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The rally and public
meeting at Patna to be organized by the Solidarity Committee for the Unity of
Peoples Struggles on 5th December was brutally attacked by the police. The rally
was intended to celebrate the unity of the CPI (ML) Peoples War and the Maoist
Communist Centre of India. Even though the police had given permission for the
rally and public meeting yet it was disrupted by the police on the penultimate
day. Perhaps, it is for the first time since the Arwal carnage of 1986 that all
the districts of the whole of Bihar and Jharkhand region were sealed and the
people assaulted in every city and town to stop them from attending the
programme.
The people were so
much inspired by the call to celebrate the unity of the revolutionary forces
that hundreds of thousands were coming forward to participate in it. The state
of Bihar was so scared by this mobilization taking place that it decided to
swoop down on the rallyists a day before. About ten thousand people, including
women and children, who had assembled at the Gandhi Maidan on the evening of 4th
December were surrounded by the police forces during the night and were brutally
cane charged. Dozens of activists and participants were injured in the sudden
attack by the police. One person named Jeetan Marandi, an activist of the
Jharkhand Cultural team, got severe head injuries and was hospitalized along
with many others. The police also uprooted the dais, public address system, and
tents showing its condemnable anti-people behaviour and violating its own
commitment to allow the programme which was to be held in a peaceful manner.
It was already in the
knowledge of the media and the police and civil administration that the campaign
to organize this programme was going on for the last fifteen days from a place
called Eastern Bhikha Chakk. Nothing was illegal or secret about the programme.
This place and
another camp where the revolutionary activists were staying were also attacked
and the activists were arrested and beaten up. The police swoop down not only
happened in the capital city of Patna but also throughout the states of Bihar
and Jharkhand simultaneously. This also happened in Bihar’s Aurangabad,
Jehanabad, Sasaram, Gaya, Arwal, Kizar, Bihta, Maner, Dulhan Bazaar, Masaudi,
Beguserai, Khagria, Motihari, Champaran, Dharbhanga, Hajipur, and in Jharkhand,
Garhwa, Daltonganj, Barwadih, Girdih, Gumla, Lohardaga, Bokaro, Ranchi, Latehar,
Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Chatra etc. dragging the people out of hundreds of trains,
buses and trucks, and beating them mercilessly. Not that the governments of the
two states collaborated in this evil design, the orders were in fact given by
the centre after a meeting of ministers and top police officials from thirteen
states of the country in Delhi.
The upsurge and
enthusiasm among the people was so great that the authorities in both the states
had to resort to evil methods to terrorize the people. Wherever the people were
stopped they organized pickets and sit-ins on the roads, started cultural
programmes, made speeches and raised slogans celebrating the coming into being
of CPI (Maoist). Even the compound of the Bankepur Camp jail was turned into a
place for celebration and the prisoners held a vast meeting there.
The arrested include
the revolutionary activists and leaders like Raj Kishor, Tara Singh, Ramadhar
Singh, Aarti Prasad and others. On the whole, 180 people were arrested and 23 of
them were slapped with the 17th, Criminal Law Amendment. This act came into
existence in 1908 to be used against the Congress to declare its meetings as
unlawful. This law could also charge the arrested with sedition. The British
period act still continues and is used now to contain the revolutionary activism
of the masses. It is a strange twist of justice that the rally for which
permission was granted earlier was to be declared unlawful by the state itself
trampling upon the fundamental right to protest..
Here it is important
to note that large scale arrests were also carried out by the Delhi
police on November 25. More than fifteen hundred people were arrested or
detained to prevent the people from carrying out a demonstration and a public
meeting in support of the revolutionary struggles going on in the country.
Though the arrested people were released in the evening yet it showed that the
act to disallow the people freedom of expression was an infringement on their
fundamental right of expression. The whole area around the Red Fort and Firoze
Shah Kotla Grounds was turned into a huge police garrison. It looked as if the
police feared an onslaught on the capital.
The stopping of
revolutionaries from holding a peaceful meeting was a political decision taken
by the police top brass to prevent the spread of revolutionary and democratic
ideas among the people. Yet the efforts of the police proved unsuccessful as it
failed to dampen the spirit of the rallyists who remained steadfast even in the
police stations.
Thousands of people
saw with their own eyes peaceful people being arrested and forced into vehicles
for taking them to various police stations of the state. What was not allowed in
the public view was carried out within the walls of the police stations where
revolutionary speeches, dramas and songs were staged.
The vast yard of the
police lines of Maurice Nagar swarmed with a sea of red flags, banners and
mottos. Sky renting slogans hailing the formation of Communist Party of India
(Maoist) reverberated in the whole air in side the police compounds. The
prisoners hailed the ongoing revolution in Nepal and condemned the widespread
police repression on the revolutionary and nationality and national liberation
movements going on in India. A message by the revolutionary poet Varvara Rao was
read out hailing the unity of the revolutionary movements and coming into being
of the communist party of India (Maoist). In a way, the police act of
highhandedness was turned into its opposite by the enthusiastic revolutionary
masses. The whole episode became an inspiring experience for them.
The people who had
been detained also included 250 Nepali comrades who had come from various parts
of North India. The arrested included Varvara Rao, Raj Kishor, Hari Singh "Tarq",
Sukhwinder Kaur, and Tara Singh. Here too the camp where the volunteers had been
camping for the last eight days was surrounded by the police and they were
banned from going outside for the whole day on November 25.
The Solidarity
Committee decided to take the ban orders on the processions and public meetings
to the court of the people to expose the denial of democratic right of freedom
of expression to the forces who are committed to the cause of people.
On the one hand the
government of India says that Naxalism is a socio-economic problem which has to
be tackled socially, economically and politically, while on the other hand, it
attacks the people who support the revolutionary struggles, branding it as a law
and order problem. Though it says that they should come into the mainstream and
overground yet its actual attitude is to disallow any kind of legal and open
opportunity to the supporters of the revolutionary movements to air their views
in public. It is a gross travesty of promises, proving their falsity, and
deliberate attack on the fundamental right of freedom of expression.
This exposes the
undemocratic nature of the rulers which do not allow the representatives of the
people’s forces to openly express their opinions in the public. But the rulers
are free to carry on anti-people acts at the behests of imperialists. They
freely use the state machinery against the people. So, the people are justified
in questioning the ‘integrity – honesty’ of the rulers.
The people throughout
Bihar and Jharkhand protested against the brutal handling of the Patna Rally by
observing a black day on the international day of Democratic and Human Rights on
December 10. Many public programmes and meetings were organized throughout the
two states as a token of protest condemning the undemocratic and highhanded
attitude of the State’s forces.
In spite of the
State’s threats, aired on the radio, T V and the print media, to discourage the
people from coming to the Patna Rally the people showed great enthusiasm to
attend the programme and had to be stopped by the police with indiscriminate and
uncalled for use of force at various places. In fact this oppression was
unleashed to contain and suppress the growing influence of the revolutionary
forces but the masses refuse to be cowed down by such kinds of attacks by the
police and other state agencies. The people organized programmes at all the
places wherever the police had stopped them and celebrated the birth of the CPI
(Maoist).
Also a joint Press
Statement was issued by the CPI(Maoist) and the CPI(ML) (Janashakti) hailing the
formation of the new party and strongly condemning the attacks on the rallies.
The statement issued on 17-12-04 said:
The Historic merger
of two main revolutionary parties on September 21, by forming the CPI (Maoist)
was welcomed by the Indian oppressed masses and the revolutionary masses of the
world. Whereas from the Pentagon in America to South Block in India and other
reactionaries, communal fascists (Sangh Parivar), social fascists (CPM), etc.
started to reorganize themselves against the unity of the Maoists in India. From
the Internal security adviser J.N. Dixit to the special officer of the Special
cell in the PMO and the JOC, to all states police officials — issued statements
condemning the Maoists particularly projecting the unity move as a great threat
to Indian internal security and sub continental peace. The fascist dictators in
the Indian political scenario and the Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha members are engaged
day in and day out against the CPI(Maoist) and they stalled Rajya Sabha
proceedings too on 16 Dec. Why are they so afraid? The political, economic and
social crisis has worsened in India and the people are rebelling against the
rulers, earlier against NDA now against the UPA. The pillars of the oppressor
state have started shaking — so the fear and nervousness of the ruling classes.
From November 16 to
December 15 supporters, activities and friends of Indian revolution, progressive
minded petty bourgeoisie who lend their voice for democracy organized open
public meetings at Hyderabad, Delhi, Patna and Kolkata. These states are ruled
by parties like the Congress, RJD and CPM, which have amalgamated as the UPA at
the Centre, showed the same attitude to disrupt the mass meetings. All the roads
were barricaded, every village was cordoned and permission was cancelled at the
eleventh hour at Delhi and Patna, hundreds of people were arrested and still the
combing, raids are going on to capture the supporters and friends of the Indian
democratic revolution. In West Bengal hundreds of people were arrested at
various stations on the pretext that they had not tickets. It is ridiculous and
funny logic. Never before the Congress, CPI(M), TMC, BJP followers and even ML
parties were arrested during their meetings on such a charge in Bengal. Once
again it was proved that all the ruling class parties, whatever their slogans
may be, in essence all are same to curb, smash the voice of protest and
democracy.
We two parties are
appealing to the masses of India particularly the 13 states, oppressed masses to
get organized against the onslaught of the Centre and State governments. Only
through struggle we will get our rights. This is the time to mobile lakhs and
lakhs of people who will allow us to express our opinion openly. This is the
time to unite and rebel.
CPI(Maoist) holds its first public
meeting in Hyderabad braving state repression
The first public
meeting declaring the formation of the new consolidated vanguard party of the
Indian proletariat — the CPI(Maoist) — was successfully held in Hyderabad on 16
November, 2004 defeating all the conspiracies of the Congress government at the
Centre and the state to disrupt it. The success of the meeting which drew
thousands of people all across the state of AP with speakers and cultural
troupes from all over the country, showed the immense support the Party enjoys
among the oppressed masses of the state notwithstanding the uninterrupted brutal
offensive by successive comprador big bourgeois-big landlord regimes for the
past three decades.
The ruling party in
AP led by YS Rajasekhara Reddy, had left no stone unturned to foil the meeting.
First, it tried to prevent the organizers of the meeting from getting the
grounds in Hyderabad city by threatening the owners or dissuading them. When the
Nizam College grounds was finally booked by the organizers the city police
commissioner refused to grant permission on the pretext that it would create a
law & order problem. Earlier, it had refused permission for a rally in the
streets of the city on the plea that it would disrupt the traffic.
Simultaneously, the organizers had also booked the Pirzadaguda engineering
college grounds in the outskirts of the city. The Cyberabad Commissioner, under
whose jurisdiction the venue falls, tried to cite one pretext or the other to
deny permission for the meeting until the eleventh hour. And it was only less
than a day before the actual schedule, and that too after a meeting of the state
cabinet, that permission was given with several restrictions. Thus, by giving
permission at the eleventh hour, the rulers wanted to prevent people from other
districts from reaching Hyderabad.
It was stipulated
that the meeting could be held between 5-8 PM and that no provocative speeches
should be made against the government and the police!! And this was not enough.
The police bosses in every district ensured that people did not reach Hyderabad
for the meeting. The lorry owners were warned that they would be held
responsible if their vehicles were leased out for transporting people to the
meeting of the Maoists. They were even asked to deposit their vehicles at the
police station one day before the meeting. And, despite all these measures, when
people got hold of some vehicles and were proceeding to the city, they were
stopped on the way and their vehicles were seized. The entire police force in
the state was instructed to treat this (preventing people from reaching
Hyderabad for the meeting) as the top priority task on those two days. The
success of the series of meetings of the erstwhile CPI(ML)[People’s War], which
had merged with the MCCI to form the new CPI(Maoist), had shaken the comprador
ruling classes and their imperialist mentors so much that they unable to bear
the spectre of a sea of red flags in their high-tech city that is being sold out
for a song to the business vultures.
The demand of the
Maoists in the first round of talks with the state government to confiscate the
illegally acquired lands in Hyderabad and give it to the urban poor and to hold
an enquiry into all the land deals made under the TDP regime, had unnerved the
big business houses, imperialist MNCs, big bureaucrats and police officials,
political leaders and other mafia gangsters, who had amassed thousands of crores
through landgrabbing.(see the last issue of People’s March for details). The
formation of the CPI(Maoist) and the merger of the two guerilla armies into the
PLGA had caused panic in the minds of the rulers. Thus even peaceful rallies and
meetings by the Maoists are sought to be banned or obstructed lest the new Party
be seen as the revolutionary alternative by the masses of the country who are
vexed by the stinking parliamentary system and the parties that represent it.
The dreams of the
rulers were shattered as people thronged to the meeting venue using creative
methods to circumvent the police obstruction. Several state road transport buses
were used which came to the venue under the unsuspecting eyes of the police.
People came to the venue without displaying banners and flags lest they be
stopped by the police who were posted at all important points leading to the
city. The meeting lasted till 10 PM defying the condition that it should be
stopped at 8 PM. The police dared not attack the meeting for violating the
condition fearing a backlash from the thousands present who were already
infuriated by the police high-handedness.
The cultural
programmes went on from 4 to 6 in the evening after which speakers from
different states addressed the gathering, besides Comrades Varavara Rao, Gaddar
and Kalyan Rao, the official representatives of the Party at the Talks with the
state government. Comrades Raj Kishore, the secretary of the AILRC and Tara
Singh of the SFPR from Punjab, spoke about the significance of the merger of
CPI(ML)[PW] and MCCI for the Indian revolution and called upon the people to
reject the parliamentary system and to come forward to build a mighty
revolutionary movement in the country.
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