ML Update 26 / 2011

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 14, No. 26, 21 – 27 JUNE 2011

Nationwide Call to Protest on 26 June, Anniversary of the Emergency

Combat Corruption, Resist Repression!

Save Democracy, Save India!

On 26 June 1975 the then Congress government imposed the infamous Emergency, suspending all civil liberties, muzzling voices of dissent, jailing opponents and attempting to throttle democracy. This June, 36 years since that black day, we can experience all the symptoms of an undeclared Emergency.

Once again, democratic protests are being outlawed. Spaces of protest are being declared out of bounds. Peaceful protestors are brutally assaulted and evicted, even in the national capital. People's movements against corporate plunder and land grab are facing intensified repression. Workers' strikes are declared illegal and their basic democratic right to form unions of their choice is met with victimization and repression. Voices of conscience who challenge state repression and corporate loot are branded 'seditious' and jailed. Mass movements against corruption are branded as a threat to democracy in order to justify repression.

Almost every month, there are fresh revelations of huge scams involving a nexus between ruling UPA Ministers and private corporations. The oil scam revealed by the CAG is the latest. The Government, in the dock for unprecedented corruption, black money, plunder of the country's natural resources and drain of the public exchequer, is seeking to silence public anger by intimidating people's protest. Following the brutal police assault on sleeping protestors are Ramlila Grounds in Delhi, UPA Minister Kapil Sibal declared, "Let this be a lesson to everybody." In this declaration we can hear the footfalls of Emergency. This is the UPA's open threat to all forces of struggle against corruption, all those who cherish and defend democracy.

At the same time, the ruling class 'opposition' cannot offer any credible resistance to either corruption or repression. BJP-ruled states such as Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand are notorious for some of the worst instances of corporate plunder of natural resources, and for severe repression on people's resistance and crackdown on democratic rights. Be it Forbesganj in NDA-ruled Bihar, Bhatta Parsaul in BSP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Jagatsinghpur in BJD-ruled Odisha or Jaitapur in Congress-ruled Maharashtra, people's movements against corporate land grab and forced eviction are being met with the same naked police brutality and bullets.

While the Congress-UPA Government has declared war on democracy, the ruling class opposition's complete bankruptcy on the question of combating corruption and repression has been exposed. It is up to the people of the country to build and sustain the movement against the all-pervasive rot of corruption and the all-out assault on our freedom and democracy.

On 26 June this year, remembering the Emergency and people's resistance to it, let us pledge to throw off the yoke of repression and demand democracy.

Let us demand that the draconian laws like Sedition, AFSPA, MCOCA, CSPSA and UAPA, which should have no place in an independent and democratic India, be scrapped!

Let us declare our defiance to all attempts to muzzle the voices of protest! Let us resist and defy each and every attempt to ban popular protests and place the spaces of protest out of bounds!

Let the rulers know that people's aspirations for liberty, for democracy, for rights, cannot be silenced by batons or bullets!

Farbisganj Murders: Movement Intensifies in Bihar against the Killings

Intensifying the State-wide agitation in Bihar demanding punishment to the killers of four innocent villagers (from minority community) of Bhajanpur in Forbesganj the CPI(ML) held militant protest dharnas in Patna and all district headquarters of the State on 15 June 2011. Through these protest programmes the Party has demanded that all accused involved in the heinous firing including BJP's councillor Ashok Agrawal, Araria's District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and all police men involved in the murders be charged under section 302, arrested immediately and put behind bars.

Agrarian labourers, farmers, students-youth and women participated in huge numbers at all the programmes that began with the slogan "Stop the Drama of Judicial Enquiry, File Murder Charge against those Involved in Forbesganj Police Firing". Senior Party leaders addressed the dharnas in different towns and cities.

Addressing the maha-dharna (grand sit-in protest) at Shaheed Bhagat Singh crossing near Gandhi Maidan in Patna, Comrade Saroj Chaubey (Central Committee member, CPIML and AIPWA's National Vice President) said that two incidents of brutal murders by police in Araria in just six months has unmasked the blatantly anti-women and communal character of the present Government. She also mentioned that lives and dignity of Dalit-Muslim women in JD(U)-BJP rule is completely insecure. Comrade KD Yadav (Party CCM) exposed Govt's cunning and non-serious attitude in declaring judicial enquiry as it has not taken any action whatsoever against the perpetrators. Even basic relief has not been extended to the victims, rather false cases has been slapped on hundreds of common villagers. He fully justified the demands of the villagers. Dozens of other senior Party leaders were also present at the maha-dharna in Patna. The speakers lambasted the Nitish Govt. for its ever increasing bureaucratic, undemocratic and anti-people character completely contrary to its pretensions of good-governance. In present Govt. the moneybags and power-brokers are having a field day. The speakers also exposed the involvement of Dy. CM Sushil Modi and BJP MLA Anandi Singh apart from BJP councillor Ashok Agrawal in the whole incident. Party leaders claimed that the BJP is successfully implementing its communal agenda using the Nitish Kumar's Govt.

Post-dharna, a CPI(ML) delegation comprising comrades Murtaza Ali, Nageswar Paswan, Gurudev Das, Lalan Singh and Ramnarayan Singh handed over a 6-point demand letter to the Bihar CM at the DM's office. The memorandum demands compensation for peasants' acquired land at current market rate and restoration of the road connecting Bhajanpura and Sheetalpura, apart from the above mentioned demands of the maha-dharna.

Hundreds of CPI(ML) activists and members led by comrades Ashok Singh (Arrah Dist. Committee member), and others sat on dharna in front of the DM's office. A massive dharna was organised at Sasaram led by CPI(ML) State Committee member (SCM) Comrade Arun Singh (also ex-MLA). Dharna in front of DM's office at Jahanabad was addressed by CPI(ML) Politburo member Comrade Ram Jatan Sharma. Despite heavy rains at Arwal, hundreds of marchers took out a protest march demanding punishment to the culprits of firing. Hundreds of people participated in dharna opposite DM's office at Biharsharif. The dharna was led by CPI(ML) SCM Com. Surendra Ram and Mitranand Singh among others. At Gaya too the dharna spot was DM's office where hundreds of people protested led by District Secretary Com. Niranjan Kumar and AIPWA leader Reeta Barnawal among others. A huge dharna was organised at DM's office in Siwan which was addressed by SCMs and ex-MLAs comrades Amarnath Yadav and Satyadev Ram, Naimuddin Ansari and Amarjeet Kushwaha among others. The leaders here alleged that Nitish Kumar has becom a puppet in the hands of rioting BJP. At Bettiah a protest march was held led by Party leader Birendra Gupta. Despite incessant rains at Bhagalpur the Party held the dharna.

Dharnas were also held at DM's offices in Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Araria, Nawada, Begusarai, Gopalganj, Chhapra, Bhabhua and other places demanding speedy justice to the victims and urging the agrarian labourers, students-youth and common people to intensify the agitation for punishment to the perpetrators of firing at Forbesganj.

Dalits and Adivasis in Gujarat Gravely Attacked by BJP

An attack on a mass scale was conducted by the MLA Raman Patkar from Umargaam constituency in Valsad district on the villagers of Ghoriparha and Gadikparha villages on 13 June 2011. Around 150-200 goons and BJP members, wielding various arms, led by the MLA attacked these villagers, mainly Dalits and Adivasis. This resulted in serious injuries to several people who are now undergoing treatment. These incidents have already been reported to the District Magistrate and SSP repeatedly but no action has been taken so far by them, instead the complainants are being harassed by the administrative officials too. CPI(ML) Central Committee has given  a memorandum to the Union Home Minister in Delhi apprising him of the dangerous situation.

A day before this incident, on 12 June 2011, MLA Raman Patkar and his four sons along with his accomplices conducted another attack on CPI(ML) Liberation leader Kapila Ben. She is also continuing to undergo treatment even now. She was the CPI(ML) candidate in last elections.

These are deliberate and organized political attacks by the leaders of ruling BJP in Gujarat on CPI(ML) activists in order to crush the political opposition and struggles being led by the CPI(ML) in that district. The attacks are particularly targeted against the CPI(ML) activists who contested elections at various levels including Parliament, Assembly, Zila Panchayat and Village Panchayats.

During last elections BJP MLA Raman Patkar and his men regularly harassed and attacked CPI(ML) members and destroyed party posters, banners, and other election materials. These incidents were duly reported to the police and election officials and judicial process is still going on for these crimes. These incidents provide the background for current spree of attacks and intimidation. The ruling party there is trying to muzzle the voices of political dissent by force and bloodshed.

When CPI(ML)'s Valsad district committee Secretary Laxman Vadia approached the Valsad DSP, Collector and Umargaam police station for help and to seek justice, he was not heard and arrogantly dismissed. Instead he found that a false counter case was filed by the attackers against CPI(ML) activists. The police inspector at Umargaam police station even told the CPI(ML) leaders that "There is BJP rule in Umargaam, and if you people will persist with the red-flag party here, I myself will have to shoot you!"

Now even Valsad's Party District Secretary Shri Laxmanbhai Vadia is receiving threats to his life by the local MLA and his men, while the attackers are still roaming free, wielding arms. In order to save his life, Comrade Laxmanbhai Vadia had to flee from his house and remain in hiding.

Memoranda regarding these incidents have been sent to Gujarat's Governor, Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court, DG Police, Gujarat and many other officials. So far, nothing has been done in this regard and the attackers are still intimidating and threatening people and supporters of CPI(ML) in Umargaam region.

UP Police Beat to Death Sambhu Kushwaha

Militant Protests Held to Demand Justice

A Spate of Rapes, Murder and Physical Assault in Just 3 Days

55 year old Sambhu Kushwaha, a peasant by occupation, hailing from Phulli village under Dildar Nagar PS of Gazipur district, was brutally beaten to death in police custody at Dildar Nagar police station on the night of 6-7 June 2011. Enraged at the police barbarism the CPI(ML) Gazipur unit held an angry dharna at the Kotwali police station on 7 June.

Sambhu Kushwaha and his son Bijendra Kushwaha had a minor scuffle with their neighbour on 6 June for which the local police detained and took them to the thana (PS) same day. At night the SO (thana chief) along with remaining police personnel thrashed-up the father and son in a murderous way. Sambhu Kushwaha succumbed to the assault. When the police took him to hospital doctors refused to admit him as he was brought dead.

Party's district committee which was holding its meeting when it got the news, rushed to the place where post-mortem examination was being done. The local BSP leader was trying to shield the thana chief when the Party leaders tried to lodge an FIR on the report of deceased's son Bijendra. At 4 p.m. a dharna was started at the thana gate led by Comrades Ram Pravesh Kushwaha and Rajendra Vanvasi and the administration was warned that the dharna will continue until cases are filed against the SO and police personnel and that only upon the receipt of a copy of the FIR the body will be cremated.

Public pressure kept on increasing and finally late in the night FIR was filed against the thana chief and other policemen of DIldar Nagar Thana. They were charged under Sec.302 and 504. After that the Party leader and AIKM's State Convenor Comrade Ishwari Prasad Kushwaha addressed the agitating masses. The Party demanded immediate arrest of the accused, CBI enquiry of the whole incident and a compensation of rupees ten lakh to the family members of the deceased Sambhu Kushwaha.

The dharna was withdrawn only when the district administration suspended all the accused and instituted a magisterial inquiry. The Party declared that the struggle will go on till full justice is done.

It must be noted that sometime back this very accused thana chief (SO) had physically assaulted complainants at Jakhania in the presence of senior officials on the occasion of janta diwas (people's day) and slapped several fictitious criminal cases against four leaders of Bhadaura who raised questions regarding poor people. So far he has been able to save himself despite all his crime due to the patronage received from the BSP leaders. CPI(ML) warned that if the suspended SO and other policemen are not immediately arrested the agitation will be intensified.

In a statement issued at Lucknow on 7 June, the Party's State Committee said that the Mayawati Govt has failed to rein in the uniformed criminals as one after another ghastly and extremely horrifying crimes are perpetrated by the UP police. Several Peasants have been killed recently to forcibly acquire their land and a spate of rapes - 11 within a period of 3 days - and killings of women and children has shocked the entire nation. Many of them gang rapes involving dalit women and minor girls. In one terrible incident, a minor girl's eye was stabbed - but police refused to register an FIR against those who raped and stabbed her! Mayawati's UP is becoming more and more dangerous for women every day, with Ministers, MLAs and police all neck-deep in crimes against women, thereby emboldening other offenders too.

On 26 June – anti-Emergency Day – the Party will organise forceful protest in Dildar Nagar to press for punishment to the criminals.

Nighasan Update: Hunger strike, that started on 15th June was lifted on 17th night after 3 days. Comrade Meena Tiwari (General Secretary of AIPWA) visited Nighasan who was assured by the administration that it will take necessary action as demanded by us and owing to this assurance from the administration she requested the fasting comrades Krishna Adhikari and Kranti to break their fast. The fast ended with the declaration that if a CBI enquiry is not instituted (to probe Sonam's rape and murder) the CPI(ML) will call for Lakhimpur bandh on 25 June. (Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court is hearing a PIL for CBI enquiry into Sonam's case)

Cases of sexual assault against dalit women have recently come to light from Ambedkar Nagar, Sultanpur, Deoria etc. Apart from this gang rapes of women and minors along with murder and assault on the victims of these rapes have been reported in last three days from Lakhimpur, Muradabad, Barabanki, Sultanpur, Lalitpur, Kannauj, Etah, Gorakhpur, Gonda, Basti, Sitapur, Firozabad, Kanpur, Fatehpur, Farrukhabad and Aligarh among some other places. This is enough to expose the reality of law and security of women in Uttar Pradesh, but the Mayawati Govt is so shameless that it is patting its own back and praising itself on the question of law and order in the State.

Mayawati Govt is fully responsible for this grave escalation in crime and criminal cases as many involved in crime were gifted ministerial and legislature posts. Without public pressure no report is filed and the police is becoming notorious for protecting the rapists. The CPI(ML) said that such a careless and ineffective Govt has no right to remain in power and it must resign.

TN Uniform Syllabus

Tamilnadu resembles a battle ground where parents are on the streets, raising slogans, picketing schools, and gheraoing state education offices. Last academic year too witnessed similar situation and now after change in government nothing much has changed for parents. Last year the protests centred around excessive charges by private schools violating the Govindarajan Committee's fee structure, this year the demand is scrapping of Ravirajapandian committee's fee structure. Allegedly,  the private schools are collecting fees three times higher than even the Ravirajapandian committee's fee structure which is already 5% to 15% more than the Govindarajan Committee. Last year the fees details were at least available in the public domain. This year though, it has been sent only to the school managements and the parents are left in the dark on the new fee structure. Even after repeated demands from various quarters to make the new fee structure public, Jayalalitha Govt is yet to make it public.

AISA organised a demonstration on 16 June before the office of state education office in Chennai and demanded withdrawal of the new fee structure. On 19 June, AISA organised a fasting protest in Coimbatore in which over 300 participated. Both these protest programs received wide coverage in the state.

Jharkhand Rally

A massive 'majdoor ekta rally' was organized at Ramgarh on 10th June, jointly by the district units of AICCTU Ramgarh and Hazaribagh. Nearly three thousand organized and unorganized workers, about half of them women, from coal mines and rural areas participated in the rally. The workers first assembled at 'rescue bhawan' and then marched with banners and flags to the local Dist. Administration Office braving heavy rains and storm. The gathering at the DC office was addressed by Comrades Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPIML General Secretary), Swapan Mukherjee (AICCTU National GS), Vinod Singh (Party's leader and MLA from Bagodar constituency), Subhendu Sen (AICCTU State Secretary), Deodeep Singh Diwakar (Party's leader among steel workers, Bokaro), Upendra Singh (Coal workers' leader) apart from others. The speakers highlighted the plight of working class of the mineral rich area, especially those engaged in unorganized sector through contractors, who were not paid bare minimum wages to maintain a dignified living.

Com. Dipankar said that the govt. at the state and centre has thrown away its mask of democracy to aid the corporate houses in looting mineral wealth, spectrum and land of our country. He said that our country has reached a historical juncture when the struggles of peasants, workers and student-youth are uniting together over a common agenda against the rampant loot of the country's resources by the corporate houses. As this takes a mass political dimension in the days to come, the revolutionary trade union movement should consciously step forward to lead the working class into this struggle. He also said that the discredited UPA Govt. has no moral right to remain in power after the large scale scams involving its ministers have came to limelight. He called upon the masses to observe June 25th and 26th as anti-emergency protest days and expose the UPA Govt.'s plan to re-enact a similar situation in the country for curbing the rising voices against corruption. Com. Swapan Mukherjee called upon the workers to work hard in the campaign for the 8th National Conference of AICCTU to be held in Bhillai, Chattisgarh, in November this year.

Rajasthan: CPI(ML)'s Udaipur District Conference was held on 24-25 May at Sindhi Dharmashala in Udaipur. Open session of the Conference discussed "Challenges before the Left Movement and our Task". Comrade Srilata Swaminathan, CPI(ML) CCM and AIPWA President was the main speaker. Party's State Secretary Comrade Mahendra Chaudhary also addressed the Conference. Comrade Chandradeo Ola was re-elected District Secretary. Conference elected a 17-member executive.

Long Live Veteran Comrade Lal Singh Kushwaha!

Senior-most veteran communist leader of the Chambal region, Comrade Lal Singh Kushwaha, passed away at the age of 104 on 14 June 2011. He breathed his last in Gingrikh village of Mehgaon district.

He was one of the founders of the communist movement in the Gwalior zone (Bhind, Muraina, Gwalior). On 18 December 2009 at the age of 102, he was felicitated at the inauguration of the Bhind party office.

He had been active throughout the freedom struggle, defying the colonial regime's ban on political activity by organizing many mass meetings and other political actions. He was also active in resisting the feudal royalty (the Scindia estate) which used to support the British.

After the division of the CPI in 1964, he joined the newly-formed CPI(M). The Naxalbari uprising disillusioned him with the CPI(M), and he helped build the CPI(ML) led by Charu Mazumdar. When the party was underground he organized peasantry and took up the challenge of party building among them.

Later, he remained active in the IPF too. Remarkably, he even campaigned for the party candidate from Gwalior throughout the campaign period in the last Assembly elections in MP, in spite of his advanced age and his ailing health.

Hearing of his demise, common people and communist activists thronged to bid him a last farewell. CPI(ML) Control Commission member Comrade Devendra Singh Chauhan and Bhind Zila Committee Secretary Comrade Suraj Rekha Tripathi placed the red flag on his body, amidst slogans befitting a revolutionary's last journey. On 25 June, a memorial meet will be held at Bhind in his memory.

Red Salute to the departed Comrade, who lived the longest life full of revolutionary spirit!

 

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication, R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22442790, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org

ML Update 25/2011

ML Update
A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
Vol.  14                          No. 25                                                                                                                           14 - 20 June 2011

 

UPA Government Illegally Favours Oil Companies:

Yet Another Mega Scam

A draft report of the CAG has exposed yet another "nexus" between the Government and private corporations, in which the UPA Government's Oil Ministry and Director-General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) manipulated rules to favour private oil companies like Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), Britisg Gas (BG) and Cairn India. The CAG has revealed how the Oil Ministry and DGH allowed RIL to gain "undue benefit" by claiming capital expenditure costs inflated to the tune of 117% in the Krishna Godavari Basin. A joint venture of Reliance, BG and ONGC in the Panna-Mukta-Tapti oil fields, has also been accused for similarly inflating development costs at the cost of the Government exchequer. The Oil Ministry therefore facilitated these private companies in robbing the public exchequer to the tune of crores of rupees.

The CAG reveals how RIL bought diesel for its oil-field development activities at a higher price from from its own affiliate Reliance Petro Marketing (RPML), by falsely showing RPML to be the lowest bidder instead of the state-run Indian Oil Corporation. The CAG report also shows how companies like Cairns India were allowed to violate rules by exploring additional areas beyond the block stipulated in its contract in Barmer, Rajasthan. The CAG report also found that the government used a "backdoor method" to allow private operators to conduct oil exploration beyond the period stipulated in the contract.

Nor can the UPA Government claim ignorance of these serious cases of corruption in the oil sector. A former Revenue Secretary, (Mr. E.A.S. Sarma) has, in the wake of the CAG revelations, reminded Manmohan Singh that he repeatedly alerted the PMO to the irregularities in auditing capital costs, pricing and so on in the case of the RIL in the KG Basin and Cairn in Barmer. He has said that the PM turned a "blind eye" to these warnings, giving him the impression that that "the various government agencies including the PMO are apparently trying to hide the facts from the people of this country to benefit the oil companies."

Not only did the private oil companies rob the public exchequer; the inflated costs claimed by them also resulted in an inflated price of gas for customers – especially imposing a further burden on the crisis-ridden farmers who are important consumers of fertilizer and power. 

This latest scam has once again underlined that government complicity in corporate loot of natural resources lies at the heart of corruption in today's liberalized economy. The UPA Government seems all set to deny the evidence of the oil scam – as they once tried to deny the 2G spectrum scam. The Congress has been raising questions about "leakage" of the CAG report to the public. But an awakened public will not allow this scam to be swept under the carpet, and will certainly insist on the concerned government and DGH officials as well as private players being brought to book.  

If corporate plunder is a major concern, the people's struggles at Jagatsinghpur (Odisha) and Gurgaon (Haryana) underline that the policy of corporate appeasement takes a huge toll on democracy too. In spite of the evidence of corruption and multiple instances of violation of laws, and running rough shod over the villagers' rejection of the project expressed democratically through the gram sabha mandates, the UPA Government granted clearance to the POSCO project, and the Odisha Government is pushing ahead with forcible land acquisition, unleashing armed police platoons against the villagers who have formed human barricades to defend their land and crops.

Gurgaon in Congress-ruled Haryana has long been the Mecca of corporate capital, thanks to the free hand to corporations to flout laws and suppress all industrial democracy with fleets of private 'security guards' aided by a pliable police force in their service. The strike of workers at the Maruti factory in Manesar (Gurgaon) has struck at the roots of this 'corporatocracy,' with workers agitating for their legally mandated right to form a union of their own choice. While the factory owners and company managements have long been united all over the country in suppressing this basic component of industrial democracy, workers all over the country are now coming together to support their worker comrades in the Maruti factory. As we go to press, the announcement of a 2-hour 'tools down' strike by 65 unions in Gurgaon, and the clear indications of support from workers in Greater Noida and automobile workers across the country has finally brought the Haryana Government to the negotiating table.

If the CAG revelations of the oil scam remind us that the anti-corruption movement must tackle the question of the Government's policy of enabling corporate loot, the people's struggles against POSCO and for workers' democratic rights at Gurgaon are a reminder that corporate corruption is inseparably linked to the question of democracy. We must do all we can to link the anti-corruption movement with the ongoing movements of peasants, adivasis and workers that are confronting state repression and defending democracy. 

Joint Left Dharna Against Corruption, Price Rise and Authoritarianism

 

A massive dharna was organised on June 15 at Jantar Mantar (Parliament Street) by over thirty Left political parties including CPI(ML), CPI and CPIM, as well as mass organisations of student, youth, women and workers as well as other and democratic groups and concerned citizens. Through this joint dharna, the Left parties held the central government responsible for rising prices and rampant corruption, and for the assaults on democracy. In particular they challenged the Government's attempts to put Parliament Street out of bounds of protestors.

Kavita Krishnan addressed the dharna on behalf of the CPI(ML). The dharna was conducted by Amarjit Kaur (CPI) and Vijender Sharma (CPI-M) and other speakers included Atul Kumar Anjaan (CPI), as well as representatives of RSP, AIFB, (SUCI-C), Teesra Swadhinta Andolan, PDFI, WPI, CPI-ML-ND), Yuva Bharat, and other groups. A cultural group of the Student-Youth Against Corruption also presented rousing songs on the occasion.

The speakers held that the Lokpal Bill can be just one of the many steps required for a meaningful and effective response to corruption that is eating into the vitals of India, and demanded measures that would strike at corporate plunder which was at the root of corruption. They said that a government desperate to suppress people's outrage and anger against corruption and price rise was resorting to authoritarian tactics to deny civil society and the people of India the right to express their democratic protest. The dharna expressed solidarity with the ongoing agitations against POSCO and the nuke plant at Jaitapur, and also with the Maruti workers' strike.  

Teachers such as Kamal Mitra Chenoy and Subodh Malakar of JNU, Nandita Narain of DU, senior journalists such as Seema Mustafa, and human rights lawyer and anti-corruption activist Prashant Bhushan were among the many concerned citizens who participated in the dharna.  

Struggle Against Rape and Murder of Young Girl in UP 

 

The horrific rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl inside a police station at Nighasan in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh has once again highlighted the Mayawati's government's criminal complicity in violence on women in the state. 

On 10 June, the 14-year old girl Sonam, a daughter of a Muslim watchman, had, along with her five-year-old brother, been looking for a buffalo that had strayed into the police compound. The girl's brother testified that he had been held at gunpoint while policemen dragged his sister into an adjacent room in the police station. Subsequently, he saw the police drag his sister's body by the dupatta wrapped around her neck, and hang the body from a tree.

The girl's mother later found the body hanging from the tree, and raised the alarm. First, the police tried to dump the body in the girl's home, claiming that it had been recovered from the police station. Later, in a desperate bid to destroy evidence, they even cut down the tree in the police station compound from which the body had been hanging.

The first post mortem attempted to imply that the girl had committed suicide by hanging herself. Growing people's protest and outrage in UP and across the country forced the Mayawati Government to order a CB-CID enquiry and a second post mortem, which admitted murder by strangulation, but denied any evidence of rape. Initially the Government tried to safe the situation by suspending the entire police station staff of 11, but people demanded to know how come they were charged merely with negligence rather than with rape and murder. Later an FIR was filed against the SHO and two constables – but again, this was on charges of 'tampering with evidence' and not that of rape and murder. Only after the second post mortem report were these three booked on charges of murder.             

CPI(ML) district and state units have been active in raising the matter right from the very night that it came to light. The day after (11 June), the party mobilized local people in a chakka jam (road blockade) along with the victim's body, demanding a CPI enquiry into the case, arrest of the accused police officials on charges of rape and murder and compensation of Rs 25 lakh for the victim's family. A dharna was held on 12 June, and on 13 June, the party held a huge protest procession culminating in a dharna. As the procession marched through the local marketplace, shopkeepers downed shutters in spontaneous support. While parties like Congress and SP had also made much hue and cry in an attempt to capitalize on the issue, the CPI(ML) dharna stood out as the only one which was well attended by local people who are the mainstay of the struggle for justice. On 14 June, a team led by the CPI(ML)'s UP State Secretary Sudhakar Yadav and AIPWA State President Vidya Rajwar visited Nighasan.

On 15 June, the CPI(ML) began a hunger strike opposite the Nighasan thana, demanding a third post mortem conducted by doctors from AIIMS, alleging that doctors appointed by the UP Government were trying to cover up evidence of rape. CPI(ML) CCM and national leader of the AIALA Krishna Adhikari, as well as member of the party's State Standing Committee Comrade Kranti are on hunger fast. They said that while the UP Government was now admitting murder (after shameful attempts by the police to suppress and tamper with evidence), it was failing to explain why police officials felt the need to murder a young girl passing by the police station! Clearly the murder and the tampering of evidence were motivated by the need to cover up the rape. The CPI(ML) is demanding a CBI enquiry. It is also demanding that the former district SP, who has been transferred for his complicity in the cover up, be booked for tampering with evidence.                 

On the first day of the CPI(ML) hunger strike, hundreds of local people spontaneously participated. When Tarannum, the victim's mother, addressed the public meeting, revealing that the police had attempted to buy her silence, there was pin-drop silence in the huge gathering, and many eyes were moist. Police tried to break up the gathering by force and intimidation, but the sheer huge support of local people prevented them from being successful.    

As we go to press, the hunger strike and dharna are ongoing and the mood is filled with determination to secure justice for Sonam.  

In Solidarity with Anti-POSCO Movement  

 

As the Odisha Government went ahead with its plan of forced land grab for the POSCO project, women, children, elders, youth and men of the Dhinkia, Govindpur and other villages of Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha state, in an exemplary display of resistance, lay day after day in the scorching sun face to face with nearly 30 police platoons. Protesting women were beaten up when they tried to prevent police platoons from destroying betel vines. Jagatsinghpur was on the brink of being turned into another Kalinganagar. The movement has now gained a small respite with the Odisha Government putting the land acquisition plans on hold for some days.

The CPI(ML) has held state-wide protest actions such rasta-rokos (road blockades) and processions at many places in the state including the state capital, Bhubaneswar. A team comprising CPI(ML)'s Odisha State Committee member Yudhishthira Mahapatra, AISA National President Sandeep Singh, as well as Comrade Bansidhar Parida of our party, Comrade Balachandra Sarangi of CPI-ML (ND) and Comrade Vishnu Das of SUCI visited the protest site. These three parties in Odisha have announced that if the Government resumes forced land acquisition, they will immediately call for a state-wide bandh.       

In Delhi, student groups and various citizens' groups held a protest at the Odisha Bhavan on 13 June, in support of the "human barricades" by villagers against the impending police crackdown and land grab for the POSCO project. The protest was addressed by Sanjay Sharma, State Secretary of the CPI(ML), Ravi Rai, General Secretary of AISA, as well as activists of Delhi Platform, NAPM, National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW), PSU, JTSA among others. Holding that the Odisha government, with the active support of the UPA, is planning a carnage and bloodbath in Jagatsinghpur, they demanded that the illegal POSCO project and all attempts at forcible land acquisition for it should be scrapped immediately, and the police deployment be withdrawn. 

On 14 June, when the Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik visited Delhi, a delegation comprising representatives of PUCL, PUDR, Campaign for Survival and Dignity, NFFPFW,AISA and POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity submitted a memorandum to him underlining the various illegalities involved in the POSCO project and condemning the brutal attempts by the state to terrorise the people who resist such an illegal and immoral project and defend their land and livelihood as well as the country's environment and natural resources. 

Protest Against Police Atrocity at Forbesganj

 

On 13 June, coinciding with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's Delhi visit, various human rights and groups and student organizations held a protest demonstration at Bihar Bhavan against the horrific police atrocity at in Forbesganj in Araria district of Bihar on June 3 in which four people (all of them of the minority community) were killed.   

Protesting groups included AISA, Committee for Justice for Forbesganj Victims, JTSA, NAPM and others. They declared that the police firing, and the naked brutality displayed in the video footage of the incident, exposed the Nitish Government's true face. Behind the 'pro-people' and 'good governance' façade, the Government is full of the most barbaric repressiveness towards people's movements and towards minorities.

The peacefully protesting villagers from Rampur and Bhajanpur villages of Forbesganj block had been protesting against blockade of a road connecting these two villages by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) to facilitate construction of a private factory owned by BJP MLC Ashok Agarwal. The police opened fire on the protestors, chased them to their homes, forced entry into these homes and killed people. Four people were shot at point blank range and killed, including two women and an infant. Police also triumphantly trampled the dead bodies, uttering abuses.

Protestors demanded a judicial inquiry, immediate arrests of the police officers led by the SP who conducted the firing, BJP Councillor Ashok Agarwal and his goons (charging them under IPC 302), and cancelling the lease of the 28 acres land, as well as compensation for the families of the deceased as well as those injured.

Meanwhile the Council of Indian Muslims (CIM) UK wrote an open letter to the Bihar CM from Britain, protesting the incident. In the letter, they said:

"We are sure, by now you will have seen the gruesome pictures of the victims of the "brave" police of Bihar that did not even spare a pregnant woman and an infant…

"Mr Chief Minister, this will be hard to believe that by now you have not watched the footage of a "victorious" and jubilant member of your police force swearing at and and jumping on the face and chest of a fallen man hit by bullets and who later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. In the clip his colleagues may be heard saying, "ho gaya, ho gaya, badla liya ja chuka" (It's all done. Revenge has been taken) that tells a lot about the mindset of those entrusted with the sacred duty of keeping and maintaining law and order in the state.

"We are sure that you will be aware that these innocent Muslims, six of whom were shot dead and nine were injured, were hunted like animals and included a pregnant woman and an infant child.

"What was the crime of these wretched souls except that they had dared stop a wealthy industrialist who, with the connivance of the administration, was permanently blocking the road that these poor labourers had been using for years for their daily business?"

The letter observed that "the old jagirdars have been replaced by the new business magnates and industrialists who are being cooperated and facilitated by the central and state governments in harassing the poor masses and depriving them of their basic human rights." It demanded action against the perpetrators, compensation for the victims, and also demanded that the road in contention be declared out of bounds for the industrialist and reserved for the poor.  

Mahila Panchayat at Lucknow

 

Women from all over Uttar Pradesh gathered at the state capital Lucknow in a 'Mahila Panchayat' on 13 June to put the CM Mayawati and her Government in the dock for the spate of atrocities against women in which ruling party Ministers and MLAs as well as police were directly implicated. The Mahila Panchayat was convened by the AIPWA's Uttar Pradesh unit. 

Women – mostly labouring women – from several districts of UP participated in the Panchayat. A jury comprising AIALA leader Krishna Adhikari, AIPWA National Secretary Kavita Krishnan, AIPWA's UP State Secretary Premlata Pandey and State President Vidya Rajwar heard testimonies of women who have survived gender violence or resisted violence faced by others in their family.

Kiran Rawat, a dalit woman of Unnao broke down when she spoke of her 18-year-old daughter Kavita Bharti Rawat, who lost her life after being raped by hospital staff when she was in ICU in a Kanpur hospital following a fall in September last year. "The Kanpur police has been threatening and harassing us to withdraw the case, and because of this pressure our younger daughter too has committed suicide. We are distraught. But we will keep fighting till we get justice for our daughters – or till we ourselves die." Kavita's father Subedar Rawat too attended the women's panchayat. There were few dry eyes left in the hall as Kiran spoke.

Dhandei, a dalit woman from Pilibhit, spoke of her struggle for justice after being gang-raped by forest officials. "The drunken forest officials dragged me off and raped me, and threatened to kill my husband if I complained. Later, when I did dare to complain, they got my husband jailed and even now they keep threatening to jail me too and kill us both."

Parvati, another dalit woman from Pilibhit, spoke about her 21-year-old son Rampal who was killed in police custody for the crime of falling in love with a woman of a different caste. "The police picked up my son and told us that he would be released only after we paid a bribe of Rs. 20,000. My husband somehow put together Rs 6000, but was told to leave. The next morning we were told that our son had left. But I heard him crying and found him semi-conscious. My son died after remaining in coma for a month. An FIR was filed by us but the policemen who took my son's life are yet to be arrested. We have moved court with the help of CPI(ML), and are awaiting justice. I want my son's killers to spend a lifetime in jail."                  

Others who gave testimony included Jharna Mandal whose husband was killed for resisting corruption and illegal liquor trade; Rajrani of Jalaun whose daughter Javitri was abducted and killed by BSP MLA Chhote Singh; Vimla Devi of Pilibhit whose son was killed in an 'honour' crime; and Tirsa Devi of Ghazipur whose daughter Poonam was killed for dowry and who is being pressurized by her daughter's in-laws and the corrupt police to withdraw the case. AIPWA activist Geeta Pande of Devaria spoke of the struggle of mid-day meal cooks for jobs and due wages, and of AIPWA's successful struggle to ensure the arrest of those responsible for a gruesome honour killing of three girls. Maya and Arti, AIPWA activists from Lakhimpur spoke about ongoing AIPWA's struggle for justice in the rape and murder of a minor girl in a police station. AIPWA activists Saroj from Ghazipur and Ahmadi from Mirzapur also shared experiences of struggles.

The jury members also addressed the panchayat at the end, and hailed the courage of the women who gave testimony. On behalf of the entire panchayat, the jury members delivered the verdict. The Mayawati government, they said, was squarely responsible for the atrocities and crimes against women, because in case after case the perpetrators were protected. Police and feudal forced are emboldened to commit terrible crimes against women because they see how a whole series of Ministers and MLAs of the ruling BSP themselves are doing the same and being defended by their party and the government. Mayawati's government has betrayed its promises to the women, especially the dalit women of UP – and does not have the moral right to continue in power for a minute longer. The women of UP are expressing their anger and fighting for justice in the face of all odds – and they demand that Mayawati quit.                      

CPI(ML) State Secretary Sudhakar Yadav also expressed solidarity with the aims of the women gathered in the panchayat. Ghazala Anwar of Bazm-e-urdu recited a poem in support of women's struggles. Arundhati Dhuru of NAPM also spoke to express solidarity. Some other women's groups of Lucknow - Hamsafar, Aali, and Sahyog – also attended the panchayat.

New Publication:

Combat Corruption

Save India

( In Hindi and English)

 

Price Rs. 10

CPI(ML) Central Office, U-90 Shakarpur, Delhi - 110092

ML Update 24 / 2011

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 14, No. 24, 07 – 13 JUNE 2011

Resist the UPA Government's Undeclared Emergency

In its attempt to defend its brutal crackdown on a peaceful protest in the national capital, on the heels of its lavish official welcome and secret back-room dealings with Baba Ramdev, the UPA Government finds itself increasingly exposed, discredited and desperate.

Union Minister Kapil Sibal, defending the police action at Ramlila Grounds that has critically injured some protestors including women, declared that the police action was "a lesson to everybody." Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari has written an article describing street protests as a threat to democracy. The scene is set for a re-enactment of the Emergency – with the Congress-UPA Government unleashing a crackdown on people's resistance to corporate plunder and corruption after branding it as a threat to democracy. In the national capital, Section 144 has been imposed on public spaces of democratic protest like Parliament Street.

The UPA's brazen attempts to deny any corruption in the 2G and CWG scams have failed miserably; two UPA MPs and one Minister are already behind bars. One scam-tainted former Chief Minister has been inducted into the central cabinet and as the 2G probe progresses, some more heads are likely to roll. Unable to continue with its act of shielding the corrupt, the UPA Government is now resorting to all out repression in a desperate bid to contain the people's outrage against corruption that is spilling out on the streets.

The Congress is trying to justify the violent eviction of Baba Ramdev and his supporters from Ramlila Maidan by invoking the RSS-BJP backing for his agitation. The RSS nexus with Ramdev and his own ideological closeness to the Sangh are self-evident. But haven't the Congress' actions, far from having any anti-communal content, actually boosted the legitimacy of Ramdev and the assertion of communal forces?

First, the Congress cultivated Ramdev as a useful counterweight to Anna Hazare and the Lokpal campaign. Ramdev obligingly backed the UPA Government's position that the PM ought to be kept out of the purview of the Lokpal legislation. Top Ministers and even the Cabinet Secretary of the UPA Government greeted Ramdev at the airport. The subsequent revelation that Ramdev met Ministers at a hotel and signed a pre-done deal even before his fast had begun reflects poorly on the integrity of not only Ramdev but also the UPA Government.

In the span of a few hours the Government changed tack, and the violent police action was launched to evict Ramdev and his sleeping supporters. On the very first day of his fast, Ramdev was on the defensive on the question of his deal with the Government. The presence of notorious Babri demolition accused Sadhvi Rithambara on his platform had drawn censure from many, leading other anti-corruption campaigners like Anna Hazare to keep a distance. But the police action conferred credibility once again on a discredited Ramdev by cloaking him in a halo of martyrdom.

Predictably the BJP, till recently beleaguered by bickering of its leaders over the Bellary mining mafia, is trying to revive and reinvent itself as a crusader against corruption and repression. But to the people at large, the BJP's own dismal track record on corruption and repression is difficult to forgive or forget. In states ruled by the BJP, not only has communal violence been orchestrated; every manner of dissent or people's protest against corruption and corporate plunder is subjected to the severest repression, even as BJP leaders and governments stand implicated in notorious scams.

The repression unleashed by the Congress-led UPA Government underlines its refusal to address the burning question of corruption in the country. Even the process of drafting an effective Lokpal bill in cooperation with civil society activists is now sought to be undermined and sabotaged by the Government. The anti-corruption movement must resist repression in every form and align itself with the struggles for democratic transformation in India. Only then can it defeat the UPA Government's efforts to defend corruption and unleash repression, and expose the BJP's false claims of championing democracy and resisting corruption.

Nationwide Call to Protest on 26 June, Anniversary of the Emergency

Combat Corruption, Resist Repression! Save Democracy, Save India!

The CPI(ML) extends support to the one-day fast being held at Rajghat on 8 June 2011 by civil society activists and anti-corruption campaigners in protest against the repressive agenda of the UPA Government.

With brutal crackdowns on peaceful protests, intensifying repression and police firing on people's movements resisting corporate plunder and forced eviction from land, draconian laws and increasing assaults on civil liberties, and bans on democratic protest including even in the national capital, corrupt regimes both at the Centre and most states have launched an all-out assault on democracy.

On 26 June this year, the anniversary of the imposition of the infamous Emergency, the CPI(ML) will hold protest marches and demonstrations at block, district and state levels as well as in the national capital to protest the undeclared Emergency being witnessed today and resolving to intensify the struggle to combat corruption, resist repression and defend democracy.

(Kavita Krishnan)

for Central Committee, CPI(ML)(Liberation)

Fact Finding in Farbisganj Police Firing

A CPI(ML) fact finding team comprising of CC member and Bihar State Committee Member, Comrades KD Yadav and Rajaram Singh (the two are also national vice president and general secretary respectively of All India Kisan Mahasabha), alongwith Araria District Party incharge, Naval Kishore and block secretary of Forbesganj, Genalal Mahato visited Bhajanpur village in Forbesganj and met with the villagers and family members of the deceased Mustafa Ansari, Mukhtar Ansari, Sajmin Khatoon and 8-month old child Naushad.

The team learned from the villagers that the road from Bhajanpur to Raniganj is 60 years old and at various points in time the zilla parishad, gram panchayat, mukhiya and others have conducted the repairing work. Keeping the path till here in mind NH 57 has constructed a subway also. But in course of BIADA acquiring land and construction of private factory by BJP legislative councillor, Ashok Aggarwal, on 28 acres of land, a conspiracy was hatched by them to block and close this road. This road connecting Bhajanpur to Raniganj, connects Bhajanpur village mainly inhabited by minority community (1000 families), to Karbala, Idgah, hospital and local bazaar. So the demand of the villagers to maintain this road is fully justified.

On 2nd June a wall was constructed on one end of the road, on the directions of BJP MLC Ashok Agarwal and on other end a deep digging was done for laying foundation. On 3 June the villagers held a strong protest against this and demolished the boundary wall. The police from 6 stations was already present there and perpetrated most heinous firing, firing hundreds of rounds of bullets and even after Mustafa and Sajmeen were shot above their waist the police flung on to them and trampled their felled but still alive bodies with their boots. This incident exposes the true face of anti-rural, anti-minority character and barbaric face of Nitish Kumar's Govt. Pregnant Sajmeen Khatoon was returning after feeding her husband Farooq Ansari who is a construction worker at this factory. Mustafa was returning from his shop with 8000 rupees and mobile and he was still alive after being shot but police trampled his chest and bled him to death. 8 month old Naushad was killed on the NH in police firing and his mother is injured and admitted at PMCH. 18 year old Mukhtar used to labour outside and was returning to the village.

Within 6 months this is the second incident of barbarism against minorities in Nitish Govt. On 22 Dec 2010 when the villagers of Bamraha under Kursakanta were protesting against an incident of rape, the jawans of BSF murdered four people of minority community. These incidents expose the truth about good-governance in Nitish government.

The CPI(ML) has demanded immediate arrests of the police officers led by the SP who conducted the firing, BJP Councillor Ashok Aggarwal and his goons, charging them under IPC 302, cancelling the lease of the 28 acres land, maintain the said road as it was, compensation of rupees 10 lakhs to the family of the deceased, 3 lakhs rupees as compensation to those injured and judicial inquiry of the whole incident. All those injured in firing have been shot above their waist, more than 100 families of the 1000 are BPL families.

Cadre Meet in Coimbatore

A Party cadre meet was organised on 2nd June in Coimbatore to discuss election performance and the next course of action. over 65 comrades participated in the meeting and they came out with ideas for preparing for the forthcoming local bodies elections in TN. they have also planned a fast protest demanding implementation of uniform syllabus and controlling the private schools extracting exorbitant fees (AISA held a demonstration on 3rd June at Chennai in which 150 students, parents and teachers participated). Com.S.Kumarasami, PBM and Com.Natarajan, SCM, attended the meeting.

Movement Intensifies against the Eviction of Peasants in Pilibhit

Hundreds of thousands of peasants/ farmers were already ravaged by displacement due to floods in Lakhimpur Khiri in Pilibhit district of UP. Now State's Mayawati Govt and Centre's UPA Govt are bent upon evicting/displacing scores of villages, which have been inhabited for hundreds of years, in the name of village land belonging to forest department.

The present generation of farmers and their fore fathers have invested immense toil to make this land fit for tilling and cultivable and they have been sustaining themselves through this land. In 1959, one raja Oyal Yuvraj Dutt wrote a letter to the then administration of his intention to will this land to forest department. It is to be noted that after the 1950 passing of the anti-zamindari act, the raja had no legal standing on this land. The farmers have been fighting for their right to till the land since 1959. They even went to Allahabad High Court and asserted their right on the land since they have been settled on the land for generations. However the court DFO passed an order for eviction and even allowed the administration to use force.

On 21 May 2011 the forest department threw leaflets in the villages asking the peasants to vacate in 10 days. But violating its own 10 day time-period, it conducted a mike campaign on 24 May declaring 24 hours as the deadline to vacate the land.

CPI(ML) has very old roots in this region and it has been leading peasants' struggles since 1980s. CPI(ML)'s State Committee member and District Secretary, Com. Ramdaras also hails from here. The party has been leading the struggle under the banner of Landless Peasant Cultivators Welfare Committee. After the forest department's 24 hours deadline on 24 May, next day a meeting of the peasants was organized and it was recognized that Mayawati govt is trying to repeat Bhatta-Parsol in this region. On 20 May a protest meeting was held which was addressed by CC member Com Krishna Adhikari, State standing Committee member and AIKM leader Com. Afroz Alam and Com. Ramdaras. They asked why the forest rights act was not being implemented in the district and that CPI(ML) accepts this challenge from the state that wants to evict and displace lakhs of farmers. The peasants are ready to die but not give up their land. They also said that assault on livelihoods and State's war on peasants to evict them from their rightful land in UP will be Mayawati's Waterloo.

The forest department again declared on 29 May that it will forcibly evict the people on 1st June. The peasants also started preparations to defend themselves. When the forest department reached the village on 1 June it faced organized resistance from 2000 peasants. The police and the forest department had to retreat in face of stiff resistance led by Com. Ranjit, Master Shrinath, Tapeshwari, etc. An encouraging environment has been generated by this victory of the peasants. The peasants have also started an indefinite dharna from 3 June at Mudabujurg to intensify their agitation. The movement is being fought under the banner of All India Kisan Mahasabha, led by CPI(ML).

Press Conference in Delhi to Highlight Repression and Plunder at POSCO

A Press Conference was held at Delhi on June 8 to draw urgent attention to escalating repression on villagers resisting the POSCO project in Odisha, and to underline the rampantly corrupt and illegal nature of the corporate plunder of natural resources represented by the project.

Those who addressed the Press Conference included Sudhakar Reddy, Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Committee of the CPI, Kavita Krishnan, Central Committee member of the CPI(ML) Liberation, Leo Saldanha of the Environment Support Group (Bangalore), Shankar Gopalakrishnan of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity, Mamata Dash of the National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers. Madhuresh of the National Alliance of People's Movements also participated.

At the Conference, a copy of the recent study on the POSCO project by the ESG (Bangalore) titled "Tearing through the Water Landscape: Evaluating the environmental and social consequences of POSCO project in Odisha, India" was released.

Organisers of the Press Conference included the All India Students' Association (AISA), Environment Support Group (ESG) Bangalore, Campaign for Survival and Dignity, National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers, National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA).

Below is the statement released at the Press Conference:

Nation's conscience must be awakened to anti-POSCO struggle

Tackling corruption must begin by scrapping the scandalous POSCO project

The brutal police action unleashed by the UPA Government on Baba Ramdev's fasting camp in Delhi has shocked the nation's conscience; even the Hon'ble Supreme Court has taken suo moto cognisance of the blatant disregard for fundamental rights, and questioned the Government raison de d'etre to so quell dissent. Most mainstream political parties have jostled with each other to gain attention in condemning the incident; and this has by far been the only issue covered and debated non-stop by the electronic and print media for some days now.

However, little or nothing is being said or done about a far more serious situation that is developing in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, where villagers of Dhinkia, Gobindpur, Patana, etc., are resolutely and peacefully opposing the forcible acquisition of their private and forest lands by the Odisha Government for the benefit of South Korean steel major POSCO. Over the past few days, at least 26 platoons of riot police (over 1,000 police personnel) have been deployed to ruthlessly beat down women, children, the aged, and men who have kept a day/night vigil and not allowed any State functionary, police or company official to enter these villages; thus continuing a phenomenal act of peaceful resistance to POSCO venture, sustained for six years now under the leadership of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samithi.

Brutal police tactics, criminal intimidation and illegal methods are being employed here to wrest from these peacefully protesting villagers 4000 acres of extraordinarily fertile agricultural and forest land to establish the single largest industrial foreign investment conceived in recent times. The project involves the establishment of a mega steel plant (12 MTPA), backed by a massive coal-fired thermal power plant (400 MW expandable to 1,100 MW), and a major captive port for handling the world's largest cargo ships (Capesize, usually more than a quarter km. in length).  The project involves further land acquisition for a captive iron ore mine requiring 6,100 acres of predominantly forest land in Khandadhar Hills of Sundergarh district and at least 2,000 acres more for a massive gated township to house POSCO employees. In addition, there would be dedicated water, road and rail linkages that will further exacerbate the displacement and environmental destruction caused by the project.

POSCO: A scandal far bigger than 2G scam

It is high time the nation's conscience is affected by what the project affected communities are suffering under the hands of the Navin Patnaik regime in Odisha. It is time to appreciate the fact that the POSCO project is perhaps the most shocking example of corrupt practices legitimised by State support. This is because the project is nothing short of a legalised loot of our natural resources – iron ore in this case. In an unprecedented deal, Indian and Odisha Governments have supported POSCO's demands to mine 600 million tonnes of the finest iron in India on a 30-year lease. Of this, 30% can be exported for processing in POSCO's Korean plants and thus endorsing profiteering abroad! With current fine iron ore rates crossing Rs. 8,000/tonne, it is simple arithmetic to note that POSCO can recover its capital investment of Rs. 52,000 crores in less than eight years, an unthinkable proposition in any industrial venture! Truly, the POSCO venture is a scandal far worse than those involving 2G and Commonwealth Games.

In fact, A. Raja, principal accused in the 2G scam, may have facilitated POSCO's entry when as Indian Environment Minister in 2007 he accorded the first major statutory clearance by approving the captive port component, one day before he transited to the Telecom Ministry. This was done without any review and also in response to severe pressure from then Union Finance Minister Chidambaram. Various key environmental and forest clearances quickly followed, all by subverting laws and breaking down the massive industrial/mining venture into little parts to hide their true environmental, social and economic consequences.

Three years later when Jairam Ramesh, the sitting Environment Minister, ordered a comprehensive review of these clearances by setting up two independent investigations, both committees confirmed that the clearances had been secured by fraud and subterfuge, and strongly recommended withdrawal of these illegal approvals. The appropriate action that the Minister should have taken was to cancel these fraudulent clearances and initiate criminal action against all involved in the POSCO decisions. Such action would have been true evidence of the oft-made claim by the UPA Government that it is serious about tackling corruption.

Instead, Jairam Ramesh claimed he was working towards "cooperative federalism" and on the basis of his "faith and trust" in the Odisha Government approved the project's environment and CRZ clearances on 31 January 2011 and subsequently the forest clearance on 2nd May. This was despite absolute evidence that the Forest Rights Act had been fundamentally violated by deliberately overlooking Gram Sabha resolutions (convened by the constitutionally empowered Panchayats in the project affected villages) that clearly rejected the project. Ramesh, thus, became a party to the fraud in environmental decision-making and also directly responsible for the dangerous situation that is developing in the POSCO affected villages today.

We fear that the exigent State police action that is now underway in these villages may result in another Kalinganagar or Nandigram type of situation. The scant attention paid by mainstream political parties, the media and the public is only strengthening the Navin Patnaik Government to disregard Constitution norms and act ruthlessly to secure lands for the advantage of POSCO.

In an effort to prevent such a carnage from taking place, various eminent people in the country have intervened and appealed to the Prime Minister of India to "immediately ask the Odisha government to halt this illegal attack, to withdraw all clearances given in violation of law, and to take an impartial position in the court cases filed by the people. Failure to stop this attack will show that the UPA government's much vaunted concern over issues of displacement, forest rights and "inclusive growth" is simply an eyewash." A copy of this appeal is enclosed.

While endorsing these demands, we additionally urge that:  (1) The Odisha Government must immediately withdraw its police operations and forcible acquisition of land for POSCO. (2) The Central Bureau of Investigation must immediately expand the scope of its ongoing investigations against A Raja by reviewing his role in the POSCO clearances, and that of all those who have been involved in illegally promoting this scandalous project, possibly including then Finance Minister and presently Home Minister, Chidambaram. (3) The scandalous POSCO project must be scrapped as its benefits will be accrued mainly by major American financiers (including Warren Buffet) who are major stockholders of this South Korean company.

 CPI(ML)'s Candidates in Bihar Panchayat Elections- final tally

We have won 17 Zilla Parishad seats, 109 Block Development Council seats, 93 Mukhiyas and 82 Sarpanchs.

 

 

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication, R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22442790, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org