Intensify Mass Movement on People’s Issues: Call of Extended CPI(M) West Bengal State Committee Meeting

The extended CPIM West Bengal State Committee meeting appealed to the people to protest unitedly against anti-people decisions of both central and state governments that have caused severe hardships for the people. The meeting has appealed to the people to intensify protest against issues like price rise etc. The state committee has resolved that movements are to be organized both at the local and district levels to deal with various problems of people and to restore lively mass contact with the people.

The extended state committee meeting, held at Pramode Dasgupta bhavan, was presided over by Party Politburo member Nirupam Sen. Party General Secretary Prakash Karat was also present in the meeting. At the outset Party state secretary Biman Basu placed the political organizational report. All district member representatives and leaderships of all mass organizations discussed on the report. In total 39 representatives participated in the discussion. The meeting was also addressed by Politburo member Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and party secretary Prakash Karat before Biman Basu rendered his concluding speech. The meeting congratulated all party workers for participating in panchayat elections against a massive reign of terror by the Trinamool Congress.

Biman Basu in his speech said that the overall socio-political situation of the state is gradually deteriorating. The democratic system is now under attack in the state. The 8th Panchayat election has revealed the terror of Trinamool Congress and shameless role the state government. But even on the face of this terror we must organize our future movement for the people. Party organizations in all levels are to be made active and strengthened. The preparation for the coming General Election is to be started.

Prakash Karat while addressing the extended state committee meeting said that the second UPA government and the Congress Party with their neoliberal policies are gradually losing its mass base. To manage the economic crisis the government is now about to put more pressure on the common people. BJP is trying to take advantage of the situation, as they have already projected Narendra Modi as their Prime Ministerial candidate. He is backed by a large number of big bourgeois power and communal power. Already Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have started witnessing communal riots and violent incidents. The Left forces are proceeding with a notion of unified struggle against neoliberal policies. We are in the process of unifying non-congress and non-BJP parties against these forces.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in his speech said that the 8th panchayat election did not reflect actual people’s mandate because of the massive terror of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the state government. In spite of such a terror situation the Left forces could retain their position in some districts. In some case a marginal increase of strength has also been noticed. In this situation a sustained movement has to be organized. The unification of working class would strengthen mass protest and would constitute mass movements. The centre and state policies are on the one hand putting severe pressure on common people but also creating new issues for launching mass movements. And for this we must build our party as people want us to look like.

The Extended Meeting has decided on the following political and organizational tasks
(a)    Organize people against price rise of essential commodities;
(b)    Include all workers in organizations who worked for party in panchayat elections;
(c)    Party leadership must extend more responsibility to organize party organizations;
(d)    Acceptability to the people must be restored;
(e)    Party education must be extended to strengthen ideological development;
(f)    Campaign through party organs like Ganashakti, Deshhetaishi, etc. must be intensified;
(g)    Mass fronts have to organize their movements on current issues;
(h)    Campaign for the coming 21 municipality election has to be initiated;
(i)    Special role has to be initiated to revise voter list;
(j)    More and more book stalls are to be organized in Sharadiya festival;
(k)    Book stalls may organize poster exhibition on Birth Centenary of Communist Legend Jyoti

SFI's Creditable performance in JNUSU elections 2013

SFI has registered a creditable performance in this year's JNU Students Union (JNUSU) Elections. As most of you know, a disruption of an unprecedented scale occurred last year in SFI's JNU Unit. Subsequently we have worked to build up the Unit once again, and the speed and verve with which we have bounced back is extremely heartening.

The JNUSU Elections 2013-14 have been won by All India Students Association (AISA), which has won all four office-bearer posts, namely President, Vice-President, General Secretary and Joint Secretary, and a majority of councillor posts. AISA had the Vice-President, General Secretary and Joint Secretary posts along with a majority in the JNUSU Council in the outgoing union as well.

Last year, the President post had been won by an outfit which contested in the name "SFI-JNU", and which later changed its name to Democratic Students Federation (DSF). This year the DSF's President candidate polled 786 votes less than last year. DSF candidates finished second in the President, Vice-President and Joint Secretary posts, and third in the General Secretary post. DSF had five councillors last year, which has now declined to just one.

Though it has not won any post this year, SFI has substantially improved its number of votes, vote share and relative position. Two councillor candidates (one in the School of Social Sciences and one in the School of Arts and Aesthetics) lost by 3 votes each. The number of votes polled by SFI candidates is given below, along with the figures for last year:

President -
2013: Rahul N - 329
2012: 107

Vice-President -
2013: Viswanathan V - 359
2012: 280

General Secretary -
2013: Gourab Ghosh - 599
2012: Did not contest

Joint Secretary -
2013: Did not contest;
2012: 214

[Total number of votes polled - 4545 in 2013; 4309 in 2012]

[SSS - School of Social Sciences; SL - School of Languages; SIS - School of International Studies; SAA - School of Arts and Aesthetics]

SSS Councillors (Five posts):

2012: Two candidates - polled 134 and 124 votes [Total votes polled in SSS - 1125]

2013: Five candidates -
Balu S - 324
Paaritosh Nath - 297
Najeeb V R - 230
Dipsita Dhar - 167
Manish Kumar - 161
[Total votes polled in SSS - 1194]

SL Councillors (Five posts):

2012: One candidate - polled 65 votes [Total votes polled in SL - 1475]

2013 - Five candidates -
Aparna Mahiyaria - 212
Ravi Kant - 97
Salini L R - 97
Haritha P - 95
Sruti M D - 82
[Total votes polled in SL - 1584]

SIS Councillors (Five posts):

2012 - Two candidates - polled 84 and 41 votes
[Total votes polled in SIS - 733]

2013 - Five candidates -
Gunjan Priya - 145
Nitheesh Narayanan K V - 132
Shibin Xavier - 127
Sharad Kumar - 82
Ajith E A - 52
[Total votes polled in SIS - 785]

SAA Councillor (one post):

2012 - 28 votes
[Total votes polled in SAA - 89]

2013 -
Anand Sachin K R - 44
[Total votes polled in SAA - 95]

CPI(M) to Launch Campaign against Policies in Punjab

WHILE reviewing the political situation in the state in its two day meeting held at Chandigarh on September 4 and 5, the Punjab state committee of the CPI(M) observed that the common people ---  industrial workers, agricultural workers, small and middle peasants, and the urban poor --- were reeling under the unbearable conditions of sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities, mounting unemployment, rampant corruption and deteriorating law and order. There is a great feeling of anguish and resentment among the common people against the Congress led UPA government at the centre and the Akali-BJP government in Punjab.

The state committee also expressed deep concern over the worsening financial crisis in the state because of which the Badal government is not in a position to pay salaries to its employees in time. What is condemnable is the fact that the chief minister and the deputy chief minister are hoodwinking the people by making phoney claims that there is no fiscal crisis and by announcing concessions and new projects one after another as if there is no dearth of money with the government. The CPI(M) state committee demanded that the chief minister should cut down unnecessary and wasteful expenditures on appointing an army of chief parliamentary secretaries etc, etc, and prune the top heavy administration and cancel the decision to purchase helicopters and luxury cars etc.

The state committee expressed sympathy with the peasants whose crops have been damaged due to flooding of the areas along the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi banks. It demanded that the Punjab government should immediately assess the losses by holding special girdawari and give adequate relief and compensation to the victims of these floods.

The state committee identified four parliamentary seats --- Anandpur Sahib, Ludhiana, Sangrur and Jalandhar (R) --- for contesting in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. It also chalked out a comprehensive programme of mass contact and propagation of the 10 point alternative policy platform adopted by the national convention of four Left parties held at Delhi on July 1, 2013. It also decided to build struggles and campaign on the burning local issues of the people. 

The state committee has decided to hold a programme at village Bundala in Jalandhar district on September 22, 2013, as a part of observance of the fifth death anniversary of Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet. (Bundala is the latter’s native village.) The state committee exhorted upon all the party cadres and sympathisers to reach Bundala from all over the state in large numbers.

CPI(M) Central Secretariat member Nilotpal Basu addressed the state committee meeting and also reported the decisions of the Central Committee meeting held at Delhi on August 17-18, 2013. He also condemned the American administration which is trying to create an Iraq like situation in Syria and is preparing to attack it while bypassing the UN Security Council. He congratulated the people of Turkey for launching huge protest demonstrations against the neo-liberal policies of the country’s government and its efforts to curb the democratic rights of the people under pressure from religious fundamentalist groups. Basu stated that the Congress and the BJP have no basic difference on policies; in fact they are two sides of the same coin. He stated that the CPI(M) would go into the 2014 parliamentary elections with its decided policy of defeating both the Congress and the BJP. The Left parties may have some electoral understanding with anti-BJP and anti-Congress secular parties in certain states depending upon the situation there. The main thrust of the Left would be to propagate and mobilise people on the 10 points alternative policy platform adopted by the said convention of four Left parties on July 1, 2013. 

On Party Funding

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) wishes to clarify the nature and details of its funding in the context of the confusing reports in the media that the major share of the income of Communist Party of India (Marxist) remains “unknown”.  The media reports are based on a statement of the Association for  Democratic Reforms, an NGO.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has  nothing to hide  about its income, its details and its sources.  As per the provisions of the Income Tax Act and the Representation of the People Act, all political parties are legally bound to submit their statement of accounts including income and expenditure and a list of  donors who donates above Rs. 20,000 to the Party.  The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has been regularly  submitting before the Election Commission and the Income Tax Department the statement of accounts including income and expenditure and a list of donors who donates above Rs. 20,000, their addresses, PAN etc.  As per law, political parties need not submit the addresses of contributors  who contributed amounts below Rs. 20,000 before the Election Commission and  the Income Tax Department. The CPI(M) had complied  the provisions of law and disclosed the addresses of the donors who donated above Rs. 20,000.  This has been mischievously interpreted that the major share of the income of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is from “unknown” sources and the Party has not disclosed the  sources of its major share of income. 

The CPI(M) had submitted its statement of accounts appropriately audited by a Chartered Accountant for the year 2011-12 and also for the previous years  before the Election Commission and Income Tax Department as per the provisions of law.  The CPI(M) had also published the statement of accounts for the year 2011-12 in its website.  The statement of account for the year 2011-12 shows that the total income of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), i.e., the income of the Central Committee, state committees, district committees, zonal/area committees, local committees and branches is Rs. 1,03,84,65,122.  As per CPI(M) Constitution, each member of the Party should pay an amount as levy as prescribed by the Central Committee based on the income of each Party member and has to pay Rs. 2 every year as membership fee.  The income received as levy is Rs. 41,63,37,169 (40.09% of the total income of the Party) and membership fee is Rs. 20,91,262 (0.20%).  At present, CPI(M) has more than one million members. 

The Party  received Rs. 52,49,03,619 (50.55% of total income) as voluntary contributions from the Party members, sympathizers and general public.  The donations are collected at ward, village, taluk, district and state levels by Party units such as branches, local committees, area/zonal committees, district committees, state committees and Central Committee.  All Party units are keeping records of their income and expenditure.  All units below the Central Committee are submitting their statement of accounts to the next higher committee and the state committees to the Central Committee for compilation and submission before the Election Commission and Income Tax Department.   Majority of the donors of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) are from the poorer sections of the people  who donate only small amounts and far below Rs. 20,000 or even Rs. 1,000.  The Party has nothing to hide about the details of its income or about the list of donors. The entire income of the Party is from known sources as described above and the accounts regarding the incomes and  expenditures of the Party are kept  as provided by law and Party Constitution by the respective Party units.  But the Party faces practical difficulties  to publish the names and addresses of more than one million Party members and other  millions of donors and their contributions. 

The other incomes of the Party during the year 2011-12 are interest on deposits Rs. 8,17,96,333 and miscellaneous income (sale of  old newspapers, furnitures, equipments, vehicles etc)  Rs. 1,33,36,739.

CP(M) Delegation Visits Muzaffarnagar

A CPI(M) delegation comprising of Shri Saidul Haque, MP, Subhashini Ali, Member Central Committee, DP Singh, member UP State Secretariat, and district party leaders  visited Muzaffarnagar on Saturday, 14^th September.  Since day curfew had been lifted, to visit the homes of Sachin and Gaurav who had been killed on the 27^th August and Rajendra Varma, an IBN7 correspondent who was killed on the 7^th September; meet hundreds of people in camps who had lost their family members, their homes, belongings and livestock; and visit the Dsst. Hospital.  It was possible to come to some conclusions and formulate demands at the end of the visit.

FINDINGS :

1.     Sexual harassment of young school and college going girls is perceived of as a major problem across communities. The perpetrators also belong to both communities.  The education of girls is being adversely impacted by this problem.  Unfortunately, this problem is being exploited by the Hindutva forces who are demonizing the minority community as being responsible for this crime and alleging that girls belonging to the majority community are the victims.  This is not only untrue but also reveals the fact that for them it is not the issue or the exploitation of women that is the issue to be resolved but it is an inflammatory issue when it is utilised for communal polarization. 

2.     While it is alleged that the incident of the 27^th September in which Sachin and Gaurav clashed with Shahnawaz allegedly because he was harassing their young sister which resulted in the tragic deaths of all three was the trigger for the later violence, this is not correct.  Such incidents have been occurring earlier and are common in the area and, in fact, in the State.

3.      It is extremely important to remember that on Eid, 9^th September, Idris was shot dead at the Idgah entrance just before the prayer started.  His killers were identified as Pradeep, Ram Niwas (lawyer) and Kishore. Pradeep used to harass Idris’ daughter and, after one such incident, was slapped by Idris which led to the killing. The administration promptly arrested the 3 accused and there was no retaliation from the Muslims who did not celebrate Eid. The people in the camp said repeatedly that had the administration been as active on the 27^th and afterwards the ghastly events that followed could have been averted.

4.     Our visit also confirmed that, while there have been casualties among both communities, it is the minority community that has suffered immeasurable more in terms of loss of lives, homes, property and livestock. Our visit to the District Hospital and conversations in the camps, confirmed the brutality of the killings.  Bodies of young children that had been brutalized and burned were brought to the hospital; a woman’s body, cut in pieces, was also brought. 

5.     It became very evident that Government and administrative failure are responsible for the terrible loss of life and property.  It is incomprehensible that after 3 deaths in one day (27^th), no decisive action was taken, instead, and DM and SSP (who had been responsible for correctly handling the situation on Eid) were transferred and replaced by new persons. There was no clarity as to how Sec. 144 was to be enforced and open provocation to be dealt with. Despite the fact that on each day after the 27^th until the 7^th, there were incidents of clashes, stoning, provocative speeches (from leaders of both communities) and mobilisations, nothing was done to intervene strongly and enforce Sec. 144 in the district. Even after it was discovered that a morphed video clip creating anti-minority hysteria was being circulated and the involvement of a BJP MLA, Som, was confirmed no strong steps were taken.  After banning the 7^th Mahapanchayat, nothing at all was done to enforce the ban.

6.      Despite fact that the RSS and Hindutva forces have been active in the area for some time and have been raising divisive issues in a planned manner, they were given every opportunity to exploit the situation with after the 27^th with devastating effect.  What was projected as a Khap Mahapanchayat was actually a massive mobilisation of the majority community from not only all the neighbouring districts but also from Uttarakhand and Haryana.  At the Mahapanchayat itself, while Khap leaders were present, the stage was utilised by leaders of the BJP (Som, Sadhvi Prachi and others) to make the most vicious, poisonous and communal speeches.  All voices of moderation were immediately silenced and the speakers were booed.  At a ‘Beti Bachao, Bahu Bachao’ mahapanchayat, the slogan was changed to ‘Beti Bachao, Bahu Banao’. The administration and police personnel were spectators to all this, to the nature of arms being brandished and the the fact that Israr was killed in full view, in front of the Thana.

7.     The crowds returning from the Mahapanchayat were attacked at Jauli with some casualties and news of what had transpired during the Panchayat led to a situation of confrontation in Muzaffarnagar town.

8.     After the return of the participants to their villages, attacks on the minority community members who had lived in peace with them for generations, began in many villages.  The exodus to the camps followed.

DEMANDS

1.     Immediate arrests of all those charged with inciting communal violence who have been filmed doing so

2.     Proper relief measures by the Govt. to be undertaken

3.     Payment of compensation for all those killed and injured to be done promptly and without any discrimination

4.     Measures to be taken by the administration to restore and maintain peace and to gradually begin the process to taking those who have fled back to their homes where this is possible and their security is ensured.

EXPERIENCES OF THE DELEGATION

The delegation went to the home of Shri Rajinder Singh and Shri Bishen Singh in Malipura mauja of Kawaal whose sons Sachin (25 years) and Gaurav (16 years) were killed on the 27^th September in Kawaal.  We also met the bereaved women of the family and spoke to them at length.  According to them, eve teasing of girls going to schools and colleges is a very real problem.  Reluctantly they admitted that boys of both communities were involved with this but insisted that Shahnawaz was a well-known anti social and he had been harassing the young girls from their family for months.  The girls had been sent away so we could not speak to them.  They were naturally traumatised by the brutal killings of their own sons but the fathers said that they did not want killings to be committed in their names.  In fact, we could see people, including women, of both communities moving on the roads, bringing in fodder etc. and we were told that there have been no incidents of killings in these villages after the 27^th.  Other people also collected there and the general opinion was that if the administration had acted promptly and those accused of the brothers’ murders had remained in custody, the rioting would not have taken place.

From here, we went through Jauli to the Tanwali camp.  Tanwali is a Muslim-dominated town where about 500 Muslim villagers, men, women and children, from neighbouring villages of Kharad, Kinauni, Hadauli, Sisauli (Mahendra Singh Tikait’s village) have taken shelter.  We met the women in the camp and spoke to them at length.  While all those in the camp had suffered loss of property and homes and livestock, their experiences were not uniform.  In Kharad, Sageer was killed and an entire family set on fire in their home but, fortunately, they were rescued with injuries.  In Kinauni, the women and children were sheltered on the 7^th night in the home of Devinder, the Pradhan and left for the camp the next day.  They said that they did not know what had happened to their homes, belongings and livestock.  The neighbouring village of Hadauli, however, the women said that at least 6 people were killed and some burnt in their homes.  They fled into the fields and then came to the camp.

The organisers of the camp said that till then they had received no rations from the administration although this had been promised.  They were running the camp with help from the community.

We then visited the Dist. Hospital but there were no riot-injured there anymore.  The Medical Supdt.  told us that serious cases had been referred to Meerut and the others had been discharged after their recovery.  We were told that since the 27^th there were 53 post mortems performed (may or may not all be riot victims) of which one was a woman and two were children of 10. Most belonged to the minority community.  A newspaper report that morning quoted a Government doctor saying that some of the bodies had been so brutalised that he could not eat for 24 hours.  The body of a woman was in pieces and the bodies of the children were so badly battered and burnt that it was difficult to identify the sex.

At the home of IBN7’s Rajesh Verma, an extremely popular journalist with a strong social commitment, we met his widow, children and family members.  He had covered the Mahapanchayat and had helped Farid and his wife.  He had been shaken by Israr’s murder.  This was conveyed to us by his family.  He had barely come home when he heard the news of rioting in the heart of Muzaffarnagar.  He rushed out, tried to pacify people as he filmed the clashes and was then shot dead.  Firing was taking place from both sides at the time.  His widow and he were both orphans. 

Finally, we visited the Shahpur camp.  It is situated in a large madarsa off the main road which has a large open ground next to it.  There are about 4000 people in this camp.  Not only are they staying in the madarsa itself but also in family homes all around.  There are 11 widows in this camp observing iddat.

The administration has been supplying milk and ration (not totally adequate) to the camp for 3 days. The DM himself was here putting up a pandal, perhaps in preparation for the CM’s visit the next day.  He said that they were trying to send rations to all the camps but had not succeeded.  He also said people were still leaving their villages and the number of camps was increasing every day.

People from nearby villages, some just across the road, Kakda, Kutba, Kutbi, Nirmana, have flocked here.  In Kakda, they said, they were attacked on the 7^th night by armed mobs.  They were looted and their homes were burned.  The mosque was attacked.  They could contact the CRP and come to the camp.  More than 2000 people from this village have left and they are in other camps as well. In Kutba village, 8 people have been reported killed – Irshad, Qayyum, Shamshad, Wahidi, Fayyaz, Tarabu and others.  One woman, Gulistan, is in the hospital.  They were helped to reach the camp by the police.  From Kutbi, there is the report of one casualty.  We met Qayums’ widow, Mehro,  and mother and his very young children, all in the camp.

As we left the camp we could see more people streaming in.