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The new deputy prime
minister of the country was the chief sponsors of the rath yatras that resulted
in the death of thousands, and it is in his Lok Sabha constituency, Ahmadabad,
that the maximum brutalities occurred in the recent anti-Muslim pogrom. The new
speaker of the Lok Sabha is a fascist Shiv Sainik and former Chief Minister of
Mahrashtra. The new President of the country is an unashamed militarist and the
chief promoter of the atom bomb in India. And the new governor of Jarkhand is a
VHP demagogue. Are these democrats?
These are not BJP
party posts, but, posts that are supposed to represent the country. The nature
of such changes indicates what is in store for the masses. Not only have the
so-called secular allies of the BJP taken these changes without a murmur, they
have in fact hailed the appointment of Advani in his new position. The
parliamentary opposition watches from the sideline, merely looking on, seeking
to make political capital out of any and every situation.
If one turns to the
Sangh Parivar itself, the changes are of an open fascist nature. A Bajrang Dal
president and a founder of the Hindu Jagran Manch is made the chief of the new
UP BJP unit. The raving and ranting demagogue Uma Bharati, is asked to take over
as head of the Madhya Pradesh unit. The central BJP is reshuffled to bring into
the top leadership the chief supporters of the Gujarat mass murderer, Narendra
Modi. The latter is himself being groomed as the chief electoral mascot of the
BJP. The RSS/VHP continue barking about the ‘Ram Janmabhoomi’ , and reversed
their earlier stand to accept the court verdict. The RSS calls for trifurcation
of Kashmir, and continues their aggressive posturing against Pakistan. Do
these fascists really stand for democracy?
Still, three quarter
of-a-million Indian troops are amassed at the border, with the government
continuously blowing hot and cold. It is seeking to hold elections at gunpoint
in Kashmir. It talks of ending militancy, but the non-militant Hurriyet,
particularly that section that has as yet refused to bow to their electoral
stunt, are thrown into jail under POTA. A top journalist of the Kashmir Times is
incarcerated under false charges. There is not even a minimum suggestion from
the government that they will even discuss any of the political problems thrown
up by the decade-old Kashmiri movement. Where is the democracy in all these
actions?
In Gujarat the
vicious anti-Muslim campaign continues unabated, and now ‘normalcy’ there means
the daily killings of two to three Muslims, which are now no longer headline
news. The State Government is forcibly closing down all ‘relief’ camps, with
thousands of Muslim families having no place to go — their houses burnt, their
jobs lost, and the Hindutva mafia waiting to kill if they dare try to reclaim
their own properties. Even the pitiable compensation announced has not reached
them. And now, the Jagganath Yatra hovers over them, sending shivers down the
spine of every Muslim in Gujarat. To provoke matters further they destroyed the
100-year old Madni Mosque in Ahmadabad, on the very eve of Advani’s visit to the
city. They withdrew permission to reconstruct the Mazhar of the renounced poet,
Wali Gujarati, which had been destroyed during the carnage. Is all this
democracy or is it outright fascism. Just because the BJP was voted to power
does it make these butcherers of Gujarat and their sponsors in Delhi, democrats?
The holocaust in Gujarat has been defended and encouraged by all the top echelon
of the Central government.
Then the press is
being gagged, trade union activity is being crushed and POTA is being used to
stifle all kinds of dissent. Things have got so bad that a protest march was
organized in Delhi by the Delhi Union of Journalists, against attempts to gag
the press. They demanded an end to the witch-hunt against Tehelka, the immediate
release of Kashmiri Times journalist, Iftikhar Geelani, and an inquiry into the
attack on the offices of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations.
They also complained about treatment meted out to the press in many States, like
Gujarat. A fortnight later 25 plainclothermen pounced on a small gathring of
democrats. Seven journalists, including Gautam Navlakha, human right activists
and some studentd were intensely interrogated before being released. Four
Nepalese, including 3 journalists were ordered by the govt. to be deported to
Nepal. Does democracy mean free speech to parrot government handouts?
Not merely is the
Industrial Disputes Act being changed to, de facto, make all union activity
illegal; in actual fact at the ground level, the smallest activity is crushed
with a heavy hand. What happened to the UP electricity board workers agitation,
the postal worker strike, the strikes of various state government employees —
the list is endless — all were ruthlessly crushed. What happened to the
democratic right to assemble? And what about the right to strike ‘peacefully’?
Then why was the
strike of the Ginning Mill workers in Rajasthan so ruthlessly crushed in
December last year? Its union leader, the 52-year old Darshan Singh Koda, who
was also vice-president of the Rajasthan CITU, was dragged out of the bus in
broad day-light, taken to the mill, brutally beaten, and then thrown into the
fields, and left to die after another round of beatings. He died a few hours
later in hospital. Was Koda violent? On the contrary he was linked to a party
that believes in peace; and in fact was on his way to the neighbouring village,
Karanpur, to complain to the SDM about the behaviour of the Mill management.
Did Koda, who believed in pure peaceful methods of resistance, not have the
democratic right to live? Why was he killed? And has his murderers been
punished? For that matter, why have the murderers of Niyogi and Samant, also
killed in broad daylight, so many years ago, not been punished? Where was the
democracy for these trade union leaders, all of whom believed in peaceful
resistance?
And then what about
the POTA? Now, utilized by, not only the BJP, but also the National Conference,
the AIDMK and even the Congress (I). The arrest of the Hurriyet leaders who have
never taken up arms and of a senior journalist, the arrest even of opposition
members (MDMK) in Tamilnadu to settle political scores; and now even the arrest
of 11 persons in Maharashtra by a Congress government which had staged a great
show of opposing POTA. In Gadchiroli district 11 persons have been arrested,
seven of whom are accused of being sympathizers of the PW, while four are bidi
contractors, who, supposedly give a fund to the PW. If giving funds is illegal,
what was the long line of CMs and ex-CMs doing at Ambani’s funeral, if not
currying favour for the continuation of vast funds that they have received?
Is not the type of preventive detention as outlined in the POTA the direct
opposite of democracy?
So what is this
backwas of ‘democracy’ that Chandrababu Naidu harps on about in the ‘talks’
between the A.P. government and the representatives of the CPI (ML)(PW)? Where
the entire country is engulfed with the worst types of ‘violence’, with what
audacity can he say, "in a democracy, violence will not be tolerated"? Is
he a fool, who is unaware of what is going on not only in the country, but more
so in his own State. No, he is no fool, but has mastered the art of duplicity.
Death through hunger is violence, suicides forced on people due to hunger and
starvation is violence, the police all over the country resort to violence daily
against ordinary citizens (for which the AP police is most notorious), the
minorities face violence, the dalits have faced the most depraving violence
since centuries, women face violence in every second house, workers and peasants
face violence continuously while voicing their demands, and then there is the
brutality of the para-military and army, when all others have failed. So, what
nonsense is Naidu speaking when he says "violence will not be tolerated"
— it is everywhere.
Naidu has no moral
right to preach against PW violence, when his class, and more particularly the
NDA alliance, of which he is a member, has been the worst perpetrators of
violence. Should the dedicated fighters for the poor and the oppressed in the PW
silently go to their non-violent death like the Kodas, Niyogis, Samants, and the
thousands of other workers for the oppressed? The poor and oppressed have
absolutely no voice, if their hands are tied, in the name of non-violence,
against the brutality of the ruling elite.
Today, it is the
power of money that counts, and those without it, are turned into a faceless
mass (becomes a ‘mob’ if they dare to resist) of destitutes, to be hounded by
the moneybags of this system. The oppressed masses, to defend their
self-respect, must resist the thousand–and-one acts of humiliation and violence
faced by them daily. It is not just the violence of the PW vs the violence of
the police, with the ‘poor masses’ standing by as innocent victims, as made out
by many a liberal. It is the mass of people, led by the PW (to the extent that
they have been successful in organizing them) that is pitted against the State.
Neither the PW nor the TDP/police combine act only in their own interest. The PW
acts on behalf of the poor, the TDP/police acts on behalf of the moneybags, who
want to make A.P. ‘safe’ for investment (particularly global), by ‘pacifying’
the PW and the masses of A.P.
Such are the clear
equations. So, Naidu just shut up, and keep your hi-tech demagogy about violence
for your retinue of chamchas. No one else is fooled by your trash, as the
reality is far more powerful than a thousand media presentations. Some liberals,
who have little touch with reality, may be taken in for a short while, but they
too, if they are honest, will one day see the truth.
Then Naidu goes on to
say that there cannot be ‘talks’ while the PW continues to hold arms. "Lay
down arms, and then come for talks" he thunders again and again. Is there
not an element of naivety in this statement? Naidu, life is the most precious
thing for ALL human beings, even the poorest. The trouble with you moneybags is
that your concern only shows up when the rich die. So, you go running to
Ambani’s bedside. If the poor die, to you it is meaningless. There is no
remorse. So, you cannot understand that living would also be important for any
PW member. No one would risk their lives for no purpose. The greatness of any
being lies in their selflessness; their willingness to sacrifice for a just
cause. That is why we hail Bhagat Singh and his associates, to this day. And if
that cause is the well-being of the masses, the removal of poverty and the
achievement of justice, and if that person is willing to sacrifice not only a
comfortable life, not only the family but also ones own life, such a person, in
bourgeois terminology, would be called a saint.
The young members of
the PW, with full knowledge of the terror of your goonda bands and inhuman
police, stay with the Party because of the just cause for which it stands. Arms,
for them, became a necessity to protect themselves from your goons (in uniform
and out of it). All over the world the masses have had to take to arms to defend
themselves from state brutality. Do you, Mr. Naidu not have hundreds of armed
guards? Real fair play would mean that you and your police disarm and so do the
naxalites. Then let each go freely amongst the masses to convince them through
ONLY persuasion. Then let us see who is able to win over the masses. But, of
course, you will never do this, as, without your arms, you, and your gang, would
be thrown overnight into the dustbin of history. You are a coward and fear the
masses, as your hands are dripping with their blood.
So, you want to come
to ‘talks’ armed to the teeth and demand of the other party to disarm. Naidu,
people are not fools; everyone knows that if they did disarm you would not so
much as bother to talk to them. Besides, while on the subject of arms, the VHP
is openly holding armed training camps at Lucknow and other places, with even
photos of the rifle practice coming in the newspapers. Bal Thackeray has given
an open call to all Shiv Sainiks to arm themselves. The RSS too has given a
similar call. The TMC and CPM cadres are armed to the teeth in West Bengal. In
Bihar and UP the landlords have their own armies. Then what is so abnormal if
the PW also calls on the people to arm themselves?
No, ‘arms’ and ‘violence’ is not the
issue; the issue is JUSTICE. The issue is GENUINE DEMOCRACY; not the hoax that
exists today. The issue is SELF-RESPECT; and not the continuous humiliation in
our daily existence. The issue is REAL FREEDOM to live a decent life; and not a
life of starvation and disease; and, finally, the issue is EQUALITY for all. But
these Naidu, are not on your agenda.
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