It is clear that the
battle lines are being drawn. On the one side stand the governments at the State
and Central level backed by the money-bags, particularly the imperialists,
landed elites and compradors; on the other side stand the oppressed masses of
the country, with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in the lead. On the one
side the people are rising up in revolt or in defence of their basic rights, on
the other hand the governments are unleashing brutal repression to crush their
movements. On the one hand the masses are taking to revolt and revolution to
build a just and equitable order; on the other the rulers are resorting to
policies of genocide and liquidation of all dissent to protect the interests of
the bloodsuckers and leeches of this system. With the lines being sharply drawn
there is little space left for liberal maneuvering. People are being forced to
choose between fascist terror on the one side and mass revolt on the other.
The neo-liberal
policies of economic reforms is the real ‘terrorist’, killing thousands each
year though malnutrition, hunger starvation, disease and debt. It is a monster
being vigorously pursued by all the governments at State and Centre no matter
which party is in power. The thousands of children dying each year from
malnutrition in the tribal belts of Melghat (Maharashtra) do not know what
really killed them. The farmers of AP, Punjab and elsewhere that are committing
suicide in droves do not know their real murderer — pesticide? debt? Or the
polices of neo-liberal economic reforms?
70% of the population
or 75 crore people live off agriculture; yet government investment in
agriculture has dropped from 16.4% of Plan expenditure in 1979/80 to a mere 4.9%
in the Ninth Plan (1997-2002). Bank credit to the poor has dried up, and
provides a mere 12% of the short-term credit on crop loans. The rest has to be
got from the rapacious moneylender. While agricultural incomes are rising by
only 1.5% (for most it is in fact dropping) consumption expenditure is going up
by 4% — prices of agricultural commodities are falling by the day; while the
price of inputs, health service, electricity and water charges, transport,
education, etc are skyrocketing. Not only are the poor and marginal farmers
being driven to their death, policies of neo-liberal reforms are killing even
middle and rich farmers — only the mode of their death varies. The poor die of
malnutrition, hunger and disease; the middle are being driven to suicide by debt
and the fear of the moneylender/saukar and even the banks. Said Girish from
Guddehalli village of Karnataka, whose family owns 50 acres, "farmers have
loans on everything, the ox, the bullock, the implements and also on their own
sweat".
But these
Ayothullahas of economic reforms destroy not only the peasantry, but lakhs and
lakhs of workers and employees are being thrown out of their jobs to satiate the
appetite for huge profits of big capital. Those who remain in their job have to
work like slaves with reducing salaries and wages. Small industries are being
crushed by the hundreds each day and big and medium industry swallowed up by
foreign capital.
It is in this
scenario that more and more people are taking to the path of struggle while the
government is resorting to even more brutal repression.
The recent upsurge of
Rajasthan farmers for water was once again fired on, killing yet another five
and injuring many. Hundreds were arrested. The peasants of Punjab in their
recent fight against debt and other demands saw over 1,000 arrested. Three lakh
tea plantation workers of West Bengal who have been on strike for now five days
over attempts of the management to cut wages and have now given a bandh call of
four districts have to face not only the wrath of the management but also the
duplicity of the CPM government. In AP the striking junior resident doctors
which have been fighting the polices of privatization of health services have
faced lathis, mass arrests of over 500 from all over the state (including the
president of the APJUDA) and the imposition of the draconian ESMA. Also in AP
the State Transport employees have been on strike. The lawyers of Tamilnadu have
been boycotting the courts and those in the rest of the country have been on
agitation against the government’s amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure
(CrPC) which de facto turns the legal system into a police system (all POTA-type
clauses & more will now be a part of the very legal system itself). The Code
of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act was given the Presidential assent on June
23. Though now forced to put this Act in abeyance due to the agitation of the
lawyers, the Act is now law. In the very capital of the country the New Delhi
based Malyalam magazine "Free Press" has been forced to close down due to
police harassment for writing against state-sponsored terrorism and Reliance’s
underhand methods. Even an innocuous book entitled the "Polyester Prince"
by the Australian journalist, Hamish McDonald, has now been banned for 10 years
as it exposes the dubious affairs of Reliance Industries and their politician
friends. Besides all this, atrocities on dalits continue with impunity, with the
State turning a blind eye. Women continue to be treated as second class citizens
facing all kinds of the worst abuses. The Hindutva agenda, while for the present
has been put on the back-burner, the so-called attack at Ayodhya will make sure
that it is to be kept alive — and used as a pretext for the introduction of even
more draconian measures.
While the masses have
been rising up against oppression, their vanguard party, the CPI(Maoists) and
their guerrilla army saw a series of dramatic actions over the past two months.
According to press reports, in North Bihar, over 500 guerrillas and peasants
stormed the town of Madhuban (50 kms from the Nepal border) attacking all the
symbols of the oppressive system. In a sychronised attack the police station,
banks, district offices and the MP’s house was attacked. Weapons and money were
confiscated and some police personnel killed. In Chhatisgarh there have been a
series of attacks on the CRPF killing a number of them. In Maharashtra in a
landmine blast in Gondia seven CRPF police were killed and in Gadchiroli in
another two attacks on the CRPF a number were killed. In all cases a number of
weapons were confiscated. In the Bankura area of West Bengal CPM leaders
(doubling up as police agents) were killed and so also in the Sambalpur area of
Orissa five agents of the landlords and police were eliminated. These are only
some of the actions reported in the press, many more would have occurred which
are consciously not covered or only appear in the local news as has been
happening in Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.
So, it is clear that
the masses and the revolutionaries are on the rise, inspite of the growing
attacks on them. The attacks on the Maoists have been continuing with extreme
intensity. The crackdown on Maoists in West Bengal by the CPM government
continues unabated. Besides the earlier round of arrests of the PBM, Com. Shome
and State Secretary, Com Tapas, there has been a further round of arrests in
Calcutta including a State Committee member, com. Babu. These too have been
framed in false cases in the Midnapur area. In AP five members of the
CPI(ML)Janashakti, including a CC member, com. Riaz (had been involved in the
talks with the government), were arrested and then killed in a fake encounter.
In Karnataka two more comrades were martyred by the fascist STF police, once
used against Veerapan. In Bihar eight comrades were martyred while retreating in
the heroic Madhuban raid, including a senior SAC (equivalent of state committee)
member. And on July 12
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