary measure to ensure the right ambience for the forthcoming Vajpayee-Musharraf talks! With the government itself adopting such double standards, we surely do not have to look for saboteurs elsewhere to blame them for the mess in Kashmir. Meanwhile, the Maoists in Nepal have alleged the involvement of the Indian intelligence agency RAW and the notorious CIA of the US behind the recent palace coup in Kathmandu. The Nepal government has of course termed this as sedition and put journalists behind the bars for printing such seditious stuff. The probe report on the palace coup has predictably failed to satisfy the people of Nepal and new facts are emerging daily from different sources, making the whole thing appear increasingly murky. While the powers that be in both Kathmandu and New Delhi dismiss all allegations of possible involvement of RAW and CIA in the palace coup, the CIA's presence in Delhi has at least become official. We are told that a conspiracy hatched by some associates of Osama Bin Laden to bomb the US Embassy in New Delhi has just been smashed. A Sudanese national has been arrested and reports published in sections of the national media talk of collaboration between the Delhi Police and the CIA in this connection! So the CIA has finally arrived and the saffron brigade's crusade against ISI agents and Madrasas is now openly merging with Washington's global campaign against so-called Islamic terrorism. As Imphal burns and Vajpayee recuperates in Mumbai, and the VHP reiterates its March 12 deadline for the construction of Ram Mandir while Advani uses the Liberhan Commission to propagate his twisted tale of Ayodhya, India obviously has to wage a resolute battle to thwart the ominous signs of saffron statecraft. CPI(ML) Opposes NDA Govt. Deal with NSCN CPI(ML) in a statement issued on 15 June opposed the Vajpayee Govt.'s move to strike a deal with NSCN(I-M) under which the govt. has agreed to extend the ceasefire to cover all Naga inhabited areas in the Northeast, thereby bowing to the NSCN demand of "Greater Nagaland". It said, "The extension of ceasefire without any territorial limits will no doubt be a major infringement of the territorial intergrity of other northeastern states except Nagaland and is bound to backfire." The Party said, "Such talks must not smack of political expediency" and added, "the central and state governments must not play political football with the autonomy movements of long-neglected aspirations of northeastern communities for democracy and development." The Party demanded that the Union Govt. should come out with a comprehensive package of solutions to the long-standing problems in the entire northeastern region. Avoid All Diversions to Indo-Pak Summit - CPI(ML) Reacting to the disturbing incident of bursting of grenades at Charar-e-Sharief and the recent army attack on a mosque at Shangus in Anantnag, Party said on 13 June, "The desecration of mosque at Shangus in Anantanag has all the trappings of derailment from the normal process of peace and normalcy. Such a situation in the Valley certainly does not serve as a positive backdrop for the Indo-pak Summit which is about to be held in July." Party asked the Union Govt. to "avoid all the diversions which mar the prospects of a more comprehensive and meaningful dialogue concerning Kashmir." Movement Against Drug Mafia in Northwest Delhi Party comrades in Narela area in the Northwest Delhi have been fighting against menace of drugs and eve-teasing in the locality for quite a long time. A meeting was held by Gramin Vikas Panchayat and AIPWA over this issue on 17 June where police authorities were also called and asked to explain why appropriate action was not being taken against the drug-mafia. The local SHO had to put up sort of explanation before the people. The meeting was addressed by Delhi state committee member Com. Jita Kaur, Satbeer Singh, Surendra and others. CPI(ML)Condemns Killing of Dalits in U.P. CPI(ML) strongly condemned the killing of 5 persons belonging to dalit community by upper caste feudal goons on 13 June at Zaharana village under Chandausi PS in Aligarh district and another massacre of dalits at Hasanpur in Fatehpur district. The Party held that this is not an isolated incident, as earlier on 9 June, Hardwar, a dalit, was killed by a Thakur landlord at Pachasa village of Isanagar PS in Lakhimpur Kheri district. And then, on 14 June, police, PAC and upper caste feudals jointly launched attack on dalit women and men at Ghoorpur in Allahabad. While terming these incidents a consequence of protection being given to the feudal elements by Rajnath Singh govt., the Party demanded resignation of the BJP-led state govt. for its failure to check repeated incidents of killings, right from Bhawanipur down to Aligarh. This points to a complete breakdown of a constitutional state in U.P. and the Party will organise a dharna on 21 June in front of UP Assembly to protest these killings. Party Team Visits Riot-Hit Areas in Lucknow On 6 June, a 3-member CPI(ML) team visited riot-affected areas in old Lucknow where widespread violence had taken place on the occasion of Barawafat on 5 June. The team found that it was a case of police atrocity on minorities. Camping policemen had molested a minor Muslim girl and when a youth Nayeem protested, they fired to kill him. During the day-long mass resistance that ensued against this barbarity, another youth was killed in police firing and dozens got injured in lathicharge. Though police raids on minority houses continued, ultimately administration had to bow down in the face of mass resistance and the policemen were arrested, with murder case registered against them. A compensation of Rs. 2 lakh to the next kin of deceased has also been announced. The team also found BJP leader and minister Lalji Tandon guilty of fanning up communal tension. Party has demanded judicial probe into the whole incident and that the govt. must check oppression of minority families. RYA Conferences in U.P. Revolutionary Youth Association is now taking roots and acquiring organised shape in various districts of U.P., where rigorous efforts are being made to build it while linking with popular mobilisation on various issues and mass campaign on political issues. District conferences have been held in Pilibhit, Ghazipur, Ballia, Ambedkar Nagar and Faizabad, while town conference took place in Mirzapur. Already, there is a district committee in Chandauli. In the coming July, district, city and block conferences are planned in Allahabad, Deoria, Mirzapur and Kanpur. Through this exercise, RYA in U.P. is well set to achieve its membership and other movemental targets for this year. Com. Hakim Singh Remembered in Punjab The 2nd anniversary of Com. Hakim Singh's death was observed on 4 June in his ancestral village Samaoun in Mansa. Around 1,500 people from neighbouring villages attended the programme which went on well into the midnight. Addressing the gathering, Party CC member Com. Swapan Mukherjee gave a call to intensify the movement against onslaught of globalisation. Com. Rajvinder Rana, State Party secy., BKU (Ekta) leader Ruldu Singh, co-convenor of AIPSS, and Com. Baldev Singh Bhikhi also spoke at the occasion. Revolutionary songs and drama were also presented at the occasion. Party and Kisan Sabha Meets in Haryana A meeting of Haryana Kisan Sabha was held at Neelokheri in Karnal district of Haryana on 17 June. Com. Prem Singh, Party incharge of Haryana explained the necessity of fighting against ill-effects of globalisation. Com. Mahendra Chopra, convenor of the district Kisan Sabha and Com. Ram Kishan, Gyan Singh, Ram Kumar and Ram Singh spoke at the occasion. On 18 June, a general body meeting of CPI(ML) was held at Jor Dharmshala in Karnal to discuss Party programme and latest decisions. It was resolved to put emphasis on launching movements on peasants issues against globalisation. Workers Solidarity Conference in Dhanbad Workers Solidarity Conference was held at Dhanbad on 10 June at Railway Club in which workers from 11 trade unions belonging to railways, coal, steel, bank, steel, telecom, postal, RMS, Central Govt. Employees Association, Coal (CIITEA), insurance (LIC) and Jharkhand State Govt. non-guzetted employees (NGEF) participated through their unions. Com. CM Singh of AIREC inaugurated the conference. Com. Pradeep Jha, Editor of Shramik Solidarity, Patna, was the chief guest and Com. Upendra Singh, General Secretary of Coal Mines Workers Union (CMWU) was the main speaker at the conference. Com. Sukhdev Prasad of All India Railway Engineering Workers Association presented the theme paper of the conference. Com. Hira Prasad of telecom union NFTE, Com. Deodeep Singh Diwakar of Centre of Steel Workers, Com. Arun Singh of CMWU and Com. BN Ghosh from Sindri FCI also addressed the delegates. The conference adopted five resolutions (i) Wage agreeent for steel workers be concluded immediately, (ii) Illegal lockout in Valley Refractories in Kumardhubi be lifted and affected workers be given living allowance by state govt. (iii) Declaring BCCL and ECL as sick industry be opposed, (iv) Plan to revive FCI in Sindri be implemented at the earliest; and (v) Privatisation, contractualisation and downsizing in raliways be opposed. The conference also decided to organise a massive workers convention in September this year. A 25-member committee of Workers Solidarity Forum (WSF) was formed in the conference and Com. BR Singh of AIREC Dhanbad was elected its convenor, who made the concluding speech. Six seats of WSF Committee are still lying vacant. Representatives from sectors like GIC (insurance), AIBEA (Bank employees) etc. who could not attend the conference due to some other engagement have also expressed their willingness to join it and they will be soon accomodated in the Committee. Panchayat Members' Convention in Bihar Bihar State Committee of the Party organised a massive convention of newly elected representatives to local bodies, i.e., ward members, mukhiyas, block panchayat samiti and district panchayat samiti members, on 6 June at Arrah in Bhojpur. Addressing the meet, Party General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya called for ushering in a new political chapter in the history of Bihar by waging a decisive battle against Ranvir Sena on the basis of worker-peasant unity. He said that the powerful victory of the poor everywhere from Bathe to Bathani Tola and Shankarbigha to Senari has proved that the countdown of this maneater army has begun and the people of Bhojpur have declared that they would no longer tolerate the forces of massacre and violence. The Party General Secretary emphasised that the massive victory of rural poor in panchayat elections is the indicator of their increasing independent assertion. This struggle must be taken to its ultimate goal - the struggle for political power and to this end panchayats must become centre of struggle for acquiring the right to take policy decisions. Com. Dipankar pointed out that the poor agrarian labourers are always prepared to forge struggling unity with middle and rich peasantry against the agricultural policy introduced by anti-national, pro-imperialist forces. He called upon all the progressive, democratic forces, who want to reinforce this assertion of the rural poor, to join hands with CPI(ML). The convention was also addressed by Com. Ramjatan Sharma, Secretary of Party's Bihar State Committee, ex-MLA Com. Chandradeep Singh, and newly elected district panchayat members Com. Kamta Prasad Singh, Kapil Sau, Mukesh Ram, Indu Devi, Krishna Prasad Gupta; mukhiyas Rajeshwar Mushahar, Zakir Hussain, Shivmangal Yadav, Rajkumar Chaudhary, Jagdish Pal and block panchayat members Chandradhan Rai, Rajendra Singh, Sanjay Singh and Kanhaiya Thakur. State Convenor of Bihar Pradesh Khet Mazdoor Sabha Com. Rameshwar Prasad presided over the convention. Bush's Charge on Global Warming Countered When US Pesident George W. Bush charged India of being a major emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG), the Indian Govt. chose to remain silent. It took an environmentalist to protest Bush's charge. Teri Director General RK Pachauri responeded to Bush's charge that China and India were responsible for much of environmental pollution and global warming. "It cannot be ignored that the US is the single largest emitter of GHGs. This accounts for 24% of the world's emission, though the country has only 5% of the world's population. Pachauri had criticised Bush's call for commitment from developing country. "This is actually a red herring. It is meant to avoid any responsibility towards addressing the global challenge of climate change", he said. "His objective is to avoid any commitments that would require the US's energy and industrial sectors to undertake efforts to become less GHG-intensive. "Instead, their intention is to achieve most of its GHG reduction commitments through forestry and cooperative projects in developing countries", he added. Pachauri said Bush had stressed that developing countries with vast industrialisation programmes, such as China and India, are culpable for contributing to global warming. Hindustan Times, 14-6-2001 Party Criticises Advani's Deposition Before Liberhan Commission Making a scathing attack on Advani's deposition before Liberhan Commission, Party said on 15 June, "Mr Advani should learn to behave like home minister, or else he should have no business to sit on this crucial ministerial chair. Rather it will be worthy of him and the whole of RSS-run communal line-up to see him working as a fascist propagandist." Party said, "Now that the UP assembly elections are round the corner, Advani and his whole saffron brigade are once again trying to fan up communal frenzy in the country." The Party also criticised Rajnath Govt. for not issuing fresh notification implicating senior BJP leaders including, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati in CBI's Ayodhya case. The Saffronisation of Indian Archaeology When the "Puratatva Bhawan" was opened at the Qutub Institutional Area here on December 2, 2000, it was not an eminent archaeologist or historian who was invited as the chief guest. Instead, the Indian Archaeological Society decided that senior RSS leader KS Sudarshan should do the honours. This was not surprising, given that the current president of the Indian Archaeological Society is Swarajya Prakash Gupta, once a senior functionary of the National Museum, but known better for his defence of the claim that the site of the now destroyed Babri Masjid was the birthplace of Ram.... On the occasion, Sudarshan told the gathered archaeologists it was their duty to spread the right message about "Ramjanambhoomi" -- that a Ram temple to mark the birthplace of Ram had been destroyed by Babar's invading hoards and replaced with a mosque. Simultaneously, from December 1-3, 2000, the National Museum hosted the annual conference of the Indian Archaeological Society, the Indian Society for Pre-Historic and Quartercentury Studies and the Indian History and Cultural Society. The bulk of the papers read there were on Indus Valley civilisation, and with most stressing that it was an Aryan civilisation, complete with Vedic Sanskrit language, by just pushing back the date of Rigveda by 2000 years. Sources at the museum said that scolars belonging to the "traditional" school of thought -- who say there is still not enough linguistic or archaeological evidence to prove a correlation between the pastoral society of the Vedic civilisation with urban Harappan civilisation -- were simply not on the guest list. This conference came close on the heels of the opening of the new Harappan gallery at the National Museum. Here, too, the RSS historians succeded in getting the museum to endorse their claim the Harappan and Vedic civilisations were the same in the catalogue and the pamphlet for the new Harappan gallery, even though this is, at best, only one viewpoint... But when the museum's director general, Dr RD Chaudhury, was asked at the time the exhibition was opened why the catalogue was one-sided, he had said, "Some people are complaining, but I have just got a letter endorsing the exhibition." But the letter ... was from none other than NS Rajaram who, along with N Jha, co-authored the notorious The Deciphered Indus Script and claimed a connection between the Rig Veda and the Harappan culture, apart from concocting the horse seal -- trashed by well-known Indologist Michael Witzel and comparative historian Steve Farmer. (The Times of India, 15 June, 2001) Demonstrations Against European Union and US Imperialism On 15 June, 16,000 people marched through the centre of Gothenburg under the banner "Sweden Out Of European Union", when European Union Summit meeting was going on from 14 to 16 June in the city. It was largest ever protest against the membership of the EU in any member country, because the majority of the Swedish people oppose it. Right since it became a member in 1995, all opinion results have shown this. The protest was arranged by a broad network, including Communist Party of Sweden, revolutionary communist party KPML(r), V�nsterpartiet (a Left party) and Milj�partiet (Green Party), and a number of other organisations including forums against European Union and trade unions. Anders Carlsson, chairman of KPML(r) and other speakers said at the rally that they wanted to liberate Sweden and Europe from the EU project of the market liberalism, from the dictatorship of the market and legislated right wing politics, because it means mass unemployment, social destruction, privatisation and insecurity to ordinary working class people. In the name of EU democracy and national sovereignty is being surrendered to European imperialism, jeopardising peace and international solidarity. The rally adopted a resolution that was presented to the Deputy Prime Minister Lena Hjelm-Wall�n after the meeting, demanding a new referendum, where the Swedish people could express their opinion on the membership. Earlier on 14 June, 12,500 people marched through the centre of the city protesting against US imperialism on the day of George Bush's arrival in Sweden. It was the largest anti-imperialist manifestation since the Vietnam war. Speakers covered different aspects of the threats to the peoples of the world that US imperialism represents including Cuba, Colombia, the new Star Wars and globalization. They said: "The real crook is George W. Bush and the real rogue state is the USA! " On 16 June, around 9,000 people demonstrated in the city of Gothenburg, on the main theme of "Another Europe". It was arranged by KMPL(r) and some of other political grouping who had participating on 15 June demonstration against European Union. This is an excellent example of a socialist attitude to the 'anti-globalisation movement' - how socialists can take joint action with the anti-globalisation people on the basis of common struggles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cpiml.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------
