Mumbai rally against superstitions and communalism

Ashok Dhawale, State Secretary CPIM Maharashtra

On December 2, 2013 an impressive rally of several thousand people marched in Mumbai around three main demands. These were: Immediate enactment of the law against black magic and superstition in the ensuing session of the state assembly at Nagpur beginning December 9; Immediate arrest of the killers of Dr Narendra Dabholkar and of the diabolical forces behind this murder; and stringent action against communal and obscurantist forces.

The Mumbai rally: A view

The rally was organised jointly by the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS), along with other secular and progressive parties and organisations. Prominent among them was the CPI(M) which, underlining the political importance of this rally, had consciously mobilised several thousand people from Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Raigad and Pune districts.

The presence of CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat in this rally showed the importance attached by the Party to the vital battle against superstition and communalism. 10 of the 15 state secretariat members of the Party who participated in this rally were K L Bajaj, Mahendra Singh, Rajaram Ozare MLA, J P Gavit ex-MLA, Dr D L Karad, Dr Kishore Theckedath, Ajit Abhyankar, Mariam Dhawale, Vijay Gabhane and Dr Ashok Dhawale. Almost all Party state committee members from the above five districts also participated. 

December 2 marked 101 days since the murder of Dr Narendra Dabholkar on August 20. It is a shameful fact that the Congress-NCP-led state government of Maharashtra and its police department have not yet been able to even identify the culprits of this dastardly crime, leave alone nabbing them. It is even more shameful that in spite of having no clue about the culprits, the state government and its police recently submitted an affidavit in the court stating that communal forces were not behind this murder, thus giving them a clean chit!

Prakash Karat, N. D. Patil and Prakash Ambedkar at the Mumbai rally

The credibility of the Congress-NCP regime has touched rock bottom, and no one can guarantee that it will transform the ordinance against black magic and other superstitious practices that it hastily promulgated in the wake of Dabholkar’s murder into a law in the coming session of the state assembly that begins next week. As it is, this government dithered on the issue for the last 14 years, and even the ordinance that it eventually promulgated is a watered-down version of the Bill for which Dabholkar fought all his life.

The communal forces led by the RSS, VHP, BJP, Shiv Sena and other thoroughly reactionary organisations like the Sanatan Prabhat, apart from a large cluster of so-called god-men and god-women, have been running a virulent campaign of misinformation and slander against this Bill for the last two decades. Even now they have threatened to block the Bill in the coming state assembly session, falsely accusing it of being against religion. While all this is only to be expected of the communal forces, the real tragedy is that the state government which claims to be secular lacks the political will to frontally take on these forces.

The rally began from the Jijamata Udyan at Byculla and walked a 7 Km stretch to culminate in a large public meeting at the Azad Maidan. It was presided over by senior PWP leader N D Patil and was addressed by Prakash Karat, BRP leader Prakash Ambedkar, NAPM leader Medha Patkar, CPI state secretary Bhalchandra Kango, Lok Bharati leader Kapil Patil MLC, veteran social activist Prof Pushpa Bhave, one of the leaders of the Warkari Sampradaya Wable Maharaj, Congress MP Husain Dalwai and NCP MLC Vidya Chavan. The introductory speech was made by MANS working president Avinash Patil, and on behalf of the Dabholkar family Mukta Dabholkar addressed the gathering. A number of Marathi film and drama artistes had also gathered in solidarity and Sonali Kulkarni spoke on their behalf.

Prakash Karat, after releasing the annual special issue of the Andhashraddha Nirmulan Vartapatra, in his speech came down heavily on the conspiracies of the communal and obscurantist forces, on the antiques of the so-called god-men like Asaram and Ramdev, and also on the vacillating and opportunist policy of the Congress-NCP state government. He declared the full and active support of the CPI(M) to this joint struggle and said that the Party would try its best to see that an Anti-Superstition Act is enacted at the national level. He said that it was a shame that the killers of Dabholkar were not yet identified even though 100 days had passed, and suggested that if the state government and its police could not do the job, then it should be entrusted to some special central agency. He congratulated all the participants in the rally and expressed confidence that their struggle would gain success. The rally concluded with a spirited rendering of the song ‘We Shall Overcome.’

DISTRICT WORKSHOPS AND RALLY FOR ELECTION PREPARATIONS

On November 16-17, 2013, the CPI(M) state secretariat and state committee met to conduct the mid-term review of implementation of tasks and also to decide on other important campaigns. The meeting was attended by CPI(M) central secretariat member Nilotpal Basu.

The Party also organised DC meetings and district workshops where it is contesting priority seats for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections due in April 2014 and the Vidhan Sabha elections due in October 2014. Such programmes were held in Thane district from November 13-15, in Nashik district on November 20 and 23, and in Nanded district on November 21-22. Nearly 1000 leading Party activists attended these three district workshops.

On November 19, a 10,000-strong mass rally was organised by the CPI(M) at Akole in Ahmednagar district on the two major issues of food security and pension for the rural and urban poor. All the above programmes were attended and addressed by Nilotpal Basu, Dr Ashok Dhawale and by various state secretariat members in charge of each district. The Akole rally was also addressed by state committee member Dr Ajit Nawale and others. 

The Akole rally begins

Comrade Nilotpal Basu speaking at the Akole rally

In all these workshops, Nilotpal Basu placed the political understanding of the Party as regards the ensuing Lok Sabha elections and also placed the concrete organisational tasks to be taken up as part of the election preparations.  

Reject Surrender at WTO Bali Ministerial : AIKS

All India Kisan Sabha rejects the abject surrender at the WTO Ministerial by the Commerce Minister and demands that the Government refrain from accepting the provisions of the unequal Ministerial Decision on Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes without discussion with and approval of the States and Parliament. We stand opposed to this WTO Ministerial Decision, which constrains and infringes upon our sovereign right to provide price support to farmers as well as ensure food security for the hungry millions. India has only given a new lease of life to the failed WTO, which was becoming irrelevant after the Doha Round.

The only possible gain that the Government can claim is that the Peace Clause will be in place in the interim until a permanent solution is found. The Commerce Minister’s public posturing and the text agreed to are at variance. On reading the Ministerial Decision carefully, one can understand how it will seriously compromise India’s food security and farmers’ livelihoods. India has failed to secure permanent protection to safeguard the food security and price support for farmers and assert it as a non-negotiable sovereign right. It has meekly agreed to the insistence of the developed world to accept guilt, by accepting the interim clause that mandates reporting of violations of de minimis Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS) levels. The agreement will threaten expansion of present programmes of food security and price support to farmers as well as future programmes with such objectives. The USA, EU and other developed countries have brokered a deal with the Commerce Minister Anand Sharma to protect the interests of the rich nations and their agribusinesses.

Standstill Provision: The Ministerial Decision has a standstill provision incorporated in the text which clearly states that the Peace Clause or Due Restraint Provisions shall only be used to protect the public stockholding programmes “existing as of the date of this Decision”. The Footnote Number 3 is deceptive and even as it states that this Decision does not preclude developing countries from introducing programmes of public stockholding for food security purposes, in the name of Safeguards against Circumvention, Para 4 clearly states that they should not distort trade and Para 5 prohibits an increase of the support subject to the Member’s Bound Total Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS) or the de minimis limits. This will freeze all scope of expansion of food security or price support to farmers in India and other G 33 countries, which have no such programmes in place at present, will also be deprived.

The crop basket under purview of Minimum Support Prices cannot be increased. Pulses, cooking oil and crops other than those described as “traditional staples” by the WTO cannot be included in the food security programme. Even the quantity of food grains procured cannot be increased beyond the procurement as of date which could have serious implications for the Food Security Programme. It may also mean entitlements under Food Security Programmes as also the MSP of different crops will have to be frozen. Further, the Support Price valuation will not be based on current prices as India was demanding and will remain to be based on 1987-88 prices.

Deliberate Ambiguity: While the Ministerial Decision in Para 2 states that it will be valid “in the interim, until a permanent solution is found” it also states in Para 1 that such a solution is for adoption at the 11th Ministerial Conference, which is 4 years hence. Para 2 also states that the Members shall refrain from challenging through the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism “provided that the conditions set out” in the Decision are met. The WTO Secretariat described this as a “constructive ambiguity” and it actually deliberately dilutes the G-33 demand that this should be applicable till a permanent settlement is found under the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM). The present Decision at the behest of the USA and EU is applicable only to AoA implying that Members may drag India to the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism under ASCM.

Conditions and Monitoring: Mandatory compliance to onerous data and transparency requirements and conditions that there should be no distortion of trade or adverse effects on food security of other members. This is an infringement on a Nation’s sovereign decision-making process and could have serious implications. The Agriculture Ministry and Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry will be forced to comply with these unilaterally decided conditions on an annual basis. Failure to supply the data can be tantamount to suspension of Peace Clause since it has been made conditional to meet the transparency requirement.  Countries are also to provide information on their administered or release prices and the volume of stocks purchased as well as how they arrived at these figures. This could unnecessarily expose domestic policies and priorities to being questioned in the WTO’s Committee on Agriculture. Such detailed notification and transparency requirements have not been demanded of the developed countries who would enjoy Special and Differential Treatment regarding transparency and notification.

Silence on Subsidies of Rich Countries: The rich countries led by the USA and the EU have retained their unrestricted right to channelise billions of dollars to their farmers and food aid programmes and the WTO has failed to deal with issues like the export subsidies of rich nations and US cotton subsidies, which the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial had promised to address in 2005. India has failed in the WTO Ministerial to give leadership to the Third World countries and ensure removal of such subsidies.

Work Programme and Trade Facilitation: The Bali Ministerial also came up with an imbalanced package which will mean expensive customs agreement for developing countries in the name of Trade Facilitation. This is tailor-made to promote the interests of predatory agribusinesses who monopolise trade. The commitment to a Work Programme could lead to the damaging trade liberalisation agenda of Doha Round being brought in and developing countries will have to cough up much more in addition to paying with trade facilitation now for arriving at a permanent solution.

Solidarity of Third World Countries Broken: India was seen as the leader of the G-33 countries and the Third World looked up to its role. However, the Commerce Minister broke the solidarity built meticulously over the years and capitulated to the hard bargain from USA and developed countries. India failed to create a coalition of developing countries to collectively oppose the completely distorted Bali package. As a result, India could not contribute at all towards the correction of the fundamental problems of the present international trade regime. On the whole, the WTO agreement will continue to be a major threat to the working people in less-developed countries. India also did not insist on ending the inhuman 60-year US blockade on Cuba. The Latin American, African and Asian countries have been let down by India’s decision.

AIKS calls upon all sections to rise up and resist such decisions against the people and the sovereignty of the country.

CPIM CC meeting concluded with a Mammoth Rally in Agarthala

 

The Three day central committee meeting of CPI(M) held in Tripura, concluded on Sunday with a mammoth rally on over 1 lakh participants. CPIM PB Member Com. S Ramachandran Pillai presided over the function which was inaugurated by Com. Prakash Karat, General Secretary CPIM. The rally observed a minute’s silence in memory of South African leader Nelson Mandela. Vivekananda Stadium in Agarthala was not able to accomodate all the participants in the rally. The public meeting began at 2 pm.

The UPA government is the most corrupt government ever formed at the Centre post- Independence, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat today said, holding its liberal economic policy as the springboard of all corrupt deals in the country. Emphasising that the government needs to be ousted at "any cost",  Karat told  that the liberal economic policy pursued by the central government constituted an attack on the livelihood of the toiling masses. Karat said an analysis of the just-concluded Assembly election in five states showed that Congress has been rejected by the masses for rampant corruption and price rise. Taking advantage of the situation, communal forces like BJP were trying hard to come to power with the help of RSS.  "But we will not let BJP come to power. We will form a secular non-Congress electoral alliance which will be able to effectively resist BJP from assuming power in the next parliamentary elections," Karat said. General secretary Prakash Karat reiterated that the country needed a third alternative to replace the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.

“There are many parties that want to create an alternative to the anti-people Congress and communal BJP. We would work towards uniting them on one platform to save the country from destructive forces,” he said. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said a third alternative was very much possible. The CPI(M) will highlight the success story of Tripura in achieving development and peace in its efforts at unifying secular and democratic forces, Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said on Sunday. “Tripura would be an example to secular and democratic parties of how progress can be achieved against all odds,”

CPIM Central Committee Communique

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in Agartala, Tripura from December 13 to 15, 2013. This is the first time that the Central Committee of the Party has been held in Tripura. After the meeting, the Central Committee has issued the following statement:

Condolence

The Central Committee adopted a condolence resolution paying homage to Nelson Mandela, Võ Nguyên Giáp, Shyamali Gupta, member of the Central Committee and Y. Radhakrishnamurthy, former member of Andhra Pradesh Secretariat of the Party.

Price Rise and Callous Government

There has been no let up in the price rise for the common people. The overall retail inflation touched 11.24 per cent in November, the highest in the last nine months. The poorer sections are hit the worst by the unprecedented price rise in food items. Vegetable prices rose by 61.6 per cent in November from a year earlier. The prices of all other food items have also gone up steeply. The Manmohan Singh Government has set a new callous record in refusing to take steps to curb price rise. On the contrary, the government is promoting runaway increase in food prices by allowing speculation in the forward trading of essential commodities. The deregulation of petroleum pricing has also contributed to the inflationary spiral. Thus the UPA government is directly responsible for the price burden and suffering of the people. The Central Committee demanded the reversal of the policies which contribute to inflation and price rise.

 

WTO: Bali Negotiations

In the Bali round of negotiations in the WTO, the Indian government has claimed that it was won a victory on the maintenance of food subsidies. But this is misleading. The only concession that they got was that instead of “temporary” an “interim” peace clause has been put in place for four years until a permanent solution is found. The commerce minister’s public posturing and the text agreed to are at variance. The ministerial decision clearly shows how it will compromise India’s food security and farmer’s livelihoods. The agreement will threaten expansion of the present programme of food security and price support to farmers as well as universalisation of PDS. According to this agreement, countries are also to provide information on their administered prices and the volume of stocks purchased. This can unnecessarily cripple domestic policies and priorities being questioned in the WTO’s committee on agriculture impinging on India’s sovereign rights.

The Bali ministerial meeting also came up with an imbalanced package which will mean expensive customs agreements for developing countries in the name of Trade Facilitation. This is a deal made to promote the interests of predatory agri-businesses who monopolise trade.

Communal Violence

The Central Committee discussed the situation with regard to the rising incidents of communal violence. The Muzaffarnagar riots in Western UP witnessed a major outbreak in September in which the worst sufferers were the Muslim minorities. Even three months after the violence, a large number of people are still in camps and have been unable to return to their homes. No arrests have been made in most of the FIRs lodged in serious crimes like murder and rape. The Central Committee called upon the UP state government to take immediate measures to arrest the culprits and steps to rehabilitate all the riot-affected victims and facilitate their return to their homes and for earning their livelihood.

Gujarat: Illegal Surveillance Case

The Central Committee called for an impartial probe into the illegal surveillance conducted on a young women at the behest of the then Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah under the alleged instructions of the Gujarat Chief Minister. This violation of privacy and illegal surveillance using the state agencies including the anti-terrorism squad is a serious matter.

This requires a proper investigation and prosecution of those found guilty.

Assembly Election Results

The elections to the four states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Delhi have resulted in a severe defeat for the Congress. It has been routed in Rajasthan and Delhi where it was running governments. This popular verdict reflects the anger of the people against the Congress and at the dismal record of the Congress-led government at the Centre, with regard to price rise, high level corruption and other anti-people policies.

The BJP benefitted by winning in three states. In Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, despite the ten years of BJP rule, which was marked by misrule and corruption, the people did not find the Congress as an acceptable alternative. The lesson from the Delhi election is that where there is a viable alternative to the Congress and the BJP, the people have extended support to it. This explains the success of the Aam Aadmi Party which was able to win 28 seats.

These four states have had a bipolar situation with the Congress and the BJP being the main contestants. This is not the situation in most other states in India, where the fight is between the Congress and the regional parties or the Left and in some states, where there is a three-way contest. Hence the success of the BJP cannot be seen as the national pattern. The beneficiary of the anti-Congress mood among the people in many states will be the non-Congress, non-BJP parties which include the Left parties.

West Bengal

The Central Committee strongly condemned the attacks against the Party and the Left Front which is continuing in West Bengal after the violence and rigging in the panchayat elections.  Since the assembly elections in May 2011, 142 members and activists were murdered by TMC goons. Thousands of cadres have been falsely implicated in criminal cases. All opposition party activities are sought to be suppressed. Recently, 76 year old former minister and leader of the Forward Bloc, Naren De, was seriously injured in an attack while holding a meeting in a party office.

Under the Trinamul rule so far, eighty-nine farmers have committed suicides in the state. Attacks and crimes against women have increased alarmingly. Lakhs of people have been swindled of their savings in the Saradha chit fund scam.

The Central Committee demanded an end to all anti-democratic actions and attacks on the Left Front and the opposition. It called for a CBI probe under the supervision of the Supreme Court into the Saradha chit fund scam so that the perpetrators of the scam and their political backers can be prosecuted.

Kerala

In Kerala, the struggle for the resignation of the Chief Minister and the holding of a judicial enquiry on the solar panel scam continuing. The LDF has been taking up various issues affecting the people. At its call a state-wide hartal was observed against the implementation of the recommendations of the Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats, without due consultations with the people. The differences within the Congress party and the problems amongst the UDF partners is affecting governance and many urgent problems of the people are not being addressed.

The Central Committee welcomed the judgment of the CBI Special Court which has exonerated Pinarayi Vijayan and discharged him from the SNC Lavalin case. This was a politically motivated case and the Party had firmly rejected the false charges levelled. The verdict has vindicated the stand of the Party and exposed the nefarious designs of the UDF government in falsely implicating the CPI(M) leader.

Lok Sabha Elections

The Central Committee heard reports about the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections in the various states. The seats to be contested by the Party have been finalised in many states which include Assam, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, UP and Bihar. Electoral understanding and seat adjustments with some secular opposition parties are also being explored in certain states.

The Central Committee directed the state committees to step up the organisational preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.

M Basavapunnaiah Birth Centenary

The Central Committee adopted a resolution to observe the birth centenary of Communist leader and Marxist theoretician M. Basavapunnaiah. The anniversary began on December 14, 2013. The Central Committee decided to mark the birth centenary by conducting ideological campaigns based on the Marxist-Leninist outlook.

  

Call for Action

The Central Committee decided that all the state committees should organise a campaign on the following issues: against price rise, corruption and unemployment; taking up the issue of the farmers and rural poor; food security and against the growing attacks and violence against women. The state committees should organise the campaign by including the relevant state issues. This campaign should be conducted in the months of January and February 2014 in a time frame decided by the state concerned.

At the same time the Party should take up the range of issues affecting the people and conduct local struggles.

In the wake of the October 30 national convention against communalism, the Party should organise broad-based anti-communal conventions and rallies involving wider sections of the secular and democratic forces.