TAMIL NADU - CPI and CPI (M) to contest two seats each in the by-elections

JOINT MOVES: (From left) R. Nallakannu, CPI leader;
D. Pandian, CPI State secretary;
and N. Varadarajan, CPI (M) State secretary,
addressing presspersons in Tiruchi on Friday.

TIRUCHI: The CPI and the CPI (M) on Friday decided to contest the by-elections to the Assembly, taking two seats each and leaving one to a “friendly” party, even as they requested the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to reconsider its decision to boycott the polls.

The CPI will shortly announce its candidates for the Bargur and Srivaikundam constituencies and the CPI (M) for Thondamuthur and Cumbum.

In case the “friendly” party backs out, one of the two parties will contest the Ilayangudi seat, according to the leaders of the parties. Both parties were prepared for talks on the seats if the AIADMK decides to contest the polls.

Addressing presspersons at the end of the State Committee meetings of their parties, the State secretaries of the CPI and the CPI (M), D. Pandian and N. Varadarajan, maintained that their decision to contest the polls would not cause any problem for the non-Congress, non-BJP alliance in the State.

Though the reasons cited by the AIADMK – misuse of power and perpetration of rowdyism by the ruling party to ensure victory in the parliamentary elections – for boycotting the polls still persists, “we reckon that the situation must be countered politically,” Mr. Varadarajan said.

Mr. Pandian pointed out that boycotting elections would mean letting those misusing democracy go scot-free.

(the Hindu)

Mangalore: Unfair action on date-barred nutritious food packets - DYFI

The district unit of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) has alleged that the Women and Child Welfare Department has failed to take action against a top official involved in the supply of date-barred nutritious food packets to poor pregnant women.

Muneer Katipalla, president of the district unit of the DYFI, told presspersons that the department was soft on its Deputy Director in Mangalore, A. Shakuntala, but had suspended Bantwal Child Development Project Officer Usmaan. Mr. Katipalla said that the department should have punished Ms. Shakuntala, not just her subordinates. The district unit of the DYFI exposed the supply of food packets that had crossed the expiry date in May.

Condemning the action taken against Mr. Usmaan, who received his suspension letter last Wednesday, Mr. Katipalla said that it was stated in the letter that Mr. Usman was being suspended for purchasing excess food and not for supplying the date-barred food to anganwadi centres. The suspension of the official was based on a report submitted to higher officials by Ms. Shakuntala.

The report spoke only about the food purchased in March and not April, he said and added that the CDPOs were asked to purchase the food for April in advance , as there was no budget allocation for April. Mr. Usmaan, who complied with this, was made a scapegoat in the scam, Mr. Katipalla said.

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

CPIM CC Statements

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which met in New Delhi on July 11 and 12, 2009 has issued the following statement:


G-8 Restrictions on Nuclear Technology

The G-8 decision that the will not transfer full Enrichment and Reprocessing (ENR) technologies to non-NPT countries would mean that India will not get full civilian nuclear cooperation as claimed by the UPA government. The CPI(M) had made clear that the Nuclear Suppliers Group's waiver was neither “clean” nor “unconditional” as was being claimed then. Behind the so-called “clean” waiver stands the Hyde Act and its provisions. Other G8 countries have also now fallen in line with the Hyde Act. The same conditions are being finalised in the NSG and India had already agreed at the time of the waiver that it will abide by all such future changes.

The country needs to know what the Government intends to do about this denial of ENR technologies by G8. Is it that it was fully aware that ENR ban was on the anvil and the so-called charade of “clean exemption” in the NSG was conducted to hoodwink the people? What does it now intend to do about buying reactors from countries who have declared that they will continue with the current discriminatory regime? This is particularly important as the US State Department officials are now asking that India identify sites for the 10,000 MW of reactors it has committed to buy from US sources. With this ban in place, any move in this direction will seriously jeopardise India's future energy security.

The Government of India should come clean on these issues pending which India should enter at best only fuel supply contracts and not agree to buying of imported reactors from countries who are a part of this restrictive technology regime.

Impact of Deficit Monsoon

The Central Committee expressed serious concern about the prospect of a drought-like situation due to the delayed and deficient monsoon. So far, the delayed monsoon has led to to a big drop in the acreage for cultivation of various crops. The intensity of the crisis is evident by the fact that in Punjab and Haryana there is a shortfall of 8.17 lakh hectares in paddy transplantation.

The response of the government has been tardy and shows disregard for the plight of millions of farmers and agricultural workers. The government has to recognise that a drought is possible and take urgent remedial measures to help the peasantry. The Minimum Support Price (MSP) for kharif crops have not yet been announced and the delay will lead to distress sales.

The Central Committee demands that the government come out with a comprehensive response to meet the emerging serous situation.

Campaign on Food Security

The Central Committee decided to take up the issue of BPL and APL categories in the public distribution system. In view of the government's decision to enact a food security law, the CC authorised the Party Centre to formulate the issue so that no section of the people are excluded from the public distribution system and the provision of food security.

Plight of Tamil Civilians in Sri Lanka

The Central Committee expressed its serious concern about the three lakh Tamil population who were displaced from their homes during the last phase of the conflict in Sri Lanka. The armed conflict initiated by the LTTE has ended. But in the last phase around 7,000 Tamil civilians died and lakhs rendered homeless.

These displaced people have been living in camps set up by the administration. These camps did not have adequate facilities and are not intended for a prolonged stay.

Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan government is not taking steps to speedily return and rehabilitate the civilian population in their homes. This is leading to discontent and the resultant alienation amongst the people will not help to bring normalcy and peace.

The main step to be taken after the decades of conflict and violence is to ensure that there is a lasting political solution to the Tamil question. Despite the assurances being given by the Sri Lankan President, the process of working out a political solution has not made much progress. The Central Committee is of the firm opinion that this is the right time to work out the provision of genuine autonomy for the Tamil-speaking areas within the framework of a united Sri Lanka. The Government of India should step up its diplomatic and political efforts with the Sri Lankan government in this regard.

On Economic Survey 2008-09

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued the following statement:

The Economic Survey tabled by the Finance Minister in Parliament today suggests a policy direction, which is inimical to the national interest.

The survey brings out the adverse impact of the global economic crisis. It admits that the overall growth rate has fallen to 6.7 per cent in 2008-2009. In particular, the fall in agricultural growth rate by 3.3 per cent and that of manufacturing by 5.8 per cent is alarming. It also admits that per capita consumption has seen a sharp decline from 6.9 per cent in 2007-2008 to 1.4 percent in 2008-2009, reflecting a big squeeze in the purchasing power of the people.

But what are the prescriptions? At a time when the world is reverting back to various forms of regulation of the financial sector, the Economic Survey suggests opening up of crucial sectors of the economy to FDI and deregulation of the financial sector in the name of “revisiting economic reforms”. This includes FDI in insurance, banking, defence and even in the sensitive retail trade sector, which will directly hit the livelihood of crores of families. It also proposes to mobilize as much as Rs. 25,000 crores per year from sale of PSU shares. In contrast the Economic Survey fails to make any assessment, leave alone suggest measures to address, the human dimensions of the economic slowdown such as huge job losses, growing unemployment and declining incomes. Clearly the economic policy establishment has failed to draw any lessons form the global financial meltdown.

This becomes even more apparent when the Survey discusses such an important issue as rising prices of essential commodities and food security. It actually proposes a reduction in food subsidy for PDS outlets and introduce the failed system of food coupons. It also suggests further cuts in subsidies for gas cylinders suggesting it should be limited to only six to eight cylinders per family per year.

On the other hand the Survey is generous in its suggestions to give further tax concessions to corporates by doing away with several taxes such as FBT, STT, CTT etc. Thus it wants to shift the focus of revenue mobilization away from tax mobilization to selling off public sector assets. At a time when countries across the world are moving away from fiscal fundamentalism, a completely irrational proposal to introduce a new version of the FRBM Act with a zero fiscal deficit target is also contained in the survey.

Many of the proposals made in the survey, which are inimical to the interests of the people and the country were part of the UPA reform agenda for the last five years, which could be to a certain extent prevented by the interventions of the Left Parties. Any attempt by the UPA Government to revive the discredited neoliberal agenda of subsidy cuts, financial liberalization, disinvestments and privatization would be met with stiff resistance.

The fascist coup d’état against President Zelaya is an insult to all the peoples

• Speech by President Raúl Castro Ruz in the extraordinary session of the Rio Group Summit, Managua, June 29, 2009

Distinguished presidents and ministers:
I shall be brief; there are many heads of state and high-ranking representatives of our governments here who also wish to speak.

A serious and extremely significant event for Latin America and the Caribbean has brought us together here. We all know about the mistreatment and abuse to which the president and foreign minister of Honduras, and the ambassadors of Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba were subjected. The right of the Honduran people to express themselves politically has been trampled on.

Our first message to the Honduran people is one of solidarity and support.

Cuba strongly condemns the brutal coup d’état against the constitutional government of Honduras and its legitimate president and rejects the criminal attack on that nation’s popular sovereignty.

Aggression against the political constitutionality of any member country must be unanimously rejected by the Rio Group and in the most forceful terms.

As President Chávez rightly said last night, this is the moment to act according to one’s beliefs, wasting no time and unmasking those who condemn the coup, but then applaud under the table, as has happened so many times in our common history.

In Honduras, there is and can only be one president. José Manuel Zelaya must return immediately and unconditionally to the performance of his duties (Applause).

We believe that there can be no negotiations whatsoever with the perpetrators of the coup, nor any condition or demands of any kind for the legitimate government of President Zelaya.

The conflict between the people’s aspirations for a better future and the interests of the oligarchic sectors in perpetuating an unjust and unsustainable order will be decided there. It is a conflict that transcends Honduran borders and is an expression of the danger of a return to the past of military dictatorships which, in the recent past and with the support of the U.S. government, terrorized for decades the Latin American peoples – particularly those of Central American and the Caribbean – but virtually without exclusion.

We recall the most recent attempts: Bolivia, with Evo threatened by separatism. Friendly governments rallied to his defense, undertook their role, halted that variety of aggression against a sovereign government and a president who, for the very first time, represents those born on this continent who have taken on their shoulders most of the burden of exploitation (Applause).

Before that, it was with Chávez, the double coup, the typical coup d’état, and shaking up the whole of the population and restoring President Chávez to his rightful place once again; the oil coup that cost Venezuela millions of dollars.

And now with Zelaya in Honduras. I don’t know if it is just by pure chance that the three individuals mentioned form part of the nascent ALBA which, although they are not saying it, is worrying many persons.

These three examples alone demonstrate that the oligarchy and exterior forces that accompany them still have a lot of influence in terms of holding back history.

I ask myself what they will do with Correa in Ecuador. I fear that he is the next candidate and the next meeting of the Rio Group will be to congratulate Correa for successfully defending his country and revolutionary process (Applause).

I have only mentioned a few countries; I could mention some others that belong to the ALBA. For that reason, the fascist coup d’état against President Zelaya is an affront to all the peoples and governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, and cannot not go unpunished. Its masterminds will have to take responsibility for the crimes and outrages that have taken place in this sister nation.

The mass media will also be responsible as accomplices, for lending themselves to the coup faction’s aims and for confusing the people. At least we were able to find out what was happening through the vital work of Telesur (Applause).

Equally responsible are the oligarchic groups that are trying to legitimize a criminal act of this magnitude, and reactionary sectors in the hemisphere that are backing the transgressors of constitutionality.

The U.S. government must act in line with its declarations and assume them with all seriousness. I believe in the sincerity that President Obama and his secretary of state can demonstrate, but they must demonstrate it with actions, not with words.

Without popular support, with the total rejection of Latin American and Caribbean governments, no coup perpetrators can last. As Fidel said in his reflections of yesterday, those in Honduras can’t even breathe without the support of the United States or some of the forces with power within the government of the United States.

To the Honduran people, campesinos, workers, professionals, teachers, health workers, the business sectors, and to all the sons and daughters of the homeland of Morazán, I reiterate the message of solidarity and support of the Cuban people, and our commitment to accompany you in this battle for justice and dignity.

Honduran interim government faces domestic protests, international pressure

(L-R) Bolivian President Evo Morales, Honduran ousted President Manuel Zelaya, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Ecuador's Rafael Correa pose for a picture during an emergency meeting of Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) in Managua, capital of Nicaragua on June 29, 2009. The ALBA presidents met here on Monday to discuss the Sunday coup in Honduras. During the meeting, they ordered the withdrawal of their ambassadors from Honduras until ousted President Manuel Zelaya is returned to office in the nation. (Xinhua/Cesar Perez))

TEGUCIGALPA, June 29 - The interim Honduran government rising from a military coup has been caught in fierce protests at home and mounting international pressure.
On Monday, at least two people died and 60 others were injured as protesters clashed with military troops outside the Palace of Government in Tegucigalpa.

VIOLENCE AT HOME

Soldiers used tear gas and opened gun fire to disperse demonstrators who were in defiance of a martial law imposed by Roberto Micheletti, the interim president appointed by the Congress after President Manuel Zelaya was toppled.

A man died from his injuries in protest against the change of leadership at the state-run Honduras Telecommunications Corp, ordered by Micheletti on Monday.

This has been the second death arising from the protests against the coup-installed new government led by Micheletti, who was appointed president hours after Zelaya was seized at his residence by hooded and heavily armed troops and whisked to Costa Rica.

Sixty people were injured and one died in clashes between Honduran troops and Zelaya's supporters outside the Palace of Government, local television channel Canal 51 reported earlier.

Hundreds of protesters, their faces covered in red masks, blocked the roads around the presidential residency with iron boards and stones. They waved the national flag, chanting slogans calling the army "betrayers that have toppled the nation."

A Union leader told Xinhua by telephone that he saw several people with bullet wounds, adding that two ambulances have been sent around.

The interim government has tightened control over foreign reporters, and several of them have been arrested.

MOUNTING PRESSURES

The coup was widely condemned by Honduras' neighbors and regional groups in Latin America.

El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua have decided to halt cross-border trade with the country for 48 hours as part of a broader effort by the Central American Integration System (SICA) to help Zelaya return to office.

The SICA also suspended financing to Honduras by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.

SICA leaders were joined by their counterparts from the Group of Rio on Monday in a meeting held to discuss the Honduran coup. They urged Honduras' Supreme Court to restore Zelaya to power immediately, saying that they would not recognize anyone or any government rising from the coup.

Meanwhile, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), a trade group led by Venezuela that Honduras joined last month, issued the strongest statement defending Zelaya.

Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba formally withdrew their ambassadors and issued a statement saying "the only diplomatic representation in our nations is staff appointed by Zelaya."

Mexico used its consular services in Honduras to provide safe passage for Zelaya's Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas to travel to Managua where she represented her nation at the regional summits.

Meanwhile, the United Nations invited Zelaya to address its General Assembly and U.S. President Barack Obama called the coup "not legal" at a press conference.

Micheletti was appointed president in a legislative session that began with the reading of a resignation letter, which was alleged to be from Zelaya but denounced as fake by the president himself.

Micheletti said the country will go ahead with plans for November presidential elections.

Sunday's coup began just hours before Honduras was set to start a non-binding referendum on whether to appoint a constituent assembly to write a new constitution promoted by Zelaya.

Zelaya said a new constitution was essential to mend some "historical wrongs" in the nation, but opponents said he was only using the process to seek a second term which is not allowed under the current constitution.

(courtesy : Xinhua)

Chinese Communist Party chief stresses inner-party democracy

BEIJING, June 30 -- Hu Jintao, chief of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has called for a vigorous improvement of inner-party democracy in order to enhance the Party's ruling capacity and leadership in the development of China.

Hu, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Monday. The digest of his speech at the meeting was published Tuesday, one day ahead of the party's 88th birthday.

Hu said the CPC must pay greater attention to inner-party democracy and actively promote it, because this will help the CPC perform its duty as the ruling party in more scientific and democratic ways and in accordance with the law.

"We must converge the wisdom and strength of the Party to an utmost level; we must fully inspire the creativity and vigor of the Party, and we must spare no efforts to consolidate the unity of the Party," so that the Chinese people can be united under the CPC leadership to carry forward the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Hu said.

The realization of inner-party democracy must rely on the guarantee of all Party members' democratic rights to know, to participate, to vote and to supervise in all internal affairs of the Party, Hu said.

CPC members, nearly 76 million out of the 1.3 billion Chinese population, should be encouraged to supervise and suggest on all matters concerning inner-party democracy, such as the work to fight corruption inside the Party.

Hu said mechanisms to ensure the inner-party democracy must be improved, such as the CPC congresses at all levels, and the system to elect, supervise, evaluate and promote officials.

The CPC Central Committee Political Bureau decided Monday that the Party will reform its appraisal system on officials on the basis of merit and transparency.

The assessment system will put more emphasis on achievements made in "coordinating economic and social development, maintaining social stability, and improving people's livelihoods".

(Courtesy : Xinhua)

China's communist party members near 76 Million

BEIJING, June 30 -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) has increased to nearly 76 million members over the past 60 years, according to official figures Tuesday.

As of the end of last year, the number of China's ruling CPC members stood at 75.931 million, 17 times the 1949 figure when the People's Republic of China was founded, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee announced.

Last year more than 2.8 million new members were recruited, up 25,000 from the previous year, it said.

Of the new members, 2.268 million, or 80.8 percent, are under 35 years old, it added.

"Recruits from students saw the biggest surge in 2008, up 71,000 from the previous year," it said.

When asked at a separate press conference how to handle the problem of some college students joining the CPC to facilitate their job hunting, Li Zhongjie, an official studying the party's history, said most applicants' motivation was to play their roles in building the nation and the society.

"We have more than 10 million applicants every year, 19.5 million in 2007 for example," said Li, deputy director of the Party History Research Center of the CPC Central Committee. "With so many people, it's inevitable and understandable that some of them will have their own reasons for joining, including finding jobs."

"Overall, they're joining the party to serve the nation and people," he said, noting that the party will respect the members' reasonable private interests, and the members should also observe laws and party disciplines when using the power derived from being ruling party members.

Li said over the past decades, the CPC has learned lessons and accumulated experience and now its governing capacity has won world recognition.

"I believe our party will have a long life cycle," he said.

(couertesy :Xinhua )

Maoist death squads executed dozens around Lalgarh

JHARGRAM: Little pieces of glass still lie embedded in dry earth next to the cot where Abhijit Mahato fell.

On the morning he was executed as an enemy of the people, Mahato had been drinking a cup of tea at the end of an eight-hour night shift guarding trucks parked along the Kharagpur-Ranchi highway — the job that paid for the college classes he would have made his way to an hour later.

But then, six men arrived on motorcycles at the truck-stop, carrying automatic rifles. They announced to bystanders that Abhijit Mahato and his friends, Anil Mahato and Niladhar Mahato, were members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The punishment for this crime, the men announced, was death.

The June 17 murder of Abhijit Mahato and his friends didn’t make it to the national press — or draw the attention of the growing numbers of human rights activists, who have arrived in West Medinipur district to investigate the ongoing confrontation between the West Bengal government and Communist Party of India (Maoist) operatives in Lalgarh. But the killings — and dozens like it — are key to understanding the still-unfolding crisis.

District police records show that 111 West Medinipur residents have been killed by Maoist death squads since 2002. Most of the killings were concentrated in the twin blocks of Binpur and adjoining Salboni — the heartland of the Lalgarh violence.

Seventy four of the dead were targeted because they were cadre or supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Twenty-three of the victims were police personnel; five were adivasis community elders; one belonged to the Congress; another was a former Maoist who had left the movement in disgust. Seventeen CPI(M) workers have been executed by Maoists since November alone.

It is instructive to compare the murders in West Medinipur with those in India’s most violent State — Jammu and Kashmir. In the years from 2003, Jammu and Kashmir Police records show, 71 political activists from all political parties have been killed by jihadists. More lives have been lost in attacks by Maoist death squads by one single party in one single district of West Bengal.

The data also shows the contest has been uneven: not one Maoist operative has been shot dead in West Medinipur until police moved into Lalgarh last week, either by the state or their political opponents.

Most of those killed by the Maoist death squads come from the ranks of the rural poor; many of them from the same adivasi communities whose name the Maoists have invoked to legitimise terrorism in Lalgarh.

The only son of his widowed mother, and one of five children, Abhijit Mahato was the first member of his extended family to succeed in gaining admission to a college degree. In photographs his mother, Savita Mahato, recently had taken at a local studio, to be shown to the families of prospective brides, Mahato can be seen posing against a movie set-like backdrop.

“I cannot understand”, Savita Mahato says, “what kinds of people would kill a boy who did them not the slightest harm”.

Many others have died in similar circumstances. Karamchand Singh, a noted chhau-dance performer, was executed in front of his primary school students at Binpur last year. His crime was to have campaigned for the CPI(M) despite Maoist warnings to dissociate himself from the party. Pelaram Tudu, a locally renowned football player who supported the CPI(M), was shot dead in another death-squad attack. So, too, was Kartik Hansda, a folk artist.

Honiran Murmu, a doctor working in the Laboni area, was killed along with staff nurse Bharati Majhi and driver Bapsi in October, after an improvised explosive device went off under their car. No explanation was offered by Maoists for the attack, why the vehicle was targeted, but Laboni residents say the attack was intended to punish Mr. Misir for renting out vehicles to the police.

In May, Maoists executed Haripada Mahato as he was bathing in a pond outside his home in the village of Bhumi Dhansola. A former activist with the Maoist-affiliated Kisan Mazdoor Samiti, Haripada Mahato had left the movement in disgust a decade ago. He had since then worked as a night watchman and polio-immunisation campaign volunteer at the Medinipur Medical College.

“The Maoists said he was an informer for the police”, says Haripada Mahato’s wife, Padmavati Mahato, “and we swore he wasn’t. But who can win an argument with a gun?”

Courtesy : The Hindu

Maoist Violence Seeks To Destabilise Elected State Govt

AS we go to press, the anti-Communist incendiary violence unleashed by the Maoists continues unabated in Lalgarh, West Midnapore district of West Bengal. During the last three days, 15 CPI(M) leaders have been murdered by the Maoists. Many of the CPI(M) offices were burnt and ransacked. In all these violent activities, the Maoists have been using the helpless tribals, having terrorised them, as their front.

By now it has been established that the so-called `rainbow' coalition of all anti-Communist forces led by the Trinamool Congress had sheltered all sorts of elements and legitimised Maoist activities in West Bengal. The earlier violence unleashed by this anti-Communist alliance in Singur and Nandigram helped the Maoists to entrench themselves. However, unlike in Nandigram, where the Maoists were operating behind the Trinamool banner, now in Lalgarh, it is the Trinamool Congress that is openly aiding and abetting the Maoists to unleash such violence.

The Maoists are operating under the banner of the Police Atyachar Birodhi Janagana Committee (PABJC). This is led by one Chhatradhar Mahato who until recently was in Trinamool Congress. He is the brother of Sashobhar Mahato, the prime accused in last November's plot to assassinate chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya who was then travelling with the then union minister, Ram Vilas Paswan. The landmine blasts designed to achieve this objective exploded in nearby Salboni, 40 kilometers away from Lalgarh.

All through Tuesday, June 16, when the Maoists unleashed such violence that culminated in the burning of the CPI(M) office, the local Trinamool Congress leaders accompanied the mob. Media reports the leader saying, “It is the Communists vs all others now”. Though the district Congress president was not physically present, he had to send his relatives saying “that was the diktat from the organisers”.

Media reports that the Maoists have prevented the family members from even taking the deadbodies for a decent funeral. There are also reports that the entire area has been rigged with landmines to prevent the security forces and the police from reaching them. Clearly, like they did in Nandigram for nearly a year, they wish to keep the Lalgarh region out of the ambit of any civic administration. Thus, they seek to create a “liberated zone” to further their activities by terrorising the local population into submission. The modus operandi is similar to what the Trinamool Congress has done last week in Khejuri. The aim is to establish their political base by eliminating the CPI(M) cadre physically and terrorise the rest of the population. Such a supremely anti-democratic and fascistic modus operandi of the Trinamool Congress led combine has facilitated the penetration of the Maoists in the area.

The prime minister is on record, saying: “Maoist violence is the single biggest danger for internal security in our country”. The Maoists themselves have publicly stated in mainstream media at the time of the Nandigram disturbances, “The Maoists stepped into Nandigram in January 2007 and quickly put together a party unit. They rustled up a 350 strong people's militia and fought.” Further, “The ammunition was mostly supplied by local Trinamool leaders.”

For the past few years, the Maoists had been accumulating arms through various raids on ordinance factories and police outposts. The Defence Quarterly, a respected defence journal, says in early 2007: “As recent as in October 2006, the Indian army recovered a massive cache of state manufactured arms and ammunition in the eastern state of Kolkata. Three people including a soldier were arrested in (this) connection”. In an October 3, 2006 BBC report, an army spokesman said: “The cache of arms was meant for Maoist rebels and other terrorist groups active in and around eastern West Bengal state”.

At the time of the Nandigram disturbances, a Maoist leader had mocked at the Trinamool Congress saying: “They think they are the leaders, they are not; but we are the ones who are actually controlling”. On this occasion in Lalgarh, it is openly acknowledged that the violence is unleashed by the Maoists and the Trinamool Congress and the others are following their `leader'. Clearly, the objective here is to destabilise the elected state government through Maoist violence.

It is a gross abuse of Indian parliamentary democracy that those who have taken oath under the constitution to serve as ministers in the central government are, themselves, leading and participating in the most unconstitutional and illegal orgy of violence resulting in large-scale loss of human life and destruction of property. The Congress party heading the central government far from being uncomfortable is an accomplice in this gross violation of the Indian constitution.

Such a state of anarchy and designed unleashing of violence cannot be tolerated in any civil society. The West Bengal state government has asked for central assistance in dealing with this situation. The central and state governments must urgently act in unison, in the interests of the country and its constitutional scheme of things, to immediately restore normalcy in both East and West Midnapore districts of West Bengal and reestablish the rule of law and civic administration.

(Editorial : People's Democracy)