ML Update 06 / 2014

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 17, No. 06, 05 – 11 FEBRUARY 2014

The Ugly Reality of Politics of Racism and Xenophobia in India

The brutal killing of 19-year-old Nido Taniam, a young man from Arunachal Pradesh, in a south Delhi marketplace in broad daylight, has sparked off a huge protest and has once again, underlined the racism and xenophobia that is rife in the national capital, and in the whole country. The incident was followed by an incident where two Manipuri women were molested by cops: a reminder of how women from the North East are routinely subjected to sexual violence and attacks in Delhi.

The murder of Nido Taniam is the latest in a long line of racist prejudices and attacks against people from the North East in Delhi. The young man was taunted for his features and dyed hair, and when he protested, he was brutally beaten up by shopkeepers with iron rods. The conduct of the police in the matter is equally condemnable. Not only did they fail to ensure medical care for the injured youth, they imposed a ‘fine’ on him for a broken window glass, and allowed the assaulters to go without even registering an FIR!

The prejudices of the Delhi Police towards people from the North East are nothing new. The Police had failed to respond to an SOS in the Dhaula Kuan rape case, claiming that they did not follow the language or accent of the woman who complained of her friend’s abduction! The Delhi Police had issued a booklet to people from the NE states, advising them to stay safe by avoiding wearing ‘revealing’ clothes and offending people with the smell of their food. In a recent murder of a woman from the North East in South Delhi, the police did not register an FIR against the accused until a prolonged protest. And a media sting operation on senior policemen in the Delhi-NCR region revealed that they automatically held rape complaints by women from the North East, Darjeeling or Nepal to be false since they assumed these women to be prostitutes.

It cannot be forgotten that the Indian State’s own discriminatory policy towards the North East, fosters bias and violence against people from the region. The draconian AFSPA continues to shield murder and rape of people from the North East by the Indian Army – marking off people from the North East as second class citizens. Rahul Gandhi addressed a protest dharna against the murder of Nido Taniam in Delhi, saying “There is only one India. And that India belongs to all of us. We are going to ensure you get respect in this country.” He should tell us how come murder and rape are protected by ‘Special Powers’ in some parts of India, if indeed all citizens enjoy the same rights?

Bias and police harassment of Kashmiris and people from African countries have also been common in Delhi. Kashmiris are branded as ‘anti-national’, and the BJP has been known to fan up xenophobia against Bengali speaking labourers (branded as ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’). Recently the AAP’s newspaper Aap ki Kranti also disturbingly mentioned a witch-hunt of ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’ as one of the key achievements of the AAP’s Delhi Government.

The Delhi Government’s defence of the Law Minister’s illegal and racially motivated ‘raid’ of African women in Khirki recently has further signalled support for racist policy – veiled as action against ‘drug and prostitution mafia’. The AAP Government has cited recent complaints of trafficking by Ugandan women, as ‘vindication’ of the raid by its Law Minister. This defence only further underlines their racist mindset – since they suggest that complaints of some African women vindicate the violation of rights of other African women! After all, many Indian men are rapists, but would that justify racist violence on Indian men in Australia?! The existence of drug and trafficking trade (in which Indians are just as complicit as people of other nationalities) cannot justify racist, sexist of homophobic politics – such as the leaflet by the Residents’ Welfare Association of Khirki that called for ‘eradication of Nigerians and eunuchs’ by denying them homes on rent.

The BJP calls the AAP’s Delhi Government ‘racist’, while its Goa Government has actually perfected the practice of witch-hunting Africans in the name of cracking down on drug mafia. The BJP in Goa ran a campaign with the slogan “We want peace in Goa. Say no to Nigerians. Say no to drugs.” The Goa CM called for the eviction of all Nigerians from Goa, asserting that most of them are involved in drug trade. A BJP Minister in Goa equated Nigerians with cancer.

It is hardly surprising, then, that the RSS leader Sheshadri Chari, speaking on a news channel, denied that the murder of the boy from Arunachal Pradesh was an act of racism. He tried to rationalise racism as a mere ‘perception of difference.’

Denial of racism is perhaps the most subtle and commonplace form of racism in India. It is high time that India faced up to the widespread racism and xenophobia – in social prejudices, but even more so in State policy and politics. The killers of Nido Taniam must be punished, as must be the police officials responsible for trying to suppress the case. Racist propaganda by political leaders must be sternly punished. Governments at the Centre and State must frame and adopt a policy to actively counter racist biases through widespread public education campaigns. And the discriminatory and draconian AFSPA must go!

When Lajpat Nagar Was Occupied by Anti-Racism Protestors

Lajpat Nagar- a consumer's heaven and a glimpse of what is generally understood to be “mainland” Indian culture- is visited by numerous students from the Northeastern states of India who are studying in Delhi. It is also frequented by Kashmiris, Afghanis and Punjabis alike for its culinary and shopping delights. When one thinks of Lajpat Nagar, one thinks of leisure, shopping, food and fun. However, this time it was none of those things. By the time the JNU Students' Union reached Lajpat Nagar, hundreds and hundreds of students had already occupied Lajpat Nagar. The entire stretch from Westside to Lajpat Nagar police was occupied. Slogans ranged from “Punish them” to “We are Indians” and “We want justice”.

People were not thinking of shopping and they weren't thinking about food. All they wanted was to be treated fairly, treated at par. The extremely unfortunate murder of Nido Taniam seemed to have sparked a revolt. The attack was seen not only an attack on Taniam but on the identity that is India's “Northeast”. While anyone who knows the Northeast well enough knows that there is no homogenous “Northeast” identity. However, the perpetrators would not have known the difference between an Arunachali and an Assamese person. Taniam was mocked at because he looked a certain way. He was attacked because he challenged the racist slurs and fought back. Was he fighting back merely against the racist slurs directed at him? I would like to believe that he protested against decades of racial discrimination and injustice that the “Northeasterners” have been facing in what is termed “mainland” India.

One can't help but think about the similarities between Nido Taniam's murder and Nirbhaya's murder. Both were targeted because of their identity. Both were attacked in South Delhi. Both sparked a revolution that was almost spontaneous, unrelenting and full of anger. This time, Jantar Mantar would not do. Assurances would not do. People wanted justice. However, it would be naive to think that the justice being demanded is merely legal. This was an assertion of citizenship, demand for social justice, equality and non-discrimination. While some scholars would opine that, for a Northeast student to shout “I am Indian” is similar to a woman shouting “I am chaste”, I would like to believe that these students from the Northeast also meant to assert and demand their citizenship rights rather than to reify the already problematic construct of nationalism.

However, the fight for dignity is only a baby step in the assertion of democratic rights by people of the Northeast. It will be several decades before Irom Sharmila gets regular front page coverage for her unmatched feat. It will be a while before draconian laws like AFSPA rake up the conscience of this nation. After all, these do not affect people in the “mainland” India.

-Shehla Rashid, AISA activist from JNU

Assam Bandh Against Chauldhua Massacre

On 29 January, 100 gunmen from Arunachal Pradesh opened fire on people in Chauldhua of the Bihali forest area in Sonitpur district. 11 were killed, 14 badly injured, and 6 are still missing, feared dead. Jawans of the Indian Reserve Battalion of Arunachal Pradesh were present during the massacre.

Those killed were poor labourers, who had built makeshift camps on the land, and had continuously been at the receiving end of threats and even firing from land mafias of Arunchal Pradesh. The Assam Government failed to respond to any appeals to ensure protection for the people nor to resolve the border land dispute.

CPIML held an Assam Bandh in protest on January 31st, and protests are continuing demanding arrest of the perpetrators of the massacre, compensation for the victims and injured, protection for border villages by the Assam Government, and resolution of the dispute over forest land on the Assam-Arunachal border.

AISA-RYA Initiatives against Racist Murder in Delhi

“Racial discrimination, comments and violence are an ugly everyday reality for us. We don’t feel secure, and we don’t have any confidence in the Delhi Police. Such an environment of insecurity, racism and police victimization of victims needs to be changed immediately. We cannot stay scared anymore, we have to come out” – these were the words of Alka, a Ramjas College student who addressed a gathering of hundreds of protesting students who were at one with her words and emotions. This protest was organized by AISA in Delhi University where around 300 students participated; for three hours the DU north campus reverberated with one slogan 'We are all Nido Taniam, Stop the racism'.

The tragic death of Nido, a young 18-year old student from Arunachal Pradesh, after being brutally beaten up by shopkeepers, has seen massive protests across Delhi – at Lajpat Nagar where the public lynching took place, at Jantar Mantar, in the Jawaharlal Nehru University organised by the AISA-led JNUSU and in the Delhi University. In the aftermath of this latest incident of racist violence, democratic voices are pointing out that the racism is not just deeply embedded in our society, but it requires a principled and effective response from the powers-that-be.

This tragic death might once more exposed the terrible consequences of racism, but the fact remains that racism is often only recognised when such incidents take place. It is often not sufficiently recognised, and not highlighted, when derogatory comments are made on physical features, dress, culture and cuisine; when breathtaking generalisations questioning life style and ‘morality’ pass off as ‘aam’ common sense. It is not recognised when people from the north east and other marginalised ‘others’ find it specially difficult to rent rooms, to file complaints, to travel in public transport. It is this brand of seemingly innocuous ‘everyday’ othering, profiling and racism that ultimately leads to the tragic mob lynching of a young boy doing something as normal as walking and shopping in a South Delhi market. Nido Tania was subject to racist taunts on his looks and the colour of the hair. He was beaten up by a mob, not just once, but twice. Even after his death, it took sustained protests to get an FIR filed by the Delhi Police.

At the AISA protest in DU, another student Brian, from Dayal Singh College said, “The students from north east regions are considered to be people from outside India. The derogatory and enraging taunt ‘chinki’ reminds us all the time that our own neighbours, landlords, people in the government and most of all our police, think that we are from China. We are the ones paying the price of claiming that we are Indians and deserve rights of Indian citizens.”

AISA has been actively involved in the recent movement on the streets of Delhi against racism, participating in the protests at Jantar Mantar and Lajpat Nagar, organising protest marches in JNU and Delhi University, and resolving to address racism in every form – not just horrific racist violence, but also the everyday alienation and discrimination that routinely takes place. As Rahul, an AISA activist at the DU protest pointed out: “The fact remains that racism is not an issue of individuals and circumstances but is structural and is institutionalized into the very fabric of our society.”

Preparation for Mass Agitations, Rallies All Over Bihar

As LS elections approach, CPI(ML) leaders in Bihar are being arrested to create a repressive atmosphere. In Patna, students, youth, farmers struggling against land acquisition, Anganwadi workers, electricity consumers etc are being harassed and hounded in different ways.

Recently CPI-ML Patna District Rural Committee member Com. Gopal Singh was thrown into jail as he was leading a farmers’ agitation against acquisition of BIADA land in Bihada (Patna District), and several false cases have been slapped against him. Party State Committee member Com. Ranvijay Kumar was arrested while leading an agitation by Data Entry operators in Patna. Earlier, false cases were foisted on RYA National President Amarjit Kushwaha and Party State Committee member and former MLA Satyadev Ram while they were leading a land agitation. RYA State Joint Secretary Manoj Manzil, arrested in Bhojpur, has been in jail for the past 4 months. Several false cases have been filed against AISA State President Rinki, and Darbhanga District Committee member Com. Hari Paswan was arrested while leading the Darbhanga land agitation. The government has so far slapped cases against 4000 electricity consumers, and is unleashing a spate of repression on teachers, anganwadi workers, and others. The CPI-ML strongly condemns such undemocratic repressive measures by the government.

From 10 January to 25 January, CPI-ML had organized a Jansamwad programme in 18 LS constituencies of Bihar, during which about 100 teams held around 3000 meetings in 2500 panchayats of Bihar and established direct dialogue with around 3 lakh people. During the dialogue it was clear that the people are thoroughly disillusioned with the governments in Delhi and Bihar and want a change. People want the next LS elections to be fought on people’s issues and wish to change policies, not merely exchange leaders. While the BJP wants to give a fascist direction to this aspiration for positive change, Nitish Kumar is harping on the issue of special State status in order to divert attention from his failed responsibilities. The RJD and LJP have also betrayed the people by joining hands with the Congress, which has led the country to ruin. During the programme, a number of people across the State stressed that the sitting MPs, once elected, have never bothered to visit their constituencies. The people were angry against such MPs and MLAs and were clear that they do not want an MP who would neither raise their issues in Parliament, nor fight on the streets for them.

Important issues like electricity, education, health, dignified employment, and housing, and cancellation of liquor licences have emerged as demands of the people, based on which the CPI-ML State standing committee has chalked out the strategy for agitation. One of the key issues is that of fake and inflated power bills. Nitish Kumar had declared that if electricity didn’t reach villages, he wouldn’t seek votes. The reality is that electricity hasn’t reached villages – but huge power bills have reached villages where electricity cables haven’t even been laid! In any case, the power rates are too steep. CPI(ML) has issued a call to not pay fake and inflated bills, and is demanding halving of power rates. Another huge issue is the state policy of issuing liquor licences in virtually each village. Villages are demanding that liquor licences be cancelled, since it promotes alcoholism to fill state coffers.

Jandaavedari (People’s Assertion) Rallies will be organized in different districts in Bihar from 8 Feb to 21 Feb, which will be addressed by senior Party leaders. At the rallies, people will submit fake and inflated power bills and sign petitions demanding cancellation of liquor licences.

Teams have been constituted under the leadership of Party General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar State Secretary Kunal, Politburo members Kavita Krishnan and Dhirendra Jha, former MP Rameshwar Prasad, AIP WA General Secretary Meena Tiwari, CC member Com. KD Yadav, ABKMS National General Secretary Com. Rajaram Singh, AIPWA Bihar Secretary Shashi Yadav, former MLA Satyadev Ram, Com. Anwar Hussain, and others.

The rallies will raise 5 central slogans:

1.   Daam bandho, kaam do, kaam ka pura daam do! (Fix Prices, Ensure Work, Ensure Full Wages for the Work!)

2.   Takht badal do, taj badal do, loot-khasoot ka raj badal do! (Change the Regime and Rule of Corruption and Plunder!)

3.   Badlo neeti, badlo raj, sansad mein janta ki awaz! (Change Policies, Change Rule, Ensure People’s Voice in Parliament!)

4.   Khet, kheti, kisan bachao, corporate loot ka raj mitao! (Save Farmland, Agriculture, Farmers, End the Regime of Corporate Loot!)

5.         Sharab nahin rozgaar chahiye, bijli-ration-awas chahiye! (We Want Employment and Electricity, Rations and Housing, Not Liquor!)

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 5 / 2014

ML Update

A CPI(ML)Weekly News Magazine

 

Vol.  17      No. 5                                     29 JAN - 4 FEB 2014

 

 

Pathribal Acquittal:

The Republic Has Blood on Its Hands

 

 

The President of India, in his address on the eve of Republic Day warned that security and armed forces,backed by the steel of popular support, have proved that they can crush an enemy within, and that mavericks who question the integrity of our armed services should find no place in public life. Perhaps for the first time in India's history, the designated custodian of the Constitution virtually issued an open call to "supporters" of armed forces to evict critics of the Army's impunity, from public life. And on the heels of Republic Day, the Army gave itself a clean-chit in the infamous Pathribal fake encounter case, which the CBI had found to be a cold-blooded killing of Kashmiri villagers. The Republic has blood on its hands, but the public has been warned to remain silent.

 

 

The Army's acquittal of its officers charge-sheeted by the CBI for the cold-blooded fake encounter of five innocent men in Pathribal (Jammu and Kashmir), is a shameful case of the killers exonerating themselves. The Army officers, protected by AFSPA from prosecution in a civilian court, have been acquitted by a court martial. The Pathribal episode drives home the fact that the ordinary Kashmiri in India is entirely unprotected by any semblance of civil liberties or any hope of justice, and is at the mercy of the Army that enjoys the license to murder. Itis a message to the common Kashmiris that the flimsy fig leaf of India's democracy, rule of law, and judicial process, are not meant to offer them even nominal cover.  The profound hypocrisy and inherent barbarism of the Indian State, which dons a respectable garb in other places, lies unveiled in Kashmir, where it goes naked.

 

 

On March 25, 2000, a contingent ofthe Rashtriya Rifles and the J&K Police's Special Operations Group claimed to have killed 5 LeT militants in a hut in Pathribal village, in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir. LK Advani, then Home Minister, endorsed the Army's claim that these five men were "foreign militants" who had perpetrated the heinous Chattisingpora massacre of Sikhs days before, on the eve of the then US President Bill Clinton's visit to India. The 5 bodies, badly burnt, were buried without any post mortem examination.

 

 

Meanwhile, five men Zahoor Dalal, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Mohammed Malik, Juma Khan and Juma Khan - had gone missing since March 24 from various Anantnag villages, and frantic villagers demanded the exhumation and identification of the bodies at Pathribal. On April 3, CRPF firing on a demonstration at Brakpora demanding exhumation killed nine including a son of one of the missing men Juma Khan. Eventually, the bodies were exhumed and identified by families as those of the missing villagers. The DNA matching turned up negative, but in March 2002, it was established that the blood samples had been tampered with. Fresh blood samples were collected, and tests proved beyond doubt that the 5 men killed were none other than the missing villagers. It was evident that the security forces had simply picked up 5 villagers at random including 2 men of the same name from different villages and murdered them in cold blood, passing them off as "foreign militants".

 

 

The CBI enquiry ordered by the State Government confirmed that the 'encounter' was indeed deliberate murder, and in 2006, filed a charge-sheet against Brigadier Ajay Saxena, Lt. Col.Brijendra Pratap Singh, Major Sourabh Sharma, Major Amit Saxena and Subedar IKhan of 7th Rashtriya Rifles.

 

 

But the trial never took place, because the Army claimed that under the AFSPA, prior sanction of the Central Government was required for prosecution of the accused soldiers. The Defence Ministry and the Central Government did not grant sanction, in spite of theCBI's categorical finding. The CBI argued that prior sanction under AFSPA was not required in this case, since it was intended only for protection of personnel acting in the line of duty, not for deliberate abduction and murderof innocents. This argument, upheld by the High Court in 2007, was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2012.

 

 

The Supreme Court allowed the Army the choice of civil court proceedings (contingent on Central Government sanction) and a Court Martial according to the Army's own regulations. TheArmy, which in 2006 had rejected either option, chose the Court Martial route this time. And now, the inevitable has happened - the Army has flown in the face of damning evidence, and has protected its own. 'Integrity' of the armed forces has proved to be synonymous with shameless impunity. And yet, President Pranab Mukherjee declares that this truth must not even be spoken of!    

 

 

The Pathribal massacre is by no means an aberration. Pathribal has shown the way for the ongoing Court Martial in the Macchil (Kupwara) killings of 3 villagers in 2010. In 2011, the J&K SHRC confirmed the existence of at least 2156 unidentified bodies lying in mass graves in Bandipora, Baramulla, Kupwara, and Handwara districts. The actual number of such mass graves is far higher - up till 7000. Yet, DNA profiling of the bodies in the mass graves has not taken place. The Government is delaying and subverting such a probe, fearing no doubt that the findings might establish, as exhumations at Pathribal and Macchil did, that many or most of the bodies are those of 'disappeared' persons killed in custody of security forces. 

 

 

The barest minimum requirement of democracy must be that the AFSPA be scrapped, and Army officers accused of murder and rape must enjoy no shield of protection. We must demand that the Centre lose no time in ensuring that the Pathribal killers in uniform face trial and justice in a civil court. 

 

 

The Republic has blood on its hands. There are fascist foot-soldiers aplenty to do as the President of the Republic suggests, and police the public space and intimidate the voices demanding accountability, truth, or justice. The Indian political establishment, with few exceptions, lacks any will to break the enforced silence. But the 'public' can and must reclaim the Republic. Democratic forces will defy the threats whether issued from the Presidential palace or the saffron thugs, and will speak out against murder perpetrated and protected in the name of the Republic! 

 

 

RMP Statement: 
On The Verdict In The TP Chandrasekharan Murder Case

The court verdict in the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case delivers a major blow to the cult of assassinating political rivals, practiced by the CPI(M) in Kerala.

The court has found the CPI(M) functionaries K.C. Ramachandran (member of the Kunnummakkara local committee), Manojan aka Trouser Manojan, (branch secretary of Kadanganpoyil) and P.K. Kunhanandan (member of the Panur area committee) guilty, along with members of the killer gang led by Kodi Suni. The indictment of its functionaries from Kozhikode and Kannur districts for the murder establishes the involvement of the CPI(M) in the conspiracy behind the murder.

TPChandrasekharan was eliminated by the CPI(M) because he raised his voice against the corruption and rightwing deviation of its leadership. The conspiracy for his murder was hatched after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, in which Chandrasekharan contested as the RMP candidate in the Vadakara constituency, receiving significant votes. Scared by his growing popularity, the CPI(M)planned and executed the murder on May 4, 2012.

RMP appreciates the role of the investigators and the prosecutors in the case, who had to work under tremendous pressure. Broad sections of the media, civilsociety and Leader of Opposition Comrade V.S. Achuthanandan also stood by the cause of justice. Many ordinary members of the CPI(M) have also helped in bringing out the truth behind the murder.

However, the RMP feels that the full extent of the conspiracy has not been revealed through the trial, which requires further investigation into the role played by the CPI(M) leadership. The CPI(M) leadership has tried to deliberately mislead the public by initially suggesting the hand of other persons and forces behind the murder. Subsequently the CPI(M) leadership announced an internal inquiry and said that if its party members are found involved, action will be initiated against them. That internal enquiry also turned out to be sham exercise.

The CPI(M) in Kerala has collected and spent huge sums of money to protect the accused and pressurize the witnesses in the case; 52 witnesses turned hostile in the course of the trial. Through its influence within the state machinery it ensured that the accused were provided special facilities within the jail. These actions expose its involvement in the crime.

The RMP demands a CBI enquiry into the case to look into the full extent of the conspiracy behind the murder. The RMP will further pursue the case through legal and political means to bring all those responsible for the murder of TPChandrasekharan to book.

N Venu and KK Rema

on behalf of

RMP State Committee

Akrosh March by Students in Patna

AISA and RYA organized an Akrosh March and gherao-ed the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to protest on the issues of non-fulfilment of promises, pro-corporate communal forces, dignified employment, unemployment allowance, effective youth policy, affordable quality education, and affordable electricity, on 22 January2014.

RYA and AISA went back to the 30,000 youth who had earlier signed a petition demanding an effective Youth Policy and mobilized them along with those demanding electricity, as well as TET-STET passed candidates and they agitated for their demands under a joint banner.

The 22January protest was a corollary to the ongoing Jansamwad Yatra in Bihar and anger was expressed by students and youth on education, employment, health, electricity and other issues.

TET-STET Passed Candidates Association demanded jobs for the successful candidates without delay, and permanent and dignified employment for youth. On the eve of 22 January the government agreed to set up a camp and hand out the due appointment letters. The agitation to demand a student-teacher ratio of 30:1will continue.

The All India Railway Vendors and Hawkers Association said that through the efforts of RYA, the 40 year od practice of commission has been ended in Patna-Gaya rail sector and they have been freed from the vicious cycle of abuse and oppression by GRP and RPF. Further agitation will continue for legal status, id cards and security for vendors and hawkers.

The Rasoiya Parivar Kalyan Sangh and midday meal workers are demanding a minimum honorarium of Rs. 10,000, along with Class IV Government employee status and transparency in selection process. The All India Sports Players Association and judo and karate martial arts players have demanded a place in the youth policy and jobs as teachers in schools and colleges.

The RYA demanded 24 hour affordable electricity in every village household, repair of faulty transformers, poles and wires, and protested at electricity offices in Nalanda, Siwan, Jehanabad, Samastipur, Patna, Champaran, Darbhanga, Bhojpur,Gopalganj, Arwal and other places. They also demanded that false and incorrect electricity bills should be withdrawn.

A march was organized Gandhi Maidan in Patna to agitate for all the above demands, led by Amarjit Kushwaha, Raju Yadav, Naveen Kumar, Rinki, Ajit Kushwaha, Abhyuday, Kesar Nehal, Sudhir, Divya Gautam, Dhiraj, Markandeya Pathak, Anil Rai, Kunal, Jyoti and others. A 4 member delegation met the Bihar Home Secretary and submitted a 17 point petition of demands. Addressing the meeting, Party General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya appealed to students and youth to put education, employment, electricity, health and other peoples’ issues on the election agenda and exhorted them to throw out worthless governments and electpro=people governments. He said that due to the people’s agitation, governments had been forced to back down to a certain extent from their pro-corporate and anti-people policies. He criticized the Kejriwal government’s proposal to reserve 90% seats in Delhi University as being a conspiracy to break student unity. He called upon the youth to put pressure on the Nitish government to fulfil his promise to guarantee 24 hour electricity supply and to give 100units free to the poor, to give dignified employment and to ensure unemployment allowance. He stressed that fair wages should be paid to railway hawkers, vendors, midday meal workers and Asha - Anganwadi workers.

The following demands were made at the Akrosh Sabha:

1.  ReleaseState Joint Secretary Manoj Manzil immediately.

2.  Withdrawfalse case against AISA State President Rinki.

3.  Regularizeall contractual workers.

4.  WithdrawPrivate University Act and implement equal education in schools.

5.  Implement30:1 student teacher ratio and appoint TET-STET passed candidates immediately.

6.  Guarantee24 hour electricity in every village household.

7.  Provide“50 Unit Maaf, 100 Unit Half†electricity. With draw false bills.

8.  Fillvacant teachers-workers posts without delay.

9.  Stoppolice repression on student-youth protests. Release all jailed studentswithout delay.

10. Withdrawall false cases against student-youth leaders.

11. Holdstudent union elections without delay in all Universities.

12. EstablishAligarh Muslim University branch without delay.

13. Stopinterference with reservation rules in Bihar PSC.

14. Stopthe business of loot in the name of Vocational Courses.

15. ProvideID cards, legal status, and security to railway vendors.

16. Announceminimum honorarium of Rs 1000 and Class IV employee status for midday mealworkers.

17. Stopthe state-sponsored promotion of liquor

Tribute to Pete Seeger

(Based on tributes in The Guardian and Daily Mail)

Pete Seeger dies aged 94

Singer-song writer inspired folk revival in the US and was blacklisted during McCarthy era for his leftwing views and lyrics

Tributes have poured in honouring American troubadour, folk music singer and activist Pete Seeger, who has died in New York aged 94. Musicians, fans, campaigners and activists paid tribute to the singer of Where Have All The Flowers Gone and Turn, Turn, Turn, honouring his dedication to fighting for environmental and anti-capitalist issues.

Seeger was a key figure in the folk protest movement through the 1950s and 60s and protested against wars from Vietnam to Iraq; even in his 90s he could be seen marching with Occupy Wall Street protesters. Be wary of great leaders, he said two days after a 2011 Manhattan Occupy march. Hope that there are many, many small leaders.

The banjo player was known as an affable protester and remained a proud socialist and left-wing campaigner throughout his life. Once a card-carrying Communist, he came under fire in the McCarthy era of the 50s. Summoned to give evidence about his political leanings and contacts to the the House of Representatives' Un-American Activities committee in 1955, Seeger refused to testify. He denied his views made him disloyal to his country. Asked repeatedly if he had sung for Communists, he retorted: I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent this implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, or I might be a vegetarian, make me any less of an American.

This led, in 1957, to an indictment for contempt of Congress, a prison sentence (later overturned) and a travel ban. In America's cold war blacklisting and red-baiting years, Seeger was unable to perform in many venues, was excluded from college campuses and kept off television for many years. All the while, though, he kept writing and singing.

Seeger was born in New York City in 1919. He came from artistic stock his mother, Constance, was a violinist and his father, Charles, a musicologist, who worked as a consultant to the Resettlement Administration, which gave artists work during the Depression.

Seeger dropped out of Harvard and toured with Woody Guthrie in the 1940s, forming the group the Weavers in 1948.

Seeger’s evergreen songs include Where Have All The Flowers Gone, inspired by a Ukrainian poem concerning the futility of men losing their lives in war; and Turn! Turn! Turn! If I Had A Hammer was a freedom song chanted by U.S. civil rights marchers; the radical anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks has chosen it as their official song.

 And though he didn’t write it, Seeger was probably the artist most responsible for popularising the protest song We Shall Overcome, anthem of the Sixties African-American civil rights movement and staple hymn of solidarity of every student or eco-warrior sit-in that has ever graced the planet.

His hit version of Little Boxes was an early satire of suburbia (the title being a reference to middle-class homes) and suburban values.

 Although Seeger clearly made an exception in his anti-militarism for the fight against Hitler, he returned to his anti-war stance during the Cold War and Vietnam War, and emblazoned his banjo with the motto This Machine Surrounds Hate And Forces It To Surrender.

He became critical of the Soviet Union, and insisted he was only a communist with a small ‘c’. Over the years, he championed almost as many causes as he had songs, from aiding small farmers and Native American tribes to opposing oil fracking and the big banks.

 The British singer Billy Bragg said: Peter Seeger towered over the folk scene like a mighty redwood for 75 years. His songs will be sung wherever people struggle for their rights.

Obituaries

Comrade Byomkesh Banerjee

Comrade Byomkesh Banerjee (born 18 December, 1944) a member of the Party’s Chuchura Local Committee and Vice President of the Hooghly District Committee (West Bengal) of AICCTU breathed his last in a Kolkata hospital inthe early hours of 18th January. He was suffering from bronchopneumonia.

Comrade Banerjee joined the communist movement as a student of Hooghly Mahasin college and became a cadre of CPI (ML) from the very inception. Later he became an engineer. Under his inspiration all his brothers, sisters and other family members grew into committed party activists or supporters. He worked among workers in the nearby industrial areas. In the 1980s he became the president of the Hooghly district committee of the IPF. In the 1990s he worked as a member of the Party’s Hooghly district committee and contested the assembly elections from the Chuchra constituency. To the very last he remained active in all types of party activities and earned everybody’s love and respect for his simplicity, humane qualities, personal integrity and commitment to the cause of revolution. Red salute to comrade Byomkesh-da.

Comrade Prabhulal Paswan

Veteran communist leader Comrade Prabhulal Paswan (Kishunjee) passed away in Lucknow PGI hospital on 24 December 2013 following a severe brain stroke. Comrade Prabhulal was born in a village in Bhojpur district of Bihar on 10January 1937. After finishing graduation he had joined the Bihar State Electricity Board as an employee. The spark of Naxalbari inspired him to quit his job and plunge into the revolutionary politics of CPI(ML). After years of work in Bihar, he took up the responsibility of leading the underground Party organisation in UP, and played a key role in expanding the Party network in UP including in areas currently under Uttarakhand. In the 1980s he also served as a member of the Party Central Committee. After the Party came overground in December 1992, he returned to Bihar and was fielded as Party candidate from the Sasaram Lok Sabha constituency in 1996. Following some differences with the Party organisation he had formally left the Party in the late 1990s but remained a well-wisher of the Party till the very end. Comrade Prabhulal’s dedication to the people and to the revolutionary spirit and vision of the communist movement will continue to inspire new generations of communist activists. CPI(ML) Central Committee pays homage to Comrade Prabhulal Paswan.

ML Update, Weekly Organ of CPI(ML) Liberation, CHARU BHAWAN, U-90 Shakarpur, NEW DELHI- 110092, INDIA

ML Update 04 / 2014

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.  17             No. 04                                                                           22-28 JAN 2014

Reform the Police!

Make Police Accountable to Democratic Rights!

Reclaim the Republic!!

On the eve of the 65th Republic Day, Delhi witnessed a dharna by the AAP ministers and MLAs in Delhi. As the dharna entered its second day, Kejriwal said there would be no 'middle-of-the-road' solution and it would go on indefinitely and even confront the official show of Republic Day parade with lakhs of people on the roads of Delhi. But as the day passed into the evening, the dharna was called off following a face-saving declaration by the Lt Governor of Delhi to send two SHOs on leave.

The dharna gave rise to animated debates in the electronic media. There were voices from the ruling elite describing the dharna as anarchy and as negation of governance while Kejriwal defended the dharna as democracy. Past examples were remembered when elected governments went on agitations against the Central government or on larger political questions. Elected governments are perfectly within their rights to launch agitations in the interest of democracy and the people. The issue is the agenda of the struggle and the purpose it serves for the people the government is supposed to represent and serve.

Kejriwal raised the specific demand of action against three SHOs. A Danish woman tourist was robbed and gang-raped near Connaught Place in the early evening on 14 January. Neha Yadav was set on fire by her in-laws for alleged non-payment of dowry on 13 January in Sagarpur in south-west Delhi. Kejriwal wanted action against the concerned SHOs of Paharganj and Sagarpur. The third instance involves Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti and the SHO of Malviya Nagar PS. In this case the role of the minister has come in for serious public criticism and instead of responding to that criticism, senior AAP leaders ridiculed protesters, defended Bharti and demanded action against the Malviya Nagar SHO for not obeying Bharti's orders.

Now if there are specific reports of drug rackets or organised prostitution in the area, police must intervene and act according to legal provisions. But evidence indicates that Bharti was not seeking action against specific individuals, but rather, indiscriminate and illegal raids on an entire community of African nationals. The local people may have serious grievances against the police and AAP leaders are justified in taking up the cases on behalf of the local people, but the minister cannot lead a midnight raid with his supporters, making racist comments and instigating supporters to violate the bodily integrity, dignity and rights of African women on the basis of suspicion and allegation of being involved in 'drug and sex rackets'.

Drug and organised prostitution rackets may be serious issues in the area but concerns about organised racist politics and violence in the area ought to be equally a matter of concern for an elected representative, whose interventions must then be in accordance with the principles of human rights, justice and gender sensitivity. People accusing Somnath Bharti of displaying racist attitudes and violating the provisions of law and human rights have serious reasons for raising their point and AAP leaders and spokespersons have only exposed their intolerance for democratic criticism and opposition by ridiculing protesters as pimps and defenders of 'drug and sex rackets'.

It is ironic that while AAP ministers sat on dharna against the Union Home Ministry, the AAP government dropped the very idea of holding a Janata Darbar after thousands turned up in the first and only Janata Darbar to articulate their grievances. Contract teachers have been on dharna outside Delhi Secretariat for days together even as Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues sat on dharna near Rail Bhavan. Just as the Delhi government is within its rights to demand greater powers for itself, it is also duty-bound to fulfil its electoral commitments to the people of Delhi. It is well within Kejriwal's powers to make contract workers – at least those employed in Delhi Government institutions – permanent, and he must not lose an instant in doing so. But disturbingly enough some contract teachers were reportedly beaten up at the AAP dharna site.   

Kejriwal described the Lt Governnor's decision to send two SHOs on leave as a partial but important victory for the people of Delhi. How exactly this dharna would contribute to the larger question of urgent police reforms in the country or the agenda of securing full statehood for Delhi is not at all clear. What is clear is that AAP wanted to turn the issue of action against Bharti into a stand-off with the Union Home Ministry and use the Delhi dharna as a launching pad for its Lok Sabha election campaign.

Rather than championing the demand for the police's autonomy from partisan political control, Kejriwal's dharna merely demanded a change of political command for the Delhi Police. By insisting on transfer of an SHO who failed to do the illegal and irresponsible bidding of a Minister who was stoking passions against African nationals, isn't the Delhi Government in fact perpetuating the habits of other Governments which have routinely exercised partisan political control over the police?

Rather than the AAP's notion of mohalla-based social control over the police (the dangers of which have been demonstrated in the Khirkee episode), what is needed is to ensure the Police's strict adherence to democratic rights, and alertness to and sensitisation against caste, gender, communal, racial and other biases that are embedded in 'common' sense. In matters involving the rights of minorities and sections of people vulnerable to bias and prejudice, the police must uphold the laws and Constitutional norms strictly, rather than act at the bidding of Ministers or mob sentiment.

In Delhi and across India, people are victims of police high-handedness, corruption and repression in their daily lives. Democratisation of policing – defined not as obedience to majority sentiment but as obedience to the Constitutionally mandated norms of sensitivity and rights of all people including minorities - is a key component of the overall programme of democratisation of the Indian society and polity.

This Republic Day let us insist on the urgent agenda of implementing democratic police reforms in the country to make policing people-friendly and bring it in strict consonance with the law of the land, provisions of the Constitution, and democratic rights. Reform the Police! Make Police Accountable to Democratic Rights!! Reclaim the Republic!!!

African and Indian Residents of Khirkee Village Speak atSit-In Against Racist Violence

"My friend told me, don't go outside, they are beating up African women. I was planning to go out, but I stayed in and locked my door. They banged on our door, I was terrifie

d. They beat up and groped other Ugandan women that night (the night that Somnath Bharti led the 'raid'). In Khirkee, there have been many such attacks in the past. On one occasion, a man broke a beer bottle and slashed my friend's leg with it, she was bleeding. I have been stoned by men. They often touch our breasts, grope us as we pass, they brand us as prostitutes. We are very scared." – Brenda, a Ugandan woman who lives in Khirkee    

 

"The RWA in Khirkee has been activated in the past year, not over concerns of sanitation, water etc, but on an overtly racist plank, profiling and targeting the local African community. There have been multiple instances of violence against African women, and even African kids faced discrimination at school. The police used to be insensitive to the complaints of the Africans. But after we wrote letters to the police and spoke to them, the police's attitude has become more sensitive and principled. The SHO there has, in fact, acted responsibly when he received racist complaints about how Africans' 'food stinks' or how 'women dress in short skirts.' The complaints of so-called 'drug and sex rackets' need to be seen in the context of this organised racist targeting. We ask the Government if the SHO and local police should act as an obedient arm of racist sentiment? If the SHO is transferred, after our patient efforts have actually made him respond sensitively and responsibly, it will send a message to the police that they should not defend the rights of the minorities or foreign nationals." – Aastha Chauhan, an artist who has long experience of working among the African community in Khirkee   

 

These were some of the voices from Khirkee village that were heard at a sit-in against racism, at Jantar Mantar on 19th January, that had been organised by the JNU Students' Union, AISA, AIPWA, RYA, and several other concerned individuals and activists. At the sit-in, the protestors gave a standing ovation to African drummers and hip-hop performers from Khirkee (who performed Hindi songs!). 

Speaking at the sit-in, Kavita Krishnan, Secretary of AIPWA, said "According to news reports, the Minister, Somnath Bharti, asked locals to draw up a list of African nationals' residences - 'jahan aise log rehte hain/where such people live', vowing to raid and search each of these homes. He also told media, "I have received a lot of complaints from women in this locality against foreign nationals, yeh hum aur aap jaise nahin hain (They are not like you or me)." She said, "Mr Kejriwal says his Minister and his Government are not racist: we are here to tell him that Mr. Bharti's words and actions are copybook racism. To encourage a mob to catch hold of African women and eunuchs because he says they are sex-workers, is both racist and sexist, and downright unconstitutional. The Government and the AAP party should remove Mr Bharti from his post as Law Minister."

Other protestors said, "Will the Delhi CM only accept the version of local AAP members and the Minister as 'the voice of the people'? Or is he willing to listen to the dissenting voices from Khirkee village itself, who have been battling racism in very hostile circumstances? Will it recognise that voices that counter racism, communalism, casteism or gender discrimination, or who stand up for the rights of sex workers or hijras, may not be popular, but are more democratic; that 'majority' and 'democracy' aren't one and the same? Will he automatically assume that Ugandan women must be liars, or will he take their FIR seriously and take action against Mr Bharti based on their FIR? This is a basic test for the democratic character of any Government."

Protestors pointed out that the racist build-up and the efforts to counter it, preceded the formation of the AAP Government, and said that the Government should resist the temptation to turn the Khirkee incident into a political contest between the Delhi Government and the Home Ministry over the Delhi Police.

Protestors raised slogans against the CM's remark that 'drug and sex rackets led to 'rape tendencies', and held placards saying, "Violence against African women makes Indian women shamed, not safer!"

Shuddhabrata Sengupta, artist and writer with the Raqs media Collective, said that history would remember Razia Sultan of the 13th century for her broadmindedness, in a way that it would never remember Somnath Bharti. Africans in India had a history spanning 900 years. Madhu Prasad of the All India Forum for Right to Education reminded people that the freedom struggles of India and Africa inspired each other. Activists who have worked for the rights of gay and transgender people – researcher Ena Goel, Akshay, and Aditya Bandopadhyay, spoke about the difference between people' participative democracy and majoritarianism, and said that AAP would have to demonstrate that it understood the difference. Akshay, who has worked in Uganda, said that the Indian community in Kampala has faced racial discrimination since the time of Idi Amin.

Protestors recalled that there have been growing instances of xenophobia, racism and violence against Africans in Punjab, Goa and other parts of the country too. People from the North East states also experience racist prejudice and violence regularly in Delhi and elsewhere. They urgently called to counter the spread of the racist virus in the capital city.  

The meeting was also addressed by Sucheta De and Shakeel Anjum of AISA and Aslam Khan of RYA. It was conducted by Abhiruchi, the GSCASH representative of JNU. JNUSU President Akbar and Vice President Anubhuti Agnes Bara were among the organisers of the protest.

Jan Vikalp Sabha Held in Bagodar on Comrade Mahendra Singh's Martyrdom Day

CPI (ML) organized a huge Jansankalp Rally in Bagodar on 16 January 2014, the 9th anniversary of Com. Mahendra Singh's martyrdom. Addressing the sea of people gathered on this occasion, CPI (ML) General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya said that 2014 would be the elections to reverse the present policies. He stressed that policies which have no place for the poor, the farmers, women and youth, need to be overturned. We need to convert the coming elections into a fight for people's rights against corporate machinery. This election will not be about Modi or Rahul but about the people. As the elections near, the dilemmas of the Congress and the BJP are also increasing.

Remarking on Modi's silence at the BJP rally in Jharkhand, he pointed out that Modi has not even apologized for the abject conditions in Jharkhand today. Modi's silence is untenable; the BJP must take responsibility for the ruin of Jharkhand, because it is they who were the first, and the longest, rulers of the State. Appealing for alertness against BJP's communal manipulations, he said that Modi has engineered the riots in Muzaffarnagar in UP through Amit Shah, the chief villain of the Gujarat riots. He said that the BJP wanted to spread communal tension from Patna to Ranchi under cover of the Patna bomb blasts, but the people of Bihar, through the Khabardar Rally, defeated this unholy purpose. BJP stands similarly exposed in Jharkhand too, and the people of Jharkhand and Bihar will give a fitting reply to such machinations by the BJP. The conspiracy to push the minorities into the slot of secondary citizen will also be shattered.

Remembering Com. Mahendra Singh, the Party General Secretary said that anyone wishing to see how much synergy is generated by martyrdom has only to come here, to Bagodar. Com. Dipankar stressed that the legacy of Bhagat Singh and Com. Mahendra Singh would put paid to fascist plots and corporate loot. He pointed out that Modi said, at Baba Ramdev's camp, that tax would be abolished. The truth is that taxes will be abolished by Modi for those who have become billionaires through corporate loot!

Com. Dipankar welcomed the victory of the Aam Admi Party in Delhi but criticized CM Arvind Kejriwal's decision to stop holding Janta Durbars. He said that the public should not fear anyone and promises made to the people should be fulfilled.

The General Secretary said that today two kinds of models are being talked about in Kodarma. One model was Com. Mahendra Singh, who gave his all for fighting for the people's struggles; the other is Babulal Marandi who, far from fighting for the people on the ground, does not even raise a question in Parliament. He said that the legacy of Com. Mahendra Singh is the fight for "Insaan, Insaaf aur Inqalab", and this is the CPI (ML)'s fight. Announcing the Jansahyog-Jandavedari (People's Cooperation-People's Rights) Abhiyan, he said that between 27 January and 10 February the plan is to meet 5 lakh voters, acquaint them with the Party's thinking, take their cooperation in the form of Rs 5 to Rs 10, and then turn the people's cooperation into people's rights.

Red flags were flying all around the Janvikalp Sabha held at the culmination of the 2 month-long Jansankalp Abhiyan organized in Jharkhand from 15 November. On the occasion of the 10th Martyrdom Day of Com. Mahendra Singh, the huge participation of thousands of women from Kodarma Lok Sabha constituency was clearly visible. Many young people are breaking away from Parties like AJSU, JVM, and BJP.

Earlier, a garlanding function was held in Com. Mahendra Singh's native village of Khambhra, after which floral tributes were paid to his statue at the Com. Mahendra Singh Bhavan in Bagodar. The Janvikalp Sabha was addressed by Bagodar MLA and Party CC member Vinod Singh, State Committee member Rajkumar Yadav, Rajesh Yadav, Satyanarayan Das, Sitaram Singh, Jayanti Chowdhuri, Rameshwar Chowdhuri, Pawan Mahto, Reena Gupta, Kodarma citizens Ramdhan Yadav, Basudev Yadav and others. The meeting was presided over by Parmeshwar Mahto and conducted by Mustaqeem Ansari. Politburo member DP Bakshi, Janardan Prasad, Manoj Bhakt, CC member Anant Prasad Gupta, former CC member Bahadur Oraon, Marxist Coordination Committee legislator Arup Chatterjee, State Committee member Puran Mahto, Usman Ansari, Kaushalya Das, Shyam Dev Yadav, Prem Prakash and others were present at the meeting.

Dalits Attacked in Rajasthan Village

On 14 January (Sankranti) persons from the domineering Rajput caste attacked dalits, burnt their houses and killed three people. This village has 14 dalit families who were attacked by Rajputs from neighbouring villages. CPI (ML) intervened in this brutal incident and registered protest against the incident along with the villagers. Party CC member Com. Mahendra Chowdhury and Srilatha Swaminathan from the AIPWA termed the attack a BJP-Congress conspiracy and said that both these Parties are engineering attacks on the poor, dalits, and minorities in order to deflect public attention from the real issues in the ace of the coming Lok Sabha elections. They pointed out that this has been the history of the Congress and the BJP in Rajasthan State, and stressed that the CPI (ML) would strongly oppose any such attempts to vitiate the atmosphere in the State. Party leaders demanded that the guilty in this incident be arrested without delay, and that they should be punished after being duly tried for murder charges. CPI (ML) demands that the State government provides adequate security to ensure that such attacks are not perpetrated on the weaker sections of society.

Labour Leader Comrade Daulat Ram No More

UP State Vice President of CITU and noted labour leader of Kanpur Com. Daulat Ram passed away on 1 January. Com. Daulat Ram took part in the Kanpur textile workers' agitation when he was 14, during which movement his first arrest took place. He lived in Urai, having completed his High School in Kanpur and his Intermediate in Jhansi.

Com. Daulat Ram worked in close association with Com. Ram Asare, another well-known labour leader of his time. He became a member of the CPM in 1967 and was the Party's office-bearer for several years. He contested the Assembly elections 4 times and secured 5000 to 20,000 votes.

Thousands of workers, trade unionists, and women joined the funeral procession on 2 January. His life was dedicated to the welfare of the working class.

Lal Salaam to Com. Daulat Ram!

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