Friday, March 8, 2013

CPI(M) THANE RALLY AGAINST CORRUPT LAND MAFIA-GOVT-POLICE NEXUS




Mariam Dhawale
CPIM Maharashtra State Secretariat member

On March 4, 2013, a large and angry rally of thousands of Adivasis led by the CPI(M) marched to the Talasari police station and tehsil office in Thane district, demanding strict action against the land mafia and its corrupt agents who were trying to fleece the poor Adivasis of their land. The rally also demanded immediate withdrawal of the false cases against CPI(M) activists who were fighting this corrupt land mafia, and action against the police officers responsible for these false cases.

In another basic demand, the rally insisted that the land of the absentee landlords and also forest land which is being tilled for generations by the Adivasis be vested in the names of the tribals. To ensure that land became more productive, the rally demanded immediate irrigation facilities from dams that had been completed with funds from the tribal sub-plan, but the water from which was being denied to the tribals and was being sent to the urban areas instead. It is a shameful fact that only two per cent of the agricultural land in Thane district is under irrigation as against the state average of 18 per cent (which is itself abysmally low!), in spite of the district having some of the largest water reservoirs in the state.

Well aware of the anger of the tribals, the police headquarters had specially deputed Additional SP Nishandar to meet the CPI(M) delegation in Talasari. The tehsildar of Talasari was also present during the discussion. The administration and the police were warned to solve the long-pending land issues at the earliest and to keep a strict check on the land mafia and its agents. They were apprised of the truth in the numerous false cases registered against CPI(M) activists. The Additional SP promised to immediately review these cases and take corrective steps. The delegation also demanded stern action against all the accused in cases of atrocities against women and girl children.


The public meeting was addressed by Dr Ashok Dhawale, Mahendra Singh, J P Gavit (ex-MLA), L B Dhangar, Lahanu Kom (ex-MP), Rajaram Ozare (MLA), Mariam Dhawale, Barkya Mangat, Edward Vartha, Ratan Budhar and Rasila Dhodi. Among those in the delegation were Ladak Kharpade, Hemlata Kom, Sangeeta Ozare, Shankar Umbarsada, Radka Kalangada and Rajesh Sadgir.

The rally also gave a call to make a big success of the Sangharsh Sandesh Jatha, which will be taking three public meetings in Thane district on March 9 at Dahanu, Jawhar and Talasari. Folders of the Jatha published by the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee were distributed. Over 1000 copies of the CPI(M) state committee weekly ‘Jeevanmarg’ were sold in the rally by a team of DYFI activists.

BACKGROUND OF LAND STRUGGLE

During British rule, taking advantage of the illiteracy and backwardness amongst the tribals, the landlord class usurped their lands in Dahanu, Talasari, Palghar, Jawhar and Wada tehsils of Thane district. The Adivasis were forced to work as bonded labourers on the lands which they once owned. It was against this injustice that the historic Warli Adivasi Revolt was organised by the Communist Party and the Kisan Sabha under the leadership of Godavari and Shamrao Parulekar in 1945-47. Fearing the wrath of the tribals who had suffered immense cruelty and exploitation for decades, the landlords fled these areas. Most of them did not return. Godavari’s book ‘Adivasis Revolt’ clearly brings out this sordid saga of landlord tyranny and the glorious liberation struggle of the Adivasis. The tribals took possession of thousands of acres of land, thus ending a life of torture and misery.

Thus, Adivasis are in possession of, and are cultivating, large chunks of such land for the past 65 years. For many, this is their only means of livelihood. The CPI(M) has been organising regular struggles to get these lands registered in the names of the tribals, since they are still in the names of the absentee landlords who have fled the area long ago. 

Thane district has a large tribal population. Eight tehsils of the district have a majority tribal population. These tehsils also have a large forest area. Due to the sky-rocketing land prices in the neo-liberal era, land has become a precious commodity today. The builder lobby, in collaboration with the land mafia, is eyeing this land and has become very active in Thane district, especially because of its proximity to Mumbai. In connivance with the revenue officials, they are operating a racket to cheat the tribals of their land. Bogus land records are prepared showing some ‘heirs’ of the earlier landlords. The tribals have absolutely no means of verifying or challenging any of these documents. The local land mafia gets in touch with this ‘heir’, gets a buyer (probably a builder or contractor) for this piece of land and strikes a deal. Then this ‘new owner’ employs the land mafia to clear his land of ‘encroachments’ and to erect a fencing along the boundary of the land he has purchased. The tribals who are in actual possession of the land are totally unaware of all these dealings and come to know of them only when attempts are made to put up the compound fence and evict them from their land. The police jump in the fray to protect the criminals, to corner their own share of the spoils. The land mafia belongs to the NCP, BJP or Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (the notorious outfit known for forcible eviction of tribals using muscle power and usurping their land).

Kurjhe is a village in the Talasari tehsil of Thane district. The Kurjhe gram panchayat, along with most other gram panchayats in Talasari tehsil, is controlled by the CPI(M). During the gram panchayat elections held recently, the NCP and BJP used all kinds of threats and inducements, but they did not succeed. Here in one of the padas (hamlets) called Gavitpada, a surreptitious land deal of the above mentioned kind took place. Tribals of Kurjhe village protested against the takeover of the piece of land in Gavitpada and broke down the fence. They did not allow the land mafia led by Kiran Dhamode, who is the tehsil president of the NCP, to evict the poor tribal family there. The sarpanch and upa-sarpanch of the Kurjhe gram panchayat intervened to protect the tribal family. A fight took place with injuries to both sides. The police let off the land ‘dalals’ and slapped false cases of dacoity and rioting against the sarpanch, upa-sarpanch and 11 other comrades, including two women. This triggered an uproar amongst the tribal community all over Talasari tehsil.

During the last Assembly elections in 2009, the CPI(M) won the Dahanu (ST) constituency with Rajaram Ozare being elected MLA. This seat was earlier held by the NCP MLA Krishna Ghoda who is known for shielding corruption in food grains and land deals. The constituencies were re-organised before the last Assembly elections. The CPI(M), through tremendous hard work and struggles, won this seat. The Party has been waging a continuous struggle in Thane district against the onslaught on people’s rights. Hoarders and black-marketeers of ration food grains have been exposed. Forest department officials have been prevented from evicting Adivasis from forest plots, with the agitation for implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) continuing. Demand for work under the MGNREGA is being regularly raised. Issues of water, health, education, Anganwadi and Asha workers, contract workers, violence against women, etc. are taken up by the mass organisations.

TARGETING THE CPI(M)

Unable to break the stronghold of the CPI(M), vested interests in Dahanu and Talasari led by the NCP and BJP have started using the help of the police force and are lodging false cases against CPI(M) activists. Blatantly false cases of murder and dacoity are being registered so that bail is not granted. The police force is so corrupted that even in incidents of atrocities on women and girls, they shield the perpetrators of the crime. After prolonged struggles and determined follow-up by the AIDWA and DYFI, these cases of atrocities against women could be registered. In the last three years, around 100 main activists of the CPI(M) have been implicated in various cases through such false complaints. On February 27, 2012, a CPI(M) and AIDWA woman tribal activist, Mathi Ozare from the Vasa village of Talasari tehsil, was murdered by BJP goons because she worked sincerely for the victory of the CPI(M) in the just-concluded Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections. She was the 60th martyr of the Communist Party in Thane district since the famous Adivasi Revolt of 1945, and the first woman martyr in the district. Anger among the tribals against this corrupt NCP-BJP-land mafia-police nexus was growing. This anger erupted after the incident in Kurjhe village. The large and spirited rally on March 4 was its result. The rally vowed to further strengthen the struggle.
 

Victory Rally in Tripura


CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat today said the massive mandate for Left Front in the recent elections in Tripura was for the alternative policies of the government which was committed to development, peace and welfare of the people.

The new message has gone to all corners of the country that it was the win of the alternative policies of the government which is committed to peace, development and welfare of the people of the state. What Tripura has shown is unique in the country," he said at the LF victory rally here.
              
The BJP and Congress state governments are actually protecting the interests of big capitalists and multinational forces. "But the character of Tripura government is different. It is the corruption free government which protected communal harmony, peace and development of the state," he said.
 
Referring to Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi's call to the people to uproot the communists from the entire country, he said the people of the state had infact done it to that party. 
He alleged that it was due to the anti-people policies of the UPA government that prices of essential commodities have sky rocketed, unemployment problem have become acute and peasants are in crisis.          
Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who took office for the fourth time in a row yesterday, assured that his government would implement the poll pledges and work for the people's welfare by adopting more pro-people programmes.
                
“We have many successes, but we have many faults too. We will rectify our faults. I also appeal to the ministers and leaders of our party to be more modest to people and try to address their problems irrespective of political colour or affiliations,” Sarkar said He also appealed to insurgents to shun violence and return to the mainstream. RSP leader from West Bengal Manoj Bhattacharya and Assam CPI-M secretary Uddhab Burman too spoke at the rally.

Gujarat Sub-Jatha Flagged Off

 
The sub-jatha from Gujarat was flagged off in Bhavnagar by veteran leader of the CPI (M) Subodh Mehta. The jatha is being led by Arun Mehta. Nalini Jadeja and Ashok Sompura are the other members of the jatha. The leaders addressed various public meetings in Bhavnagar and criticised the economic policies of both the BJP and Congress governments at the state and centre. The jatha will Rajkot, Ahmedabad and Santrampur before proceeding to Indore to join the Western Jatha

Northern Jatha Progresses in Haryana

Ensure food security and minimum support price, demands Brinda Karat “The demand for food security and that of minimum support price for farmers are interlinked” said Brinda Karat today, addressing a meeting at Uklana, Jind district, Haryana. Sanghash Sandesh Jatha today had a whirlwind tour starting in the morning from Kaithal, receiving delegations at different places before it reached district headquarter Fatehabad to address a huge gathering. 
 
 
Impressive meetings were held at Uklana, Darasul, Bhuna and Ratia where huge numbers of agricultural workers particularly women were present. “The governments in Haryana and at Centre are designing their policies keeping in the interests of monopoly corporate and foreign capital rather than people by whom they were elected” criticised Brinda Karat.
She said “the latest move to allow FDI in retail sector is going to oust more than 5 crore families from their livelihood sources”. Remembering the legendary communist leader Pridhvi Singh who hails from Danouda area, Brinda reminded the audience about the rich legacy of struggles and sacrifices.

Referring the latest scam in implementation of farm loan waiver scheme, brought to light by the CAG, Brinda said, “the principle advisor of this whole fraud is none other than the Finance Minister”. She warned the state government which issued notices for loan recoveries to thousands of farmers in Haryana and called upon the Haryana farmers not to honour bank notices.

At Danouda, a delegation of Asha workers and MGNREGA workers met Brinda Karrat and explained their grievances to which Brinda Karat assured them that they will be taken up with the governments both at the State and Centre. She criticised the administration for asking the MGNEGA workers to discharge more than the scheduled quantum of works and also denying them minimum notified wages under the act. She demanded an inquiry into the insurance premium scam that was perpetrated in collusion with a private insurance agency and some of the officials in Haryana. The Anganwadi delegation that met Brinda Karat at Uklana briefed about how the insurance premium is perpetrated in the state.

While addressing a public gathering at Ratia, Brinda Karat demanded the state to make public the survey conducted by the state government on 8000 people. “Due to pollution of ground water with chemicals and other pollutants, 1800 hundred people are affected by Hepatitis C. The affected people are into deep debt spiral due to the cost of treatment. As Haryana does not have any facilities for the treatment of such deceases, all the affected families have to go to Delhi for the treatment.” She demanded the state government to announce a comprehensive policy for the rehabilitation of the affected people. Hannan Mollah, Inderjeet Singh, Harpal Singh, Ramkumar and others also spoke at different places.

Sub Jathas in Maharashtra

As part of Sangharsh Sandesh Jatha, the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee is organising three main sub jathas from different regions of the state to cover the districts that would not be touched by the Southern and Western main jathas that pass through the state.

A sub jatha has begun on Thursday, March 06, from Malkapur in Buldana district of Vidarbha region. This jatha will cover the districts of Buldana, Akola, Amaravati, Washim and Wardha districts. This will also join the main Southern jatha at Wardha on March 09. 

Earlier, on March 04, another sub jatha began from Aurangabad in Marathwada region. It will cover Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed, Parbhani, Hingoli and Nanded districts during its four day long journey. This jatha will merge with the main Southern jatha when it enters Maharashtra at Kinwat in Nanded district on Friday, March 08.

The third sub jatha covering western Maharashtra began from Solapur on March 05. It has already covered Solapur and Pune districts. This jatha will reach Mumbai late tonight and merge with the main Western jatha that starts on Friday, March 08.

Apart from these three sub jathas, district level jathas have been organised in Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Latur and Osmanabad.