SOURCE:- chennaionline
Patna, Nov 23: A top Naxalite commander, along with an associate, who were reportedly planning to strike somewhere in north Bihar, was arrested last evening.
A huge cache of explosives was seized, police said.
Bhaskar Ji, a high-level commander of CPI(Maoist), stated to be heading the armed squad of the underground outfit in north Bihar, and an associate Tirthankar were arrested from a rented house in Nayatola locality of the town following a tip-off, IG (Operations) S K Bharadwaj said.
Over 50 claymore mines, many more hand grenades, detonators, wire and other explosive materials were seized from the hideout.
Bharadwaj said several police uniforms and Naxalite literature were also recovered from the place where search operation was still on.
"Preliminary inquiry suggests that Naxalites were planning a massive operation in north Bihar. Where and when this operation was to take place will be known after thorough interrogation," he said. "Those arrested are being interrogated and we will be able to tell you more about the seizure and the plans of the Naxalites later," he said.
Monday, November 26, 2007
THREE NAXALS WOUNDED IN FIRING
source:- timesofindia
CHANDRAPUR: At least three Naxalites were seriously injured in an exchange of fire that followed the police attack on a suspected Naxalite camp in the Paletola jungles of Etapalli taluka, Gadchiroli district, early on Saturday, Gadchiroli police have claimed.
The clash broke out when two C-60 teams, acting on a tip-off, police began combing the jungle in search of the Leftist rebels. They had almost zeroed in on the training camp when the sentries guarding the camp opened fire. Large quantities of explosives and Naxal literature were recovered, but the Naxals managed to flee the camp and escape into the forests.
According to Gadchiroli DSP Rajesh Pradhan, the police got a tip-off that Naxalites were holding a special training camp in Paletola jungle. Accordingly, two C-60 teams from Etapalli division were dispatched to locate the camp in the early hours of Saturday. At about 6.45 am, the police teams reached the vicinity of the camp.
The sentries spotted the approaching commandos and immediately opened fire. A heavy exchange of fire continued for 15 minutes before the Naxalites, believed to be around 30-35 in number, fled from the spot. As the police searched the campsite, and found fresh bloodstains.
The police claimed that at least three Naxals seriously injured in the clash were taken away by their comrades. "At least three of them have sustained serious injuries in the exchange of fire," said Pradhan. He said the search team recovered two live grenades, two Claymore mines, a land mine, detonator and 350 foot-long wire, five bags and one backpack.
CHANDRAPUR: At least three Naxalites were seriously injured in an exchange of fire that followed the police attack on a suspected Naxalite camp in the Paletola jungles of Etapalli taluka, Gadchiroli district, early on Saturday, Gadchiroli police have claimed.
The clash broke out when two C-60 teams, acting on a tip-off, police began combing the jungle in search of the Leftist rebels. They had almost zeroed in on the training camp when the sentries guarding the camp opened fire. Large quantities of explosives and Naxal literature were recovered, but the Naxals managed to flee the camp and escape into the forests.
According to Gadchiroli DSP Rajesh Pradhan, the police got a tip-off that Naxalites were holding a special training camp in Paletola jungle. Accordingly, two C-60 teams from Etapalli division were dispatched to locate the camp in the early hours of Saturday. At about 6.45 am, the police teams reached the vicinity of the camp.
The sentries spotted the approaching commandos and immediately opened fire. A heavy exchange of fire continued for 15 minutes before the Naxalites, believed to be around 30-35 in number, fled from the spot. As the police searched the campsite, and found fresh bloodstains.
The police claimed that at least three Naxals seriously injured in the clash were taken away by their comrades. "At least three of them have sustained serious injuries in the exchange of fire," said Pradhan. He said the search team recovered two live grenades, two Claymore mines, a land mine, detonator and 350 foot-long wire, five bags and one backpack.
All Adivasi Students Association calls for Assam shutdown
source:- topnews
Guwahati, Nov 27:
The All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) has called for a 36-hour Assam shutdown today in protest against the attack on tribals demonstrators during a rally here on Saturday.
The All-Assam Tea Tribe Students Association (AATSA) has supported the shutdown call. They have called for observance of ‘black day’ in all tea gardens on Tuesday.
Fierce violence broke out between tribals demanding Scheduled Tribes status and local residents during a protest march by the former towards the State Assembly.
Many shops were destroyed and over 100 vehicles were damaged in the ensuing violence.
Curfew has now been relaxed, which was earlier imposed in areas between Dispur and Bashistha.
The tribals blamed the police for the incident in which at least 12 people were killed.
Several leaders from Jharkhand on Sunday reviewed the situation here.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda urged the Assam Government to ensure the safety of tribals who had migrated to Assam.
BJP leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Ajrun Munda visited the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) and asked about the condition of the injured.
Demanding the dismissal of the State Government, Munda said that the Tarun Gogoi Government has no moral right to continue and should quit. He also demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Chief Shibu Soren met the injured Adivasis in the hospital.
According to sources, former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi is scheduled to arrive here today.
The Asom Gana Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have demanded dissolution of the Congress-led coalition government and institution of a judicial probe.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) held the government responsible for Saturday’s violence. (ANI)
Guwahati, Nov 27:
The All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) has called for a 36-hour Assam shutdown today in protest against the attack on tribals demonstrators during a rally here on Saturday.
The All-Assam Tea Tribe Students Association (AATSA) has supported the shutdown call. They have called for observance of ‘black day’ in all tea gardens on Tuesday.
Fierce violence broke out between tribals demanding Scheduled Tribes status and local residents during a protest march by the former towards the State Assembly.
Many shops were destroyed and over 100 vehicles were damaged in the ensuing violence.
Curfew has now been relaxed, which was earlier imposed in areas between Dispur and Bashistha.
The tribals blamed the police for the incident in which at least 12 people were killed.
Several leaders from Jharkhand on Sunday reviewed the situation here.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda urged the Assam Government to ensure the safety of tribals who had migrated to Assam.
BJP leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Ajrun Munda visited the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) and asked about the condition of the injured.
Demanding the dismissal of the State Government, Munda said that the Tarun Gogoi Government has no moral right to continue and should quit. He also demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Chief Shibu Soren met the injured Adivasis in the hospital.
According to sources, former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi is scheduled to arrive here today.
The Asom Gana Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have demanded dissolution of the Congress-led coalition government and institution of a judicial probe.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) held the government responsible for Saturday’s violence. (ANI)
Saturday, November 24, 2007
FIVE KILLED IN GUWAHATI MOB VIOLENCE
source:-sify timesnow
Guwahati: At least five people were killed and over 70 wounded, 30 of them critically, in a mob attack Saturday on tribal protestors in Assam's main city of Guwahati, officials said. Curfew was imposed in the Bentola area of the city.
A police spokesman said the clash took place when about 10,000 tribal people, backed by the All Assam Adivasi Students' Association (AAASA), took out a protest rally demanding Scheduled Tribe status for the community.
"Local residents of Guwahati and the protestors clashed in the streets after the agitators went on a rampage damaging about 100 vehicles and destroying shops. The angry locals retaliated by attacking the protestors in which five Adivasi people were killed," senior police official Rajen Singh told IANS.
Police fired in the air to disperse the protestors when they tried to break a security cordon to take out the march through the city streets.
"Local residents armed with sticks and iron rods, besides crude implements, attacked the fleeing protestors and beat them mercilessly," said Parag Moni Aditya, a witness.
Police and paramilitary troopers have since blocked a major stretch of the city to prevent the protestors from being attacked by the mob.
"More than 3,000 locals were involved in the mob attack," police official A Das said.
The injured, including women, were shifted to hospitals.
"The condition of at least 30 of the injured is very serious and the casualty figures might mount," a doctor at the Guwahati Medical College said.
The Adivasis are mostly engaged in Assam's tea plantations and account for about six percent of the state's 26 million people.
Guwahati: At least five people were killed and over 70 wounded, 30 of them critically, in a mob attack Saturday on tribal protestors in Assam's main city of Guwahati, officials said. Curfew was imposed in the Bentola area of the city.A police spokesman said the clash took place when about 10,000 tribal people, backed by the All Assam Adivasi Students' Association (AAASA), took out a protest rally demanding Scheduled Tribe status for the community.
"Local residents of Guwahati and the protestors clashed in the streets after the agitators went on a rampage damaging about 100 vehicles and destroying shops. The angry locals retaliated by attacking the protestors in which five Adivasi people were killed," senior police official Rajen Singh told IANS.
Police fired in the air to disperse the protestors when they tried to break a security cordon to take out the march through the city streets.
"Local residents armed with sticks and iron rods, besides crude implements, attacked the fleeing protestors and beat them mercilessly," said Parag Moni Aditya, a witness.
Police and paramilitary troopers have since blocked a major stretch of the city to prevent the protestors from being attacked by the mob.
"More than 3,000 locals were involved in the mob attack," police official A Das said.
The injured, including women, were shifted to hospitals.
"The condition of at least 30 of the injured is very serious and the casualty figures might mount," a doctor at the Guwahati Medical College said.
The Adivasis are mostly engaged in Assam's tea plantations and account for about six percent of the state's 26 million people.
SC declines mining nod to Vedanta Alumina
source:-ddnews
The Supreme Court has declined permission to the local unit of Britain's Vedanta Resources to mine bauxite for its proposed aluminium project in Orissa, but left a door open for its another associate Sterlite Industries to extract the mineral in collaboration with state agencies.
"We are not inclined to grant approval to Vedanta Alumina Ltd (VAL)... From the financial statements it is clear that it is not a subsidiary but an associate of Sterlite and we don't have its list of assets with us," a special bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia said.Vedanta Alumina can withdraw from the arrangement any time and its operating profits were negligible, it said.As per Vedanta's website, its profits from aluminium segment were just Rs 455 crore, the court said, adding "it did not have the accounts of Vedanta and thus cannot take the risk of handing over the project".While reading the order, Justice Kapadia cited newspaper reports and referred to the Government of Norway's decision to withdraw investments made in Vedanta over issues ranging from human rights violations to non-compliance of forest and labour laws.However, the bench gave liberty to Sterlite Industries India Ltd to move the court within eight weeks if it was ready to go ahead with the project subject to compliance with certain modalities.
The Orissa government in collaboration with Orissa Mining Corporation and Sterlite will have to set up a special purpose vehicle to develop the scheduled area.
While Vedanta Alumina is not listed on Indian bourses, Sterlite is present on both Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange. Sterlite scrip rose 4.6 percent on the BSE on Friday to settle at Rs 879.10 in an overall bullish market.
While stating that Sterlite will have to contribute in terms of money and employment, the apex court asked it to keep aside 5 percent of its net profits from its mining activities all over the country or Rs 10 crore, whichever is higher, for tribals and shell out Rs 50.5 crore toward wildlife and Rs 12.5 crore toward tribal development.
Besides, Sterlite should give details about the number of people to be given employment and at what positions, he said, adding that the state government will have to stick by the project in case Sterlite backed out.
Coming down heavily on Vedanta, Justice Kapadia said its affidavit submitted on 2nd November failed to give details about the number of jobs to be provided to locals as most of its activities were to be outsourced.
According to the court, it was the state's duty to devise a coordinated programme to meet sustainable area development.
The court passed the order after environment groups and wildlife enthusiasts challenged the plan, saying it would displace tribal people and destroy flora and fauna of the region - a charge that Vedanta has denied.
Vedanta, which has put up a one million tonne bauxite refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, had sought permission to start mining in the forest area of 672.018 hectares in Niyamgiri region of Kalahandi and Rayagada districts of the state.
The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) had opposed any mining activity by Vedanta in the virgin Niaymgiri hills and submitted that the government can instead allot alternative sites.
The Supreme Court has declined permission to the local unit of Britain's Vedanta Resources to mine bauxite for its proposed aluminium project in Orissa, but left a door open for its another associate Sterlite Industries to extract the mineral in collaboration with state agencies.
"We are not inclined to grant approval to Vedanta Alumina Ltd (VAL)... From the financial statements it is clear that it is not a subsidiary but an associate of Sterlite and we don't have its list of assets with us," a special bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia said.Vedanta Alumina can withdraw from the arrangement any time and its operating profits were negligible, it said.As per Vedanta's website, its profits from aluminium segment were just Rs 455 crore, the court said, adding "it did not have the accounts of Vedanta and thus cannot take the risk of handing over the project".While reading the order, Justice Kapadia cited newspaper reports and referred to the Government of Norway's decision to withdraw investments made in Vedanta over issues ranging from human rights violations to non-compliance of forest and labour laws.However, the bench gave liberty to Sterlite Industries India Ltd to move the court within eight weeks if it was ready to go ahead with the project subject to compliance with certain modalities.
The Orissa government in collaboration with Orissa Mining Corporation and Sterlite will have to set up a special purpose vehicle to develop the scheduled area.
While Vedanta Alumina is not listed on Indian bourses, Sterlite is present on both Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange. Sterlite scrip rose 4.6 percent on the BSE on Friday to settle at Rs 879.10 in an overall bullish market.
While stating that Sterlite will have to contribute in terms of money and employment, the apex court asked it to keep aside 5 percent of its net profits from its mining activities all over the country or Rs 10 crore, whichever is higher, for tribals and shell out Rs 50.5 crore toward wildlife and Rs 12.5 crore toward tribal development.
Besides, Sterlite should give details about the number of people to be given employment and at what positions, he said, adding that the state government will have to stick by the project in case Sterlite backed out.
Coming down heavily on Vedanta, Justice Kapadia said its affidavit submitted on 2nd November failed to give details about the number of jobs to be provided to locals as most of its activities were to be outsourced.
According to the court, it was the state's duty to devise a coordinated programme to meet sustainable area development.
The court passed the order after environment groups and wildlife enthusiasts challenged the plan, saying it would displace tribal people and destroy flora and fauna of the region - a charge that Vedanta has denied.
Vedanta, which has put up a one million tonne bauxite refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, had sought permission to start mining in the forest area of 672.018 hectares in Niyamgiri region of Kalahandi and Rayagada districts of the state.
The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) had opposed any mining activity by Vedanta in the virgin Niaymgiri hills and submitted that the government can instead allot alternative sites.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
MSEZ: scuffle between officials and villagers
Convincing: Krishnappa, a member of the Krishi Bhoomi Samrakshana Samiti, making a point during a joint awareness campaign by MSEZ officials and samithi members at Delantha Bettu village on Wednesday.
source:- hindu
SURATHKAL/DELANTHABETTU: For the first time since the agitations against the Mangalore Special Economic Zone began, things took a slightly aggressive turn on Wednesday morning. Raghavendra Holla, rehabilitation and resettlement officer of MSEZ Ltd., was roughed up at Delantha Bettu village by an irate group of people belonging to the villages that have been notified for the Rs. 35,000-crore project. For the last three days, Mr. Holla and a group of student volunteers from the Srinivasa Institute Management Studies have been distributing two sets of pamphlets in the villages that have been notified for the MSEZ. One pamphlet has details of the compensation package offered to families displaced by the project. The second is an announcement about a public meeting scheduled for November 28 where the environmental impact of the project will be debated and discussed in the presence of the villagers and the general public.
The trouble started when the villagers, led by members of the Krishi Bhoomi Samrakshana Samiti (KBSS), tried to stall the pamphlet distribution. They apparently took objection to the distribution of pamphlets containing compensation details. The samiti is one of the organisations agitating against the project.
The samiti members are themselves on the campaign trail and are going from house to house and conducting meetings to garner support for their agitation ahead of the crucial November 28 public hearing. They see the attempts by the SEZ officials to spread information about the compensation package as an activity that will derail their efforts.
When contacted, Madhukar Amin, president of the samiti, said: “The officials are responsible for the current situation. The rage of common people cannot be controlled.” A.G. Pai, chief operating officer of MSEZ Ltd., chose to remain silent on the entire fracas. President of Delantha Bettu Gram Panchayat Sundar Salian, who is also part of the agitation, said that the day was saved by the police, who arrived on the scene quickly. “They ensured that the situation did not go out of hand,” he said.In the presence of Mr. Pai, an agreement was arrived at between the two squabbling parties and the pamphlet distribution resumed at 5 p.m. According to the agreement, the objectionable pamphlets will not be distributed henceforth. Also, for as long as the pamphlet distribution is on, the MSEZ officials and the student volunteers will be accompanied by two or more representatives from the samiti. Meanwhile, sources from both sides indicated that they would make maximum use of this opportunity to counter the claims and propaganda of each other. But this unique simultaneous campaigning by the two sides will be monitored closely by the police. Confirming this, Superintendent of Police N. Sathish Kumar said: “A non-cognisable case has been registered on the incident. There will be a police escort at all times during the campaigningfor the security of both the parties.”
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Maoist shoot CPM leader dead
Statesman News Service
BALARAMPUR/Kolkata, Nov. 20:
A CPI-M local committee member, Sufal Mandi (35), was shot dead by Maoists at Ghatbera village in Balarampur, Purulia, early today. He was dragged out of his residence and shot dead. His body was later found near his village.
The Maoists also tried to snatch a licensed gun from a villager, Asim Kumar Mondal. When he resisted, the Maoists set his house on fire. This is the second time in a month that Maoists are targeting the CPI-M as a local committee member of the party’s unit at Barabazar, Bagirath Karmakar, was brutally killed by Maoists on 1 November.
The additional superintendent of district police, Mr Pranab Kumar Das, rushed to the spot. He said the presence of Maoists leaflets and posters had suggested the involvement of the Maoists. Mrs Phulmani Mandi, wife of the victim, said: “The members of the squad told us that my husband had been targeted as he was a party member.”
In Kolkata, home secretary Mr Prasadranjan Ray said: “ A Maoist squad from Jharkhand seem to be responsible for the killing of the CPI-M leader.”
The Purulia SP, Mr Ashok Kumar Prasad also admitted that Maoist activities were on the rise in Purulia district. Villagers were also threatened by the Maoists who had assembled for the operation.
“Nearly 35 armed Maoist were in and around village,” police said. “They fled towards Jharkhand area, crossing border easily,” they said. A police picket was posted in the village.
Meanwhile, body of the victim arrived in Purulia Sadar Hospital for the postmortem this evening from Balarampur. Areas like Belpahari, Binpur and Lalgarh remained quite tense on the last day of the 48-hour bandh called by the Maoists.
BALARAMPUR/Kolkata, Nov. 20:
A CPI-M local committee member, Sufal Mandi (35), was shot dead by Maoists at Ghatbera village in Balarampur, Purulia, early today. He was dragged out of his residence and shot dead. His body was later found near his village.
The Maoists also tried to snatch a licensed gun from a villager, Asim Kumar Mondal. When he resisted, the Maoists set his house on fire. This is the second time in a month that Maoists are targeting the CPI-M as a local committee member of the party’s unit at Barabazar, Bagirath Karmakar, was brutally killed by Maoists on 1 November.
The additional superintendent of district police, Mr Pranab Kumar Das, rushed to the spot. He said the presence of Maoists leaflets and posters had suggested the involvement of the Maoists. Mrs Phulmani Mandi, wife of the victim, said: “The members of the squad told us that my husband had been targeted as he was a party member.”
In Kolkata, home secretary Mr Prasadranjan Ray said: “ A Maoist squad from Jharkhand seem to be responsible for the killing of the CPI-M leader.”
The Purulia SP, Mr Ashok Kumar Prasad also admitted that Maoist activities were on the rise in Purulia district. Villagers were also threatened by the Maoists who had assembled for the operation.
“Nearly 35 armed Maoist were in and around village,” police said. “They fled towards Jharkhand area, crossing border easily,” they said. A police picket was posted in the village.
Meanwhile, body of the victim arrived in Purulia Sadar Hospital for the postmortem this evening from Balarampur. Areas like Belpahari, Binpur and Lalgarh remained quite tense on the last day of the 48-hour bandh called by the Maoists.
Salva Judum leader, son killed in Bastar
source
KHAMMAM: A top leader of the Salwa Judum movement, Budram Rana, 47, and his son Kamlesh, 21, were gunned down by naxalites of the CPI (Maoist) at their farm in Musulur village, some 9 km from the Bijapur town in Chhattisgarh on Monday.
Advance intimation
According to reports, the naxalites, who had advance intimation of the visit of the Salwa Judum leader, were in wait for the two.
As soon as Mr. Rana and his son reached their fields, they pumped in bullets killing them on the spot.
The naxalites made a retreat from the village shouting slogans against the government of Chhattisgarh and the State-sponsored Salwa Judum, the anti-Maoist mission.
Villager shifted the bodies to Bijapur in the evening for post-mortem.
KHAMMAM: A top leader of the Salwa Judum movement, Budram Rana, 47, and his son Kamlesh, 21, were gunned down by naxalites of the CPI (Maoist) at their farm in Musulur village, some 9 km from the Bijapur town in Chhattisgarh on Monday.
Advance intimation
According to reports, the naxalites, who had advance intimation of the visit of the Salwa Judum leader, were in wait for the two.
As soon as Mr. Rana and his son reached their fields, they pumped in bullets killing them on the spot.
The naxalites made a retreat from the village shouting slogans against the government of Chhattisgarh and the State-sponsored Salwa Judum, the anti-Maoist mission.
Villager shifted the bodies to Bijapur in the evening for post-mortem.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Maoists call 48-hour shutdown to protest Nandigram violence
source
After announcing their plan to fight the "fascist" Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Maoists have called a 48-hour shutdown in Bihar and Jharkhand on Monday and Tuesday to protest against the violence in Nandigram of neighbouring West Bengal.
The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) issued a statement on Thursday night calling for the shutdown.
Officials said the state government has decided to put the police on alert and deploy additional forces. East Central Railway may cancel a few trains.
A statement issued on Wednesday by CPI-Maoist said: "We unequivocally support the just cause of the people of Nandigram and assure them that we shall stand firmly by them in their just and democratic struggle against pro-imperialist policies of the CPI-M and the fascist repression let loose by the state and central government."
Maoist leaders said "the red-flag-bearing government of West Bengal has openly come out in support of capitalists and was uprooting farmers and their families from the land to make room for industrialists".
CPI-Maoist's Bihar-Jharkhand special area committee secretary Rakesh said: "This is not a question of Nandigram or West Bengal alone but also of Orissa, Jharkhand and other places in the country where special economic zones (SEZs) are being set up at the behest of the centre and touts of multinational companies are letting loose a reign of terror on innocent people."
The Maoists have asked people living around areas demarcated for SEZs across the country to join their agitation.
After announcing their plan to fight the "fascist" Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Maoists have called a 48-hour shutdown in Bihar and Jharkhand on Monday and Tuesday to protest against the violence in Nandigram of neighbouring West Bengal.
The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) issued a statement on Thursday night calling for the shutdown.
Officials said the state government has decided to put the police on alert and deploy additional forces. East Central Railway may cancel a few trains.
A statement issued on Wednesday by CPI-Maoist said: "We unequivocally support the just cause of the people of Nandigram and assure them that we shall stand firmly by them in their just and democratic struggle against pro-imperialist policies of the CPI-M and the fascist repression let loose by the state and central government."
Maoist leaders said "the red-flag-bearing government of West Bengal has openly come out in support of capitalists and was uprooting farmers and their families from the land to make room for industrialists".
CPI-Maoist's Bihar-Jharkhand special area committee secretary Rakesh said: "This is not a question of Nandigram or West Bengal alone but also of Orissa, Jharkhand and other places in the country where special economic zones (SEZs) are being set up at the behest of the centre and touts of multinational companies are letting loose a reign of terror on innocent people."
The Maoists have asked people living around areas demarcated for SEZs across the country to join their agitation.
What else can we expect from them?
"Freedom is taken not given" - this was Subash Chandra Bose's opinion and he believed and followed it throughout his life. It was this idea of Subhash which created difference with Gandhi and his supporters. Gandhi and his supporting congressmen believed that they should become a part of the parliament and gradually make british rulers to "TRANSFER THE POWER".Ultimately in the end these peple succeded in their steps and the power was transferred - INDEPENDENCE?
Independence - It is still a dream for lakhs. `British ruled us. They battered the revolutionary movements. They evendid some developmental activities. They looted the country. They helped their supporters and friends and severely punished those who opposed them. Do you find any difference between `british' and present `ruler politicians`?
In the AICC meet recently held congressmen showed that they are loyal to Nehrufamily and they are not ashamed to be called as slaves. Inspite of his weakneses Nehru had poitical experience.But after him? His family enjoyed power without any qualification . Even PM Manmohan Singh praised Rahul and said " he is the future of our country" what a future?!
Indira Gandhi was a famous politician . She showed her hidden face during emergence. Most of us born after emergence; now we are seeing the illefeects of emergency in Pakistan. Elders say that Indian emergency was even worse.
Sanjay Gandhi forcefully vasectomised thousands of men. Unfortunately he died in plane accident ; otherwise we would have seen his emergency ruling.
A party which always pretend to be followers of mahathma and protectors of minority killed thousands of sikhs.
If we look at the other National party BJP - it uses a man who lead the killings of thousands of muslims, Gujrat CM Narendra Modi as its TRUMPCARD!!!!
JAI HIND!!
Independence - It is still a dream for lakhs. `British ruled us. They battered the revolutionary movements. They evendid some developmental activities. They looted the country. They helped their supporters and friends and severely punished those who opposed them. Do you find any difference between `british' and present `ruler politicians`?
In the AICC meet recently held congressmen showed that they are loyal to Nehrufamily and they are not ashamed to be called as slaves. Inspite of his weakneses Nehru had poitical experience.But after him? His family enjoyed power without any qualification . Even PM Manmohan Singh praised Rahul and said " he is the future of our country" what a future?!
Indira Gandhi was a famous politician . She showed her hidden face during emergence. Most of us born after emergence; now we are seeing the illefeects of emergency in Pakistan. Elders say that Indian emergency was even worse.
Sanjay Gandhi forcefully vasectomised thousands of men. Unfortunately he died in plane accident ; otherwise we would have seen his emergency ruling.
A party which always pretend to be followers of mahathma and protectors of minority killed thousands of sikhs.
If we look at the other National party BJP - it uses a man who lead the killings of thousands of muslims, Gujrat CM Narendra Modi as its TRUMPCARD!!!!
JAI HIND!!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
AICC MEET and DICTATOR CONGRESS.
Prime minister Manmohan singh said that if the indian economy grows at the present rate then poverty can be eliminated from the country in 10 years.......
He is right!! India is already eliminating poverty not by improving the standards of the poorer section but by eliminating the poor people, when poor people are not alive then where is the question of poverty?
Between 1993 - 2003 1,00,248 farmers have commited suicide in India [ government souces say] but a/c to some it is 9 lakh upto 2007!!!!!! What a way to overcome poverty!!
What should be the qualification to rule [ no politician is leading country i suppose] ? degree , peoples support leadership qualities ? no in congress if you belong to nehru family then you are fit to rule or lead or destroy a country. Now sonia gandhi is super PM , next it will be rahul's chance , according to our PM Rahul represents the youth !!!!!
If this rule holds good everywhere then why i wasted my precious years in getting medical degree , my father is a doctor and i am his son so i also have the right to put Dr. behind my name without reading or passing............ is that acceptable??
He is right!! India is already eliminating poverty not by improving the standards of the poorer section but by eliminating the poor people, when poor people are not alive then where is the question of poverty?
Between 1993 - 2003 1,00,248 farmers have commited suicide in India [ government souces say] but a/c to some it is 9 lakh upto 2007!!!!!! What a way to overcome poverty!!
What should be the qualification to rule [ no politician is leading country i suppose] ? degree , peoples support leadership qualities ? no in congress if you belong to nehru family then you are fit to rule or lead or destroy a country. Now sonia gandhi is super PM , next it will be rahul's chance , according to our PM Rahul represents the youth !!!!!
If this rule holds good everywhere then why i wasted my precious years in getting medical degree , my father is a doctor and i am his son so i also have the right to put Dr. behind my name without reading or passing............ is that acceptable??
Naxalbari to Nandigram
Friday November 16 2007 07:52 IST
V KRISHNA ANANTH
THE CPI(M)’s justification to post CRPF in and around Nandigram was that the Maoists had entrenched themselves there. This is not different from the positions taken by Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Madhu Kora in Jharkhand, Raman Singh in Chattisgarh and Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy in Andhra Pradesh.
The violence by the party’s cadre, aided by the state, against the people of Nandigram and the justification that it was necessary after the Maoists had entrenched themselves in the villages is also the same as Israel’s bulldozing Palestinian homes and shooting at children on grounds that the Hamas is entrenched there.
It is a different matter that the CPI(M) continues to celebrate the Chinese regime (and Mao continues to remain the deity of that regime despite zeal with which it is adopting capitalism) to deny the Tibetans of their right to nationhood.
As is the case of the new generation leaders of the CPC, those in the CPI(M) too seem to have reduced all those books to mere show-pieces rather than read them and internalised some of the thoughts. And that is, indeed, evident from their attitude towards the Maoists and the fact that it is the same as that of the BJP, the Congress(I) and the amoral Madhu Kora.
It makes sense to briefly delve into the history of the Maoists in India. When the CPI(M) teamed up with the Bangla Congress to join the Ajoy Mukherjee Government on March 2, 1967, it seemed to herald a new era in West Bengal. The Bangla Congress leader, Ajoy Mukherjee became the Chief Minister and Jyoti Basu Deputy Chief Minister holding charge of the Home portfolio. Hari Krishna Konar, veteran leader of the peasant movement, became Minister for Land and Land Revenue.
And on March 18, just 16 days after the new Government took over, the CPI(M) leaders of the Siliguri sub-division held a conference of the peasants in the region. One of the prominent leaders of that event was Charu Mazumdar then of the CPI(M) at that time. The conference gave a call for ending monopoly ownership of land by the landlords, redistribution of land through peasants’ committees and arming the peasants to destroy the resistance of landlords to any such mobilisation.
A couple of months afterwards, Konar, in an interview to Ganashakthi (the CPI-M’s Bengali organ) said: “The development of peasants’ initiatives and the advance of organised force would pave the way for further progress.” The veteran Kisan leader’s statement, incidentally, was not very different from the call at the Siliguri conference. Konar pointed out that benami transfers (that the landlords effected to circumvent the laws) and stay orders had scuttled redistribution of 121,000 acres of land, identified as surplus by the Government.
The extent of such land increased to 200,000 acres by September 1969. In the 30 months between March 1967 and September 1969, the United Front Government had collapsed and reconstructed after another election to the State assembly. And from what appeared to be an innocuous conference (Siliguri), a movement had taken shape across West Bengal, in the Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh, in Tamil Nadu and in Kerala.
Charu Mazumdar’s view that the CPI(M) had got stuck in a position from which they would not be able to liberate the landless and the small peasant came to be shared by a number of others in the CPI(M). They were, however, in a minority and hence expelled. All this laid the basis for the foundation of a new party — CPI(ML); even while they committed themselves to Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin (as did the CPI-M), Charu Mazumdar and his comrades insisted that Mao Tse Tung’s thoughts were far more relevant to the Indian condition.
They insisted feudal vestiges remained strong and industrial houses unwilling to battle these vestiges. And they were also of the opinion that the industrial class (the bourgeoisie) was inclined to compromise with foreign monopoly capital rather than confront it; they came to describe the capitalists class in India as comprador.
They identified their task as being anti-feudal and anti-imperialist. It was in this context that a clash broke out between the police and armed villagers near Siliguri on May 23, 1967; the police was sent there to arrest some of the local leaders and Jyoti Basu was the Home Minister.A constable, Sonam Wangdi was killed in the clashes and on May 25, a huge posse of armed policemen sent to Pradjote in Naxalbari, opened fire on the villagers killing nine, including six women and two children.
This was just the beginning and the Sidhartha Shankar Ray regime (1972-77) went about shooting down Naxalites as well as members of the CPI(M) across West Bengal.The CPI(M)’s attitude towards the Naxalites (as Charu Mazumdar and his comrades were identified because the initial stirrings of the movement were in Naxalbari village in North Bengal) was one of antagonism and this in turn led them, while in power, to unleash police against the leaders as well as hapless people.
The violent reaction by the Buddhadeb regime against those leading the struggle against indiscriminate land alienation in the name of development in Nandigram is just one more instance of this.
http://www.newindpress.com/newspages.asp?page=2&Title=Second+Article&
V KRISHNA ANANTH
THE CPI(M)’s justification to post CRPF in and around Nandigram was that the Maoists had entrenched themselves there. This is not different from the positions taken by Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Madhu Kora in Jharkhand, Raman Singh in Chattisgarh and Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy in Andhra Pradesh.
The violence by the party’s cadre, aided by the state, against the people of Nandigram and the justification that it was necessary after the Maoists had entrenched themselves in the villages is also the same as Israel’s bulldozing Palestinian homes and shooting at children on grounds that the Hamas is entrenched there.
It is a different matter that the CPI(M) continues to celebrate the Chinese regime (and Mao continues to remain the deity of that regime despite zeal with which it is adopting capitalism) to deny the Tibetans of their right to nationhood.
As is the case of the new generation leaders of the CPC, those in the CPI(M) too seem to have reduced all those books to mere show-pieces rather than read them and internalised some of the thoughts. And that is, indeed, evident from their attitude towards the Maoists and the fact that it is the same as that of the BJP, the Congress(I) and the amoral Madhu Kora.
It makes sense to briefly delve into the history of the Maoists in India. When the CPI(M) teamed up with the Bangla Congress to join the Ajoy Mukherjee Government on March 2, 1967, it seemed to herald a new era in West Bengal. The Bangla Congress leader, Ajoy Mukherjee became the Chief Minister and Jyoti Basu Deputy Chief Minister holding charge of the Home portfolio. Hari Krishna Konar, veteran leader of the peasant movement, became Minister for Land and Land Revenue.
And on March 18, just 16 days after the new Government took over, the CPI(M) leaders of the Siliguri sub-division held a conference of the peasants in the region. One of the prominent leaders of that event was Charu Mazumdar then of the CPI(M) at that time. The conference gave a call for ending monopoly ownership of land by the landlords, redistribution of land through peasants’ committees and arming the peasants to destroy the resistance of landlords to any such mobilisation.
A couple of months afterwards, Konar, in an interview to Ganashakthi (the CPI-M’s Bengali organ) said: “The development of peasants’ initiatives and the advance of organised force would pave the way for further progress.” The veteran Kisan leader’s statement, incidentally, was not very different from the call at the Siliguri conference. Konar pointed out that benami transfers (that the landlords effected to circumvent the laws) and stay orders had scuttled redistribution of 121,000 acres of land, identified as surplus by the Government.
The extent of such land increased to 200,000 acres by September 1969. In the 30 months between March 1967 and September 1969, the United Front Government had collapsed and reconstructed after another election to the State assembly. And from what appeared to be an innocuous conference (Siliguri), a movement had taken shape across West Bengal, in the Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh, in Tamil Nadu and in Kerala.
Charu Mazumdar’s view that the CPI(M) had got stuck in a position from which they would not be able to liberate the landless and the small peasant came to be shared by a number of others in the CPI(M). They were, however, in a minority and hence expelled. All this laid the basis for the foundation of a new party — CPI(ML); even while they committed themselves to Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin (as did the CPI-M), Charu Mazumdar and his comrades insisted that Mao Tse Tung’s thoughts were far more relevant to the Indian condition.
They insisted feudal vestiges remained strong and industrial houses unwilling to battle these vestiges. And they were also of the opinion that the industrial class (the bourgeoisie) was inclined to compromise with foreign monopoly capital rather than confront it; they came to describe the capitalists class in India as comprador.
They identified their task as being anti-feudal and anti-imperialist. It was in this context that a clash broke out between the police and armed villagers near Siliguri on May 23, 1967; the police was sent there to arrest some of the local leaders and Jyoti Basu was the Home Minister.A constable, Sonam Wangdi was killed in the clashes and on May 25, a huge posse of armed policemen sent to Pradjote in Naxalbari, opened fire on the villagers killing nine, including six women and two children.
This was just the beginning and the Sidhartha Shankar Ray regime (1972-77) went about shooting down Naxalites as well as members of the CPI(M) across West Bengal.The CPI(M)’s attitude towards the Naxalites (as Charu Mazumdar and his comrades were identified because the initial stirrings of the movement were in Naxalbari village in North Bengal) was one of antagonism and this in turn led them, while in power, to unleash police against the leaders as well as hapless people.
The violent reaction by the Buddhadeb regime against those leading the struggle against indiscriminate land alienation in the name of development in Nandigram is just one more instance of this.
http://www.newindpress.com/newspages.asp?page=2&Title=Second+Article&
Friday, November 16, 2007
Court slams Bengal govt for Nandigram killings
source:-ibn
New Delhi: The Calcutta High Court hearing a PIL filed on the March 14 Nandigram killings on Friday rejected all arguments made by the West Bengal government.
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court, comprising Chief Justic S S Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh, calling the police firing unconstitutional and avoidable, ordered the state government to pay a compensation of no less than Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of those killed.
The bench also ordered Rs 5 lakh as compensation for those killed in the violence and Rs 2 lakh to those raped and molested.
When asked about the High Court's order on compensation, Home Secretary P R Roy said, "The government has to abide by the court order on compensation."
The court also directed CBI to continue the inquiry into the incident and submit a report in a month's time.
"The division bench also made it unequivocally clear that it had the power to order a CBI inquiry on its own under Article 226 of the Constitution," Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhay, who had filed a number of Public Interest Litigations on behalf of the victims' families, told reporters.
The verdict comes a day after the High Court lawyers boycotted proceedings protesting the delay in giving the ruling.
"We have boycotted the High Court because the hearing of the PIL filed by the High Court Bar Association on the March 14 Nandigram killing was over in July this year, but the Chief Justice has been delaying the verdict," PTI quoted Secretary of HCBA Uttam Majumdar as saying.
Such was the agitation that the lawyers even took out a procession and demanded immediate action on the matter.
High Court sources told the agencies that the verdict was, in fact, to be delivered on Thursday itself but the death of a judge forced the postponement.
Meanwhile, the state government is trying to rally support on its role in Nandigram, but with little success.
While the intellectuals took to the street against the Nandigram violence on Wednesday, a CPI-M rally backed by government justified the violent.
(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: The Calcutta High Court hearing a PIL filed on the March 14 Nandigram killings on Friday rejected all arguments made by the West Bengal government.
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court, comprising Chief Justic S S Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh, calling the police firing unconstitutional and avoidable, ordered the state government to pay a compensation of no less than Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of those killed.
The bench also ordered Rs 5 lakh as compensation for those killed in the violence and Rs 2 lakh to those raped and molested.
When asked about the High Court's order on compensation, Home Secretary P R Roy said, "The government has to abide by the court order on compensation."
The court also directed CBI to continue the inquiry into the incident and submit a report in a month's time.
"The division bench also made it unequivocally clear that it had the power to order a CBI inquiry on its own under Article 226 of the Constitution," Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhay, who had filed a number of Public Interest Litigations on behalf of the victims' families, told reporters.
The verdict comes a day after the High Court lawyers boycotted proceedings protesting the delay in giving the ruling.
"We have boycotted the High Court because the hearing of the PIL filed by the High Court Bar Association on the March 14 Nandigram killing was over in July this year, but the Chief Justice has been delaying the verdict," PTI quoted Secretary of HCBA Uttam Majumdar as saying.
Such was the agitation that the lawyers even took out a procession and demanded immediate action on the matter.
High Court sources told the agencies that the verdict was, in fact, to be delivered on Thursday itself but the death of a judge forced the postponement.
Meanwhile, the state government is trying to rally support on its role in Nandigram, but with little success.
While the intellectuals took to the street against the Nandigram violence on Wednesday, a CPI-M rally backed by government justified the violent.
(With PTI inputs)
Calcutta HC asks CBI to continue probe, announces compensation
source:-hindu
Kolkata (PTI): The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the CBI to continue the inquiry into March 14 Nandigram police firing and violence and submit a report within a month.
A division bench comprising Chief Justic S S Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh, while delivering the order, said the police action on the day was not justifiable before the court.
The court also said the state government should give compensation package to those killed, injured, raped and molested at Nandigram on March 14.
It said that a compensation of no less than Rs 10 lakhs be given to the next of kin of those killed, not less than Rs 5 lakhs for those injured, not less than Rs 8 lakhs for those raped and not less than Rs 2 lakhs for those molested.
After the March 14 incident, the chief justice had suo moto initiated a case and asked the CBI to probe the police firing and violence and submit a report within a week.
Since then 10 more PILs were filed and the hearing on them completed in July.
Kolkata (PTI): The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the CBI to continue the inquiry into March 14 Nandigram police firing and violence and submit a report within a month.
A division bench comprising Chief Justic S S Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh, while delivering the order, said the police action on the day was not justifiable before the court.
The court also said the state government should give compensation package to those killed, injured, raped and molested at Nandigram on March 14.
It said that a compensation of no less than Rs 10 lakhs be given to the next of kin of those killed, not less than Rs 5 lakhs for those injured, not less than Rs 8 lakhs for those raped and not less than Rs 2 lakhs for those molested.
After the March 14 incident, the chief justice had suo moto initiated a case and asked the CBI to probe the police firing and violence and submit a report within a week.
Since then 10 more PILs were filed and the hearing on them completed in July.
It’s all just "fine" in Nandigram!
source
Rajib Chatterjee
NANDIGRAM, Nov. 15:
Pay money, if you want to stay in your home or face the consequences. This is the dictum of the CPI-M cadres in Nandigram who have now started imposing fine on Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Committee supporters (BUPC) instead of driving them out of their villages. Those who failed to pay were forced to leave their homes.
Sheikh Mosu, a resident of Osmanchowk village, was instructed to pay Rs 10,000 as fine for supporting the BUPC. He was driven out of his villages after Mosu, who works as a daily wage earner, expressed his helplessness. “Now I’m staying in the relief camp. They (CPI-M men) have threatened to kill me if I dared to enter the village. They told me that fine must be paid, otherwise I wouldn’t be allowed to stay home,” said Mosu.
“Mr Prajapati Jana, a resident of Garchakraberia, is in trouble. CPI-M cadres allegedly ordered him to pay Rs 10,000 to stay home or face the consequences. He has been running from pillar to post to collect the money,” said Sheikh Sufiyan, a BUPC member.
The condition of Mr Lakshman Maity, a resident of Subanichowk, is somewhat the same. He was ordered to pay Rs 30,000 to stay home. The offence of Mr Jana and Mr Maity is that they supported the BUPC’s movement, said Mr Sufiyan. Mr Sriram Chandra Mondal, a resident of Sonachura, came to the relief camp today.
“Local CPI-M men drove me out of my house on 11 November as I failed to pay a fine of Rs 30,000. I came to the relief camp after persuasion failed.” Many others like Mr Mondal and Mosu had to leave their homes after they failed to pay up. They are so scared that they didn’t even go to police. “The matter has been brought to the notice of policemen, but they remained silent,” said Mr Sufiyan.
The BUPC leader said Mr Manas Maiti and Mr Bhaja Maity, two residents of Daudpore, who had returned to their homes this morning came back to the relief camp in the evening. “They were beaten up after they expressed their inability to pay Rs 30,000’’, said Mr Sufiyan.
Rajib Chatterjee
NANDIGRAM, Nov. 15:
Pay money, if you want to stay in your home or face the consequences. This is the dictum of the CPI-M cadres in Nandigram who have now started imposing fine on Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Committee supporters (BUPC) instead of driving them out of their villages. Those who failed to pay were forced to leave their homes.
Sheikh Mosu, a resident of Osmanchowk village, was instructed to pay Rs 10,000 as fine for supporting the BUPC. He was driven out of his villages after Mosu, who works as a daily wage earner, expressed his helplessness. “Now I’m staying in the relief camp. They (CPI-M men) have threatened to kill me if I dared to enter the village. They told me that fine must be paid, otherwise I wouldn’t be allowed to stay home,” said Mosu.
“Mr Prajapati Jana, a resident of Garchakraberia, is in trouble. CPI-M cadres allegedly ordered him to pay Rs 10,000 to stay home or face the consequences. He has been running from pillar to post to collect the money,” said Sheikh Sufiyan, a BUPC member.
The condition of Mr Lakshman Maity, a resident of Subanichowk, is somewhat the same. He was ordered to pay Rs 30,000 to stay home. The offence of Mr Jana and Mr Maity is that they supported the BUPC’s movement, said Mr Sufiyan. Mr Sriram Chandra Mondal, a resident of Sonachura, came to the relief camp today.
“Local CPI-M men drove me out of my house on 11 November as I failed to pay a fine of Rs 30,000. I came to the relief camp after persuasion failed.” Many others like Mr Mondal and Mosu had to leave their homes after they failed to pay up. They are so scared that they didn’t even go to police. “The matter has been brought to the notice of policemen, but they remained silent,” said Mr Sufiyan.
The BUPC leader said Mr Manas Maiti and Mr Bhaja Maity, two residents of Daudpore, who had returned to their homes this morning came back to the relief camp in the evening. “They were beaten up after they expressed their inability to pay Rs 30,000’’, said Mr Sufiyan.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
CRPF enters Nandigram
source:-hindu
Nandigram (PTI): Despite being prevented by CPI-Marxist supporters from entering Nandigram, CRPF personnel on Monday marched to the violence-ravaged village, but their number was not specified.
West Bengal IGP (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said in Kolkata that the CRPF force had entered Nandigram, but could not specify their number.
The central force went to the Nandigram police station and would be deployed as per plans, police sources here said.
East Midnapore district Superintendent of Police S Panda said the district police would assist the para-military force.
"There will be no problem in joint coordination with the CRPF," the SP said, adding that a total of five companies of the central force were scheduled to arrive at Nandigram.
Home Secretary P R Roy also said that of the 500 CRPF personnel who had arrived in the state, about 100 had entered Nandigram. He said 200 more central forces personnel were expected to arrive in the state in a couple of days.
Asked why no one was being allowed to enter Nandigram, he said "you know the situation. Even the CRPF is not being allowed in".
Earlier, CRPF Director-General S I S Ahmed met Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee at the Writers' Buildings in Kolkata.
Three companies of the CRPF had to return on Sunday night to Tamluk, the district headquarters, after being stopped by CPI(M) supporters blocking roads.
Panda admitted that the CRPF men were prevented by CPI(M) supporters and had to return from there.
Nandigram (PTI): Despite being prevented by CPI-Marxist supporters from entering Nandigram, CRPF personnel on Monday marched to the violence-ravaged village, but their number was not specified.
West Bengal IGP (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said in Kolkata that the CRPF force had entered Nandigram, but could not specify their number.
The central force went to the Nandigram police station and would be deployed as per plans, police sources here said.
East Midnapore district Superintendent of Police S Panda said the district police would assist the para-military force.
"There will be no problem in joint coordination with the CRPF," the SP said, adding that a total of five companies of the central force were scheduled to arrive at Nandigram.
Home Secretary P R Roy also said that of the 500 CRPF personnel who had arrived in the state, about 100 had entered Nandigram. He said 200 more central forces personnel were expected to arrive in the state in a couple of days.
Asked why no one was being allowed to enter Nandigram, he said "you know the situation. Even the CRPF is not being allowed in".
Earlier, CRPF Director-General S I S Ahmed met Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee at the Writers' Buildings in Kolkata.
Three companies of the CRPF had to return on Sunday night to Tamluk, the district headquarters, after being stopped by CPI(M) supporters blocking roads.
Panda admitted that the CRPF men were prevented by CPI(M) supporters and had to return from there.
SUCI stages protest
source
MYSORE: Protesting against what they described as atrocities against farmers of Nandigram by the CPI(M)-led Government in West Bengal, activists of the district unit of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) staged a demonstration at K.R. Circle here on Monday.
The activists raised slogans against the Left Front Government, which, according to them, is forcing farmers to give up their land for the proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in their area.
Speaking on the occasion, SUCI district convener M. Shashidhar said that noted personalities, writers and intellectuals had condemned the atrocities. . Leaders, including M. Umadevi and B. Ravi, participated in the protest.
MYSORE: Protesting against what they described as atrocities against farmers of Nandigram by the CPI(M)-led Government in West Bengal, activists of the district unit of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) staged a demonstration at K.R. Circle here on Monday.
The activists raised slogans against the Left Front Government, which, according to them, is forcing farmers to give up their land for the proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in their area.
Speaking on the occasion, SUCI district convener M. Shashidhar said that noted personalities, writers and intellectuals had condemned the atrocities. . Leaders, including M. Umadevi and B. Ravi, participated in the protest.
Police, naxalites exchange fire in Udupi
Manipal (PTI): A group of six naxalites and police/Anti-Naxal-Force (ANF) exchanged fire in the thick forest at Kothagundi near Shankaranarayana in Udupi district of Karnataka early on Tuesday, police said.
A police official clarified that two naxalites, who were suspected to be injured in the incident, were not hurt and all of them escaped.
The sources said during a routine joint combing operation,the group including two women was spotted and they were immediately surrounded by police and ANF.
Police said a gun, cartridges and utensils were recovered from the spot, adding, intense combing operations were continuing in the area.
source
A police official clarified that two naxalites, who were suspected to be injured in the incident, were not hurt and all of them escaped.
The sources said during a routine joint combing operation,the group including two women was spotted and they were immediately surrounded by police and ANF.
Police said a gun, cartridges and utensils were recovered from the spot, adding, intense combing operations were continuing in the area.
source
Monday, November 12, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
NAXALS MOVE TO CITIES
11/10/2007 3:01:19 PM
'Times Now' has acquired a top secret Intelligence Bureau report that says that the Naxals now have a systematic urban plan. The report indicates that the Naxal groups are advancing beyond their usual training and breeding grounds and moving to the cities.
The report cites SEZ unrest as a fuel for Naxal activity and that Naxals are misguiding displaced migrants in cities towards extremism. It's not an urban plan that involves the regions known to be the red corridor but that newer areas are being explored. For instance the mineral belt of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal are being seen as new targets for Naxals. Economic corridors surrounding Mumbai, NCR are also on the radar. What is most alarming is that the Naxal units are now stepping up on their intelligence gathering and techological upgradation.
The IB report indicates that Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai are being looked at as breeding points. Naxals have apparently set up seperate units for gathering critical intelligence.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Medha Patkar's convoy attacked in Nandigram
source:-NDTV
Thursday, November 8, 2007 (Kolkata)
Social activist Medha Patkar was on Thursday assaulted allegedly by CPI(M) activists at Kapaseberia in East Midnapore district while on her way to strife-torn Nandigram.
''There were CPI(M) men carrying red flags who blocked my car and some other vehicles which were going along with mine to Nandigram. I was hit on the face and they tried to pull my hair and was about to drag me out of the car,'' Patkar said over the phone from the spot.
Patkar said she and her associates squatted on the road in protest against the attack.Inspector General of Police (Law and Order), West Bengal, Raj Kanojia said in Kolkata that one of the vehicles in Patkar's convoy was damaged. It's been three days since the clashes in Nandigram erupted but the tension has not died down. Although no fresh clashes have been reported so far, another body was found floating in the Chandipur canal on Thursday morning, taking the number of dead to 5.
According to the anti-SEZ group involved in the clashes, the body is that of a CPI-M supporter.A turf war between CPI-M and Trinamool workers has claimed five lives, left thousands homeless and dozens injured and now all roads to the city are blocked.
Citizens who had demonstrated for an enquiry into the Rizwanur case have now found a new cause.
Candlelight vigil
A candlelight vigil began at 6 pm on Wednesday and will continue for the next 100 hours, demanding the restoration of peace in the troubled war zone. The venue for the vigil is not far from where the vigil was held for Rizwanur, outside St Xavier's College.
The 100-hour vigil has been started by the same group of people who went on a vigil for Rizwanur. It worked last time and are hoping the initiative will work again.''The message is again that we need peace in Nandigram.
No political statement, no political message, no political demand but very simple peace in Nandigram. It is a very big irony that India should be at peace but Nandigram should be at war,'' said Mudar Patharya, Investment analyst.
Initial response last evening was a mere trickle. But as word about the vigil gets around, organisers are sure more Kolkatans will join in the stand for peace.
People of Kolkata do not want to just sit back at home and see what is happening on TV screens. They want that, whosoever does the administration, at least bring peace and look after the people in the village.
The first and last time a candlelight vigil was held in Kolkata was in the Rizwanur Rehman case where the public demanded a CBI inquiry into his death. They got what they wanted. This time it is a call for peace in Nandigram, a message they hope politicians and administrators in the state will hear.(With PTI inputs]
Thursday, November 8, 2007 (Kolkata)
Social activist Medha Patkar was on Thursday assaulted allegedly by CPI(M) activists at Kapaseberia in East Midnapore district while on her way to strife-torn Nandigram.
''There were CPI(M) men carrying red flags who blocked my car and some other vehicles which were going along with mine to Nandigram. I was hit on the face and they tried to pull my hair and was about to drag me out of the car,'' Patkar said over the phone from the spot.
Patkar said she and her associates squatted on the road in protest against the attack.Inspector General of Police (Law and Order), West Bengal, Raj Kanojia said in Kolkata that one of the vehicles in Patkar's convoy was damaged. It's been three days since the clashes in Nandigram erupted but the tension has not died down. Although no fresh clashes have been reported so far, another body was found floating in the Chandipur canal on Thursday morning, taking the number of dead to 5.
According to the anti-SEZ group involved in the clashes, the body is that of a CPI-M supporter.A turf war between CPI-M and Trinamool workers has claimed five lives, left thousands homeless and dozens injured and now all roads to the city are blocked.
Citizens who had demonstrated for an enquiry into the Rizwanur case have now found a new cause.
Candlelight vigil
A candlelight vigil began at 6 pm on Wednesday and will continue for the next 100 hours, demanding the restoration of peace in the troubled war zone. The venue for the vigil is not far from where the vigil was held for Rizwanur, outside St Xavier's College.
The 100-hour vigil has been started by the same group of people who went on a vigil for Rizwanur. It worked last time and are hoping the initiative will work again.''The message is again that we need peace in Nandigram.
No political statement, no political message, no political demand but very simple peace in Nandigram. It is a very big irony that India should be at peace but Nandigram should be at war,'' said Mudar Patharya, Investment analyst.
Initial response last evening was a mere trickle. But as word about the vigil gets around, organisers are sure more Kolkatans will join in the stand for peace.
People of Kolkata do not want to just sit back at home and see what is happening on TV screens. They want that, whosoever does the administration, at least bring peace and look after the people in the village.
The first and last time a candlelight vigil was held in Kolkata was in the Rizwanur Rehman case where the public demanded a CBI inquiry into his death. They got what they wanted. This time it is a call for peace in Nandigram, a message they hope politicians and administrators in the state will hear.(With PTI inputs]
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
LUMPENISED COMMUNISTS ATTACK ON PEASANTS.
Statesman News Service
MIDNAPORE/KOLKATA, Nov. 5: Hundreds of CPI-M gunmen rained bombs and fired shots at Nandigram areas from Khejuri side this evening. Bhumi Uchched Protirodh Committee leader Mr Swadesh Adhikari alleged that CPI-M cadres had called their colleagues to join them in their attack on the BUPC and reinforce their presence in the area. The CPI-M’s intention, it seems, is to capture Nandigram before the arrival of Central forces this week. This has created panic among the BUPC leaders who have alerted their supporters to remain on guard throughout the night on the Khejuri-Nandigram border to counter Red rampage, Mr Adhikary said. The BUPC leader, Mr Nanda Patra, lodged a complaint with the Nandigram police in this regard around 11 p.m. SP Mr SS Panda said he had not yet received any message about the incident from Nandigram police station nor from the BUPC. “But what can the police do in the midst of gunfire between rival groups at night,” the SP argued. Earlier this morning, violence flared up in Nandigram when CPI-M activists, holed up in Khejuri, attacked BUPC supporters at the Tekhali bridge. Around 4.30 a.m. nearly 500 armed men tried to cross the Talpati canal and enter Nandigram. They fired in the air and threw bombs. Alarmed by the attack, BUPC members, guarding the bridge, blew conch shells. Within minutes over 3,000 villagers from all over the area rushed towards the bridge and formed a human wall to block the advancement of CPI-M invaders. Following this the attackers retreated. Another attack was launched around 10.30 a.m. Police remained silent spectators. Five rounds were fired and bombs thrown. However, this attack was foiled after people rushed in from Nandigram and two rounds were fired in retaliation. The Trinamul Congress organised a rally in Reyapara, a CPI-M stronghold, following which Left supporters evacuated the area. Five shots were fired and two bombs exploded at Khejuri. The state government today said Central forces requisitioned by it would be under its command. The IG Western Range Mr Arun Gupta, who was present at Nandigram on the day of the carnage, was transferred today. Home secretary Mr PR Roy said: “Any Central agency coming in functions under state command. Do you think they (Central forces) would be willing to commit anything illegal while following our orders? If bullets are fired from both directions, is the CRPF going to retaliate only in one direction?’’ Meanwhile, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said at a CPI-M meeting in Howrah that the government had wanted to make Nandigram another Haldia but failed to convince the people. Apprehending a genocide in Nandigram at the behest of the state police, Trinamul leader Miss Mamata Banerjee warned the government of serious consequences.
MIDNAPORE/KOLKATA, Nov. 5: Hundreds of CPI-M gunmen rained bombs and fired shots at Nandigram areas from Khejuri side this evening. Bhumi Uchched Protirodh Committee leader Mr Swadesh Adhikari alleged that CPI-M cadres had called their colleagues to join them in their attack on the BUPC and reinforce their presence in the area. The CPI-M’s intention, it seems, is to capture Nandigram before the arrival of Central forces this week. This has created panic among the BUPC leaders who have alerted their supporters to remain on guard throughout the night on the Khejuri-Nandigram border to counter Red rampage, Mr Adhikary said. The BUPC leader, Mr Nanda Patra, lodged a complaint with the Nandigram police in this regard around 11 p.m. SP Mr SS Panda said he had not yet received any message about the incident from Nandigram police station nor from the BUPC. “But what can the police do in the midst of gunfire between rival groups at night,” the SP argued. Earlier this morning, violence flared up in Nandigram when CPI-M activists, holed up in Khejuri, attacked BUPC supporters at the Tekhali bridge. Around 4.30 a.m. nearly 500 armed men tried to cross the Talpati canal and enter Nandigram. They fired in the air and threw bombs. Alarmed by the attack, BUPC members, guarding the bridge, blew conch shells. Within minutes over 3,000 villagers from all over the area rushed towards the bridge and formed a human wall to block the advancement of CPI-M invaders. Following this the attackers retreated. Another attack was launched around 10.30 a.m. Police remained silent spectators. Five rounds were fired and bombs thrown. However, this attack was foiled after people rushed in from Nandigram and two rounds were fired in retaliation. The Trinamul Congress organised a rally in Reyapara, a CPI-M stronghold, following which Left supporters evacuated the area. Five shots were fired and two bombs exploded at Khejuri. The state government today said Central forces requisitioned by it would be under its command. The IG Western Range Mr Arun Gupta, who was present at Nandigram on the day of the carnage, was transferred today. Home secretary Mr PR Roy said: “Any Central agency coming in functions under state command. Do you think they (Central forces) would be willing to commit anything illegal while following our orders? If bullets are fired from both directions, is the CRPF going to retaliate only in one direction?’’ Meanwhile, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said at a CPI-M meeting in Howrah that the government had wanted to make Nandigram another Haldia but failed to convince the people. Apprehending a genocide in Nandigram at the behest of the state police, Trinamul leader Miss Mamata Banerjee warned the government of serious consequences.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
COMMUNIST PARTY WILL RESIST MARTIAL LAW OR EMERGENCY IN PAKISTAN
RECIEVED VIA MAIL
(ISLAMABAD – 3RD NOVEMBER 2007) Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) will resist Martial Law or emergency if imposed in Pakistan. The armed struggle would be launched against the Government if Martial Law is now imposed fifth time by the Army and General Musharraf and in case of emergency, the CPP will challenge the imposition of emergency in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
This was stated in a policy statement by the Central Chairman of the Communist Party of Pakistan, Engineer Jameel Ahmad Malik here today. He said Quaid-e-Azam has not created Pakistan for the rule of military.
He said that if the Army and General Pervaz Musharraf would follow unconstitutional steps by imposing Martial Law in the country in the coming days, the Communist Party would then leave the path of democratic norms and would resist the Martial Law tooth and nail by launching arms struggle against the Martial Law in whole of Pakistan.
The CPP Chairman vehemently stressed and said that the Army and General Musharraf, who are ruling this country on one pretext or the others for almost 35 years out of 60 years since independence of Pakistan from British Empire in 1947, has now in fact lost the credibility in the eyes of the down trodden and poor masses of Pakistan.
They are now ruling the country with the help of elites and those politicians, who are in fact traders and ‘turn coats’ politicians, for whom people have no respect for them at all.
The turn coats politicians like the President Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and others, who are supporting Military regimes and General Musharraf are warning the public that if the Supreme Court gives an anti judgment concerning the controversial Presidential election of General Musharraf, martial law or emergency would be imposed in Pakistan.
In fact by such like statements, they want to pressurize the Supreme Court of Pakistan for deciding the Musharraf’s case in his favour keeping the law of necessity. It is a message to Supreme Court by them not to decide the Justice (Retd) Wajid-ud-din Ahmad petition’s against General Musharraf on merits.
CPP fully supports the armed struggle launched by the communists in various countries of the world. Engineer Jameel said that the arms struggle by the communists in Nepal against the monarchy is near to end now and the communists will soon over throw the monarchy for ever in Nepal.
(ISLAMABAD – 3RD NOVEMBER 2007) Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) will resist Martial Law or emergency if imposed in Pakistan. The armed struggle would be launched against the Government if Martial Law is now imposed fifth time by the Army and General Musharraf and in case of emergency, the CPP will challenge the imposition of emergency in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
This was stated in a policy statement by the Central Chairman of the Communist Party of Pakistan, Engineer Jameel Ahmad Malik here today. He said Quaid-e-Azam has not created Pakistan for the rule of military.
He said that if the Army and General Pervaz Musharraf would follow unconstitutional steps by imposing Martial Law in the country in the coming days, the Communist Party would then leave the path of democratic norms and would resist the Martial Law tooth and nail by launching arms struggle against the Martial Law in whole of Pakistan.
The CPP Chairman vehemently stressed and said that the Army and General Musharraf, who are ruling this country on one pretext or the others for almost 35 years out of 60 years since independence of Pakistan from British Empire in 1947, has now in fact lost the credibility in the eyes of the down trodden and poor masses of Pakistan.
They are now ruling the country with the help of elites and those politicians, who are in fact traders and ‘turn coats’ politicians, for whom people have no respect for them at all.
The turn coats politicians like the President Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and others, who are supporting Military regimes and General Musharraf are warning the public that if the Supreme Court gives an anti judgment concerning the controversial Presidential election of General Musharraf, martial law or emergency would be imposed in Pakistan.
In fact by such like statements, they want to pressurize the Supreme Court of Pakistan for deciding the Musharraf’s case in his favour keeping the law of necessity. It is a message to Supreme Court by them not to decide the Justice (Retd) Wajid-ud-din Ahmad petition’s against General Musharraf on merits.
CPP fully supports the armed struggle launched by the communists in various countries of the world. Engineer Jameel said that the arms struggle by the communists in Nepal against the monarchy is near to end now and the communists will soon over throw the monarchy for ever in Nepal.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.
"Survival of the fittest " - this is the rule in forests. young and energetic animals should survive because they are fit and diseased and old animals die as they are unable to find their food. We have come far from that forest laws and that rule shouldn't hold good for us. We can't let die our old parents just because they are old.
But in the world of globalisation the things are changing. "Everyone shold live" - policy is gradually disappearing. You ask supporters of big malls, they say that ` those who are fit they will survive in the market. Malls have the capacity and they will do it. If a owner of a petty shop cannot compete let him close his shop. We are not responsible and least bothered'.
If `survival of the fittest' becomes the human policy then how can we punish gangsters,murderers? Even they can utter the same words " we know how to kill and how to ake hafta and we are fit to do it" can we let them off by applying fitness formula?
We should grow, ofcourse a little bit more than our competitors but the competition shouldn't end in the death of our competitor.
But in the world of globalisation the things are changing. "Everyone shold live" - policy is gradually disappearing. You ask supporters of big malls, they say that ` those who are fit they will survive in the market. Malls have the capacity and they will do it. If a owner of a petty shop cannot compete let him close his shop. We are not responsible and least bothered'.
If `survival of the fittest' becomes the human policy then how can we punish gangsters,murderers? Even they can utter the same words " we know how to kill and how to ake hafta and we are fit to do it" can we let them off by applying fitness formula?
We should grow, ofcourse a little bit more than our competitors but the competition shouldn't end in the death of our competitor.
Interview with Maoist leader Ram Bahadur Thapa in Nepal
“I stand with the revolution"
28 October
MIN BAJRACHARYA
By raising demands on the eve of the constituent assembly elections, the Maoists are accused of being against polls. Why are you going against the very agenda you raised? On a superficial level, it looks like the CPN-M was behind the delay in elections. But if you take a closer look, you’ll see that the NC and other parties are the main culprits. Take a look at our demands, and see if they are legitimate or not. The parties are responsible for the election postponement because they refused to budge. Don’t you see that you are endangering the peace process and a return to war? We have seen that danger. If the government tries to suppress our peaceful revolution with weapons then it will be clear that they have no desire to hold elections or change to a republic. I don’t think they’ll make such a stupid move. But history has shown that in extreme cases, people do resort to stupidity. So we haven’t dismissed that possibility. In the span of one-and-a-half years, what have you accomplished and what have you lost? Our recently concluded fifth plenum answers this question. There were forces that tried to isolate us by labelling us terrorists. They have failed. The middle class no longer misunderstands us and we have established international relations. But there have also been losses. We have had trouble making the changes we wanted. We failed to make the people understand many of our agreements. Regressive forces have made use of that. Our weaknesses in madhesi, janjati and republican issues have been exposed.
Are you a hardliner? No. There are right-wingers, middle-of-the- roaders, and leftist factions in our own party and they are in constant conflict. So where do you stand among those factions? We are revolutionaries and I fall into that category. Our party follows the revolutionary code. I am on the side of revolution and if the party line goes against my beliefs, then I will stand with the revolution. It is said that you have tried to establish yourself against Chairman Prachanda. That is also part of a conspiracy. I do not surface in public much, and that is my weakness. This rumour has spread because certain factions wish it. You have said that you do not want a republic like that in Iraq or Sikkim. We want a Nepali republic, where Nepalis make the decisions. Foreign help will be required, but not foreign direction. If foreigners try to direct us instead of just helping us, it will be an attack on our national integrity. You have maintained that there is an Indian hand in everything, but we do not see you opposing it. Our line on India is clear. There are many treaties and agreements with Nepal that need to be changed. We don’t want to ruin our relationship with India, we want to make it better in the future. But our party will oppose India’s incorrect actions. Certain factions in India are hatching a conspiracy against the movement of the Nepali people. This is an attack on our independence. The madhesi incidents are also anti-national.
MIN BAJRACHARYA
By raising demands on the eve of the constituent assembly elections, the Maoists are accused of being against polls. Why are you going against the very agenda you raised? On a superficial level, it looks like the CPN-M was behind the delay in elections. But if you take a closer look, you’ll see that the NC and other parties are the main culprits. Take a look at our demands, and see if they are legitimate or not. The parties are responsible for the election postponement because they refused to budge. Don’t you see that you are endangering the peace process and a return to war? We have seen that danger. If the government tries to suppress our peaceful revolution with weapons then it will be clear that they have no desire to hold elections or change to a republic. I don’t think they’ll make such a stupid move. But history has shown that in extreme cases, people do resort to stupidity. So we haven’t dismissed that possibility. In the span of one-and-a-half years, what have you accomplished and what have you lost? Our recently concluded fifth plenum answers this question. There were forces that tried to isolate us by labelling us terrorists. They have failed. The middle class no longer misunderstands us and we have established international relations. But there have also been losses. We have had trouble making the changes we wanted. We failed to make the people understand many of our agreements. Regressive forces have made use of that. Our weaknesses in madhesi, janjati and republican issues have been exposed.
Are you a hardliner? No. There are right-wingers, middle-of-the- roaders, and leftist factions in our own party and they are in constant conflict. So where do you stand among those factions? We are revolutionaries and I fall into that category. Our party follows the revolutionary code. I am on the side of revolution and if the party line goes against my beliefs, then I will stand with the revolution. It is said that you have tried to establish yourself against Chairman Prachanda. That is also part of a conspiracy. I do not surface in public much, and that is my weakness. This rumour has spread because certain factions wish it. You have said that you do not want a republic like that in Iraq or Sikkim. We want a Nepali republic, where Nepalis make the decisions. Foreign help will be required, but not foreign direction. If foreigners try to direct us instead of just helping us, it will be an attack on our national integrity. You have maintained that there is an Indian hand in everything, but we do not see you opposing it. Our line on India is clear. There are many treaties and agreements with Nepal that need to be changed. We don’t want to ruin our relationship with India, we want to make it better in the future. But our party will oppose India’s incorrect actions. Certain factions in India are hatching a conspiracy against the movement of the Nepali people. This is an attack on our independence. The madhesi incidents are also anti-national.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Poor But Defiant, Thousands March on Delhi in Fight for Land Rights
source
The rush to industrialize has left tribal people and 'untouchables' far behind.
On a hot, dusty highway some 40 miles (70km) from Delhi, a human column snakes its way towards the Indian capital carrying a unique message of defiance to the country's leaders: "Give us back our land." Some 25,000 of India's poorest people - tribal peoples, "untouchables" and landless laborers - have stopped traffic for nearly three weeks on the road that links Delhi and Agra, home to the Taj Mahal. Headed by a group of chanting Buddhist monks, the marchers say they aim to shame the government into keeping its promise to redistribute land. The human train has been eating, living and washing by the road since early October and by the end of the week will arrive at the Indian parliament, vowing to remain a public embarrassment until the government relents. Last week three marchers were killed by a speeding lorry. With fists and voices raised, the scene is a world away from Indian newspaper headlines about the country's new luxury goods market or its soaring stock markets. Nowhere is this process of concentrating wealth in a tiny segment of the population more visible than in the ground beneath Indians' feet. India has one of most iniquitous systems of land ownership in the world - much worse than China. Last week India's biggest real estate baron made a paper fortune of £500m in a day. Government figures show that the average expenditure of countryside household India to be just 500 rupees a month or about 20p a day. Most of the marchers say their dire condition is because they have no patta (deeds) to their land. Unable to grow produce on their ancestral land and with no patta to access state welfare services, the villagers are now fighting a losing war against poverty. "I haven't got any rights on my land," said Prem Bai from the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. "I have got four boys and can hardly manage the family with few days' work labouring on other's fields. If we go to forests then the forest department arrests us. Our life is very difficult." Others say their land is being grabbed by local mafias and corrupt officials. Shikari Baiga, 25, says land his family was cultivating was grabbed by local officials to grow biofuels on. Hailing from the Baiga tribe, a people with a distinctive language and culture in India's Chhattisgarh state, progress - and land rights - have eluded his community for hundreds of years. "I was put in jail for one year for demanding our land back. Fourteen families lost 75 acres [30 hectares]. But they tell us: where are your [patta]?. We can do nothing. That is why we are going to Delhi to get justice." The march is the brainchild of a veteran Gandhian, PV Rajagopal, who made his name by persuading bandits in central India to lay down their arms in the 1970s. He says the human caravan is a warning shot to the "establishment". Mr Rajagopal says there is a rising tide of violence in the country as the poor "are being driven out of villages and slums in cities". In the country's rush to industrialize, he adds, "we've seen alarming examples of outsiders seizing land on vast scales while the local rural poor are denied land. The result will be bloodshed and violence on a massive scale unless the government acts". The issue is increasingly an explosive one in India, where incomplete reforms have left much of the country in the hands of a few. Extreme left wing groups have tapped the rising anger in rural areas to wage low-intensity guerrilla wars in 172 of India's 600 districts. Riots and armed insurrection are now prominent features of attempts to industrialize much of India. Earlier this month four directors of a South Korean company - which was handed 1,600 hectares to build a £6bn steel plant in mineral-rich eastern India - were kidnapped by tribal people protesting over the loss of their historic homelands. In March an attempt to hand over 9,000 hectares of farmland to big business ended in pitched battles and half a dozen villagers dead in Bengal. Even India's most important development agency, the planning commission, is blunt about how little has been done to tackle the issue of land redistribution. "Land reforms seem to have been relegated to the background in the mid-1990s. More recently, initiatives of state governments have related to liberalising of land laws in order to promote large-scale corporate farming," it stated in its 10th plan. Mr Rajagopal met Sonia Gandhi, India's most powerful politician and president of the ruling Congress party, earlier this month to press his case for immediate land reform for the poor. He says the manifesto that saw Ms Gandhi elected pledged new land-ceiling laws, limiting the size of landlords' holdings, and tenancy rights, but none has arrived. Some say that the problem lies in the Indian state's indifference to its poorest people - "tribals" and "untouchables". "There are 120 million people who have no rights in this country," says Balkrishna Renake, chairman of India's national commission for denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. "They are still waiting in independent India for the right to vote, to have schools and teachers, and for their land." He estimates that redistributing just 2.5% of India's total area would be enough to allow the country's poor to exist "with dignity". "The question is not whether we have the land but whether the government has the moral courage."
The rush to industrialize has left tribal people and 'untouchables' far behind.
On a hot, dusty highway some 40 miles (70km) from Delhi, a human column snakes its way towards the Indian capital carrying a unique message of defiance to the country's leaders: "Give us back our land." Some 25,000 of India's poorest people - tribal peoples, "untouchables" and landless laborers - have stopped traffic for nearly three weeks on the road that links Delhi and Agra, home to the Taj Mahal. Headed by a group of chanting Buddhist monks, the marchers say they aim to shame the government into keeping its promise to redistribute land. The human train has been eating, living and washing by the road since early October and by the end of the week will arrive at the Indian parliament, vowing to remain a public embarrassment until the government relents. Last week three marchers were killed by a speeding lorry. With fists and voices raised, the scene is a world away from Indian newspaper headlines about the country's new luxury goods market or its soaring stock markets. Nowhere is this process of concentrating wealth in a tiny segment of the population more visible than in the ground beneath Indians' feet. India has one of most iniquitous systems of land ownership in the world - much worse than China. Last week India's biggest real estate baron made a paper fortune of £500m in a day. Government figures show that the average expenditure of countryside household India to be just 500 rupees a month or about 20p a day. Most of the marchers say their dire condition is because they have no patta (deeds) to their land. Unable to grow produce on their ancestral land and with no patta to access state welfare services, the villagers are now fighting a losing war against poverty. "I haven't got any rights on my land," said Prem Bai from the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. "I have got four boys and can hardly manage the family with few days' work labouring on other's fields. If we go to forests then the forest department arrests us. Our life is very difficult." Others say their land is being grabbed by local mafias and corrupt officials. Shikari Baiga, 25, says land his family was cultivating was grabbed by local officials to grow biofuels on. Hailing from the Baiga tribe, a people with a distinctive language and culture in India's Chhattisgarh state, progress - and land rights - have eluded his community for hundreds of years. "I was put in jail for one year for demanding our land back. Fourteen families lost 75 acres [30 hectares]. But they tell us: where are your [patta]?. We can do nothing. That is why we are going to Delhi to get justice." The march is the brainchild of a veteran Gandhian, PV Rajagopal, who made his name by persuading bandits in central India to lay down their arms in the 1970s. He says the human caravan is a warning shot to the "establishment". Mr Rajagopal says there is a rising tide of violence in the country as the poor "are being driven out of villages and slums in cities". In the country's rush to industrialize, he adds, "we've seen alarming examples of outsiders seizing land on vast scales while the local rural poor are denied land. The result will be bloodshed and violence on a massive scale unless the government acts". The issue is increasingly an explosive one in India, where incomplete reforms have left much of the country in the hands of a few. Extreme left wing groups have tapped the rising anger in rural areas to wage low-intensity guerrilla wars in 172 of India's 600 districts. Riots and armed insurrection are now prominent features of attempts to industrialize much of India. Earlier this month four directors of a South Korean company - which was handed 1,600 hectares to build a £6bn steel plant in mineral-rich eastern India - were kidnapped by tribal people protesting over the loss of their historic homelands. In March an attempt to hand over 9,000 hectares of farmland to big business ended in pitched battles and half a dozen villagers dead in Bengal. Even India's most important development agency, the planning commission, is blunt about how little has been done to tackle the issue of land redistribution. "Land reforms seem to have been relegated to the background in the mid-1990s. More recently, initiatives of state governments have related to liberalising of land laws in order to promote large-scale corporate farming," it stated in its 10th plan. Mr Rajagopal met Sonia Gandhi, India's most powerful politician and president of the ruling Congress party, earlier this month to press his case for immediate land reform for the poor. He says the manifesto that saw Ms Gandhi elected pledged new land-ceiling laws, limiting the size of landlords' holdings, and tenancy rights, but none has arrived. Some say that the problem lies in the Indian state's indifference to its poorest people - "tribals" and "untouchables". "There are 120 million people who have no rights in this country," says Balkrishna Renake, chairman of India's national commission for denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. "They are still waiting in independent India for the right to vote, to have schools and teachers, and for their land." He estimates that redistributing just 2.5% of India's total area would be enough to allow the country's poor to exist "with dignity". "The question is not whether we have the land but whether the government has the moral courage."
Saturday, October 27, 2007
WHAT SHOULD WE LEARN?
We adopted their lifestyles like pub culture but here are some photoes that show what should we learn first from them......... one photo which is very rare to see in india , even a small politician who visits flood affected areas will have a big gang behind him and see the photo below American president with just 4-5 people behind him.
Report: Communist rebels kill 17 villagers in east India festival attack, police say
source
Communist rebels attacked a village festival in eastern India with gunfire and bombs Saturday, killing at least 17 people, news reports said.
About 25 Maoist guerrillas attacked the cultural festival in the remote state of Jharkhand, opening fire indiscriminately on the crowd, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted police as saying.
Local police chief Arun Kumar Singh said 14 people died at the scene and three others died later. Four more people were wounded, he said.
Among the dead was the son of the state's former chief minister, Babulal Marandi, Singh told PTI. It was not clear if he was the target of the attack, but the rebels frequently target police and government officials.
Local police could not immediately be reached for comment.
The rebels, also known as Naxalites because of the Naxalbari region where the movement was born, are mainly active in six of India's 28 states _ Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Karnataka, Orissa and Chattisgarh _ where widespread poverty has fueled a lengthy insurgency by militants demanding land and jobs for agricultural laborers and the poor.
The movement claims inspiration from Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong.
India's recent economic boom has created immense wealth, but the prosperity has not reached most of its 1.1 billion people, two-thirds of whom are farmers. Many peasants have joined the insurgents in the demand for land and jobs.
Communist rebels attacked a village festival in eastern India with gunfire and bombs Saturday, killing at least 17 people, news reports said.
About 25 Maoist guerrillas attacked the cultural festival in the remote state of Jharkhand, opening fire indiscriminately on the crowd, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted police as saying.
Local police chief Arun Kumar Singh said 14 people died at the scene and three others died later. Four more people were wounded, he said.
Among the dead was the son of the state's former chief minister, Babulal Marandi, Singh told PTI. It was not clear if he was the target of the attack, but the rebels frequently target police and government officials.
Local police could not immediately be reached for comment.
The rebels, also known as Naxalites because of the Naxalbari region where the movement was born, are mainly active in six of India's 28 states _ Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Karnataka, Orissa and Chattisgarh _ where widespread poverty has fueled a lengthy insurgency by militants demanding land and jobs for agricultural laborers and the poor.
The movement claims inspiration from Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong.
India's recent economic boom has created immense wealth, but the prosperity has not reached most of its 1.1 billion people, two-thirds of whom are farmers. Many peasants have joined the insurgents in the demand for land and jobs.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
REVOLUTIONARY MASSES MAKING HISTORY IN NEPAL
RECIEVED VIA MAIL
A decisive rupture from a reformist line and adopting a revolutionary strategy based on the concrete objective situatioin in the country and the world led to the initiation of the People's War in Nepal in 1996. Based on boundless creative power of the revolutionary masses the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), CPN(M), has nurtured and led a colosal revolutionary movement with the strategy of people seizing the political power. The CPN(M)'s scientific vision, shear determination and daring spirit hand in hand with the masses inexhustible enthusiasm for revolution has created a fantastic march of millions of concious men and women on the path to establish the first red base area of the world revolution in the 21 century. Ten years of achieving qualitative leaps in making revolution through massive development of the People's War has established people's power in most of the country. Millions of downtroden people for the first time in their life on the basis of revolutionary conciousness have taken their destiny into their own hands, demolished the old state bit by bit and tasted real freedom. What a refreshing taste!Ten years of waging revolutionary war including successful tactics of peace and negotiation with the old state showed that the revolutionary leaders in Nepal have mastered the art of making revolution. These tactics proved that the correct handling of the political and military aspects and their inter-relation to mobilise the masses for advancing the revolution has been implemented by the CPN(M).CPN(M) has skilfully developed its own set of tactics which corresponds to the concrete condition of Nepal. Establishment of the people's power in most of the country and the 19 days nationwide mass demonstrations against the old state in April 2006 created a new situation. By analysing the new situation the CPN(M) synthesised the immediate task of overthrowing the feudal monarchy - the main obstacle for the revolution at this stage - might be achieved peacefully through massive ever growing political intervention. Once again CPN(M) showed it is ready to advance the revolution using both hands; one hand by peaceful means, one hand for taking power by rebellion.
Previously, there were two periods of peace and negotiations, 2001 and 2003, but the new situation in April 2006 once again required political intervention. The third political intervention was carried out within the final stages of the strategic offensive to unite the people and isolate the monarchy even further. The tactic of peace and political offensive invariably conformed with the demands of the revolutionary masses at that stage and consequently strengthen the CPN(M)'s ties with the masses. However, this time CPN(M) had grown to become the major force in the country and therefore its political intervention could have been nothing less than participation in the government representing the people's power in the whole country.
This tactic politicised the whole nation. Every man and woman in the country and abroad was drawn into a nationwide debate. The CPN(M) initiated and led a vibrant debate about the nature and the role of the old state, the autocratic monarchy which is backed by the imperialists and Indian expansionists, and the new state, a Democratic Republic which in the Nepalese context is mainly based on the power of the people.
Indeed, this was a new and a daring experiment in the history of the class struggle in the world. It was based on the fact that the road for revolution is full of twists and turns as well as the fact that there is always a need to create a favourable objective situation to advance the revolution to the next stage. CPN(M) changed its tactical line and the form of the struggle temporarily on the basis of its victorious political and military strategy. In fact, the leaders of the revolution were well aware of the fact that this tactic was definately a new and a risky experiment.
The tactic streched the politicisation of the people to the four corners of the country and beyond. Every person and organisation was faced with the principal question of the revolution at this stage: Autocratic monarchy or democratic republic? The massive political process initiated and led by the CPN(M) provided the opportunity and the choice of the state for all the people. It clearly demonstrated that in spite of its political and military power the CPN(M) is the most democratic organisation in the country, genuinly cares about people's opinion and truly represents the people's interest. During this period not only more and more middle classes were won over to the side of the revolution, even the upper classes were given the same choice and put to the test. CPN(M) has shown that it is striving to create a society within which there will be democracy for the vast majority of the population.
Despite all efforts of the US imperialism and the Indian expansionism against the revolution in Nepal, CPN(M) was successful to form a tactical alliance with the parliamentarian parties to isolate the monarchy. However, since last year certain factions of the ruling class have also tightened their alliance and in fact with the king, because they know that the force of revolution is on the path to sweep their classes out the state power altogether.
Disruption of the democratic political process, instigating and fueling violence against the people especially in Terai, selling out the interests of the masses especially the Madhesis are a few examples of their efforts to isolate the CPN(M). These forces hand in hand with the US imperialists and Indian expansionists are desperately trying to dishearten and divide the people and split the 7 party alliance mainly to discredit the CPN(M). In fact they are putting all their efforts to create a favourable objective situation for imperialists and reactionaries to attack and crush the revolution.
On 18 September 2007 comrade Baburam Bhattari (a senior leader of the revolution) announced in Kathmandu that the CPN(M) has quitted the interim government. He said "Our efforts to declare republic from the parliament has failed. Now we will declare republic from the streets. Therefore, we have decided to come in the midst of the people ... We will struggle for the purpose of having real election not this hypocritical drama ... Our protests will be peaceful but if anybody tries to make it violent we will retaliate with the same kind of actions." This move clearly shows that the CPN(M) tactic has not been on the path of strategically compromising with the old state. Furthermore it proved that unlike all other parties, the CPN(M) is not struggling to gain power for itself but it is leading the revolution with a genuine belief in power to the people.
Previously, there were two periods of peace and negotiations, 2001 and 2003, but the new situation in April 2006 once again required political intervention. The third political intervention was carried out within the final stages of the strategic offensive to unite the people and isolate the monarchy even further. The tactic of peace and political offensive invariably conformed with the demands of the revolutionary masses at that stage and consequently strengthen the CPN(M)'s ties with the masses. However, this time CPN(M) had grown to become the major force in the country and therefore its political intervention could have been nothing less than participation in the government representing the people's power in the whole country.
This tactic politicised the whole nation. Every man and woman in the country and abroad was drawn into a nationwide debate. The CPN(M) initiated and led a vibrant debate about the nature and the role of the old state, the autocratic monarchy which is backed by the imperialists and Indian expansionists, and the new state, a Democratic Republic which in the Nepalese context is mainly based on the power of the people.
Indeed, this was a new and a daring experiment in the history of the class struggle in the world. It was based on the fact that the road for revolution is full of twists and turns as well as the fact that there is always a need to create a favourable objective situation to advance the revolution to the next stage. CPN(M) changed its tactical line and the form of the struggle temporarily on the basis of its victorious political and military strategy. In fact, the leaders of the revolution were well aware of the fact that this tactic was definately a new and a risky experiment.
The tactic streched the politicisation of the people to the four corners of the country and beyond. Every person and organisation was faced with the principal question of the revolution at this stage: Autocratic monarchy or democratic republic? The massive political process initiated and led by the CPN(M) provided the opportunity and the choice of the state for all the people. It clearly demonstrated that in spite of its political and military power the CPN(M) is the most democratic organisation in the country, genuinly cares about people's opinion and truly represents the people's interest. During this period not only more and more middle classes were won over to the side of the revolution, even the upper classes were given the same choice and put to the test. CPN(M) has shown that it is striving to create a society within which there will be democracy for the vast majority of the population.
Despite all efforts of the US imperialism and the Indian expansionism against the revolution in Nepal, CPN(M) was successful to form a tactical alliance with the parliamentarian parties to isolate the monarchy. However, since last year certain factions of the ruling class have also tightened their alliance and in fact with the king, because they know that the force of revolution is on the path to sweep their classes out the state power altogether.
Disruption of the democratic political process, instigating and fueling violence against the people especially in Terai, selling out the interests of the masses especially the Madhesis are a few examples of their efforts to isolate the CPN(M). These forces hand in hand with the US imperialists and Indian expansionists are desperately trying to dishearten and divide the people and split the 7 party alliance mainly to discredit the CPN(M). In fact they are putting all their efforts to create a favourable objective situation for imperialists and reactionaries to attack and crush the revolution.
On 18 September 2007 comrade Baburam Bhattari (a senior leader of the revolution) announced in Kathmandu that the CPN(M) has quitted the interim government. He said "Our efforts to declare republic from the parliament has failed. Now we will declare republic from the streets. Therefore, we have decided to come in the midst of the people ... We will struggle for the purpose of having real election not this hypocritical drama ... Our protests will be peaceful but if anybody tries to make it violent we will retaliate with the same kind of actions." This move clearly shows that the CPN(M) tactic has not been on the path of strategically compromising with the old state. Furthermore it proved that unlike all other parties, the CPN(M) is not struggling to gain power for itself but it is leading the revolution with a genuine belief in power to the people.
Revolution in Nepal is advancing in a world situation specific to the first decade of the 21st century within which the objective situation is excellent to make revolution, however, the subjective situation is lagging behind. Thus, the main challenge for the revolutionaries around the world is to overcome their subjective problems of making revolution and in this respect, CPN(M) is a shining example. Today it is essential to mobilise masses to defend the revolution in Nepal as well as applying its lessons to different objective situations. we need more than ever to march shoulder to shoulder with our millions of brothers and sisters in Nepal to make history together.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
'Unification is the only way to advance the cause of the Indian revolution'
The dirty golden rays of the candle, stuck crookedly on top of an inverted flash-light, glinted off the Naxalite's glasses as he prepared to answer yet another query from the visiting journalist. In the shadows, his gaunt face looked more strained. He responded characteristically, softly, in Telugu, a hand on the hip, the other cradling his stengun.
This is Muppalla Lakshmana Rao. Infamous as Ganapathy, head of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist People's War.
In person, Ganapathy -- wiry, medium height, thinly moustached with specks of grey in his hair -- comes across as unassuming, unimpressive and utterly harmless. There is no hint that this is a man whom the Bharatiya Janata Party considers one of the most dangerous in the country. No hint that this is one for whose head the Andhra Pradesh government would gladly pay over a million rupees.
A bit shy, a bit unsure, he looks and behaves like the school teacher he once was.
One of the few to have risen in ranks without serving in a dalam (guerrilla squad), the 48-year-old revolutionary has been with the movement since the 1970s. For the last 20 years, the forests have been his refuge. He took over as PW secretary in 1992 after the ouster of the legendary Kondapalli Seetharamaiah.
The PW, with ideology firmly rooted in Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thought, has today emerged as a powerful force in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. So much so that Home Minister L K Advani is taking an active interest in trying to wipe it out.
The revolutionaries' strategy for expansion is through mergers with like-minded organisations. As part of this, it merged with the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist Party Unity, mainly operational in Bihar, recently.
Senior Feature Writer Chindu Sreedharan rendezvoused with the Naxal leader deep in the forests of Andhra Pradesh after a gruelling five-hour night march. An excerpt from a rare interview recorded soon after Ganapathy, together with the defunct Party Unity's secretary, Prasad, announced the unification of their parties:
How did the merger come about?
In April 1994, our unity talks with the Maoist Communist Centre broke down completely. But even while those talks were on, we had fraternal relations with the PU. A central committee delegation had met with the PU in 1993 to understand their basic line of thought. We had informed our MCC comrades about this primary level meeting. At the next meeting with the MCC, it became clear that it was not possible to unify with them at present. We started unity talks with the PU. There were many differences when we began, but over discussions we have solved all the fundamental questions. There are a few minor issues that remain to be settled. These will be settled in the next party congress.
What is the political significance of this unification?
There are many oppressed nationalities in India fighting the imperialist government. For instance, in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East. We expect the merger to have a positive impact on their fights.
In our agenda for a new democratic revolution, there are two aspects -- the agrarian revolution and fight for nationality. For the development of a new democratic revolution, the unification of the two is needed. Our merger is a cue for such unification.
In India there are several movements now cropping up under the leadership of the petty bourgeoisie. They are of several social groups. Our merger will act as an inspiration for them. It will give them the necessary impetus to struggle. It will rejuvenate them. Likewise, there are many revolutions developing in semi-colonial, colonial and capitalist countries due to imperialist exploitation and oppression. The merger will give them inspiration and strength to fight on.
How will your merger help movements in other countries?
Our merger will put the task of unity before the revolutions of the world. Everywhere, the oppressed people are fighting against the same enemy: Imperialism. Our merger will convey to them that without unifying against the common enemy, the revolution cannot succeed. Thus, our unity will help the unifying process world-wide.
Does the merger have any military significance? Will it translate into military prowess for the PW in Bihar, in Telangana or Dandakaranya (a PW guerrilla zone spread over AP, Maharashtra, Orissa and MP), where the party is badly in need of personnel?
Despite the unity, our party is very small. The enemy is much stronger. The PW is still confined to a small area. In our areas, we require revolutionaries and guerrillas. Even in areas where we are not present, we require revolutionaries and guerrillas. In such conditions, the merger might not translate into military prowess there or here. We will not be able to transfer men from one place to another.
But the unification will definitely have a positive military impact in the long run. In the short-run, the PW have gained in experience. Between the old PW and the PU, we have vast experience in conducting class struggles. This has now been pooled together. We will gain a lot from these. The unification will also see a combined military leadership and more military camps.
How much has the PW's strength gone up by the merger?
That's a technical question I don't want to answer.
What kind of impact will this have on the MCC? Wouldn't this kill any chance the PW has of unifying with them in future?
We believe the MCC will take it positively. They are the only genuine revolutionary party in the country besides the PW. Our party has great desire to have unity with them. And we are confident that we will achieve it. Through unity of action, we will achieve unity with them. The merger will lead to maturity of conditions for unification. This is the first step in the unification of all revolutionary forces. The MCC would welcome it.
Isn't that a bit too optimistic? Chances are that the MCC would feel threatened now and try to wipe out the PW from Bihar. After all, the merger hasn't changed anything for it. The differences it had with the PU still remain...
We admit there were clashes between the MCC and the PU. But the clashes were confined to those two parties. Now there's no PU. It will be the PW that will be operating in Bihar from now on. Taking into consideration the interests of the Indian revolution, the MCC now has to define its relation with the PW. We expect comradely relations, not violence, from them. Our central committee will make serious efforts to solve the troubles that existed between them and the PU. We expect the talks to transform the physical clashes into political debate.
To advance the cause of the Indian revolution, unification is the only way. As a serious and sincere revolutionary party, the MCC also understands this. Which is why we feel that they will take this merger positively. The truth of this expectation will be proved in practice.
This is your expectation, but which may prove completely wrong. In case the MCC steps up its violence, how will you protect yourself? As you admitted, it is not possible to shift personnel from here to Bihar.
That question does not rise because we are expecting positive results.
The question is, how can you be so confident about that?
Like I said earlier, no serious revolutionary party will be against the unity of revolutionary forces. No serious revolutionary party will feel threatened by the unity of revolutionary forces. And the MCC is a serious, sincere revolutionary organisation. They will take the merger positively.
What exactly will be the PW's plan of action for Bihar with regard to the MCC?
The first step is to rectify the mistakes committed by our comrades and the MCC. The second is to hold talks about these with them and arrive at a permanent solution. We are sure that these will give definite results. Now let the MCC comrades speak out. Let them make their stand on the merger known. Let them show in practice what type of reaction they have.
Does this mean that you don't rule out the possibility of a clash?
There's no point in discussing that now. We are confident about the MCC's reaction. We will discuss it if there comes a stage when we are not confident about them.
You said the MCC was the only genuine revolutionary group in the country. Does this mean that you consider the other splinter ML groups as not worthy of joining up with?
The PW invites all genuine revolutionary organisations to unify. We welcome the comrades in the other rightist and leftist groups to fight against their leadership and join the revolution. At present, we do not plan to hold unity talks with any other party other than the MCC. Some of the left groups reject the parliamentary process and support the protracted people's war -- but they practise this in a sectarian manner. If they are ready to rectify this mistake, we will definitely hold talks with them, even with the smallest.
Which are these groups with whom you would like to unite in future?
Groups like the Second Central Committee.
How do you think such splinter groups would react to this merger?
I think it will trigger off more interest in unifying with us. Small sections of many splinter groups have been joining our party since 1992-93, mainly in North India, Srikakulam and North Telangana. This process of unification of genuine revolutionaries, from rightist or leftist parties, will gain momentum from this merger. After the 1972 split, many revolutionaries and sympathisers were spread far and wide. We expect the merger to prompt them to join us. More than unification talks, the party will concentrate on bringing such people into the movement. What we want is to rebuild 1972 on a higher plane. What we want is to rejuvenate the dormant revolutionary spirit and potentialities in these comrades.
This is Muppalla Lakshmana Rao. Infamous as Ganapathy, head of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist People's War.
In person, Ganapathy -- wiry, medium height, thinly moustached with specks of grey in his hair -- comes across as unassuming, unimpressive and utterly harmless. There is no hint that this is a man whom the Bharatiya Janata Party considers one of the most dangerous in the country. No hint that this is one for whose head the Andhra Pradesh government would gladly pay over a million rupees.
A bit shy, a bit unsure, he looks and behaves like the school teacher he once was.
One of the few to have risen in ranks without serving in a dalam (guerrilla squad), the 48-year-old revolutionary has been with the movement since the 1970s. For the last 20 years, the forests have been his refuge. He took over as PW secretary in 1992 after the ouster of the legendary Kondapalli Seetharamaiah.
The PW, with ideology firmly rooted in Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thought, has today emerged as a powerful force in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. So much so that Home Minister L K Advani is taking an active interest in trying to wipe it out.
The revolutionaries' strategy for expansion is through mergers with like-minded organisations. As part of this, it merged with the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist Party Unity, mainly operational in Bihar, recently.
Senior Feature Writer Chindu Sreedharan rendezvoused with the Naxal leader deep in the forests of Andhra Pradesh after a gruelling five-hour night march. An excerpt from a rare interview recorded soon after Ganapathy, together with the defunct Party Unity's secretary, Prasad, announced the unification of their parties:
How did the merger come about?
In April 1994, our unity talks with the Maoist Communist Centre broke down completely. But even while those talks were on, we had fraternal relations with the PU. A central committee delegation had met with the PU in 1993 to understand their basic line of thought. We had informed our MCC comrades about this primary level meeting. At the next meeting with the MCC, it became clear that it was not possible to unify with them at present. We started unity talks with the PU. There were many differences when we began, but over discussions we have solved all the fundamental questions. There are a few minor issues that remain to be settled. These will be settled in the next party congress.
What is the political significance of this unification?
There are many oppressed nationalities in India fighting the imperialist government. For instance, in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East. We expect the merger to have a positive impact on their fights.
In our agenda for a new democratic revolution, there are two aspects -- the agrarian revolution and fight for nationality. For the development of a new democratic revolution, the unification of the two is needed. Our merger is a cue for such unification.
In India there are several movements now cropping up under the leadership of the petty bourgeoisie. They are of several social groups. Our merger will act as an inspiration for them. It will give them the necessary impetus to struggle. It will rejuvenate them. Likewise, there are many revolutions developing in semi-colonial, colonial and capitalist countries due to imperialist exploitation and oppression. The merger will give them inspiration and strength to fight on.
How will your merger help movements in other countries?
Our merger will put the task of unity before the revolutions of the world. Everywhere, the oppressed people are fighting against the same enemy: Imperialism. Our merger will convey to them that without unifying against the common enemy, the revolution cannot succeed. Thus, our unity will help the unifying process world-wide.
Does the merger have any military significance? Will it translate into military prowess for the PW in Bihar, in Telangana or Dandakaranya (a PW guerrilla zone spread over AP, Maharashtra, Orissa and MP), where the party is badly in need of personnel?
Despite the unity, our party is very small. The enemy is much stronger. The PW is still confined to a small area. In our areas, we require revolutionaries and guerrillas. Even in areas where we are not present, we require revolutionaries and guerrillas. In such conditions, the merger might not translate into military prowess there or here. We will not be able to transfer men from one place to another.
But the unification will definitely have a positive military impact in the long run. In the short-run, the PW have gained in experience. Between the old PW and the PU, we have vast experience in conducting class struggles. This has now been pooled together. We will gain a lot from these. The unification will also see a combined military leadership and more military camps.
How much has the PW's strength gone up by the merger?
That's a technical question I don't want to answer.
What kind of impact will this have on the MCC? Wouldn't this kill any chance the PW has of unifying with them in future?
We believe the MCC will take it positively. They are the only genuine revolutionary party in the country besides the PW. Our party has great desire to have unity with them. And we are confident that we will achieve it. Through unity of action, we will achieve unity with them. The merger will lead to maturity of conditions for unification. This is the first step in the unification of all revolutionary forces. The MCC would welcome it.
Isn't that a bit too optimistic? Chances are that the MCC would feel threatened now and try to wipe out the PW from Bihar. After all, the merger hasn't changed anything for it. The differences it had with the PU still remain...
We admit there were clashes between the MCC and the PU. But the clashes were confined to those two parties. Now there's no PU. It will be the PW that will be operating in Bihar from now on. Taking into consideration the interests of the Indian revolution, the MCC now has to define its relation with the PW. We expect comradely relations, not violence, from them. Our central committee will make serious efforts to solve the troubles that existed between them and the PU. We expect the talks to transform the physical clashes into political debate.
To advance the cause of the Indian revolution, unification is the only way. As a serious and sincere revolutionary party, the MCC also understands this. Which is why we feel that they will take this merger positively. The truth of this expectation will be proved in practice.
This is your expectation, but which may prove completely wrong. In case the MCC steps up its violence, how will you protect yourself? As you admitted, it is not possible to shift personnel from here to Bihar.
That question does not rise because we are expecting positive results.
The question is, how can you be so confident about that?
Like I said earlier, no serious revolutionary party will be against the unity of revolutionary forces. No serious revolutionary party will feel threatened by the unity of revolutionary forces. And the MCC is a serious, sincere revolutionary organisation. They will take the merger positively.
What exactly will be the PW's plan of action for Bihar with regard to the MCC?
The first step is to rectify the mistakes committed by our comrades and the MCC. The second is to hold talks about these with them and arrive at a permanent solution. We are sure that these will give definite results. Now let the MCC comrades speak out. Let them make their stand on the merger known. Let them show in practice what type of reaction they have.
Does this mean that you don't rule out the possibility of a clash?
There's no point in discussing that now. We are confident about the MCC's reaction. We will discuss it if there comes a stage when we are not confident about them.
You said the MCC was the only genuine revolutionary group in the country. Does this mean that you consider the other splinter ML groups as not worthy of joining up with?
The PW invites all genuine revolutionary organisations to unify. We welcome the comrades in the other rightist and leftist groups to fight against their leadership and join the revolution. At present, we do not plan to hold unity talks with any other party other than the MCC. Some of the left groups reject the parliamentary process and support the protracted people's war -- but they practise this in a sectarian manner. If they are ready to rectify this mistake, we will definitely hold talks with them, even with the smallest.
Which are these groups with whom you would like to unite in future?
Groups like the Second Central Committee.
How do you think such splinter groups would react to this merger?
I think it will trigger off more interest in unifying with us. Small sections of many splinter groups have been joining our party since 1992-93, mainly in North India, Srikakulam and North Telangana. This process of unification of genuine revolutionaries, from rightist or leftist parties, will gain momentum from this merger. After the 1972 split, many revolutionaries and sympathisers were spread far and wide. We expect the merger to prompt them to join us. More than unification talks, the party will concentrate on bringing such people into the movement. What we want is to rebuild 1972 on a higher plane. What we want is to rejuvenate the dormant revolutionary spirit and potentialities in these comrades.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
PRONAXAL WEBSITES UNDER SCANNER?
SOURCE
Maoists have begun tapping the internet to spread their message and influence. But they don't just stop there, they are also using the information superhighway to find new young recruit.
Security agencies have identified 9 blogs frequently visited by youngsters. Several websites and blogs are now under the scanner. Blogs like the Naxal Revolution, Peoples March and Red Diary are being seen as a tool to spread the Maoist web.
Intelligence sources say Maoists are targeting educated young people to set up an intelligence force, in cities in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Maoists keep a watch on visitors to blog sites and send out emails to prospective recruits.
The Maoist emails seek educational details and focus on luring software professionals. Sources in the Home Ministry have told Times Now that the government is aware of the Maoist strategy to use the internet for propaganda. The government says its keeping a watchful eye and is trying to track those funding online channels spreading Maoist propaganda. Home ministry sources say intelligence is aware of those propagating for Maoists and accepting payments online. Such online behavior is punishable under the NSA.
Maoists have begun tapping the internet to spread their message and influence. But they don't just stop there, they are also using the information superhighway to find new young recruit.
Security agencies have identified 9 blogs frequently visited by youngsters. Several websites and blogs are now under the scanner. Blogs like the Naxal Revolution, Peoples March and Red Diary are being seen as a tool to spread the Maoist web.
Intelligence sources say Maoists are targeting educated young people to set up an intelligence force, in cities in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Maoists keep a watch on visitors to blog sites and send out emails to prospective recruits.
The Maoist emails seek educational details and focus on luring software professionals. Sources in the Home Ministry have told Times Now that the government is aware of the Maoist strategy to use the internet for propaganda. The government says its keeping a watchful eye and is trying to track those funding online channels spreading Maoist propaganda. Home ministry sources say intelligence is aware of those propagating for Maoists and accepting payments online. Such online behavior is punishable under the NSA.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Doctor who treated a Naxalite is now behind bars
diptosh majumdar,ibn
New Delhi: A law-abiding citizen who was actively involved in community service in Chattisgarh has been put behind bars. His crime? He investigated a few fake encounter cases in the Naxalite hit districts of the state.
Dr Binayak Sen has been languishing in Raipur jail for the past three-months. Even though the state government has no incriminating evidence against him, he has been charged with promoting Naxalite outfits in the state.
Sen used to teach community health workers, ways of treating common ailments like, malaria and cholera. He was an integral part of backward Chhatisgarh's rural health care scheme.
But for the past two-years Dr Sen had drawn himself into investigating fake encounter cases in the Naxalite-affected districts, Dantewara and Bastar.
He reportedly criticized the way the government was promoting Salwa Judum—an anti Naxalite movement and also raised questions on “fake encounters” taking place in the state.
A 750-page chargesheet was slapped on him in which he was charged with having links with Naxalites.
Prima facie, the chargesheet does not have enough incriminating evidence against Sen.
It simply insists on implicating Dr Sen for having visited a Maoist functionary, Narayan Sanyal in the Raipur jail 33 times.
Dr Sen says he was treating the ailing 70-year old prisoner Sanyal. But the government thinks otherwise. Sen has been charged with “criminal offense” for visiting the ailing terrorist in the jail.
The government officials have turned a deaf ear to human right activists as well who demand Sen's release on humanitarian grounds and lack of evidence against him.
“When scores of people are gunned down, no one bothers. Everyone is so concerned about one man’s arrest,” said Chief Minister Raman Singh.
The 750 page chargesheet slapped on Dr Sen insists he was a Naxalite who helped other Naxal groups, treated them and carried their letters. But Dr Sen's friends disagree.
“We have time and again condemned all the violent acts of all parties including the Maoists,” said human rights activist Raju Syal.
Gradually voices of protest are being heard. Doctors all over the country especially those from his alma mater, Christian Medical College in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, have gone on a massive signature campaign against the alleged “fake” charges slapped on Sen.
It’s been over three months now that Dr Binayak has been in jail. The protests have already begun gaining momentum. Those who are protesting are keenly aware that it’s a long battle ahead of them.
For the family, these are trying times. His wife Illina and two daughters hope justice will prevail,” We hope on the 60th independence day the charges against Binayak will be lifted and he will be released,” said Illina.
The local health care workers are now on a campaign pressing the government for Sen’s release. But the government has not responded, nor has any investigation been done to prove the charges while Sen remains in jail.
New Delhi: A law-abiding citizen who was actively involved in community service in Chattisgarh has been put behind bars. His crime? He investigated a few fake encounter cases in the Naxalite hit districts of the state.
Dr Binayak Sen has been languishing in Raipur jail for the past three-months. Even though the state government has no incriminating evidence against him, he has been charged with promoting Naxalite outfits in the state.
Sen used to teach community health workers, ways of treating common ailments like, malaria and cholera. He was an integral part of backward Chhatisgarh's rural health care scheme.
But for the past two-years Dr Sen had drawn himself into investigating fake encounter cases in the Naxalite-affected districts, Dantewara and Bastar.
He reportedly criticized the way the government was promoting Salwa Judum—an anti Naxalite movement and also raised questions on “fake encounters” taking place in the state.
A 750-page chargesheet was slapped on him in which he was charged with having links with Naxalites.
Prima facie, the chargesheet does not have enough incriminating evidence against Sen.
It simply insists on implicating Dr Sen for having visited a Maoist functionary, Narayan Sanyal in the Raipur jail 33 times.
Dr Sen says he was treating the ailing 70-year old prisoner Sanyal. But the government thinks otherwise. Sen has been charged with “criminal offense” for visiting the ailing terrorist in the jail.
The government officials have turned a deaf ear to human right activists as well who demand Sen's release on humanitarian grounds and lack of evidence against him.
“When scores of people are gunned down, no one bothers. Everyone is so concerned about one man’s arrest,” said Chief Minister Raman Singh.
The 750 page chargesheet slapped on Dr Sen insists he was a Naxalite who helped other Naxal groups, treated them and carried their letters. But Dr Sen's friends disagree.
“We have time and again condemned all the violent acts of all parties including the Maoists,” said human rights activist Raju Syal.
Gradually voices of protest are being heard. Doctors all over the country especially those from his alma mater, Christian Medical College in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, have gone on a massive signature campaign against the alleged “fake” charges slapped on Sen.
It’s been over three months now that Dr Binayak has been in jail. The protests have already begun gaining momentum. Those who are protesting are keenly aware that it’s a long battle ahead of them.
For the family, these are trying times. His wife Illina and two daughters hope justice will prevail,” We hope on the 60th independence day the charges against Binayak will be lifted and he will be released,” said Illina.
The local health care workers are now on a campaign pressing the government for Sen’s release. But the government has not responded, nor has any investigation been done to prove the charges while Sen remains in jail.
ಒ೦ದು ಕವಿತೆ
ರಾಯಚೂರಿನ ಬಿಸಿಲಿನಿ೦ದ
ಬಳ್ಳಾರಿಯ ಧೂಳಿನಿ೦ದ
ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ತ೦ಪಿನಿ೦ದ
ನಮಗಾಗಿ ಬ೦ದವರಿವರು;
ಹಣಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಪೀಡಿಸಲಿಲ್ಲ
ನೆಲಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಕಾಡಲೂ ಇಲ್ಲ
ಕೇಳಿದ್ದು ಒ೦ದಷ್ಟು ನ್ಯಾಯ,
ಬದುಕಲೊ೦ದಷ್ಟು ನೆಲೆ;
ನಮ್ಮನ್ನಾಳುವವರದ್ದು ವಿಶಾಲ ಹ್ರ್ರದಯ
ನ್ಯಾಯ ಕೇಳಿದವರಿಗೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟೇಬಿಟ್ಟರು
ಗು೦ಡುಗಳನ್ನು
ಎನ್ ಕೌ೦ಟರ್ ಹೆಸರಿನಲ್ಲಿ
ಕಾನೂನಿನ ನೆರಳಿನಲ್ಲಿ.
- ಅಶೋಕ್.
ಬಳ್ಳಾರಿಯ ಧೂಳಿನಿ೦ದ
ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ತ೦ಪಿನಿ೦ದ
ನಮಗಾಗಿ ಬ೦ದವರಿವರು;
ಹಣಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಪೀಡಿಸಲಿಲ್ಲ
ನೆಲಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಕಾಡಲೂ ಇಲ್ಲ
ಕೇಳಿದ್ದು ಒ೦ದಷ್ಟು ನ್ಯಾಯ,
ಬದುಕಲೊ೦ದಷ್ಟು ನೆಲೆ;
ನಮ್ಮನ್ನಾಳುವವರದ್ದು ವಿಶಾಲ ಹ್ರ್ರದಯ
ನ್ಯಾಯ ಕೇಳಿದವರಿಗೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟೇಬಿಟ್ಟರು
ಗು೦ಡುಗಳನ್ನು
ಎನ್ ಕೌ೦ಟರ್ ಹೆಸರಿನಲ್ಲಿ
ಕಾನೂನಿನ ನೆರಳಿನಲ್ಲಿ.
- ಅಶೋಕ್.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) has decided & announced publicly that it would launch armed struggle
recieved via mail
ISLAMABAD – 11TH OCTOBER, 2007) Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) has decided and announced publicly that it would launch arms struggle against the Government, if Martial Law is now imposed by the Army and General Musharraf in Pakistan.
This was stated in a policy statement by the Central Chairman of the Communist Party of Pakistan, Engineer Jameel Ahmad Malik here today.
He said that if the Army and General Pervaz Musharraf would follow unconstitutional steps by imposing Martial Law in the country in the coming days, the Communist Party would then leave the path of democratic norms and would resist the Martial Law tooth and nail by launching arms struggle against the Martial Law in whole of Pakistan.
The CPP Chairman vehemently stressed and said that the Army and General Musharraf, who are ruling this country on one pretext or the others for almost 35 years out of 60 years since independence of Pakistan from British Empire in 1947, has now in fact lost the credibility in the eyes of the down trodden and poor masses of Pakistan.
They are now ruling the country with the help of elites and those politicians, who are in fact traders and ‘turn coats’ politicians, for whom people have no respect for them at all.
The turn coats politicians like the President Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and others, who are supporting Military regimes and General Musharraf are warning the public that if the Supreme Court gives an anti judgment concerning the controversial Presidential election of General Musharraf, martial law would be imposed in Pakistan.
In fact by such like statements, they want to pressurize the Supreme Court of Pakistan for deciding the Musharraf’s case in his favour keeping the law of necessity. It is a message to Supreme Court by them not to decide the Justice (Retd) Wajid-ud-din Ahmad petition’s against General Musharraf on merits.
Engineer Jameel requested the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of such contemptuous statements by Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and others immediately.
CPP fully supports the armed struggle launched by the communists in various countries of the world. Engineer Jameel said that the arms struggle by the communists in Nepal against the monarchy is near to end now and the communists will soon over throw the monarchy for ever in Nepal.
ISLAMABAD – 11TH OCTOBER, 2007) Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) has decided and announced publicly that it would launch arms struggle against the Government, if Martial Law is now imposed by the Army and General Musharraf in Pakistan.
This was stated in a policy statement by the Central Chairman of the Communist Party of Pakistan, Engineer Jameel Ahmad Malik here today.
He said that if the Army and General Pervaz Musharraf would follow unconstitutional steps by imposing Martial Law in the country in the coming days, the Communist Party would then leave the path of democratic norms and would resist the Martial Law tooth and nail by launching arms struggle against the Martial Law in whole of Pakistan.
The CPP Chairman vehemently stressed and said that the Army and General Musharraf, who are ruling this country on one pretext or the others for almost 35 years out of 60 years since independence of Pakistan from British Empire in 1947, has now in fact lost the credibility in the eyes of the down trodden and poor masses of Pakistan.
They are now ruling the country with the help of elites and those politicians, who are in fact traders and ‘turn coats’ politicians, for whom people have no respect for them at all.
The turn coats politicians like the President Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and others, who are supporting Military regimes and General Musharraf are warning the public that if the Supreme Court gives an anti judgment concerning the controversial Presidential election of General Musharraf, martial law would be imposed in Pakistan.
In fact by such like statements, they want to pressurize the Supreme Court of Pakistan for deciding the Musharraf’s case in his favour keeping the law of necessity. It is a message to Supreme Court by them not to decide the Justice (Retd) Wajid-ud-din Ahmad petition’s against General Musharraf on merits.
Engineer Jameel requested the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of such contemptuous statements by Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and others immediately.
CPP fully supports the armed struggle launched by the communists in various countries of the world. Engineer Jameel said that the arms struggle by the communists in Nepal against the monarchy is near to end now and the communists will soon over throw the monarchy for ever in Nepal.
Monday, October 08, 2007
DIRTY POLITICS
The `Ruling people' always gives this call to naxals "come to main stream, we will discuss and sort out things". But what is their in the mainstream? In these days when the mineral water is not 100% pure no one expects the ` mainstream ' to be pure upto 75%. But atleast 75% purity should be there. WHERE IS IT? A youth who sees the present day politics in Karnataka will lose
hope in this Democracy. Everyone is behind power.
If H.D.Kumaraswamy and his father Devegowda had transferred the power then the same BJP personnel would have praised them like anything. How can we gain faith in a system in which the party which was in 3rd position in the previous polls enjoyed the power for last 38 months, they had Deputy CM post for first 18 months and CM post for next 20 months. Each time they had alignment with 2 different parties. No one cared for the principles.
Devegowda has virtually shifted his politics from " dilli to gully" and he is least bothered about his and his parties image. He just want power in his hands or under his control. Some of the congressmen are getting ready to join hands with JD[S] again just because they don't have guts to face election and more than that they need power. Is this the culture of so called " GANDHI PARTY"?
hope in this Democracy. Everyone is behind power.
If H.D.Kumaraswamy and his father Devegowda had transferred the power then the same BJP personnel would have praised them like anything. How can we gain faith in a system in which the party which was in 3rd position in the previous polls enjoyed the power for last 38 months, they had Deputy CM post for first 18 months and CM post for next 20 months. Each time they had alignment with 2 different parties. No one cared for the principles.
Devegowda has virtually shifted his politics from " dilli to gully" and he is least bothered about his and his parties image. He just want power in his hands or under his control. Some of the congressmen are getting ready to join hands with JD[S] again just because they don't have guts to face election and more than that they need power. Is this the culture of so called " GANDHI PARTY"?
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
NONVIOLENT PROTEST BY A LADY IN MANIPUR
We remember him only on october 2 , political parties will praise him on this date and congress is one step forward , it had limited him to their political party...... he is a matter of politics for them. Instead of praising or teasing him read this article about a lady who is a follower of gandhi in real sense.
For the past 30-odd years Manipur, home to over 30 militant groups and bitter ethnic strife, has known just one way to settle disputes: through the barrel of the gun. So when someone undertakes a non-violent protest for six years, the state sits up and takes notice. Irom Sharmila Chanu has, since November 2000, refused food and water in protest against the imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1958) in her state — and today occupies a unique position among her people.
The “Iron Lady Of Manipur” has now shifted base to Delhi, seeking a better platform to make her voice heard and her protest to take effect — and, ironically, to show the national capital that Gandhian protest is still alive. Indeed, her only excursion beyond Jantar Mantar has been to Rajghat, to pay homage to the Mahatma.
While the capital’s Manipuri population makes a beeline for her, the state government — which has kept her alive for six years by force-feeding her through the nose — is probably heaving a private sigh of relief. Should anything happen to her now, their slate is clean. It’s another matter that if Sharmila dies, and it’s a distinct possibility, Manipur will burn. By living, she’s kept in check the outrage against the AFSPA. She gives hope. If she should die fasting, her cause and the circumstances of her death could well lead to another June 18-like uprising. The Manipur government realised this, and made sure she stayed alive as long as she was in Manipur.
Sharmila’s protest was triggered by not by any political agenda but a gruesome massacre: The gunning down, by security forces, of 10 people waiting at a bus-stand in Malom near Imphal in November 2000 on suspicion of being insurgents. She was 28 then, just another ordinary Manipuri tired of the violence that perpetrated every facet of life.
“It was too much for me, beyond my capacity of tolerance”, she told this writer in September 2005, lying in in her tacky room in the security ward of the Jawaharlal Nehru government hospital in Imphal. Getting an interview with her was about the easiest thing, for the government was more than happy to have the media report that she was alive and well, as many times as possible. While the media had easy access to her, family members were not allowed audience.
In that nondescript, bare room with a regulation hospital bed and a rotting wooden table, with two bored policewomen for company, Sharmila was a spectral shadow with curly hair and a nose feeding tube dangling from one nostril. On the wall behind her pillow was the most striking aspect of the room: a huge collage of magazine cuttings and newspaper clippings that she put together. It was probably this avid interest in news, and the yoga she practised daily, that kept her mental strength intact.
Told that the government spent more than Rs 1 lakh every year to keep her alive, she was shocked. “I consume so much public money? Very shocking”, she said, barely audible. “I suppose the government is afraid to let me die. I am not suicide-eager; I want to live and die like normal people (do), but this hunger-strike is the only way open to me to achieve my goal.”
Her anger is more against the state government, which she called a “puppet of the Centre”. “The government cannot decide its political agenda, so their logic is: suppress the voice of the people. I think of myself more as a social reformer, and the common people are more convinced of the sentiments of social reformers like me rather than the promises of the government. All this insurgency, this extortion is a fallout of government policy,” she’d said.
Repeated appeals from the state government, including several personal requests by chief minister O Ibobi Singh, have not affected Sharmila’s resolve. When, following the Manorama incident in 2004 (Manorama was allegedly raped and killed by paramilitaries), the AFSPA was lifted from Imphal municipal limits and the Prime Minister reassured her of further relaxations, Sharmila remained unfazed. “The AFSPA has to be totally lifted from Manipur. Till then, my fast continues.”
Recognition of her non-violent protest was made all the more clear when she was included among the 1,000 women jointly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005; when told about it, she broke out in a rare smile, then said that she wanted to meet the other 999 women and share experiences.
The ball is in the Centre’s court. Will they, too, arrest Sharmila and nose-feed her for as long as it takes? Will her deteriorating health hold up? Answers to these questions seem far more easy to guess than whether the AFSPA will be lifted from Manipur to restore a normal life to her.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
100th BIRTHDAY OF BHAGATH SINGH.
This is really shameful act by our media. Except DD NEWS no one mentioned about the 100th birthday of Bhagath singh. one was busy with bipasha's exclusive interview, other with sanjay's bail, devanand's romantic birthdays.........
[I am extremely sorry to say this , august 24th was rajguru's 100th birthday, since i don't have any books about his life story i didn't know that]
Leave them , let they deal with articles which increase their TRP. Bhagath singh born on september 27 1907 in a village called banga which now is in Pakistan's layalpur district.
Here are some qoutes and a letter from bhagath for you :-
source:-bhagath
"I am a man and all that affects manking concerns me"
"The aim of life is no more to control mind, but to develop it harmoniously, not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below, and not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in-the actual experience of daily life; social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment democracy or universal brotherhod can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity of opportunity in the social, political and individual life."
On the slogan of 'Long Live Revolution'
Shri Ramanand Chaterji the editor of Modern Review, ridiculed the slogan of 'Long Live Revolution' through an editorial note and gave an entirly wrong interpretation. Bhagat Singh wrote a reply and handed it over to the trying megistrate to be sent to Modern Review. This was published in The Tribune of December 24, 1929. To THE EDITOR MODERN REVIEW You have in the December (1929) issue of your esteemed magazine, written a note under the caption "Long Live Revolution" and have pointed out the meaninglessness of this phrase. It would be impertinent on our part to try to refute or contradict the statement of such an old, experienced and renowned journalist as your noble self, for whom every enlightened Indian has profound admiration. Still we feel it our duty to explain what we desire to convey by the said phrase, as in a way it fell to our lot to give these "cries" a publicity in this country at this stage. We are not the originators of this cry. The same cry had been used in Russain revolutionary movement. Upton Sinclair, the well known socialist writer, has, in his recent novels Boston and Oil, used this cry through some of the anarchist revolutionary characters. The phrase never means that the sanguinary strife should ever continue, or that nothing should ever be stationary even for a short while. By long usage this cry achieves a significicance which may not be quite justifiable from the grammatical or the etymological point of view, but nevertheless we cannot abstract from that the association of ideas connected with that. All such shouts denote a general sense which is partly acquired and partly inherent in them. For instance, when we shout "Long Live Jatin Das", we cannot and do not mean thereby that Das should Physically be alive. What we mean by that shout is that the noble ideal of his life, the indomitable spirit which enabled that great martyr to bear such untold suffering and to make the extreme sacrifice for that we may show the same unfailing courage in persuance of our ideal. It is that spirit that we allude to. Simiarly, one should not interpret the word "Revolution" in its literal sense. Various meanings and significances are attributed to this word, according to the interests of those who use or misuse it. For the established agencies of exploitation it conjures up a feeling of blood stained horror. To the revolutionaries it is a sacred phrase. We tried to clear in our statement before the Session Judge, Delhi, in our trial in the Assembly Bomb Case, what we mean by the word "Revolution" We stated therein that Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol. They may sometimes be mere means for its achievement. No doubt they play a prominent part in some movements, but they do not - for that very reason -become one and the same thing. A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to that end. The sense in which the word Revolution is used in that phrase, is the spirit, the longing for a change for the better. The people generally get accustomed to the established order of things and begin to tremble at the very idea of a change. It is this lethargical spirit that needs be replaced by the revolutionary spirit. Otherwise degeneration gains the upper hand and the whole humanity is led stray by the reactionary forces. Such a state of affiars leads to stagnation and paralysis in human progress. The spirit of Revolution should always permeate the soul of humanity, so that the reactionary forces may not accumulate (strength) to check its eternal onward march. Old order should change, always and ever, yielding place to new, so that one "good" order may not corrupt the world. It is in this sense that we raise the shout "Long Live Revolution" Yours sincerely (Sd/-.) Bhagat Singh B. K. Dutt
[I am extremely sorry to say this , august 24th was rajguru's 100th birthday, since i don't have any books about his life story i didn't know that]
Leave them , let they deal with articles which increase their TRP. Bhagath singh born on september 27 1907 in a village called banga which now is in Pakistan's layalpur district.
Here are some qoutes and a letter from bhagath for you :-
source:-bhagath
"I am a man and all that affects manking concerns me"
"The aim of life is no more to control mind, but to develop it harmoniously, not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below, and not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in-the actual experience of daily life; social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment democracy or universal brotherhod can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity of opportunity in the social, political and individual life."
On the slogan of 'Long Live Revolution'
Shri Ramanand Chaterji the editor of Modern Review, ridiculed the slogan of 'Long Live Revolution' through an editorial note and gave an entirly wrong interpretation. Bhagat Singh wrote a reply and handed it over to the trying megistrate to be sent to Modern Review. This was published in The Tribune of December 24, 1929. To THE EDITOR MODERN REVIEW You have in the December (1929) issue of your esteemed magazine, written a note under the caption "Long Live Revolution" and have pointed out the meaninglessness of this phrase. It would be impertinent on our part to try to refute or contradict the statement of such an old, experienced and renowned journalist as your noble self, for whom every enlightened Indian has profound admiration. Still we feel it our duty to explain what we desire to convey by the said phrase, as in a way it fell to our lot to give these "cries" a publicity in this country at this stage. We are not the originators of this cry. The same cry had been used in Russain revolutionary movement. Upton Sinclair, the well known socialist writer, has, in his recent novels Boston and Oil, used this cry through some of the anarchist revolutionary characters. The phrase never means that the sanguinary strife should ever continue, or that nothing should ever be stationary even for a short while. By long usage this cry achieves a significicance which may not be quite justifiable from the grammatical or the etymological point of view, but nevertheless we cannot abstract from that the association of ideas connected with that. All such shouts denote a general sense which is partly acquired and partly inherent in them. For instance, when we shout "Long Live Jatin Das", we cannot and do not mean thereby that Das should Physically be alive. What we mean by that shout is that the noble ideal of his life, the indomitable spirit which enabled that great martyr to bear such untold suffering and to make the extreme sacrifice for that we may show the same unfailing courage in persuance of our ideal. It is that spirit that we allude to. Simiarly, one should not interpret the word "Revolution" in its literal sense. Various meanings and significances are attributed to this word, according to the interests of those who use or misuse it. For the established agencies of exploitation it conjures up a feeling of blood stained horror. To the revolutionaries it is a sacred phrase. We tried to clear in our statement before the Session Judge, Delhi, in our trial in the Assembly Bomb Case, what we mean by the word "Revolution" We stated therein that Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol. They may sometimes be mere means for its achievement. No doubt they play a prominent part in some movements, but they do not - for that very reason -become one and the same thing. A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to that end. The sense in which the word Revolution is used in that phrase, is the spirit, the longing for a change for the better. The people generally get accustomed to the established order of things and begin to tremble at the very idea of a change. It is this lethargical spirit that needs be replaced by the revolutionary spirit. Otherwise degeneration gains the upper hand and the whole humanity is led stray by the reactionary forces. Such a state of affiars leads to stagnation and paralysis in human progress. The spirit of Revolution should always permeate the soul of humanity, so that the reactionary forces may not accumulate (strength) to check its eternal onward march. Old order should change, always and ever, yielding place to new, so that one "good" order may not corrupt the world. It is in this sense that we raise the shout "Long Live Revolution" Yours sincerely (Sd/-.) Bhagat Singh B. K. Dutt
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