Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Successful Countrywide Hartal

Hyderabad - Andhra Pradesh

The call given by the thirteen parties for a countrywide hartal against price rise on April 27 has met with a big response in most parts of the country.

The thirteen parties call was joined by other parties in the states.

The success of the hartal shows the anger and discontent among the people at the failure of the Central Government to check price rise. There was a complete hartal in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, Orissa, Kerala and Tripura. In Andhra Pradesh, there was a successful bandh all over the state with the strike being partial in Hyderabad. In Tamilnadu too there was a hartal all over the state with Chennai having a partial strike.

In West Bengal, there was a total stoppage of work and movement of traffic. In Uttar Pradesh, in all cities and towns markets were closed and rail and road traffic were affected in many places. In Bihar there was a total hartal in all the districts. Rail and road traffic was disrupted due to rail and rasta roko. Markets, commercial establishments and educational institutions remained closed.

In Jharkhand, markets were closed and rail and road traffic came to a halt. Several state government offices remained closed.
In Orissa, all central government offices, central public sector undertakings, banks, railways were paralysed. State government offices in many districts were also closed. Road and railway traffic was paralysed.

In Kerala, all shops and commercial establishments remained closed. Road and rail traffic were paralysed. In major cities and towns LDF workers held demonstrations in support of the hartal.

In Tripura, there was a complete strike with all offices, markets and educational institutions being closed. All vehicular traffic also came to a halt.
In Maharashtra, all the districts observed rasta roko and rail roko for various periods. In Karnataka, more than 50,000 people protested against price rise in Bangaluru and the strike was a success in other districts. In Madhya Pradesh, there was hartal in Gwalior, Morena, Shivni, Bind, Rewa, Singroli and Indore.

In Himachal Pradesh, markets remained closed in Shimla and rasta roko was observed in various parts of the state.

In Chattisgarh, there was hartal in the state capital Raipur. Shops, commercial establishments, hotels and the main markets remained closed. In many parts of the state rasta roko and rail roko was also observed.

In Punjab, there was rasta roko in twenty places in the state. In Haryana, in all towns, there was hartal with markets remaining closed.

In Delhi, there was a strike in many industrial areas by the workers. There was rasta roko and picketing in 25 spots in the city, Ghaziabad, and Noida.

Calcutta - Westbengal

Ranchi - Chathisgarh

Danbad - Jharkand


Chennai Central Railway station

Chennai - Guindy Railway station

Belgaum - Karnataka

(Photos - Gavaskar @Theekathir, The Hindu)

Monday, April 26, 2010

Phone Tapping: Home Minister's Statement Unconvincing

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The statement by the Home Minister denying that any interception/tapping of phone calls of political leaders has taken place, is unconvincing. The government would find it expedient to deny the use of intelligence and security agencies for such surveillance.
 
The CPI(M) demands an independent probe into the matter so that the truth can be uncovered.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

CPI(M) Submits Note On Telangana Issue

A delegation of CPI(M) Andhra Pradesh state committee met V K Fuggal, member secretary of Sri Krishna committee on April 13. The committee was formed by home ministry for consultations with regard to the present situation in Andhra Pradesh, in the back ground of separate Telangana movement. The CPI(M) delegation comprising V Srinivasa Rao, central secretariat member, Penumalli Madhu (MP), Central Committee member, S Veeraiah, state secretariat member submitted a note to the committee. The following is the full text of the note submitted by the delegation.

1. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) Andhra Pradesh committee opposes the division of Andhra Pradesh in any manner.

2. The formation of Andhra Pradesh was the result of a sustained movement for the creation of a unified linguistic state for all the Telugu-speaking people. The Vishalandhra movement was actually demanding the fulfillment of a promise made during the freedom struggle that the provinces of India would be reorganised on a linguistic basis. The Indian National Congress first accorded recognition to this principle by reorganising the Pradesh provincial committees of the Congress party on a linguistic basis as early as 1921 at the Nagpur session.

3. The creation of linguistic states undid the legacy of colonial rule which set up multi-lingual provinces purely for the administrative purposes of the British rulers. The States Re-organisation Committee explicitly recognised the linguistic principle for the formation of states. The formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 was followed by the setting up of states like Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and so forth. Thus, one of the major steps for democratising the Indian State system was undertaken. Restructuring the states on linguistic lines was an essential step for expanding democracy since it enabled people to have an administration and educational set-up in their own language. Within such a state adequate safeguards for linguistic minorities was to be provided.

4. The formation of linguistic states provided the bedrock for the federal system in our country. The states thus formed have developed and contributed to the federal polity and the democratic political system. Dividing these states into smaller states will weaken the federal principle. Small states emerging out of the division of the linguistically homogenous states will be more dependent on the centre and this will militate against the federal principle. The CPI (M) has always held that we need both a strong centre and strong states to strengthen national unity.

5. Secularism is the foundation on which national integration and unity depends. Division of existing linguistic states and fragmentation of existing states into large number of smaller states will weaken the ability of the states to curb and control the disruptive forces of various hues including forces of communalism. Our country is a country of unity in diversity. Those who want to impose on India a religious identity would utilise weaker and smaller states to weaken communal harmony, thus endangering national integration.

6. Uneven development and regional backwardness within states have grown since independence. The nature of capitalist development is such where capital and resources flow into areas where infrastructure exists. This aggravates the problem of regional disparities. Such problems exist irrespective of the size of the states.

With the introduction of liberalisation policies in 1991, the situation further deteriorated. Disparities between states, between the regions and within the states further widened. Even within the same region, imbalances have grown between the districts and within the districts too. With regard to the development of the state, various studies carried out by experts at different periods have proved this. (Development of Andhra Pradesh 1956 – 2001, A study of Regional Disparities, edited by Y V Krishna Rao and S Subramanyam and two more studies on the regional and district level development and on development of various social and economic classes in Andhra Pradesh by ‘Sodhana’, Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram, Hyderabad.)

Withdrawal of the state from developmental activity, leaving the field to market forces as a part of the new economic policies is the primary reason for this state of affairs. Without addressing this fundamental policy problem, formation of a new state is not going to solve the problem of regional imbalances.

7. Telangana is a region which has been historically underdeveloped and backward since the days of the Nizam. Although the oppressive, regressive feudal régime of Nizam was over thrown in 1950s and Telangana became a part of united state, the feudal vestiges were not thoroughly destroyed to pave the way for modern democratic development at the grass root level. Out of 54 years of existence of Andhra Pradesh, Congress ruled the state for 40 years, Telugu Desam ruled for 14 years. Both these parties failed to implement the agreements and promises made by them to overcome the backwardness of the Telangana region. During the last five decades, lot of changes took place in the development of the state. The nature, extent and location of under development also changed. Inspite of many changes, the development of the Telangana region has lagged behind and the scope for employment opportunities have not been commensurate to the needs. The proportion of irrigated area to total sown area is less in Telangana and the Rayalaseema areas. Most of the educationally backward mandals are situated in Telangana and North Andhra. A large section of those who suffer due to the underdevelopment of the Telangana region are the tribals, dalits, artisan communities and minorities.

8. The division of the state of Andhra Pradesh is however, not the solution for the problems of backwardness. The arguments put forward by various proponents of division of the state are not based on scientific rational basis. It will be misleading to conclude that a separate state per se will ensure development. The problems of underdevelopment and socio-economic backwardness have to be tackled through specific measures.

i) Priority should be given to those irrigation projects which cater to the needs of Telangana and other backward areas of Andhra Pradesh.

ii) A comprehensive land distribution programme should be undertaken in the state with special focus on Telangana to break the grip of feudal forces.

iii) A crash programme has to be adopted to improve educational facilities in the identified backward mandals throughout the state.

iv) Special attention should be paid to the areas where health indicators are poor when compared to the state average.

v) Special measures must be adopted to improve the economic and social position of the dalits, girijans (tribal people) minorities and artisan communities. Many of the development indicators are poor in those mandals where the proportion of the dalit, tribal and minority population is large. This is true especially with relation to Telangana region. Development of these vulnerable sections is necessary to bridge the developmental gap between regions and sub regions.

vi) A comprehensive study of the imbalanced development among different regions, sub regions, districts and mandals is needed. A development index for each mandal should be developed. On this basis, comprehensive plans have to be prepared.

vii) There should be strict implementation of GO No 610 and rectification of past distortions. A constitutional amendment should be made to remove the exemption given to police department pertaining to Hyderabad in the presidential orders.

viii) Special funds have to be earmarked for the development of backward mandals in every budget and a separate mechanism to be created to oversee the implementation of the special plans for the backward areas.

ix) Special incentives should be given by the government to attract investments to the backward areas.

We urge the committee to consider all these aspects carefully. It should also keep in mind that the division of Andhra Pradesh which was the first major state to be formed on the linguistic basis will open up a plethora of demands for new states to be carved out from the existing linguistic states. Instead of tackling the root cause of regional imbalance, backwardness and underdevelopment, the demand for setting up of new states will be a diversion and open up a host of intra-state problems which can heighten differences and weaken the unity of the people of the country.

Forward to April 27 Nationwide Hartal

THE call for a nationwide hartal on April 27 given by four Left parties and nine other non-Congress secular opposition parties is gaining momentum with regional parties in various states coming forward to join this countrywide protest against the relentless rise in the prices of all essential commodities.

Simultaneously, it is very likely that on that very same day, April 27, a cut motion will be moved in the Lok Sabha on the budgetary demands for grants seeking the rollback in the hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and fertilisers. The anxiety in the ruling coalition is growing because if such a cut motion is adopted by the Lok Sabha, then the government has to go, according to our constitution. This has become a possibility because some parties that extended outside support to this UPA-2 coalition like the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal (Secular) have joined this protest action and are party to the joint hartal call.

Such an anxiety amongst the ruling coalition in its very first year in government is, indeed, unprecedented. In the last two decades of coalition governments at the centre, the party leading the coalition never had more than 200 seats in the Lok Sabha. This time around, the Congress party leading the present UPA coalition government has more than 200 seats. Yet, it is counting its numbers in the Lok Sabha today! It has nobody else to blame except itself. The audacious manner in which it has imposed extra economic burdens on the people and the continued shameless justification of it has led many a supporting party to join the ranks of the Left opposition.

The objective of this nationwide hartal is not the destabilisation of the central government. Its objective is very simple: force the government through public pressure mounted both outside and inside parliament to rollback the backbreaking hikes in the prices of petrol, diesel and fertilisers. If the UPA-2 government accedes to this very justifiable demand, then, of course, the question of its instability will never arise. However, if it chooses to do otherwise, then it alone shall have to bear the responsibility for any consequences.

People’s mounting anger at the economic hardships being imposed on them can be understood by the fact that the overall inflation rate based on the wholesale price index (WPI) was 9.89 per cent as of April 3, 2010. This is way ahead of the RBI’s revised target of 8.5 per cent. Worse is the fact that food inflation stood at 17.22 per cent implying that for months on end, the vast majority of the Indian people are seeing the continuous decline in their livelihood standards.

There is a new found euphoria regarding the so-called recovery of the Indian economy overcoming global recession. This is based on the fact that the index of industrial production (IIP) grew at 17.6 per cent in December 2009, 16.7 per cent in January 2010 and 15.1 per cent in February. Notwithstanding the low base of last year due to global recession, these may appear to be healthy rates of growth. There is, however, a very important fact hidden behind these aggregate figures. Within this high IIP growth rate is the fact that consumer durables (automobiles, fridges, TVs etc) grew by 29.9 per cent while consumer non-durables (mainly food and other articles of daily consumption) grew by a mere 2.3 per cent. This is for the month of February 2010. For the year 2009-10, the average growth of consumer non-durables was just 1.6 per cent compared to 25.75 per cent for consumer durables.

It is universally accepted that the consumption of non-durable items is driven by low and middle income consumers who spend a bulk of their money on food and not so much on consumer durables. There is a near unanimous view amongst all economists and experts that “inflation has affected the purchasing power of the lower income group especially food inflation and that is reflecting in the deceleration of growth in the consumer non-durables sector”. This clearly shows that the vast majority of Indian people continue to groan under mounting economic miseries due to this relentless rise in the prices of essential commodities.

Clearly, as argued in these columns in the past, the class nature of the stimulus packages and the tax concessions to the rich ostensibly to combat global recession have only made the rich richer and the poor poorer. The hiatus between the `shining’ and `suffering’ India continues to widen.

The Left parties had demanded, apart from the rollback of the price hikes announced in the budget, a complete ban on all forward/futures trading in all essential commodities and the release of surplus foodgrains held in central godowns through a universal public distribution system to control this relentless price rise. These have so far fallen on deaf ears.

The April 27 nationwide hartal and the moving of cut motions in the parliament are aimed at making this UPA-2 government hear the agonies of the people and rollback the budgetary hikes in the prices of petrol, diesel and fertilisers. It is only the strength of a powerful people’s mobilisation that will force this government to act in the interests of the people as against its current pre-occupation with bolstering super profits for the rich.
(Peoples Democracy)

On Phone Tapping

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
On Phone Tapping
The report published in the Outlook magazine about the interception of phone calls of four political leaders, including the General Secretary of the CPI(M), is a serious matter. The report shows that the government is using the intelligence and security agencies to serve its political purpose to spy upon opposition leaders and to keep track of even its own allies and party leaders.
Such acts subvert the democratic system and breeds an atmosphere of illegality in the higher echelons of the government. They cannot be tolerated.
The government must own up responsibility in the matter and take action against those who ordered the surveillance. Protecting the covert activities of the intelligence and security agencies cannot be made the pretext for a cover-up.
To ensure that such illegal acts do not recur, the government should place in Parliament a clear set of guidelines prohibiting the use of the intelligence and security agencies for any form of surveillance of political leaders and their activities. Instructions on tapping of phones and surveillance on grounds of national security or investigation of criminal activity must be codified. The intelligence and security agencies must be subject to parliamentary oversight.

Friday, April 23, 2010

SITARAM YECHURY’s speach in Rajya sabha on 15th April, 2010 on Maoism



Treasury Benches for fielding my learned friend, Keshava Rao, before I stand up to speak because it is indeed a double task that I have to do to come back to the topic, with all due respect.


We are discussing right now, Sir, the statement that the hon. Home Minister has made on the Dantewada massacre. We have t for that. But the point that I would like to highlight right now is that the Dantewada incident is not an incident in isolation. This is happening as a part of a policy, as a part of developments and activities that have intensified since the UPA-II Government has come. Since the General Elections in 2009, Sir, according to the figures of the Home Ministry itself, 993 lives have been lost due to Maoist violence, of which 340 are security personnel.(Only yesterday, in West Bengal, two more of my party's cadre were hacked to death by the Maoists, taking the total to 176 in the months since May last year.)

This is something which only demonstrates very, very eloquently, but chillingly, with murderous assaults and attacks, that the Maoist menace is mounting. Now, taking this as a general figure, looking at it in a general way, we entirely agree with the fact that this is not an issue or menace which can be tackled by apportioning blame. If you look at the States that are involved, apart from the Central Government, you have West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar, all these States where this current problem is persisting are States that are run by Governments led by different political parties. So, unless we have a unified approach on how to tackle this issue, we cannot succeed and that is something we must actually keep in mind and not be bothered about where the buck stops. The buck stops with India. The buck stops with the Government and the buck stops with all of us here in the Parliament. Are we going to break up the parliamentary democracy that we have built up so laboriously? Are we going to change it for the better for the people or not? That is where the buck should stop. Let us not pursue these bucks and let us actually try in right earnest to come down to how do we try and solve this problem.


The point that was made by the hon. Leader of the Opposition, a point that I have been making and we from the Left have been making in this House for the last nine months or so, is that there is a fundamental contradiction that is feeding the growth of such Maoist violence in our country and that contradiction lies within the Central Government and the Union Cabinet of Ministers itself. I have repeatedly stated that on three occasions, the hon. Prime Minister has drawn the attention of the country stating, 'Maoist violence represents the gravest threat to India's internal security.' Now, having said this, how can you have members in the Cabinet, the same Union Cabinet, who not only say things to the contrary but actually act to the opposite? How can you have Union Cabinet Ministers -- it has been read out by the hon. Leader of the Opposition and I do not wish to read out those statements again --demanding the arrest of the elected Chief Minister of a State under our Constitution?
Hon. Chairman, you would have to assure us; we are the Council of States. If this is the way in which members of the Union Cabinet deal with elected Chief Ministers of the States and ask for their resignation openly in the media, can the Government keep quiet? Is the Government not answerable to the country? How is it that on the one hand, the Prime Minister, the leader of the Cabinet, says that this is the gravest threat to India's internal security and on the other, you have members who not only say that it is not the gravest threat but also that they have no Maoists operating in Bengal at all.


They say there are no Maoists operating in Bengal at all and ask for the withdrawal of the Central forces. How can you co-exist with these contradictions? If you are co-existing with these contradictions, I am sorry to say that it is the height of political opportunism. Just for numbers in the LokSabha, if you are going to allow the country's internal security to be compromised, then this Government is doing a very big disservice to the country, just for the sake of its survival. Governments may come and Governments may go. But, what is of concern is the nation; what is of concern is the country; what is of concern is this institution called Parliament and parliamentary democracy. Don't play with it. Don't, for the sake of your political survival, allow such forces to feed and provide sustenance for this Maoist violence to spread. And that is my point. Why is it that 30 years after this Movement came into existence, the Maoist violence has reared its head in Bengal again.


That is the point this country must understand. You have the re-entry of Maoists into Bengal behind political flags and banners of legitimate political parties operating within parliamentary democracy. Maoists are being used in order to serve petty electoral purposes and petty electoral ambitions in a particular State. Can we allow such indiscriminate use, such despicable use of methods in order to somehow wrest power in a particular State?
Please remember, Naxalbari is a village that exists in Bengal today. It existed in Bengal always and the uprising that took place in Naxalbari in 1967 from there the term 'Naxalites' has arisen. After that uprising there in 1967, there was a big debate within the Indian Communist rule. I need to refer to this because sometimes there have been references saying that we, CPI(M), are after all cousins of Maoists or, at one point of time, we had allegedly supported them and this only can come from those people who have not really understood our history. The Communist Party of India (Marxists) was divided in 1967 by a small group of people who had argued that Naxalbari uprising was the way for revolution and emancipation of India. We had disagreed with them. We had told them that it was only through the combination of parliamentary means and extra parliamentary means that we could achieve social transformation. But in an erroneous understanding that the Indian ruling classes are comprador in the sense that they do not have their own social basis and all that is required is to arm the people, they armed the people and, therefore, by arming the people the slogan of People's War emerged. The slogan of People's War was 'Arm the people' so that they can capture power. It was all easy because the ruling classes do not have a social base. That was the wrong ideological understanding and that understanding had to be combated and that was combined with the policy of individual annihilation, individual annihilation of originally class enemies and now, as it is being pointed out, individual annihilation of all those who are opposed to them. It is the combination of this which is ideological and ideological strain which we think is completely wrong both in terms of understanding Indian reality and in the methods employed to achieve a social transformation in our country and it is an ideological battle that we, CPI, have been in the forefront for the last forty years.


We have lost thousands of our people in this ideological battle and it is because of this ideological battle that we succeeded in isolating them in West Bengal. So, today if we think of combating Maoism without an ideological battle, it can never succeed. The question of ideological battle rests on the basic fact that social transformation in India is necessary, but what are the means that you will apply and adopt for achieving such a social transformation and what is the concrete analysis of the concrete conditions that you are living in? This ideological battle is as important as re-establishing the writ of civic administration in these areas and re-establishing of the writ of civic administration is not negotiable. On that, there is no dispute among all of us. But it has to be combined with a political battle or political offensive against this, particularly the ideology which we think is undermining the foundations of modern India. That is why whenever such problems have occurred in West Bengal, in order to resolve these problems, we have repeatedly adopted the approach where an All-Party Meeting is called in these affected areas. Twenty-eight All-Party Meetings have been called since the last General Election to tackle these Maoists' violence in these areas, but not one of them was attended by the ally of the Congress Party who is now sitting in their Cabinet. The reason for not attending is not to legitimize this process but to allow or use the Maoists in order to create terror in a particular area and use the terror to browbeat people into politically supporting them.


So, this is a tactic of terror. This is politics that is being operated through terror. And it is this politics of terror that needs to be fought today. I think what is required is a combination of measures required by law and order and ideological political struggle against the Maoists and Maoism itself. Unless this combination is adopted, I don't think we can actually succeed. Therefore, I would sincerely urge the Government at the Centre and I sincerely urge the Prime Minister, the Leader of the House, to please come here and explain to us how he has Members in his own Cabinet who think completely opposite of what he has been telling the nation as far as Maoists violence is concerned and do not compromise the interest of our country for the sake of continuation of your Government.


You may be happy, like once Winston Churchill famously remarked during the Second World War, "Let the Communists and Fascists kill each other and then we shall enter.", and he delayed the second front. If that is the thinking of the Congress Party today, I am sorry, it will only lead to a sort of devastation that the world had seen during that time. If they think that let the Maoists and the Marxists fight each other out and let them deplete themselves, and then, they will enter in order to restore the peace in that region, then they will destroy the very basis and the foundations of the parliamentary democracy in our country. So, they have to be extremely clear. In this, what is required by the Central Government, as I mentioned earlier, in these five States that you are talking about right now with five different Governments, but unless you take on board all the political parties-- and that requires a complete non-partisan approach -- and the Central Government co-ordinates these activities, you cannot really solve this problem.
Mr. Deputy Chairman, Sir, you come from a State that was also infamous for having bandits like the Veerappan. For two decades, you could not catch him because whenever Karnataka Police moved, he would move into Tamil Nadu; whenever Tamil Nadu moved, he would come back into Karnataka, or go into Kerala. And, in this way, between the three States, he managed for two decades. You require a co-ordinated approach between all these States if you want to solve this problem. And, that requires a strong political will. That requires a strong political will only if you are able to coordinate between all these State Governments. That is required, and my appeal would be to all other political parties also who are running Governments in the States that this is not something on the basis of which, we should calculate our electoral fortunes for the future. This is a threat that needs to be met squarely. Otherwise, you will have series of actions that will continuously undermine the foundations of a modern parliamentary democracy in India.

And, that is why, Sir, when my learned friend, Dr. Keshava Rao, was talking about the method employed in Andhra Pradesh and he was talking about negotiations or talks as the way in which the problem was solved, please remember, the biggest thing that was undertaken by the Andhra Government then was Operation Grey Hounds.
Therefore, it is a combination that will have to be done. In fact, we have to learn from our own States which have actually tackled extremism in a very successful way, and one of those States from which we have to learn is the tiny State in the North-East called Tripura. In Tripura, they have tackled it by a combination of a political approach, a political will using the law and order measures and addressing the most important issue of development. And, addressing that issue of development can only be with a combination of this that you could actually control the growth of these extremists activities. And, the development issue is the third arm of this tripod. You require a tripod approach, and in that tripod approach, one leg is the law and order; the second leg is the political will and the political battle; and the third leg is to address the developmental concerns. Look at the area where all these activities are taking place. This is one of the richest areas in terms of mineral resources in our country. You have, through the year, successively in the Government, privatized the mining. And, all of us know what havoc private mines have been playing in other parts of the country. But, here, privatization of mining activities in the areas which are predominantly inhabited by tribal people has only added to the woes of the people there. The private mafias that come with the private mines and their activities, had only caused further miseries to the tribal population there who already could not have the benefits of development reach them.


Therefore, what is required is to also look into the policies, re-look into the policies, and, at least, try and understand why we oppose the privatization of these mines. You are creating situations of over-exploitation and extra burden being imposed on the people there. That is also adding to the backwardness of the people there apart from the traditional backwardness of the tribal areas. Therefore, what is required if you really, sincerely want to tackle this problem is a combination of these tripods. You will have to address all the three - law and order, a political will and a political battle against them, and address the developmental issues of the concerned population there. Unless this holistic approach is undertaken, we cannot really tackle this problem. The Home Minister, in his statement, said that there are two pillars of the policies that the Central Government has adopted. One is that of calibrated police action, and the other is that of development.


And, then, he goes on to say, the State Governments, therefore, have a primary responsibility. Sir, I find it completely contradictory. Now, you are saying that the State Governments have a primary responsibility. Yes; law and order is a State subject, and, the State Governments have a primary responsibility. There is no doubt about it. But when a law and order problem spreads beyond the borders of a particular State and goes into the borders of other States, then, of course, the concerned State Governments have that responsibility, but the task of the Centre in coordinating these actions of the State Governments become important.



I hope that instead of the Central Governing standing ready and willing to assist the State Governments, and, to coordinate the inter-State operations-- I am quoting it from the statement of the Home Minister -- this coordination of inter-State operations and willingness to assist the State Governments, should come in right earnest. There is no political scoring of points. The Home Minister is not here; perhaps he has gone to the other House. It is very,very ironic that he said to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, "the buck stops with you", and, then, within 48 hours, he had to say to the country, "the buck stops with me", after the Dantewada incident took place. Today, you may try and score a political point saying that the buck stops with you. Tomorrow, the development will tell you that the buck stops with you. Finally, as was said in the beginning, the buck stops with the country, buck stops with the nation, and the buck stops with the Government, which, at the moment, is given the responsibility to run the country.


Sir, I would also want to just touch upon one point, which, in this ideological battle against these forces, we also have to understand. We have made one appeal to the naxalites since they started and formed their party in 1969. They started work in 1967; splintered into various groups; got regrouped, and, in 2004, they came together and formed this party, the Communist Party of India (Maoists), and, since then, there is this growth in violence. Since then, we have always been saying, if you have a difference of opinion, come forward and put that difference before the people; let the people decide whether we are right or you are right. That is the approach, which we will have to adopt even now; and, in that ideological battle, we have to say it very clearly.


Unfortunately, Sir, -- I wish; I don't believe in such things -- but if there is a grave and if there is a Mao, then he would be turning upside down in his grave because his name is being grossly misused by these forces, I mean,when they call themselves as Maoists. Poor Mao was the man who said, no communist can survive unless he mingles with the people like a fish takes to water. It was Mao, who said, let a hundred flower bloom, let a thousand thoughts contend, and, it is only then that you know what truth is. You have to  seek the truth from the facts, and, that is what Mao taught us. They misused the name of ours; anyway, that is their democratic right, and, we can take on them ideologically. But, Sir, we have to realize that in this battle, we will have to be united in taking on them, on the basis of this tripod understanding. Finally, Sir, I would like to recollect, with some degree of anguish, the warning that Dr. Ambedkar gave to all of us and the country when he presented the final draft of the Indian Constitution to the Constituent Assembly for consideration and adoption. Yesterday was his 120th birth anniversary.


When he commended the Constituent Assembly to accept it, in his speech, he said, 'but this Constitution that we so laboriously have constructed, and, this structure that we so laboriously want to build, is beset with contradictions." And, he defined the contradictions, I think, very, very well. I can't find a better way of defining it. It is that the Constitution provides one man with one vote, and, one vote with one value. But our social conditions have not created one man with one value, and, as long as you have this contradiction that one man does not have one value, but you have one man having one vote, and, a vote having the same value. (Interruptions) We have created a system where you have given one man one vote, and, each vote has same value -- one vote, one value -- but one man does not have the same value.


So, unless you create a society where all men are equal, he warned that, Sir, and I quote, "What we have so labouriously built will be blown asunder by the very people who are suffering from this contradiction". And, if you really want to tackle the problem of extremism, the problem of anarchy, you will have to have a very serious re-look on the trajectory of this neo-liberal economic reforms that we are adopting because that is generating this sort of a situation where it is easy for an unemployed, insecured youth to take to arms and take to militancy because that is the only security it offers. Therefore, Sir, finally in conclusion, while waiting for the inquiry report on this specific Dantewada massacre, we will urge upon the Government to immediately inform us what is their decision with the people within their Union Cabinet who are providing both protection and patronage to the Maoists. Unless you take a firm, decisive step in that direction, we cannot succeed in combating this menace.
Thank you, Sir.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Lenin: The Lodestar

PRAKASH KARAT (GENERAL SECRETARY - CPIM)

April 22, 2010 marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin, the revolutionary leader who creatively developed the scientific theory set out by Marx and Engels. Lenin was the architect of the world’s first socialist State, the Soviet Union.
When we are commemorating the life and work of Lenin, we are not just paying homage to a great leader who led the world’s first socialist revolution. No other person after Marx and Engels has contributed to the development of Marxist theory as much as Lenin did. Lenin’s entire theoretical work constitutes the advancement of the concept of scientific socialism that equipped the working class movement to conduct the proletarian revolution.

Lenin took a giant step by analyzing the nature of imperialism and capitalism in the 20th century. Lenin characterized the development of monopoly capitalism as the highest stage which is imperialism. Lenin creatively developed Marx’s analysis of the capitalist system when it was the rising mode of production to the stage of imperialism. Any analysis of contemporary imperialism and world capitalism today has to have as its starting point the theory of imperialism formulated by Lenin. Without the Leninist methodology it is not possible to understand global finance capital and the finance-driven globalization that it has spawned.

It is this Leninist understanding of imperialism which led him to conclude that world capitalism will break at its weakest link from which the strategy and tactics in the socialist revolution in Russia were worked out in which the worker-peasant alliance played a key role. Parallel to this flowed the Leninist understanding of integrating the national and colonial question to the strategy and tactics of world revolution. This was a sharp break from the understanding of the prominent European Marxists. Lenin showed how the national liberation struggles in the colonies are part of the worldwide struggle against imperialism and how these forces are allies of the world proletariat struggling for socialism. The events of the 20th century leading to the success of the national liberation struggles against colonialism and imperialism and the victories of the Chinese, the Vietnamese, Korean and Cuban revolutions were intrinsically the breakthrough achieved by this Leninist strategy.

The other important contribution of Lenin was to the understanding of the State and its class character which became the basis for all the Communist Parties in their struggle against capitalism and the ruling classes. Class struggle is not the struggle on economic issues alone but achieves its full scope when it challenges the State power of the exploiting ruling classes.

Lenin will forever be associated with the revolutionary theory of organisation which he expounded. The building of the party of a new type which is equipped to lead the working class and other toiling sections is uniquely a Leninist contribution. The principle of democratic centralism based on inner-party democracy, strict discipline and criticism and self-criticism, provided the working class with their own form of organisation as against the organisational methods of the bourgeois and social democratic parties. Subsequently, every party which made the revolution has found the Leninist form and method of party organisation to be indispensable for developing the revolutionary movement. The Leninist organizational principle drew the strongest attacks of the non-communists and from those within the Left fold. But Lenin firmly held that in the fight against the bourgeois State, the proletariat has only one weapon, that is, organization. Our experience of building the Party in India under varied and diverse conditions confirms this Leninist principle.

Lenin survived as the leader of the Soviet Union for only six years after the 1917 revolution. In this period, he grappled with many of the stupendous tasks of creating a new society out of the ruins of the old. During four out of these six years, the bitter civil war raged and had to be won. From the period of War Communism to the New Economic Policy, Lenin constantly changed and adjusted policies with the single aim of facilitating the building of socialism. Lenin was conscious of the arduous and long road to socialism ahead. He said:

"The more backward the country, which, owing to the zigzags of history has proved to be the one to start the socialist revolu­tion, the more is it difficult for that country to pass from its old capitalist relations to socialist relations".

Though it is futile to speculate how the Soviet Union would have built socialism, if Lenin had lived longer, it is necessary to draw lessons from how Lenin creatively tried to hew a path to socialism in an underdeveloped country while keeping the interests of the international Communist movement in mind.

Nearly seven decades after Lenin’s death, the Soviet Union disintegrated. Since then, in the past two decades history is sought to be rewritten. The entire revolutionary content of Leninism is being negated. One set of critics who throughout had maintained that Lenin’s theoretical and political significance was confined only to Russia now went further to claim that it had proved to be a failure in Russia itself. All varieties of bourgeois philosophies and theories deny the existence of imperialism. Some of them claim that liberal capitalism is eternal. That Marxism and Leninism were the products of their times and in the postmodern era they have no relevance.

Much of the claptrap about the end of history and the eternal verities of capitalism have ended abruptly. The two years of severe global recession have once again highlighted the volatility and predatory nature of capitalism. Out of the 7 billion people in the planet, half are poor and 1.2 billion people go hungry. Imperialism continues to wage wars and plunder the resources of the planet. If they continue to do so, the world environment and life itself will be destroyed.

Marxism is the only scientific outlook and method which can provide a coherent world view and guide to action to change the iniquitous order that prevails in the world today. Just as Lenin developed the theory and practice of Marx and Engels, today Marxist theory and practice has to be developed and extended from the base that Lenin created. Lenin himself had pointed out that Marxism is not a static theory. It needs to be enriched and developed further.

"We most certainly do not look upon the theory of Marx as something permanent and immutable; on the contrary we remain convinced that it has merely laid the foundation stone of the science which socialists must advance in all direc­tions if they want to keep abreast of life".

In our quest to develop the theory and practice of Marxism further, Lenin will remain the lodestar for all our endeavours.
(courtesy : www.pragoti.org)

Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live!


April 21 in Moscow was a solemn evening dedicated to the 140 th anniversary of VI Lenin. It was attended by leaders of the CPRF Central Committee, headed by GA Zyuganov, the Communists and Komsomol in Moscow and Moscow region, visitors from many Russian regions.

The first on the scene cinema and concert hall "Izmailovo" The Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party came to DG Новиков. Novikov. He spoke about the life of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and his accomplishments.

Opened evening gala performance of "The Internationale". After that was shown the film "The genius of the revolutionary breakthrough", prepared by the department of advocacy, the CPRF Central Committee. It includes unique footage documentaries, thanks to which those present in the room could see the living Lenin, to hear his voice.

The meeting welcomed the pioneers of the Moscow region. They finished with the words of the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky: "Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live!"

The floor was then given to the Chairman of the Central Committee of the CPRF GA Зюганову. Zyuganov.

Appealed to a packed room Gennady Andreyevich. Every nation has its own destiny, our own history. In our age of the State have a national idea. We have suffered it for centuries and through it have made great achievements.

We have created a strong state - continued his speech the leader of the Communists. - When Kiev, "mother of Russian cities, glittering golden domes, Paris was a provincial village, Berlin was not on the map, and the United States of America did not exist. We have made a brilliant discovery, founding the world's first Republic of Soviets. It was not just a sample of the just and wise state workers, it was also the victor countries, which in May 45 th proved that it rightly raised in the 17 th October banner. And at the beginning of its creation was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

"Communist Party continues the best Soviet tradition - highlighted GA Zyuganov. We have created a party of Lenin and Stalin, the party, which consistently embodies the ideas of Lenin in the current difficult circumstances.

Continuing the conversation about the current time, Gennady Andreyevich told me that yesterday in the State Duma, reported to Prime Minister Putin."We expected that after the President's announcement that the country is at an impasse, that the commodity model of the economy will not do, which is essential to effectively combat corruption and to modernize, will be offered a real plan for moving in this direction. Instead, it was hour and a half explanation and justification of what is happening "Kudrin's plan" the essence of which is to further privatization of the entire socio-cultural sphere. "

"I assure you, my friends, that is worse than the privatization of the early 90's and monetization together, due to the fact that the sale shall be made whole social sector, universities, schools, health and cultural institutions. means that destroys the genotype of the Russian people, who always had a high collectivism and spirituality, who always knew how to work together and fight. If this criminal line will continue, we will not be able to keep the Russian Federation as a unified state ", - concluded that GA Зюганов. Zyuganov. He stressed that only the implementation of the program CPRF could save the country.

"Our program is based on the socialist modernization, - said the leader of the Communists. We believe their Leninist principles, based on the exploits of our people, who won the May 45 th. Our confidence in the success is based on the thousand-year history of the country. "

I know what Lenin's teachings, Leninist way of thinking and action will continue to inspire us to new victories. live socialism! So ended his speech, GA Zyuganov.

Then the leader of the Communist Party presented a new replenishment for the party ticket, and taking in the Communist Party of Lenin Enrolment. Were also presented with awards Communist Party veterans, participants of the Great Patriotic War. Higher Party awards - the Order "Party Valour awarded the Rear Admiral IN Petrov.

Communist Party stronger, younger, - said, speaking after the ceremony, GA Зюганов. Zyuganov. Last year, during Stalin's appeal to the party was taken over 13 thousand people. This year is already on Lenin recruited into the Communist Party came to 5 thousand people. In the near future during the May holidays, our ranks are augmented with thousands of new supporters. Young people today choose the path of Lenin, the path of Soviet power and socialism, because it sees very well what led capitalism, writhing in the throes of another crisis. very pleased that here, at the scene, near completion, with the young faces of our veterans, participants in the war, deserved the generals and admirals, our pride and valor. Those who have faithfully served the ideals of October, someone with honor and dignity to uphold the great cause of Lenin. So today I once again want to congratulate everyone - youth and veterans with this wonderful event - the 140 th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin!

Continued to evening performances of the State Academic Russian Folk Choir. М.Е.Pyatnitskiy. This illustrious group their existence is also required to VI Lenin, who in 1918 ordered him to provide all possible support. Were performed Russian folk songs and works of the Soviet era.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

CPI (M) seeks pattas for people living on government lands

CPI (M) will organise a protest in front of the new Secretariat if the government fails to issue pattas to people living on government lands for years together, warned CPIM State secretary G. Ramakrishnan on Monday.

Addressing a protest fast in support of the demand for pattas here, Mr. Ramakrishnan said lakhs of people living on temple, government and poromboke lands in Chennai and suburban areas and other parts of the State were facing the threat of eviction with the government treating them as encroachers.

Though the government had issued an order for issuing patta if a person was living in a place for more than three years, the condition that pattas should be issued only if the government did not require the land remained a stumbling block.

Recalling his meeting with Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and the request for issuing pattas for those who had been living on temple lands on the lines of a decision taken by the E.M.S. Namboothiripad government in Kerala, Mr. Ramakrishnan said the money from the sale of land was deposited in banks and utilised for the maintenance of temples.

“The Chief Minister agreed to constitute a committee to study the Kerala model. We want to remind him about it,” he said.

Former State secretary of the party N. Varadarajan said only the poor who had migrated from villages.

(Courtesy : The Hindu)

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Pentagon accused of funding Taliban

Enrique Román
• TWO allies of the United States in its principal areas of conflict, the Middle East and Central Asia, have raised their voices to the present administration within a short period.
The first was Israel, in an event that is still in full development, when the Israelis snubbed Vice President Joseph Biden during a visit to that small country, by making the surprise announcement of the construction of more settlements in East Jerusalem.
The other exploded in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai, to date Washington’s man in that directionless war, reacted violently to criticisms of his government’s corruption made by Obama himself, during his recent visit.

In what was seen as an attempt to gradually distance himself from the invading forces, Karzai stated that if there was any fraud in the recent elections, which he won for a second time, it had come from the Westerners, and pointed the finger directly at observers from the UN and the European Union.

But graver still was his reference to the interventionist troops: "In this situation there is a slight distinction between invasion, and aid and cooperation," and he added that if the perception is that foreign soldiers are invaders and Afghan government soldiers their mercenaries, the Taliban insurgency "could turn into a national resistance movement."
The sense of the war in Afghanistan, a controversial issue in itself in Washington, has once again reached new levels of debate. With his statement, compounded by his invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and threats of alliance with the Taliban, Karzai has increased the number of people who see the Afghan president as a serious complication to the problem, as not as an agent of its solution.
But everyone knows that in politics, what comes to the surface is no more than the little tip of an iceberg that, in the case of Afghanistan, is absolutely unfathomable, where obscure and unmentionable interests are crossed. Examples abound.
Still pending is an investigation generated at the request of the U.S. Congress into the exposé made public some months back of a paradoxical fact: 10% of Pentagon spending on logistic contracts for that war falls into the hands of the Taliban.
The most damning evidence came from the well-known journalist and investigator Aram Roston in The Nation, subsequently followed by other journalists. Roston’s revelation was disconcerting: US military officials in Kabul told him that a minimum of 10% percent of the Pentagon’s logistics contracts consists of payments to the Taliban. And Afghan officials added, "That’s a large part of their income."
This exposé points in various directions. As in Iraq, the participation of private companies as a complement to U.S. military logistics is a huge business here. Roston details the involvement with these companies of important figures in Karzai’s family, certain individuals previously linked to the Taliban, and the support of these companies for the creation of institutions dedicated to political lobbying in Washington.
Thus, the executive of the recently created Campaign for a U.S.-Afghanistan Partnership, a new lobby organization, includes Hamed Wardak, son of the Afghan defense minister and, at the same time, president of NCL Holdings, one of the principal private security companies linked to the war.
Or Ahmad Rateb Popal, an interpreter for the Taliban foreign minister prior to the 2001 invasion, who appeared on international television with a black turban, a thick beard and traces of the war against the Soviets; a deformed hand and arm and a patch covering one eye. Today, Popal, a cousin of President Karzai, controls the important Watan Risk Group, a consortium specializing in telecommunications, logistics and security.
These flourishing companies are responsible for protecting convoy traffic for the Western troops from Pakistan to their destination in Afghan territory, via a corridor known as Highway 1, with mountain passes in a terrain dominated by armed tribal leaders, warlords and Taliban.
"The security firms don't really protect convoys of American military goods here, because they simply can't; they need the Taliban's cooperation," affirms journalist Bruce Wilson. And Roston notes: "The real secret to trucking in Afghanistan is ensuring security on the perilous roads, controlled by warlords, tribal militias, insurgents and Taliban commanders. The American executive I talked to was fairly specific about it: ‘The Army is basically paying the Taliban not to shoot at them. It is Department of Defense money.’ That is something everyone seems to agree on."

Jean MacKenzie from the GlobalPost relates that an agent for these companies in Helmand province itself was negotiating with a local supplier a large cargo of piping that had to be brought from Pakistan. The supplier billed in an extra 30% for the Taliban in order to guarantee the safe transit of the load.
The administration’s counterinsurgency doctrine in terms of Afghanistan, which presupposes using money as a powerful weapon, had resulted in a spiraling of security companies’ businesses. Truck transport by NCL Holdings, journalists assure, totaled $2.2 billion; in other words, 10% of the Afghan gross domestic product.
When this scandalous information was published, Rep. John Tierney, president of the National Security and Foreign Relations Sub-Committee, stated that a preliminary enquiry had produced enough evidence to call for a complete investigation.

But the investigation did not happen and perhaps it never will. NCL Holdings has initiated legal action against Aram Roston, alleging that NCL and Mr. Wardak found out about the contract opportunities for trucking services in Afghanistan via a U.S. federal government business opportunities website.

Meanwhile, critics of the war are increasing among the ranks of Barack Obama’s own party and the invading troops continue tracing paths already covered by other armies and distributing vast sums of money even to their enemies, in a criminal, unpopular and unnecessary war. 
 (courtesy : Granma)