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Voice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian Revolution

Bulletin No. 2 (For Private Circulation only)

PeoplePeoplePeoplePeoplePeople ’’’’’sssss TruthTruthTruthTruthTruthRevolutionaryHomage toMartyrComradeAnuradhaGandhi-CC MemberCPI (Maoist)

Inside:Disaster of Polavaram

2PEOPLE'S TRUTH,PEOPLE'S TRUTH,PEOPLE'S TRUTH,PEOPLE'S TRUTH,PEOPLE'S TRUTH, July 2008

ContentsPeople,sTruth

1028

On the Indian Economy &the Future

18Interview with comrade Azad,spokesperson of the CC,CPI(Maoist) on the presentdevelopments in Nepal

Karnataka Elections 16

Salva Judum in Manipur 27

Book Review:Red Sun.... 24 On Gujjar Agitation 15

On Price Rise 15

Facilatating Imperialist AndComprodor Plunder!

Press StatementsPolitical Commentary

US Military Bases in

Phillippines 23

POLAVARAM

PEOPLE'S TRUTHPEOPLE'S TRUTHPEOPLE'S TRUTHPEOPLE'S TRUTHPEOPLE'S TRUTH,,,,, July 20083

ON April 12 2008 Anuradha (aliasNarmada, Varsha, Janaki, Rama)

passed away after an attack of falciperummalaria. With this the Indian working classlost one of its ablest and topmost womanleader who with sheer hard work, deepideological and political study, andrevolutionary dedication rose from theranks to become a member of the CentralCommittee of the C.P.I (Maoist); theoppressed women of India lost one of thegreatest champions of their cause, one who,for more than three and a half decades,relentlessly organised them, led them intostruggles against oppression andexploitation; the Nagpur dalit masses andworkers of the unorganised sector lost aleader who stayed among them, awakeningand organising them; and the adivasimasses of Bastar, especially those of SouthBastar, worst affected by the genocidalSalwa Judum, lost their beloved didi, whoworked among them for years sharing theirweal and woe; and the students andintellectuals lost a revolutionary role model,who gave up the comforts of a middle classlife in order to integrate with the oppressedmasses.

She was just 54 at the time of hermartyrdom. She had just returned afterspending a week in Jharkhand takingclasses amongst the tribals on the questionof women’s oppression. After getting highfever on April 6th she was not able to getproper medical attention due to thedifficulties of underground life. The localpathologist said there was no malarialinfection in the blood and so she wastreated for stomach upset by a local doctor.It was only on 11th after another blood testthat she realised that she had falciperummalaria. Though even on that morning sheappeared fine, inside, the falciperumbacteria had already affected her lungs,heart and kidney which had already beenweakened by systemic scerlosis. Thoughshe was admitted in a hospital immediately,barely within an hour her systems beganfailing. Though she was put on oxygen andlater life-support systems, the end came thenext morning. While on oxygen she wasconscious and her eyes wide open. Thesame soft eyes with her depth ofexpression, though in acute pain with

probable knowledge that she was sinking.The degeneration was catalysed by the

fact that she had an incurable disease,systemic sclerosis. This auto-immunedisease first affected her hands and slowlyattacked the inner organs. Detected twoyears ago and probably in existence sincethe last 5 years, it had already affected herlungs and heart beat. Yet, with hercommitment to the masses and revolutionshe worked with the same ardour as earlier.She rarely spoke of the disease and tookon even the most strenuous tasks. Hercommitment to the cause of revolution wasunshakable no matter what the ups anddowns. Being with the incipientrevolutionary movement right from hercollege days in the early 1970s in Mumbai,she gave up a career as a brilliant lecturer,and dedicated her entire life to therevolution . At the 9th Congress-UnityCongress of the Communist Party of India(Maoist)she was the single mahillacomrade to be elected to its CentralCommittee.

In this span of about 35years work with the Indianrevolutionary movementshe has contributed muchto the building of therevolutionary movement inthe country, not onlyorganisationally, but alsopolitically and ideologically.She was one of thefounders of the CPI (ML)Party in Maharashtra.Though her prime focuswas in Maharashtra (boththe Western and theVidharbha region) her workalso contributed to thebuilding of some all-Indiaorganisation and even ofthe Dandakaranyamovement. Even at a lateage of over 40, and afterserving as a seniorprofessor teachingsociology to post-graduatestudents at NagpurUniversity, she moved tolive with the tribals of Bastarstaying with the armed

squads for three years.She started her political life at

Elphinstine College Mumbai in 1972 whichbecame the hub od radical left-wingactivities in the 1970s, primarily due to herinitiation. Earlier she had visited theBangladesh refugee camps and had goneto the famine hit people with a group ofstudents during the horrible famine inMaharashtra of 1972. Deeply moved bywhat she saw there, and being a verysensitive person, she began taking part incollege activities and social work with thepoor. While active amongst students shecame in touch with the student organisationPROYOM (Progressive Youth Movement),which was connected to the then Naxalitemovement. She soon became its activemember, and later one of its leaders. Shealso worked in the slums through whichshe developed her first interaction withdalits, the dalit movement and the horrorsof untouchability. She was a participant inthe radical Dalit Panther movement of 1974;

Homage:

ANURADHA GANDHI: A MARXIST THEORETICIAN & GREAT LEADER OF THE INDIAN

REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT


and in the 3-month long Worli clashes withthe Shiv Sena. Her sensitive nature drewher to the agony of dalit oppression andled her to seek answers to it.

She read voraciously and gained a deepknowledge of Marxism. Later, in the post-Emergency period she became one theleading figures in the country in the civilliberties movement and was one of theinitiators of the CPDR (Committee ofProtection of Democratic Rights). In 1982she moved from Mumbai to Nagpur andwhile teaching at Nagpur University sheactively participated in, and played aleading role in the trade union and dalitmovements in the region. In the processshe went a number of times to jail. WithState repression increasing she was forcedto go underground. Later, at the call of theParty she went to Bastar to work amongthe tribals, and on returning she took upthe responsibility once again of buildingthe revolutionary movement inMaharashtra. Since the last 15 years shehas been working in the underground,building the Party and Maharashtra as wellas leading the women’s wing of the Party,until her sudden and untimely demise.

Early LifeAnu was born into a family that came

from the CPI of the 1940s and 1950s. Herparents, the Shanbags, were married in theCPI office of the undivided Party in Mumbaiand active in the Party till the mid 1950s.Her father was, in the 1950s, in the DefenceCommittee taking up the legal cases of thecommunists arrested in the Telanganastruggle and later became a well knownprogressive lawyer of Mumbai; the motheris an active social worker who, even at thislate age, is active with a women’s group. Itwas in this liberal atmosphere that thechildren grew up. Anu grew to become arevolutionary, while her brother is a notedprogressive play-writer and theatre artistof Mumbai. In her school days Anu was abrilliant student of the J.B. Petit School atSantacruz, always topping in her class. Here,she also learnt classical dancing. With herparents from a communist background, Anuwas open to all ideas and views, includingcommunist, and encouraged to read.

It was within this environment that shecould easily get attracted to revolutionarypolitics when she came in touch with it inher college days. Those were the dayswhen the communist movement was

sweeping the world. The youth throughoutthe world was reverberating with the greatimpact of the Cultural Revolution in Chinaand the historic advance of the Vietnamesepeople in their war with the US imperialists.Within this international ferment, Naxalbariexploded over India and inspired an entiregeneration, not only in India, but all ofSouth Asia. All this had its impact on theyoung Anu. As already mentioned shejoined the radical student organisation,PROYOM, and later went on to become oneof the founder members of the CPI(ML) inMaharashtra. In 1977 she married a fellowcomrade. She was one of the mostimportant persons to initiate therevolutionary movement in Mumbai andthen again a prime factor to spread themovement to Vidarbha in the early 1980s.Particularly notable is the fact that she wasthe comrade who was primarily responsiblefor bringing the dalit issue in Maharashtraonto the revolutionary agenda.

Growth as a RenownedRevolutionary MassLeader

During the late 1970s ,Anuradha was inthe forefront of the countrywide civilliberties movement. In the early 1980s, withthe formation of the CPI(ML)(People’sWar), and the spread of the revolutionarymovement to Gadchiroli district ofMaharashtra, there was talk of the need tospread the revolutionary activities fromMumbai to Vidharbha. Here too she wasone of the pioneers, giving up her job inthe Mumbai College and her high profilepublic life and shifting to Nagpur; a placetotally unknown to her. Her focus ofactivities in Vidharbha was primarily tradeunion work and amongst dalits.

In the trade unions she worked primarilyamongst construction workers and ledmany a militant struggle. Most notable wasthe lengthy strike at the Khaparkheda (30kms from Nagpur) thermal power plantbeing constructed, of about 5,000 workers.This ended in police firing and curfew beingdeclared in the region. She was alsoinvolved in organising the ‘molkarins’(house servants) of Nagpur, workers in theMIDC companies at Hingna (Nagpur),railway workers, bidi workers in Bhandara,powerloom workers at Kamptee (15 kmsfrom Nagpur), and other unorganisedsector workers, and later shifted toChandrapur to help organise the coal-mine

and construction workers there. Most ofthese unorganised sector workers haddefacto no basic trade union rights andwere totally ignored by the traditionalunions. She also developed links for jointactivities with other progressive trade unionleaders of the region from not only Nagpur,but also from Chandrapur, Amravati,Jabalpur, Yeotmal, etc. In these strugglesshe was arrested a few times, and had spenta number of days in Nagpur jail. Inspite ofher job, she became a renownedrevolutionary trade union leader of theregion.

Besides this, she was even more activewithin the dalit community organising andawakening them against caste oppressionand for their liberation from this oppressivesystem. She was infact one of the pioneersamongst the revolutionary Marxists to haveaddressed the issue of dalit oppressionand caste discrimination at a very earlystage itself. She had read extensivelyAmbedkar and other sociological writingson the caste question. Unlike the traditionalMarxists she fully identified with dalits andinfact moved her Nagpur residence to oneof the largest dalit bastis of Mahrashtra,Indora. Though this was a stronghold ofmost of the dalit leaders and a hotbed ofdalit politics, large sections of the youthsoon began getting attracted to theNaxalites. Particularly the cultural troupesshe helped organise had enormous impact.She grew to become the open face of theMaoists in the dalit movement; and becameone of the major public speakers at mostdalit meetings in Vidarbha. Thoughvehemently opposed by the dalit leaders,with her deep study of Ambedkar, dalitissues and caste oppression, she couldstand her ground, with widespread supportfrom the youth.

Besides, all this, she was alsoinstrumental in building the revolutionarywomen’s movement in Nagpur. She stoodout as a shining example for all progressivewomen who played an active roleovercoming all the patriarchal constraintsof society around. She inspired a largenumber of women not only in to thewomen’s organisation but also in to theParty.

She wrote profusely on the topic inboth English and Marathi, presenting aclass view-point to the issue andcountering not only the numerous post-modernist trends on this issue but the


wrong Marxist interpretations of the dalitand caste questions. The most elaboratearticle on the issue was a 25-page piece inMarathi that appeared in SatyashodhakMarxvad (the organ of Sharad Patil fromDhule) explaining a Marxist stand on thedalit question and linking dalit liberationwith the task of the new democraticrevolution in the country. Till today thisarticle is quoted by many. Many years laterit was she who prepared the original drafton the basis of which the erstwhile CPI(ML)(PW) prepared the first ever castepolicy paper within the Marxist movementin India. In this draft she outlined that inIndia the democratisation of society isinconceivable without smashing the elitistcaste system and fighting all forms of casteoppressions, most particularly its crudestform against dalits in the form ofuntouchability. Much of the viewsexpressed by her then in the mid-1990s,have now been adopted by the CPI (Maoist)in its recent Congress.

Besides these two fields of work therewere many notable events that occurred inwhich she played a pioneering role while inNagpur. Particularly we mention two suchexamples; which had an indeliblerevolutionary impact on the consciousnessof the people of Vidharbha. The first wasthe Kamlapur Conference of 1984; thesecond was the JNM Cultural programmeled by Gaddar, in 1992.

The Kamplapur Conference wasorganised deep in the forests of Gadchirolliby the incipient Naxalite movement in the

region. A massive campaign, led byAnuradha, was carried out all overVidarbha to attend the Conferece, while thearmed squads did a huge mobilisationwithin the forests. Though the Conferencewas ruthlessly crushed by the police,hundreds and thousands of people beganflocking towards Kamplapur — a smallvillage deep in the forests. Therevolutionary message from Kamlapurreverberated throughout the region formonths. The proposed Gaddar programmein Nagpur, which too was crushed byruthless police action, had an even greaterimpact. People still recollect the diminutiveAnuradha climbing onto a motor cycle toaddress the large crowd gathered on thestreets outside the college hall which hadbeen sealed by the police, inspite of a HighCourt order allowing the programme.Though thousands of police hadsurrounded the hall and occupied allapproach roads to it, there was a biggathering, including a large number ofjournalists, lecturers, writers, lawyers, andeven senior faculty members. All were lathi-chared as soon as Gaddar appeared.Though the programme did not take placethis was head-line news for nearly twomonths. Both these events had a majorimpact on spreading revolutionary viewswidely all over Vidharbha and it was shewho was the main architect of both theseprogrammes.

Inspite all these activities she was avery popular teacher amongst her studentsshowing a high level of responsibility

towards them, not missing a single lecture.Like any task she took up, she would bethorough and conscientious about it. So,she was much loved by her students, andrespected by her professor colleagues. Butlater, due to intense police pressure theParty felt her affectivity would be morefrom the underground. And so, since about1994 she has functioned continuously fromthe underground; braving all the difficultiesof underground life.

During her one-and-a-half decade in theVidharbha region she had an enormousimpact on the region in bringingrevolutionary politics to the area. Not onlydid she, together with others, build arevolutionary working class movement, andpowerful revolutionary movement amongdalits, but she also helped build therevolutionary student movement andattracting a vast cross-section ofintellectuals, including senior professors,journalists, noted playwrights and topadvocates of the region. Soon after comingto Nagpur, after the death of revolutionarywriter of AP, Cherabandaraju, she got hispoems translated into Marathi and ananthology containing those poems wasreleased at a function by the mostrenowned Marathi poet of the region. TheMarathi translation of the poems soldextensively all over Maharashtra, creatinga major impact. Among the many fields sheworked, her most effective impact wastaking revolutionary politics amongst thedalits and arousing them to a revolutionaryconsciousness.

LETTER FROM A SENIOR COMRADE WITH A LONG ASSOCIATIONDuring the last month, whenever I have had occasion to write to anyone about Anuradha, I have been at a complete loss for words

on ways to express the depth of my sorrow and anguish at her so untimely death. The shock of it all, the fact that one will never againsee her bobbing her head, tilting it like a dancer, the unguarded display of emotions and thoughts on her so expressive face — it hasbecome really very difficult to accept this reality. What a loss to the Party and all of us, her colleagues and friends. A life abruptly cutshort just as it was poised for new flights after decades of hard solid work, just when the new responsibilities were unfolding beforeher; a kind of rare plant which was once again on the verge of bloom at an age when most had become dry and sterile.

When she was there, I took her so much for granted. A dependable, reliable person always there when a hard difficult task we allhesitated to undertake and was to be done. Now that she is gone her importance, her significant contribution hits you — hits youbecause we are be all the weaker; poorer owing to her absence.

The importance of com. Anuradha goes far beyond what she contributed organisationally. Her life and work has a visible socialsignificance and impact rarely enjoyed by an underground communist activist. To my mind very few communists in the recent decadeshas had such a wide reach, an appeal which went far beyond the organisation and the immediate masses organised by it; an ability tobridge many disparate social groups with the revolutionary movement as Anuradha did. It is in this quality that lies her uniqueness andit is this quality which will serve the Party and movement long after she has physically died. She had appeal not only for the basicmasses — workers and peasants — but also the intellectuals of all hues: students, lawyers, educational professionals, researchers,dalit activists and even non-dalit Marathi progressive circles. She also represented the communist women activist in the feministmilieu. Standing firm on the bedrock of communist ideology and practice, her physically diminutive frame stretched across and builtlinks with all these sections.


She was one of the most prominentleaders of the civil liberties movement inthe post Emergency period and played aprominent role in the famous Civil LibertiesConference held in 1977 at Delhi,demanding the release of politicalprisoners. The conference included suchleading lights as V.M.Tarkunde, GovindaMukhoty, VaraVara Rao, Subba Rao,Sudesh Vaid and even some ruling classelements as George Fernandez and ArunShourie. She continued this role throughthe 1980s inspite of all her other activities.

She also played a role in the formationof the AILRC (All India League ofRevolutionary Culture) formed in 1983. Shewas one of the main speakers at the Sindri(near Dhanbad) Conference of the AILRCin 1985, together with KVR, Gaddar, VV. Rao,Bali Yadav, and others. Many in the regionremember her fondly from those days.

Call of BastarHaving carried the revolutionary

message of the Dandakaranya movementto the rest of Vidharbha, she, withoutflinching, responded to the call of the Partyto shift base to Bastar. In the second halfof the 1990s she spent three years livingwith the squads amongst the Bastar tribals.Carrying a rifle and in military fatigue shespent the next three years of herrevolutionary life amongst the adivsis ofDK. She went out of her way to gather manya study on the Gond tribals to the Partyleaders of DK. She always maintained thatthese three years were one of the mostfulfilling in her life where she learned aboutthe lives and struggles of the Gond tribalsof Bastar. She keenly studied their livesand how the movement was built. Sheparticularly focused on the lives of thewomen, their organisation, the KAMS(Krantikari Adivasi Mahilla Sanghathna)and the women in the squads. She alsolearned how to wield the gun and as part ofthe squad she carried one for her self-defence. In fact, on one occasion she had avery narrow escape when the police camewithin feet of where they were resting. Theirfiring missed her and the retaliation by hersquad allowed them to retreat without anyloss of life.

She spent most of her time there, in theByramgadh area which, recently, has beenin the limelight for facing the brunt of theSalwa Judum attacks.Her tenacity instaying with the squads astounded and

impressed even the local tribals who wouldtime and again mention how at this late ageshe had managed to come and stay there.

During this period she also spent muchtime in taking classes, mainly for thegrowing leadership amongst tribal women.She took classes on women’s healthissues, women’s oppression and the newdemocratic revolution, on impartinggeneral knowledge, on imparting therudiments of Marxism, etc. She helped drafthandbills and wrote numerous articles inthe local Party magazine.

Towards the last part of her stay shewas given independent charge of the WestBastar area covering what is known as theNational Park region. This too is a regionwhich is affected by the recent SalwaJudum onslaught. While she was there sheguided and developed the movement in thearea.

She was there during the peak of the1997 famine in which hundreds had died ofstarvation in other areas. Here, with theParty seizing grains from the hoarders anddistributing it, the damage was muchcontrolled. During this period, attacks ofmalaria, the terrible dry heat of summer,coupled with the famine conditions took atoll on her health. It was only her enormouscommitment to the cause of the people, andtremendous will-power that kept her goingunder even these worst conditions.Besides, her nature was such that she nevershowed any of her own sufferings.

After returning from Bastar she took upParty responsibilities in Mahaashtra whilecontinuing an underground existence. Forthe last decade she has contributed tobuilding the revolutionary movement inMaharashtra, besides playing a major rolein the Mahilla sub-committee of the Partysince 2001.

Party LifeAnu’s commitment to the oppressed

masses was unflinching. It was this concernfor the well-being of the poverty strickenmasses that drew her to revolutionarypolitics. Unable to tolerate the poverty andhumiliation that the poor faced, she soughtanswers. The terrible humiliation that dalitsfaced due to untouchability and other formsof inhuman discrimination drew her tostudy the caste question in India andAmbedkar’s writings and own the cause ofthe dalits from a very early period. At thattime dalit issues were not the fashion as it

now is, and was anathema in most Marxistcircles. Even as a student she joined in theMarxist study circles run by the thenincipient Party. She was one of the chiefarchitects of the building the revolutionarymovement in Mumbai in the 1970s. Sheplayed a premier role in the revolutionarystudent movement and building up theParty core within it. She was a foundermember of the CPI (ML) Party inMaharashtra. Popularity and fame neverwent to her head and she easily switchedto a new low profile role as per the needsof the Party. When the need grew todevelop a political movement in Vidarbhaafter the initiation of the Gadchiroli armedmovement, she willingly volunteered toshift from her home base in Mumbai andmove to a place where she did not knoweven a single person.

There, she soon managed a part-timeteaching job with post-graduate studentsin Nagpur University . She was an ordinarymember of the Party when theCPI(ML)(People’s War) was formed in 1980and after she moved to Nagpur she playeda leading role in building the Party andrevolutionary movement there. Later, shebecame a member of the Vidharbha RegionalCommittee of the Party. As a VRC membershe played an important role in buildingthe Party in the region.

After coming back from Bastar she waselected to the Maharashtra State Committeeof the Party. Later she was also givenadditional responsibility as part of theCentral Mahilla Sub-committee, ever sinceit was established. She attended as adelegate to both the 2001 Congress heldby the erstwhile CPI(ML)(PW) and theUnity Congress-Ninth Congress of theCPI(Maoist). She was the only delegate tobeelected to the Presidium of both theCongresses, which conducts itsproceedings. At the 2001 Congress of thePW she was elected as an alternate memberto the CC. At the time of her martyrdom shewas a member of the highest body of theCPI (Maoist), it’s Central Committee, withindependent charge of the Central MahillaSub-Committee and also a member of theCC’s South Western Regional Bureau. Aspart of her role in this Sub-Committee sheplayed an important role of drafting theWomen’s Perspective of the Party. At thetime of her death she was working onstudying the problems women comrades


were facing in the Party, the varied forms ofpatriarchy they face, and devising arectification plan that would help thegrowth of women comrades, so that theycan grow to take greater leadershipresponsibilities. In fact her very last taskwas taking a class of the leading womenactivists from Jharkhand, mostly from tribalbackground, to explain the Women’sPerspective of the Party. Her untimely andpremature death will have a serious impacton the revolutionary movement in thecountry and particularly on thedevelopment of women’s work in the Partyas also the development of work inMaharashtra.

Anu, an ExemplaryCommunist

Almost child-like, her face was a mirrorof expression of her emotions/feelings;pretence, falsehood, intrigue, ego, etc, wereanthema for her. And this nature neverchanged through all the traumatic decadesof revolutionary life. It was her extremelyhigh level of honesty towards herself andothers that attracted all genuine peopletowards her; even those who disagreedwith her views. She had a natural ability ofmixing and integrating into anyenvironment … whether it is of tribals,dalits, and construction workers or of topacademics, intellectuals of the country. Hersimplicity and child-like innocence,together with her enormous liveliness madeher a most likable person.

She was totally selfless, uncaringabout her own comforts and even of herhealth, with a lot of concern for others. Shewas exceedingly hardworking, with a verystrong sense of discipline. She was the typeof person that if she took up any task allcould rest assured it would get done. Shehad a strong sense of responsibilitytowards people and any task what-so-ever,however trivial it may be. This wasreflected in her teaching work, politicalwork, or anything she took up. It wasreflected in her attitude towards herstudents, colleagues, comrades, or, in fact,any person she was associated with. Andone of her best and most lovable qualitieswas her high sense of principles. She wasan extremely principled person standing upfor what she believed in and not a personto adjust her beliefs according to the viewsof others, however senior, or for the sakeof some petty gains. So, people could trust

her implicitly. Yet, she had the modesty tobe a willing learner.

While being creative and notstereotype in her thinking, she was alwaysfirm on the Party line and Marxist ideologyand never compromised with views she feltincorrect, no matter who was presentingthem. It was this steadfastness that allowedher to stay with true revolutionary forcestill her very last, through all the ups anddowns in her over 3½ decade longrevolutionary life. Yet, she had the positiveapproach of seeing the positives in others,even with those she differed with, andshowing respect to all, no matter what herdifferences. Though impatient at times shenever bore grudges against others. In thatway she acted as a solid and steadfastanchor for the Party, through all its ups anddowns, particularly in Maharashtra. Shenever knew fear and even in the face ofdeath, during the last moments ofconsciousness her eyes had the samesoftness and tenderness as was in thenormal days. She took up the most arduousand dangerous tasks at very criticalchanges in her political life — this wasreflected in her ability to give up her highprofile public life when she was in Mumbaiand overnight shift to Nagpur where not asole knew her; then again she could giveup her University job and image of one ofthe most popular leaders of Nagpur and gounderground and join the squads in Bastar;even in her very last days when the bulk ofthe Party leadership was arrested inMaharashtra , it was she who held the Partytogether though it was high risk with thepolice specifically hunting for her.

And all these qualities shone throughher personality even as a woman activist inthis highly patriarchal and feudalatmosphere in the country. As a person shehad all the qualities of what a real human-being and comrade should be like. All theseexcellent qualities enabled her to become atrue and genuine communist. Her loss isan enormous loss for the revolutionary anddemocratic movement of the country; andmore particularly for its progressive andrevolutionary women.

Ideological and PoliticalContributions

Anuradha played many roles in the longspan of her revolutionary life from being amass leader to an underground Partyorganiser. She was associated with the

formation of VPS (Vidyarthi PragatiSangathan), CPDR, AILRC, NBS(Naujavan Bharat Sabha), Stree Chetna,AMKU (Akhil Mahrashtra KamgarUnion) and numerous other massorganisations, primarily in Maharashtra. Butwhatever her role she was a consistent andprolific writer. She was closely associatedwith the revolutionary student magazine,KALAM, which achieved a countrywideimage. This magazine was brought out inboth English and Marathi. She was the mainperson behind the revolutionary Hindimagazine, Jan Sangram, brought out fromNagpur. She contributed regular articles,under various pseudonyms, to therevolutionary magazines, like Vanguard,People’s March, etc. She wrote for the localMarathi Party magazine Jahirnama and fora period was in charge of its publication.She also wrote many theoretical andideological pieces particularly associatedwith the dalit and women’s question.Besides, she conducted many a polemic onthis question with both, those taking a dalit/post-modernist view on the question andwith Marxists who took a hostile view. Thisshe wrote in both English and Marathi. Asalready mentioned it was she who wrotethe original draft for the policy paper onthe caste question in India by the erstwhileCPI (ML)(PW). This was the first suchpolicy paper by a revolutionary communistparty. More recently she wrote a polemical/analytical piece on bourgeois feminism,bringing out its various manifestations. Shewas also instrumental in the preparation ofthe Women’s Perspective of the CPI(Maoist) adopted recently by the Party. Itwas she who drafted many a March 8th

statement of the Party.Her major ideological contributions

have been the enrichment of the Marxistunderstanding on the caste question anddalit oppression and also various facets ofthe women’s movement, particularly adetailed analysis of bourgeois feminism.She was also instrumental in playing amajor role in framing the Women’sPerspective of the Maoist Party.

There was not even a short time whenshe was not writing something linked withthe movement. She was a regularcontributor to many magazines in English,Hindi and Marathi. Many of her articles andwritings have also been translated intoother languages. She also spoke a number


Dear Anu,The bars are almost an inch thick

……Yet the sunbeams come dancing ineach morning. And now that it is summer,they are strong, bold….. fiery?

Like that day we walked against theUniversity Bill. You remember? Hot sunbeating down, you prancing up and downthe length of the morcha. My first morcha,my first impression of you — a sub-fivefoot bundle of energy, a little jump withevery punched fist slogan hitting the sun.Height is hardly a hurdle when you’vedecided to smite the sky.

First impressions don’t necessarily last.But years and decades didn’t much alterthis first image. Some years later, I wouldhear you speak at meetings, rattling offfacts, figures and ideas at machine-gunspeed. I got to know your ideas — and learntyou were one of the better knownchampions of the thought. But I couldn’tpicture you in the mould of thinker. Perhapsthat was too paani-kam — at least whenyou’ve decided to not only interpret theworld, but to change it. Thoughts, then,had not only to be formulated andexplained, they had to be fought for — onsundry battle-fields.

And what that combatant approachmeant to you came home to me one Februaryevening at that room of yours in LaxmiNagar at Nagpur. Fresh from Mumbai, Iwanted the windows to shut out the bitingchill ……. and you had that story of theexplorer, who conditioned himself for theattack on the South Pole.

Did the conditioning help when, manyyears later you criss-crossed the Bastar

“YOUR STORY HAS GOT TO BE TOLD”jungles, rifle slung over your shoulder?Must have; or those arthritic kneeswouldn’t have allowed you conquer thosehills. But more than the physicalconditioning it must have been theconditioning of sustained warfare on thosevarious fronts — students, slums, civilliberties, trade unions, women, anti-caste,cultural and some more.

As for conquering hearts ,you hardlyhad any problem. Fighting people are thesame everywhere and you would easilyconnect through the common idiom ofstruggle. And where language could havebeen barrier, you easily leapt across, pickingup a new tongue in a mater of weeks. So,besides English, Marathi and Hindi, youcovered Gujrati, Gondi and even more thana smattering of Telugu.

And the other day, after going throughKrishna Bandyopadhyay’s narrative inEPW, I couldn’t help wondering how yournarrative would read. All your experiencesof dealing with those subtle patriarchies ofus men comrades. Of those experienceswhile being activist, leader, organizer,guerrilla, committee member, policy-maker;particularly all those tests and trials uniqueto the women who, have opted to servethe revolution, were also thrust within theonus of its leadership.

I can ofcourse only ‘know’ of thoseexperiences in a most refracted andreflected manner. Like I know how easy itwould be for our male minds to do mentalarithmetic comparing your performanceagainst the yardstick of the best of the mencomrades. And how difficult it was to notconsider as reprimand what from a male

saathi would be sage advice. How a man’sanger can be glorious and female angermerely petulant; male tears so profoundwhile the female variety seem to resembleblackmail. And how the woman has perhapsto struggle not to be force-moulded intothose masculine aspirational stereotypesthat have gained pre-eminence in therevolutionary psyche.

Anu, I know you would be the first tointerpose that things are changing.Rectification campaigns against patriarchyand growing percentages of women inmembership and leadership are hewing, ifnot hacking at the pillars of maledomination, both inside and outside themovement. But also, you, better than otherswould know how, when things change,there are also the things that insist onremaining the same. And that demandsthose repeated surges to rectify. And thatdemands that you and/or other sisters tellthe story from your vantage point.

You’ve seen things not only from yourexperience but also through the eyes ofthose thousands of activists you’veencountered in every corner of the country.You’ve participated in formulating policyfor women and led its implementation. Yourstory then will have the difference. It’s astory that has got to be told.

And that’s what I wanted to write toyou about in that week of April whenKrishna told her story in EPW. To ask youto try to tell the story that would talk acrossthe decades to Krishna’s story. A story totell ten thousand stories …… to talk toKrishnas, Anus and such countless girlsand boys of the years to come.

of languages being fluent in English, Hindiand Marathi, with a good knowledge ofGujarati and even understood Telugu,Kannada and Gondi.

CONCLUSIONAnuradha’s contributions to the Indian

revolutionary movement, and particularlythe movement in Maharashtra, have beensubstantial. She had the rare qualities ofbeing not only an effective leader in thefield, but combining it with significantideological and political contributions. Andas her long-standing comrade said, shehad that uniqueness in being able to

connect with a vast spectrum of people andthereby bridge so many social groups withthe revolution. Most important of all, shehad many of the qualities any genuinecommunist should inculcate — extremes t r a i g h t - f o r w a r d n e s s , m o d e s t y ,selflessness, disciplined and hardworking,and unwavering commitment to therevolution. Finally, her liveliness and child-like simplicity made her a most lovableperson, leaving an indelible impact onanyone she met, even once.

Besides this she was a good massleader, an effective Party organiser and anideologue who wrote extensively and

particularly helped enrich the Marxistunderstanding on the caste/dalit andwomen’s question.

To grow to such heights in this deeplypatriarchal society, is a source forenormous inspiration to all womencomrades and activists. Her life and workwill remain as an important chapter in India’srevolutionary movement and will continueto inspire people to the cause of revolution.Though her untimely death extinguished aglowing star, the rays will linger on toillumine the path towards a just andequitable new order. Anuradha willcontinue to live on in our hearts.


Red Salutes to CPI(Maoist) Central Committee Member and greatrevolutionary intellectual comrade Anuradha Ghandy!

Let us emulate Com. Anuradha’s great revolutionary qualities—herundaunted spirit, staunch determination and selflessness!!

On April 12, 2008 the oppressed massesof our country and the Indian revolutionlost an exemplary Communist leader and abrilliant revolutionary intellectual—comrade Anuradha Ghandy—known to therevolutionary camp as comrade Narmada,Janaki and Rama. On that fateful day thisbeloved leader of the CPI(Maoist) hadbreathed her last, at the age of 54, after asevere attack of falciparum malaria.Comrade Anuradha, had just returned fromBihar-Jharkhand region after attending tosome Party work there and she did notrealize that the fever she was suffering fromwas due to the deadly cerebral malaria. Thenegative result in the blood tests had onlymisled her and the doctors and delay intaking malaria dose resulted in this tragicepisode. Comrade Narmada was crematedon April 12. The CC, CPI(Maoist) pays itshumble red homage to this seniormostwoman member of the Central Committeeand vows to fulfill the revolutionary idealsfor which she had laid down her life.

Comrade Anuradha had started herrevolutionary career in the early 1970s as astudent of Eliphinstone college, Mumbai.She is one of the founder-members of theCPI(ML) in Maharashtra. And in the spanof over three decades she had been in theforefront in several fronts: studentmovement, civil rights movement, women’smovement, workers’ movement, dalitmovement, adivasi movement, literary andcultural movement. She never remained aspectator to any act of injustice and to thespontaneous struggle of any section of themasses. Her spirited and courageous fight

for the rights of the adivasis, landlesslabourers, dalit masses, women andunorganized labour will forever beremembered. She played a prominent rolein organizing the intellectuals of Mumbaiand other parts of the state to build amovement for democratic rights and civilliberties. She was a leader of the All IndiaLeague for Revolutionary Culture (AILRC)from Maharashtra and is well- known inrevolutionary circles as a talented writer andfiery orator. Comrade Anuradha was aprolific writer and contributed immenselyto the magazines of various fronts. Shewrote fluently in three languages—English,Hindi and Marathi. She worked in the cityof Mumbai, Nagpur, Surat and several partsof Maharashtra. She served as a memberof the Vidarbha regional committee andMaharashtra state committee and waselected to the central committee of theCPI(Maoist) in the Unity Congress (9th

Congress) held in January 2007. At the timeof her martyrdom she was also in charge ofthe Party’s central subcommittee forwomen.

Comrade Anuradha was known for herexemplary communist qualities: she stoodsteadfast in the most difficult times, wasalways spirited, hard working, and led avery frugal and simple life with the goal ofdeclassifying herself. Her frail health hadnot deterred her from carrying out any taskand duty entrusted to her. She was sufferingfrom sclerosis but none suspected that shehad serious health problems for she neverlet others know of her problems. When shewas in Dandakaranya for three years, she

was a great inspiration to the cadres there:she used to walk long distances withoutever complaining despite her healthproblems and she integrated with thecadres and masses with great ease. It isnot easy for urban-based petty-bourgeoisintellectuals to integrate with the illiteratepoverty-stricken masses but comradeAnuradha did this with great ease.

Comrade Anuradha was known forfrank and fearless criticism of weaknesses,shortcomings and mistakes in the Party’spolicies and practice. She had strong viewsand put these forth without any hesitationin various Party fora. She contributed a lotin making the Party understand thewomen’s question in the correct light andin realizing the lapses and weaknesses ofthe Party in the women’s front. She wasforthright in her criticism of anyone in theParty, irrespective of one’s position in theParty, if she saw something wrong.

Comrade Anuradha will live forever inthe hearts of the Party’s rank and file andmillions upon millions of the Indian masses.She will remain an eternal inspiration to allthose who aspire for a victoriousrevolution in our country, and a catalystdriving us towards the ultimate goal ofestablishing a classless society. Let usemulate the indomitable spirit, dynamism,simplicity, diligence, dedication andcommunist values of comrade Anuradha.Let us pledge ourselves once again to fulfillthe great ideals for which comradeAnuradha had laid down her life.

SPOKESPERSON CPI (MOAIST)

But Anu, before I could even figureout whether it would be possible toreach to you, the newspaper told us thatcerebral malaria had martyred you —that very week.

The flood of memories descended inwaves and pushed out the occasional tear.And each seems still to scream for tellingthe story — your story, her story, ourstory. A story that, without being moralistic,will draw a hundred morals, without being

incendiary, could fire up a million minds.An Anu’s story that will be told some dayby some Anu.

And Anu, the bars are almost an inchthick. But they’re not built to withstand theflames from a million minds and a billionsouls. As thousands and now lakhs of newactivists firmly trace your footsteps, andbeyond, to scale new horizons, bars andother barriers, and their keepers, scatterand scurry them. Around the world, and in

India too, imperialism and their agent rulersin crisis are retreating before angry raisedfists of peoples, announcing their refusalto be ruled in the old way. In ways we mayhave not imagined, they’re giving birth tothe tomorrow we’ve dreamt of ….. and we’llbe there.

Your,Chotu (from Jail)May 2008

PressRelease:


THE Congress government inAndhra Pradesh, headed by Y.S.

Rajasekhara Reddy, announced anambitious scheme termed as Jalayagnam(drive for irrigation water projects) underwhich major and minor irrigation projectswill be constructed all over the state, at anestimated cost of one lakh crores.According to government’s claims, thisscheme when completed will provideirrigation to an additional one crore acresof land in the state. A big propagandacampaign has been going on since thenthat the Congress party will transform thestate as golden Andhra Pradesh in a decadeby completing these projects come whatmay. Notwithstanding the tall claims of Y.S. Reddy and his government, a deep studyof the major projects being executed at ahectic pace reveals the fact that the mainpurpose of these projects is to satiate theindustrial water needs of the compradorhouses and the MNCs, to provide themwith cheap river and canal transportfacilities, to further safeguard the interestsof the coastal Andhra feudal lords, whoalong with the powerful coastal compradorclass constitute the deciding section of theAndhra ruling classes and on the waybenefit mega construction companies.Ofcourse some additional irrigationcapacity will be provided, mostly in thealready well irrigated coastal region whilepermanently robbing Telangana region ofits rightful share of Godavari waters. Thisentire drive should be seen in the backdropof the ever intensifying globalisationonslaught to understand its realimplications.

The Polavaram Project (or Indira Sagaras named by the Congress rulers) is a casein point. It is the biggest project in thisdrive and will easily rank as one amongsuch gigantic projects in the country. Thisproject will be built on the Godavari Riverat Polavaram in West Godavari district at acost of about 16,000 crores (the cost isescalating by the day). The statedobjectives of this project as per the stategovernment are, to provide additionalirrigation to 2,91,000 ha (7,19,400 acres); toprovide assured drinking water and

POLAVARAM PROJECT:

Facilatating Imperialist And Comprodor Plunder!Robbing Telangana Of Its Rightful Share Of Water!!

Destruction & Devastation Of Adivasi Life!!!industrial water needs of Visakhapatnam;to generate 960 MW of electricity and todivert 80 tmc (thousand million cubicmeters) of Godavari water to the Krishnariver basin to stabilize that basin and usethe Krishna water thus saved to provideadditional irrigation to Rayalaseema region.Two lined canals will be built to take thewater. The Left Main Canal will be 181.5kmlong and will end at Visakhapatnam. Thiscanal is contemplated to irrigate 1.62ha ofland in East Godavari and Visakhapatnamdistricts. The Right Main Canal will be of174 kms length and is contemplated toirrigate 1,29,259ha of land in West Godavariand Krishna districts, besides diverting 80tmc of Godavari water to the Krishna basin.Though the Supreme Court issued atemporary stay order preventing the APgovernment from proceeding with theconstruction of the dam, the governmentwent ahead and forcibly acquired land bothfor the project site and the canals. Canalworks are going on at a fast pace as there isno stay order on their construction and asthe state government knows well thatpermission from the Apex court is just amatter of time..

This project, like all such other megaprojects, SEZs and industrial corridorscoming all over the country in the wake ofglobalization, will come up at an enormouscost in terms of human sufferings, due todisplacement, submergence, destructionand devastation of adivasi society andculture and destruction of vast tracts offorests, mineral resources, wild life and thesubmergence of Papikonda Wild LifeReserve.Distruction & Devastation OfAdivasis’ Lives And Livlihoods

Around 300 villages of the adivasi areasof East and West Godavari districts andKhammam district of Telangana, besidessome villages of Chattisgarh and Orissa willbe completely submerged. Around three lakhpeople will be displaced, out of whom 53.17%are adivasis. Adivasis and dalits account for65.75% of the displaced. The naturalresources, cultural systems, traditionalknowledge of all these people are closely

linked to the land they inhabit. With the lossof the land, minor forest produce, tubers,common property resources that supporthuman population and livestock, etc, thevery existence of these communities willbecome unsustainable.

Here it is necessary to know somethingabout the life and livelihoods of the adivasisto realize how much of devastation thisproject will entail. All the villages that willbe submerged are located in the scheduledarea. The terrain is hilly and covered byforests, much of it reserved forest. Most ofthe tribals, i.e. adivasis cultivate land forwhich they have no title that can stand thetests of the law. In fact, if it comes to thequestion of providing proof, the land maywell be found to belong to some non-adivasis, since most of the land recordswere tampered by non- adivasi immigrantsby bribing government officials. As suchmajority of the affected adivasis stand nochance of getting even the nominal amountof compensation the government pays.Another important factor is that, theadivasis obtain their livelihood and supportfrom the forests for which no compensationwill be paid in law. They gather and marketa variety of minor forest produce likeTamarind, Tendu leaves, Mahuva flowersetc, and in certain seasons that is theironly source of livelihood. Moreover, theforest provides them with a variety of fruits,tubers etc. Once they are evicted from theforest, these sources of livelihood and lifewill be irretrievably lost. As they know onlyprimitive methods of agriculture, as theydepend more on the bountiful presentsmother forest offers them for theirsustenance, and as they know no other wayof life than the one they have been leadingfor generations, they will be at sea oncethey are evicted and their lives will becompletely shattered . No amount ofcompensation can bring back the cheers intheir lives and they will be condemned tolive a life of penury, taking up odd jobsthat may occasionally come in their way.According to conservative estimates oneadivasi family will be displaced for everyhectare of land to be irrigated by thisproject.



Environmental DisasterAccording to the government of AP,

7,964 acres of forest land will be submerged.All these are natural forests. Theirsubmergence means, countless medicinalplants and invaluable biodiversity will belost, with the destruction of the forests, soilerosion in the upstream areas will result insiltation in the river thus endangering thedam itself, many wild life spices willdisappear and the Papikonda Wild LifeSanctuary, spread over 360 sq km, easilythe most scenic spot and a big touristattraction, will be submerged.Trampling Of All Laws of theLand

The state government has once againproved that all the Laws that were enactedto protect the forest dwellers are nothingbut mere pieces of paper which the rulerscan throw in to the dustbin without anybother, as and when they wish. The area tobe submerged by the dam comes under theFifth Schedule of the constitution and bysubmersion the nature of the villages in thearea will change.. As per Section 6 of thatschedule, only the President of India hasthe power to alter or modify ScheduledAreas. The state government did not evenbother to seek the President’s permission.The government also sidestepped thePanchayat Raj Act by not obtaining theconsent of Grama Sabhas to acquire landin Scheduled Areas. Not even a singleGrama Sabha adopted a resolution in favorof the Polavaram project. The publichearing for Environmental Clearance was asham drama as the hearings were held atfive places on the same day and the effectedpeople were prevented from speaking byofficials and the police forces; moreoverthe police brutally attacked the people anddispersed them.Robbing Telangana Of ItsRightful Share Of GodavariWaters

Godavari is the second longest river inthe country. About 70% of its basin falls inTelangana area of AP while the coastal areasaccount for the remaining 30%. It was along pending demand of the people of theTelangana region that they must get theirrightfull share of the Godavari waters, asmost parts of Telangana are rain-scare areas,which can only be served by Godavariwaters. The Devadula, Inchampalli,

Yellampalli, Dummugudem and Sriramsagarflood flow projects are the main projectsproposed on the Godavari river to servethis area. The scheming Andhra coastalruling classes already deprived the peopleof both Rayalaseema and Telangana oftheir rightful share of waters of river Krishna— lions share goes to the coastal region.This just and legitimate demand forGodavari waters became more vocal as thestruggle for a separate state intensified. Assuch the state government, then headedby Mr. Chandrababu Naidu appointed aGodavari Waters Utilization Authority in1999. Nobody knows what happened tothis Authority since then. It is but an ageold trick of the ruling classes to appointsuch committees and bury the issue oncethere is a let up in the heat. But the struggleof the people of Telangana went onintensifying despite such and other cheaptricks and a time came when the powerfulcoastal Andhra feudal – comprador rulingclasses realized that formation of a separateTelangana state is inevitable and theymade hasty plans to rob as much ofGodavari waters as possible. AndPolavaram dam is one such a scheme. Mostof the submergence area of this project fallsin backward Telangana region but it willnot get even a drop of water out of thisproject. Moreover, it takes away 335 tmc ofwater. Another 120 tmc of Godavari wateris being diverted to the Krishna basin (to atail pond below Nagarjunasagar dam on thatriver ) from a point at Dummugdem, throughseven, we repeat seven lift irrigationschemes, surely an unparallel record in anypart of the world! (More on why such hugequantities of water are being diverted toKrishna River, later) With these, theGodavari basin areas of Telangana whichconstitute 70% of the basin would haveonly about 225 to 250 tmc of water for allthe above projects. One will understandthe enormity of this water robbery whenone comes to know that Telangana has just16% of the irrigated area in cultivable landswhile the share of the coastal regions ofAP is 60%! Telangana has just 1,36,000 haof land under irrigation where as just thefour coastal districts of AP - Krishna,Guntur, East and West Godavari – have 7,60, 000 ha under irrigation, which is 63.5%of the total.Is The Polavaram ProjectIntended to Create Additional

Irrigation facilities AsClaimed?

The government claims that this projectwill provide irrigation to an additional 7.2lakh acres. But the reality is otherwise. Thegovernment in order to boost up theacreage resorted to utter falsehood byincluding the ayacut (command areas) ofother irrigation projects in the proposedayacut of this project to arrive at this figure.Already there are some schemes, namely,Chagalnadu Lift Irrigation Scheme, YeluruScheme and Torrigadda scheme, whichprovide for irrigation to 1. 26 lakh acres tothe same ayacut as is clamed to be irrigatedunder the Polavaram project. Apart fromthese, two other schemes, the PushkaraLift Irrigation Scheme and Tadipudi LiftIrrigation Scheme will provide irrigation to3.92 lakh acres of the same ayacut. ThePushkara and Tadipudi canals will berunning parallel to and along the samecontour alignments as the proposedPolavaram canals. Besides this, Polavaramwill actually submerge about one lakh acresof irrigated land. A governmentrepresentative agreed that most part of thewater will go for the stabilization of thealready irrigated Godavari delta areas.When all these things are taken in toaccount, the Polavaram project may at themost provide additional irrigation to lessthan one lakh acres only.The Peasants Have to Pay aHeavy Cost

To get this water the peasants have topay a heavy cost. Both the canals are beingdug to a depth of about 20 mts from theground level. That means water has to besupplied to the fields through lift schemeswhich will consume heavy amounts ofpower. The peasants will have to bear thesepower charges by way of user charges asthe ruling classes have been collectingsuch charges as a part of World Bankdictated policies.For What Purpose and forWhose Benefit?

Now the question arises – for whatpurpose and to benefit whom are the rulingclasses going ahead with the constructionof the dam which will devastate the lives ofabout 3 lakh adivasis and dalits, destroyextensive tracks of forests and wild life,damages biodiversity, robs Telangana ofits rightful share of Godavari waters and


eat away vast sums of people’s money?For whose benefit the rulers are in a hurryto finish this project trampling all the lawsthey themselves made? Is it to solely benefitthe peasantry? Is it so stabilize the Krishnadelta and to provide additional irrigationfacilities to the parched Rayalaseema regionof the state? The following facts will revealthat the main purpose of this project is toprovide river and canal navigation and tocater to the water requirements of theproposed Visakhapatnam – Kakinada –Vijayawada Industrial Corridor. A hugeSpecial Economic Zone (said to be thelargest in the country) is already underconstruction near Kakinada.

1). The first point is the location of thePolavaram project. Polavaram lies at oneend of the vast Dandakaranya area whichhas enormous mineral deposits of varioustypes and rich varieties of timber andbamboo. The ruling classes have alreadylaunched a civil war there, aiming to wipeout the Maoists and thus facilitate theunhindered loot of this natural wealth.Paper Mills down stream have beentransporting their wood requirementsthrough Godavari River since decades.TheGodavari basin areas of Telangana haverich deposits of coal and other minerals likelimestone.

2).A meeting of the Central WaterTransport Board took place in Noida, nearDelhi during December, 2004. The thenKrishna delta SE, Mr. I.S. N. Raju attendedthis meeting on behalf of the APgovernment. The Board accepted hisproposal for the construction of a watertransport route from Visakhapatnam toChennai. According to this plan, theexisting Buckingham Canal from PrakasamBarrage at Vijayawda to Chennai will bedeepened further. The two Eluru canals -one from the same Prakasam barrage toEluru and the other from the DhowleswaramAnicut near Rajahmundry on the GodavariRiver to Eluru – too will be deepened. TheSamarlakota (a town near Kakinada port) –Dhowaleswram canal will also be deepenedto facilitate water transport. As mentionedearlier, the Left Main Canal of the Polavaramdam ends at the port city of Visakhapatnamand the Right Main Canal will end atVijayawada. Terminals for loading andunloading of goods will be built on the riverand on the canals at Polavaram,Bhdrachalam, Mukthyala, Rajahmundry,Kakinada, Tadepalligudem, Eluru,

Vijayawada, Peddaganjam and Nellore.Further the Union Minister for TransportMr. T.R. Balu has categorically stated onJuly 4, 2005 that the canals are mainlyintended for water transport.

3). The two canals of Polavaram wereoriginally supposed to be built with the sizeof 10,000 cusecs discharge but thegovernment all of a sudden enhanced theircapacity to 17, 500 cusecs, that is twice orthree times the actual requirements of theayacut. Accordingly, the canals are beingbuilt with about 20Mts depth and 100 Mtswidth. Roads along the banks of both thecanals are also on the way.

4). Major and minor ports are beingbuilt at such places as Gangavaram (nearVisakhapatnam), Vodarevu (near Chirala inPrakasam district) Krishnapatnam (inNellore district) – all these are very nearerto the terminals being built on the canalsas mentioned above. All weather roads arebeing built to connect some of theupcoming ports to the National Highways,where such connectivity is lacking.

5). Now coming to the point of divertingGodavari waters to the Krishna river. 200tmcof water wiil be diverted through twoschemes, Polavaram project andDummugudem Lift Scheme, as mentionedabove. As per the claims of the governmentthis is being done to stabilize the Krishnadelta, to maintain a tail pond belowNagarjunasagar dam to keep the Hydro-electric Power station going on in the leanseasons and to provide additional irrigationto the water starved Rayalaseema region.But facts stand otherwise. The Krishnadelta has faced a crisis only once in the lastfifty years and the recent crisis on a fewoccasions is due more to the need ofmaintaining the water level at Prakasambarrage to fulfill the water needs of theVijayawada Thermal Power Station than toa real shortage of water availability.Anyhow, another project to stabilize theKrishna delta, the Pulichintala BalancingReservoir, down stream of theNagarjunasagar dam, is nearing completion.This will more than adequately meet theneeds of the Krishna delta in times of crisis.Moreover, the water impounded in the tailpond will be pumped back in to the Krishnaafter power generation. The governmentclaims that by diverting 80 tmc of water tothe Krishna basin, irrigation can beprovided to the drought prone areas ofRayalaseema (by impounding the same

quantity of water at the up-stream Srisailamproject,above Nagarjunasagar ). But, underthe Bachawat Award, any diversion ofwater from the Godavari to Krishna basinby Andhra Pradesh, the upper riparianstates of Karnataka and Maharashtra areentitled to stake a claim of the divertedwaters, so these states will get an additionalshare of 35 tmc of Krishna water and APhas to do with 45 tmc, which in fact has tobe shared by the Krishna basin areasRayalaseema and Telangana. Thus, thisdiversion leaves little water forRayalaseema. In reality, the Krishna wateris being diverted to the Chief Minister’sown district of Cudappah, bysurreptitiously increasing the capacity ofthe Pothireddipadu head regulator of theSrisailam Dam to 60 thousand cusecs from40 thousand (this regulator releases waterto the right canal flowing towardsRayalaseema) to meet the water needs ofthe mega Cement Factory, his son is settingup and of the big steel mill his crony andnow a minister in the Karnataka BJPministry, Mr. G. Janardhana Reddy is settingup and not for irrigation purposes.

Then the question arises, why is suchhuge quantity of water being diverted? ThePrakasam barrage at Vijayawada has nocapacity to hold this additional water. Here,we must come back to the Vijayawada –Chennai Buckingham Canal. Until a coupleof decades back this canal used to be avery busy water way, with country boatstransporting goods from one point toanother. But with the construction of damsupstream in the Krishna River, the wateravailability in the canal became seasonal,thus putting an end to the boat transport.Now, with the government’s plan to dredgeit deeper to facilitate navigation, the waterdiverted from the Godavari will be utilizedto keep the flow for most part of the year.As water navigation is the cheapest optionfor transporting the goods, it will be a greatboon to the corporate predators, as theycan now transport the rich mineral andtimber wealth of the Dandakarnya area andof Andhra Pradesh to several ports dottingthe coast line from Visakhapatnam toChennai.Serving Comprador andImperialist Interests and notIrrigation, is the Sole Aim ofPolavaram Project

So, it becomes quite clear from the


above that the Polavaram Project, beingbuilt at a huge human and monetary cost,is not at all for irrigation and that its main orsole purpose is to cater to the industrialwater needs of the SEZs, mega industriesof the imperialists and their Indian agentsand tourist resorts that are about to comeup all over the AP coast line and to providethem with the cheapest way of transport ofgoods – river and canal navigation. This isnothing but a part of the grand design to

develop infrastructural facilities that willserve the interests of the big compradorhouses and the imperialist MNCs. Thesecorporate predators require these, as thesewill facilitate easy access to immenseforest, mineral and other resources in thisarea, while the same could then betransported at cheaper costs to ports thecoast.Stop this Ghastly Crime

It is high time for the democratic and

revolutionary forces to come forward andjoin hands in tearing away the smoke screenof irrigation and development behind whichthe rulers of AP are perpetuating this ghastlycrime of destruction of the lives andlivelihoods of 3 lakh adivasis, ofpermanently robbing Telangana of itsrightful share of Godavari waters and tolaunch a powerful movement of people fromall walks of life, particularly of the people ofTelangana, to stop this outrage.

THE much touted Jalayagnamscheme of the Y. S. Rajasekhara

Reddy government in AP has no place fordalits and adivasis, though thousands ofacres of their meager land possessions arebeing forcibly procured for the variousmajor and minor irrigation schemes. Notonly that, the government is using the sub-plan fund allocations made for SC, STdevelopment to complete the project works.It is these sections who constitute themajority among those displaced by all suchirrigation projects – those displaced byPolavaram testify this. But when theprojects are completed they will have littleor no land under the command areas of

YSR’S JALAYAGNA HAS NO PLACE FOR DALITS AND ADIVASIS BUT THEIR FUNDS

ARE WELCOME

those projects. The SCs possess only 7%of the total cultivable land in the state. Andthey posses only 3% of the total irrigatedland. This situation holds good not onlyfor the newly launched projects, it is thesame in the earlier projects too. For example,the Godavari delta has 10 lakh acres ofayacut, but dalits constitute 75% of theagricultural laborers of that area. A projectunder construction in Adilabad district,which was named after the legendry Gondleader, Komaram Bhim, is intended toprovide irrigation to 24,500 acres. Only 267acres of adivasi land and 705 acres of dalitland will come under irrigation through thisproject. While the total ayacut of the

Maddivalasa project in Srikakulam districtis 24,700 acres, dalits ayacut in this will beless than 700 acres. The Peddagaddaproject in Vijaanagaram district has anayacut of 12,000 acres but, the dalit landsin this are only 240 acres. The Veligalluproject in Cuddapah district is intended toprovide irrigation to 24,000 acres, the dalitsland covered under it will be only 1,200acres. While the dalits and adivasis willget little or no benefit from the projectsunder Jalayagnam, the governmentdiverted hundreds of crores of rupees thatwere allocated in this years budget underSC, ST sub-plan to the ongoing projects.(see box)

Srisailam 30.84 Telugu Ganga 61.74 Sriramsagar 13.86 Godavari Lift Schemes 167.32 Cudappah 103.51 North Andhra 26.23 Ongole 37.94 Ananthapuram 80.24 Polavaram 92.40 Mahaboobnagar 89.88 Karimnagar 64.74 Kurnool 66.88

S c h e m e T o ta l A y a c u t (a c r e s )

D a lit la n d c o m e u n d e r

Ir r ig a t io n

S c h e m e T o ta l A y a c u t (a c r e s)

D a lit la n d c o m e u n d e r

I r r ig a t io n

T a ip u d i 2 ,0 6 ,0 0 0 4 ,7 0 0 D e v a d u la I s t p h a se 1 ,2 3 ,0 0 0 5 ,0 0 0 A a lisa g a r 5 5 ,9 7 3 3 7 0 G u tp a 3 8 ,7 9 2 1 ,0 9 2 M a tth d iv a g u 8 ,5 0 0 9 V a tt iv a g u 2 4 ,5 0 0 3 9 0 M a d d iv a la sa 2 4 ,7 0 0 6 8 5 P e d d a g a d d a 1 2 ,0 0 0 4 0 Jh a n jh a v a th i 2 4 ,6 4 0 2 ,9 5 4 M u n iy e ru 1 6 ,4 2 7 7 0 1

G a le ru - N a g a r i 1 7 6 .5 0 P u lic h in th a la 4 0 .5 0 E lla m p a ll i 6 3 .1 8 P u liv e n d u la b ra n c h c a n a l 6 3 .6 8 V e lig o n d a 7 2 .9 2 S r is a ila m L e ft C a n a l 7 1 .2 8 S r ira m sa g a r f lo o d c a n a l 9 7 .0 0 H a n d r i- N e e v a 1 9 2 .7 8 T e lu g u G a n g a 9 5 .5 8 P o la v a ra m 1 2 3 .1 2 T a d ip u d i 1 4 .5 8 N e re d u B a rra g e 4 0 .3 9 N e tte m p a d u 5 4 .2 7 K a lv a k u r th i 7 2 .5 8 G o d a v a r i l if t sc h e m e 3 1 8 .1 3 S r ira m sa g a r-2 9 3 .4 2

ST sub-plan under Chief Engineers (In crores):

Dalits Share in the projects:

This year allocation under SC sub plan (in-crores)


THE brutal massacre of over 40people and injuring several more

belonging to the Gujjar community atSikandra in Dausa district, Karwadi inBharatpur and other places in Rajasthanby the fascist BJP’s Vasundhara Rajegovernment on May 24 brings to one’s mindmemories of the brutalities during theBritish colonial rule. By enacting anotherJallianwalabagh, Vasundhara Raje hasearned notoriety as the Lady Dyer ofRajasthan. Not content with the cold-blooded killings of innocent Gujjars, theMaharani of Rajasthan has threatened tokill more if they dared to continue theirmilitant agitation. And moreover, this verymurderer has filed case of murder againstthe leader of the Gujjars, retired colonelKishori Singh Bainsla. The CC,CPI(Maoist), demands that VasundharaRaje and the concerned police officialsshould be tried for murder of scores ofinnocent people, a judicial enquiry be

CONDEMN THE BRUTAL FIRING AND CONTINUING ATROCITIES ON THE AGITATING GUJJARS

BY THE BJP GOVERNMENT LED BY

THE FEUDAL RANI OF RAJASTHAN!EXTEND TOTAL SUPPORT TO THE JUST AND DEMOCRATIC

DEMAND OF GUJJAR PEOPLE!!conducted into the killings and atrocitiesby the police and para-military forces,compensation of Rs. 10 lakhs be given tothe families of the deceased, and the justdemand of the Gujjars to include them inthe ST category be immediately met. TheCC, CPI(Maoist), extends all support to thejust demands of the Gujjars and calls uponthe entire party cadre and the people at largeto actively participate in the ongoingagitation of the Gujjar people. It hails thefighting people of the Gujjar community fordisplaying utmost steadfastness and unityin the face of the brutal onslaught by thefascist BJP government.

The deployment of the para-military andthe Indian Army to cow down the agitators,cutting off food and other essentialsupplies to the Gujjar villages are barbarousacts which no civilized society can allow.Only a feudal ruler such as Vasundhara Rajeand a comprador-feudal party like the BJPcan think of such uncivilized action on its

own people. It is the duty of all democraticforces and the people of the country tocondemn these strong-arm tactics of theBJP government in Rajasthan and todemand the immediate restoration of thefood supply to the agitating Gujjars,withdrawal of the Army and para-militaryforces from the state and to come out insupport of the agitation of the Gujjars.

The BJP government has shown itsdouble standards by promising to ensureST status for the Gujjars during theelections to the state Assembly but wentback on its promise once it came to power.The people should condemn this ugly votebank politics of the BJP and all other partieswhich play with the lives of the people fortheir own narrow sectarian interests.AzadSpokepersonCPI(Maoist)May 27, 2008

THE present sharp surge in theessential commodities’ prices is

unprecedented. The official figure ofinflation 9% itself is the highest in the lastthirty years. Wheat, rice, oil, vegetables andother essential items have become beyondthe reach of ordinary people.

The unprecedented price rise is theresult of more and more tying of India tothe imperialist economies. Already theneoliberal policies dictated by imperialistagencies – World Bank, IMF, and WTO,played havoc and the ruthless pro-imperialist policies together with cruelfeudal exploitation brought the Indianeconomy to the brink.

The price rise is so sharp and stark too,the financial managers of the ruling classeshad to admit: “the inflation rate has reachedthe unacceptable levels”. The UPAgovernment has started taking some eyewashing measures and the Left and BJP

AZADSpokes person,Central Committee, CPI (Maoist)

began some agitations with an eye on thecoming General elections. UPA governmentis more worried about the consequencesof price rise on its electoral fortunes ratherthan its consequences on the livingconditions of the people. IMF is toocautioning the Indian government aboutthe possibility of “social unrest”. PerhapsIMF is having the nightmares of thepeople’s revolt in Argentina in the lastdecade against its policies which had totallyruined that country.

As long as the means of production,marketing is under the control ofimperialists, CBB and feudals, price risecannot be controlled. It is the motive ofprofit, plunder and loot that drives all theseleeches. Liberation of India from the holdof imperialists, CBB, and feudals is onlythe solution for all the economic ills thatare plaguing the country.

CPI(Maoist) calls upon people of Indiato fight back the price rise which is playinghavoc with the lives of vast masses of India.It calls upon the party rank and file to rallyround vast masses in a big way to fightand expose the UPA and all otherparliamentary parties who are allresponsible for this state of affairs. Peoplehave to fight in militant forms, asextraordinary situation requiresextraordinary forms of struggles. Alreadypeople are raiding on food go downs toseize grain. We call upon party ranks andpeople to expose not only the UPAgovernment but the Left and otherparliamentary parties, who are also secondto none in implementing all the anti peoplepolicies.With revolutionary greetings.

Fight against the back breaking price Rise!Build up vast and militant people’s movement!

Expose the anti-people policies of Indian ruling classes!

PressRelease:

PressRelease:


THE Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP)was just able to scratch up a

majority in the elections to the KarnatakaAssembly, thus realizing its long cherisheddream of coming to power on its own inany one of the southern states. In thisbitterly fought elections everything frommoney power, muscle power to theinvoking of religious and caste sentimentsplayed the decisive role while basic issuesconfronting the oppressed masses wereeither completely ignored or at the mostgot passing mention by all the politicalparties in the electoral fray. Thus, theseelections, in a way, exposed the electionsgoing on in this so-called biggest orgreatest democracy to be a farce wheremoney and liquor pore like torrential rain,and caste and religious chauvinisticfeelings are whipped up openly and theseplay the decisive role, while peoples’aspirations and their basic needs gettrampled upon.

The BJP emerged as the single largestparty, capturing 110 out of the 224 seats.The Congress party came second with 80seats and the Janatha Dal (Secular)receded to the background with 28 seats.The BSP, CPI, CPI (M) and the JanathaDal (United), all failed to wrest even asingle seat. Though statistics on voteshares show a slender margin for thevictors in many seats, the fact to bereckoned with is the alarming presence ofthe well-oiled machine of the SanghParivar brisling with enormous funds.This victory symbolizes the victory of theneo-liberal communal fascist forces. Afterthe victory of the fascist killer, NarendraModi in Gujarat, the Karnataka victory willfurther embolden the communal fascistelements.Role of Money Bags,Liquor, Temples- Mathsand Caste

Money and liquor inundatedKarnataka right from the onset to the endof the entire electoral process. All politicalparties in the election fray spent enormousamounts brazenly, surpassing all previousrecords; religious and caste sentimentswere roused openly thus mocking theelectoral rules of the country and in that

BJP VICTORY IN KARNATAKA ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS:A SUBSTANTIAL FILLIP TO COMMUNAL FASCISM

way exposing the Election Commission as atoothless wonder set up only to legitimizeall this farce going on in the name of ademocratic exercise. Media reports say thaton an average each candidate of the BJP,the Congress and the JD(S) spent in theregion of at least 5 to 6 Crores. In quite a fewconstituencies, most notably for the nineseats in the iron ore rich Bellary district(where the BJP won 8 seats) and in almostall urban centres, the money spent by eachcandidate leaped up to at least 15 to 18crores. In a state where the majority of thepopulation has to wage a bitter battle to havetwo square meals a day, the majorcontenders in the 224 constituencies spenta whopping amount of Rs. 4,000 crore,according to a conservative estimate! Thishuge amount of black money was necessaryit seems to show case the triumph of theIndian democratic process!! The big miningmafia of Bellary along with the real-estatedons played a key role in bankrollingthousands of crores for the BJP. Incidentallyit was the same mafia who purchased 6independent MLAs on behalf of the BJP,thus securing a workable majority for it inthe Assembly. Along with money, liquor alsoplayed its role in inducing the voters,particularly of the economically and sociallyweaker sections. More than a hundredpeople died in Bangaloore suburbs afterconsuming spurious country liquor supliedby candidates.The real-estate dons not onlyspent money but also became candidates,mostly of the BJP.

Apart from money and liquor what madeit easier for the BJP was the open supportextended by various Maths (religious seats)of both Madhwa and Lingayath (a Saivitecaste) faiths. In fact, these Maths turned into centres of the Sangha Parivar campaign.The Sangha Parivar has been actively flaringup anti-Muslim sentiments in southerncoastal Karnataka for more than a decade.In the Lingayath heartland of Hubli too itcreated communal tensions quite often bytrying repeatedly to capture the IdgahMaidan. And it calculatedly used thisreligious polarisation to full advantage. Itfielded as many as 71 Lingayath candidatesand utilized the services of Lingayathpreachers extensively.

The Role of theNegitiveVote

The BJP’s communal neo-liberal agendadeflects attention from the root causes ofthe socio-economic ills of the people. Butduring the election campaign it utilized theraging discontent of the people, due to thesky-rocketing of the prices of all essentialcommodities. Zooming inflation has hit thepoor in a harshest manner. Utilizing thiswidespread discontent among almost allsections of the people, the BJP played itscards well passing the blame to theCongress led UPA government at thecentre, while maintaining a studied silenceon the root cause of this problem, the neo-liberal agenda being implemented in Indiaunder the imperialist controlledglobalisation programme which it acceptsas its own agenda. In Bangalooru city,where its performance outshined all otherparties, it harped on the issues of thediscontent of the middle class over the poorinfrastructure and the performance of theprevious governments. It played the martyr,utilizing the deep anger of the peopletowards the opportunistic policies pursuedby the father- son duo party that goes bythe name of JD(S). Thus playing all suchtricks it was able to turn a section of thevoters who were dissatisfied with theCongress and the JD(S) to its side andmanaged to emerge as the single largestparty.

The Dangers Lying Aheadfor the People ofKarnataka With BJPs’Victory

No matter what the BJP promised to theelectorate, its neo-liberal agenda cannotbut accentuate unemployment, inflation,casualisation of jobs, growth of economicdisparities and all such ills of imperialistdictated globalisation of which it is asstrong a votary as the Congress. What isominous is that this is the neo-liberal policyunder the basic Sangha Parivar ideologyof odious communalism. The BJP wants afusion of communal fascism with the neo-liberal socio-economic agenda. For all itstall claims of pure nationalism it has nonationalistic economic programme, neither


THE highly powerful butbeleaguered Indian state, the

reactionary political parties and the PrimeMinister of the country are all at one withthe view of militarily crushing the everintensifying revolutionary Maoistmovement in India. A deep despair forfailing to keep down the agitating crores ofexploited Indian masses spurs the existingsystem—maintaining reactionary brains todepend more and more on brute forces andviolence. The Para-military forces, AP typeGrey Hound forces, special armed policeforces, commandos etc, prove ineffectualin the state’s perception and so a specialNational Task Force is being set up to tacklethe Maoist movement in the country. Anotable thing is that, of late variousgovernment bodies and committees toorefer to the acutely distressing conditionsof the people in rural India ,lying at theroots of people’s assertion for a change inthe system. Instead of looking after it, theUPA government supported by the so-called Left parties has preferred a militarysolution. A Special National Task Force isto be set up, headed by Tamilnadu’sAdditional Director General of Police (Lawand Order), Mr. K. Vijayakumar, the maninstrumental in the killing of Veerappan anda notorious officer with training in JungleWarfare.. The task force is assigned theduty to streamline and synergize anti-Maoist operations across India and also toco-ordinate between different states. ThisCentral force with extraordinary powers willhave senior officers from intelligenceagencies, central para-military forces andstate police forces. The Home Ministry hasappointed Mr. Durgaprasad, a retired IASofficer and an expert on armed campaignsagainst Andhra Maoists, to train the task

BEEFING-UP OF INDIAN STATE’S ANTI- MAOIST MACHINERY

force personnel.The whole plan of farming a central anti-

Maoist task force took shape in December2007, when the Prime minister, Mr.Manmohan Singh had a hours-longmeeting with the Chief ministers of WestBengal, Jharkhand,, Bihar, Chattisgarh,Andhra Pradesh etc. It was the consensusopinion of the Chief Ministers to hand overpowers to the centre to deal militarily withthe Maoists. The Prime minister demandedthat more power should be vested with thecentre to tackle Maoists in various states.The Law and Order problem is said to be astate subject as per the Constitution andthe CPI (M) like parties on other occasionscried hoarse against the centre’sintervention and for more powers to thestates. And now for the surging Maoistmovement against the exploiters, againstdisplacement, against imperialistintervention, against atrocities on dalit, i.e.against the whole system, the parliamentarypolitical parties and their stategovernments agreed to the nefariousdesigns of the centre. Delighted with thisdevelopment the prime minister has nowcoined the concept of a “Federal Crime”and argued that combating the Maoists cannot be “effectively discharged by a singleagency of any particular area”. With thatnotorious concept of “Federal crime” theIndian state gets more centralized, thoughunder a façade of federalism. It is worthyof mention that during the dark days of“Emergency” the Indira Gandhigovernment introduced in 1976, by way ofan amendment ,the “ Provision of Entry 2Aof List One” ( the Union List) where by thecentre was legally empowered to deploythe armed forces or the para-military forces“in any state in aid of the civil power”. Yet,

then too the consent of the concernedstate government was implied. Now thecentrally controlled Special National TaskForce shall have the right of interventionin any state in the name of flushing outterrorism or for “Federal crime”. Theformation of the Special National TaskForce is a dictatorial move of the centrewith the compliance of the states ruled bya wide spectrum of political parties rangingfrom the CPI (M) to the BJP. These partiesmay be vocal in demands for increasing theshare of state’s taxes, duties etc. but theyare in complete agreement with the center-state system to crush the Maoists and anyother revolutionary or democraticmovement of the people with the help ofSpecial National Task Force of the centrealong with other para-military forces.

Since the Indian state and its imperialistmasters, especially the Americanimperialists, consider the Maoist movementas the greatest threat to their veryexistence, apart from the formation of theSITF, the Air Force is now being pressed into operations against the Maoists in India.The Air Force Base at Barrackpore nearKolkata, which is the center of the EasternCommand, is slated to play a crucial role infighting the Maoists forces, particularly inthe states of West Bengal, Jharkhand,Orissa and Bihar. The air force base inBarrockpore is being upgraded with stationhelicopters. “ After the Maoist attack inNayagarh in Orissa, IAF choppers fromBarrackpore rushed to the spot forcombing operations” confirmed AirMarshal S.K. Bhan, Air Officercommanding-in-charge, Eastern AirCommand.[ Times of India, 21, May’08]

has it any secular agenda. Its aggressivecommunal moves on a major scale will bewitnessed in the unfolding days as it knowsvery well that though it came to power, itslead over its political rivals is only marginal.Thus it will try to build up its Hindu votebank by flaring up communal crusadesagainst the minorities, especially theMuslims in the way systematic pogromswere carried out in Gujarat under the killer,Narendra Modi. The Baba Budhangariissue and the Idgah Masjid are already hotspot for RSS-style fanatacism. Since

Muslims and Islam are bracketed by theimperialists the BJP and the SanghaParivar will receive favorable responsefrom the US and other imperialists. The BJPvictory is a warning call for all the democratsand revolutionary people of India.

The people have been voting for oneparty or the other, though they firmlybelieve that all these parties are parties ofthe exploiters. The Maoists waging a warfor the establishment of an alternativesystem devoid of exploitation and wherethe oppressed masses will be the real rulers,

have so far not been able to project theiralternate system among the people at large.In Karnataka they wield influence only in asmall pocket in Malnad in the WesternGhats. So the people are participating inthe elections as it appears to them as theonly tangible option. Once the Maoistssucceed in projecting the alternate systemthat is taking shape in some parts of thecountry among the vast masses of thepeople, the people then will definitelyconfine all these ruling class parties to thedustbins of history.


Q: The results in the April 10 electionsto the Constituent Assembly in Nepal havebeen overwhelmingly in favour of theMaoists, a development least anticipatedby even the keenest observers. How doesyour Party in India, the CPI(Maoist), lookat the election results in Nepal?

Azad: As mentioned in my press releaseon behalf of my Party’s central committeelast week, the election results in Nepal havedemonstrated the overwhelming anger ofthe masses against the outdated feudalmonarchic rule in Nepal, against the Indianexpansionist’s bullying and domination ofNepal, against US domination andoppression, against comprador-feudalparties which allowed this to continue andbetrayed the masses for too long. Theresults are a reflection of the growingaspirations of the Nepali masses fordemocracy, land, livelihood and genuinefreedom from imperialist and feudalexploitation. It is these aspirations of theoverwhelming majority of the masses thathad completely trounced the parties thathad either supported the King and/or theIndian ruling classes or hesitated to comeout strongly against feudal, imperialistoppression and Indian intervention inNepal. The royalists could not win even ina single constituency out of the 240constituencies where direct elections wereheld. And leaders of the so-calledmainstream such as Madhav Nepali, SujataKoirala were rejected outright which cameas a great shock to the ruling classes.

Hence, when an alternative like theCPN(M) came to the fore, with its opencommitment to abolish the feudal monarchyonce for all, abrogate all unequal treatiessigned with India by the former rulingclasses of Nepal, and ensure democracyand equality for the oppressed sections ofsociety such as Dalits, adivasis, nationalminorities and women, the massesenthusiastically veered towards theMaoists. To put it in a word, the people ofNepal had come out resolutely againstconstitutional monarchy, Indianexpansionism and US imperialism; theresults reflect the growing aspirations ofthe Nepalese masses for land, livelihoodand democracy.

INTERVIEW WITH COMRADE AZAD, SPOKESPERSON OF THE CC, CPI(MAOIST) ON

THE PRESENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NEPAL

Our Party looks at the election resultsin Nepal as a positive development withenormous significance for the people ofentire South Asia. We send ourrevolutionary greetings to the people ofNepal for rejecting outright the monarchicrule and the comprador-feudal Partiesduring the April 10 elections to theConstituent Assembly. These results pointto the real aspirations of the Nepalesepeople and should serve as a guide to theCPN(M) for its future course of action.

Q: What do you think are the reasonsfor the impressive results in favour of theMaoists in the elections to the ConstituentAssembly in Nepal?

Azad: As far as we can see there are sixmajor reasons:

One, the masses of Nepal had enoughof King Gyanendra’s autocratic andauthoritarian rule. Constitutionalmonarchy is indeed an anachronism evenin the 20th century leave alone 21st century.In fact, people of Nepal had put up withsuch a rotten, reactionary feudal rule toolong a time. And when they found anopportunity to throw it out they grabbedit. There was never such an opportunityduring earlier elections as all theparliamentary parties were either loyal tothe King or displayed nominal oppositionto the King. It is only the CPN(Maoist)which had shown its firm commitment toabolish the monarchy once for all and hadcome to the fore as an alternative to thebourgeois-feudal parties.

Two, the masses of Nepal had enoughof bullying, intervention and dominationby Indian expansionism. There is a generalatmosphere of suspicion regarding themotives of the Indian ruling classes inNepal. The people of Nepal had sufferedtoo long under the obnoxious unequaltreaties signed by successive rulers ofNepal with the Indian government suchas the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peaceand Friendship, the Mahakali Treaty, andso on. The Indian rulers have always hadan eye on the natural wealth of Nepal, itsrich natural gas reserves, hydro-electricpotential, forest products etc. Along withimperialist exploitation, oppression andplunder, the Indian CBB too is seen as an

obstacle for the development of the localindustry and trade. Besides this, Indianruling classes have been continuouslyinterfering in the political affairs of Nepal.They supported the monarchy all alongand in the past few years took up the so-called two-pillar theory of supporting theKing as well as the Nepali Congress. Theygave training, supplied arms to the RoyalNepal Army, and sent all sorts of aid tocontain the Maoist revolutionaries inNepal. All these despicable acts had onlyfuelled the anger of the masses againstIndian government. Now when anopportunity presented itself before themin the form of the CPN(M) they naturallyvoted for it which should be seen as avote against Indian domination. None ofthe other Parties showed the guts toconfront India. It was only the CPN(M)which categorically assured the peoplethat it would do away with all the unequaltreaties with India, ban obscene Hindifilms, stop recruitment of Gurkhas intothe Indian Army and provide them withalternative employment, and so on.

Three, the masses of Nepal had enoughof the exploitation, oppression andintervention of the US imperialists.Throughout the rule of King Gyanendra andeven until today after the humiliating defeatof his loyalist parties in elections, USimperialists has stood by his side renderingall aid to perpetuate his rule and to brutallysuppress the Maoists. They had placed theCPN(M) on its list of terrorist outfits. Thisis a grave insult to the people of Nepal whoview this as unwarranted meddling inNepal’s affairs. By supporting thediscredited King the US imperialistsbecame even more discredited and hatedby even those who had no anti-imperialistconsciousness or opposed to USimperialism as they see it as a protector ofthe feudal monarchy.

Four, the promises made by the CPN(M)to establish a democratic, federal, secularNepal with freedom, democracy andequality for all the oppressed sections ofsociety such as Dalits, adivasis, nationalminorities and women had an electrifyingimpact. For the first time, these oppressedsections were given considerable


representation in the elections. Under suchconditions, the oppressed masses came outenthusiastically in support of the Maoists.Women’s turn-out, it is said, was equal to,and may be even greater than that of men—something unimaginable in a feudalcountry like Nepal.

Five, the most important factor is thepositive impact created by the decade-longpeople’s war led by the Maoists on theoverall balance of forces in Nepal. TheMaoists had established control overalmost three-quarters of rural Nepal.Through the people’s revolutionarygovernments in the countryside they hadcarried out several reforms which broughtthe masses closer to them. The people’swar had raised the political consciousnessof the masses, enhanced their assertion,and roused their democratic aspirations.The growth of the mass movement for aConstituent Assembly all over Nepal is alogical offshoot of the decade-longpeople’s war. In such a context, most of theParties which had been staging only showsin the name of fighting for a ConstituentAssembly became irrelevant in the eyes ofthe people.

The impact of armed struggle shouldnot be underestimated. For instance, evenin India if we see, the united CommunistParty won an overwhelming majority ofseats (31 out of 32 seats) in the elections tothe state assembly in Telangana region in1957. This, in spite of the fact that the CPIhad withdrawn the Telangana armedstruggle so much was the impact of the anti-feudal armed agrarian struggle on the peopleof Telangana.

Lastly, though a less important factor,mention must be made of the support ofthe local capitalists and a section of thetraders who, even though are opposed tothe Maoists in general, think that bringingthem to power is the only guarantee forpeace in Nepal. The local capitalists andsmall traders aspire to grow and develop inan atmosphere free from the hegemony andstrangulation of imperialist and Indianexpansionist capital. This they know noneof the comprador-feudal parties can deliverand the only hope is with the Maoists.

Q: Now that the Maoists have come topower will they be able to carry out thepromises made?

Azad: This is the most difficult question

to answer. The immediate problem for theMaoists is to secure a coalition of forcesthat can meet the target of two-thirdsmajority in the Constituent Assembly inorder to incorporate their radical reformsinto the new Constitution. But to achievetwo-thirds majority they have to rely onthe reactionary comprador-feudal partiessuch as NC and social democratic UML.Needless to say, it is impossible to carrythrough the promised reforms with such ahotch-potch combination of forces. TheseParties in the coalition will not be willing tobe a party to the programme of the Maoistsand will, moreover, try to subvert anyradical changes which are aimed atcurtailing their own class interests.

It is a fundamental tenet of Marxismthat no radical restructuring of the systemis possible without the militantmobilization of the vast masses into bitterclass struggle. It is impossible to makegenuine changes in the system throughmeasures initiated “from above”, i.e.through state decrees and laws. WhicheverParty may be in power, not excluding themost radical Maoists, it can only make lawsat best, but to implement these it isimperative to mobilize the masses andadvance class struggle against exploitersand oppressors. Without this the liberationof the vast majority of poor is an impossibletask. And for the CPN(M), even enactingthe much-promised laws will be an almostimpossible task given the present coalitionin the CA. No ruling class will give up powerwithout putting up a bitter struggle andcarrying out counter-revolutionaryactivities against the oppressed class.Hence the real, bitter and most cruelstruggle for power will now unfoldfollowing the elections. The reactionarieswill oppose every change tooth and nail.And, lacking a majority in the ConstituentAssembly, the Maoists will be powerlessto affect radical changes in theConstitution. Either they have tocompromise and adjust with a section ofthe reactionary forces thereby sacrificingthe class interests of the oppressed inwhose interests they had come to power,or, they have to mobilize the people andintensify the struggle through all means,including armed insurrection, in order toimplement genuine democracy andestablish people’s power. There is no other

alternative.We must not forget the experiences of

Indonesia, Chile, Nicaragua and othercountries where the Communist Parties hadcome to power but were either thrown outin counter-revolutionary coupsaccompanied by counter-revolutionarymassacres of Communist cadres, or threwout the Party in so-called elections as inthe case of Nicaragua. The experience ofNicaragua is very much relevant in thecontext of so-called multi-party democracy.The Sandinistas, in spite of their massivepro-people democratic reforms while inpower, and in spite of having a strong andpowerful Army, were thrown out in theelections through a conspiracy of the USimperialists and all the reactionary forces.The CPN(M) and the people of Nepalshould learn from these experiences anddefeat the conspiracies of the reactionaryforces to stage a come-back throughdevious ways.

Q: How do you envisage the futurescenario in Nepal? Will India and USimperialism adjust to the new reality thathad emerged in Nepal and support theMaoist government or will they createhurdles?

Azad: We will be living in a fool’sparadise if we think that imperialist Americaand expansionist India will be comfortablewith the Maoists in power in Nepal or thatthey will adjust themselves to the newreality. Though they will have no other gobut to continue diplomatic relations theywill also continue to create an adversesituation for the new government if it doesnot obey their dictates. The fact is that theUS rendered all help to its stooge parties inNepal to defeat the Maoists. It tried its bestto keep the monarchy alive as the King wasthe most reliable pillar for its rule by proxyin Nepal. And as for India, it received a slapin its face when its chief stooge—GPKoirala and his NC—tasted an ignominiousdefeat. Most of the stalwarts of NC weretrounced and swept away in the flood ofpeople’s fury as their traitorous deals withIndia have by now become well-known tothe Nepali people.

However, India has gained in anotherfront. In the Tarai region it supported thetwo Madhesi parties which won aconsiderable number of seats with thebacking of India. India will use the Madhesitrump card to create disturbances in Nepal


if the new regime does not toe its line.Already Madhesi Janadhikar Forum(MJF) led by Upendra Yadav has demandedthat the Maoists should make their standclear on the demand for Madhesi autonomy(Ek Madhes Ek Prades) and had asked theMaoists to discontinue their relations withinternational forums like the RIM andCCOMPOSA. Both US and India will tryby various means to bring the newgovernment to toe their line. They can, forinstance, hit at Nepal’s belly—itseconomy—by paralyzing industrialproduction, blocking trade and supply linesthereby creating food shortages andshortage of consumer goods; in otherwords it can squeeze Nepal through aneconomic blockade. This it will do if it thinksthe new regime is going too far. As it is, thesituation in Nepal is already too delicatewith almost 10 hours of load-shedding evenin capital Kathmandu and a shortage of allessential commodities. Its powerfulneighbours can alter the balance througheconomic blackmail which could lead togrowth of social unrest and massiveprotests against the Maoists. Acuteshortage of essential items and risingprices can lead to disenchantment with thefledgling regime and a dip in its popularitythereby giving an opportunity to thediscredited parties to re-establishthemselves. Thus the situation in Nepalwill remain extremely delicate and unstableeven though the Maoists had won animpressive electoral victory. ComradesPrachanda and Bhattarai know this well andhence they have been appealing for India’scooperation. They had gone on recordsaying that there will not be stability inNepal without India’s cooperation. The factthat Nepal is a small country sandwichedbetween two powerful and bigneighbours—India and China—and that itis a target for the US imperialists makes thegovernance quite a difficult proposition.Hence the Maoist face an extremelydifficult task ahead in balancing all theseforces and carrying on with their people’sagenda through land reforms andindigenous industrialization towards a newdemocratic economy.

Q: Then do you mean the electoralvictory of the Maoists and their captureof state power through parliamentarymeans is a futile exercise, and that itcannot bring the desired radical change

in the social system?Azad: I don’t exactly mean that. The

control of state power, if they really cancontrol, does give the Maoists a means todefend the gains accrued during the longyears of revolutionary war and to affectradical changes in the social system. Butthis will be difficult to achieve through thetype of state power that has fallen into thehands of the Maoists at the presentjuncture. In fact, even in classicalrevolutions as in China, where theCommunist revolutionaries had seizedpower through an armed revolution, Maohad warned of the danger of the rise of anew class by virtue of their positions in thestate machinery. After Mao, the state haddegenerated into a machinery ofoppression and suppression of the vastmasses. The lesson that we Communistshad learnt from this experience is that theParty should concentrate on organizingthe masses and mobilizing them to rebelagainst all types of injustice andexploitation perpetrated by state and Partybureaucrats.

In Nepal, where the Maoists havecome to power in alliance with a section ofthe reactionary ruling classes, it is an evenmore urgent task of the Maoists tocontinue the class struggle by organizingthe masses against all forms of exploitationand oppression. In this the YoungCommunist League appears to have beendoing commendable work which is areason why it is feared as well as hated bythe other parties. To the extent possible,the Maoists could use their relativecontrol over the state to help the massesin their struggle for freedom, democracyand livelihood. Basic change could beachieved through continuation of classstruggle for which, the state can, at best,render some help.

Q: Sitaram Yechuri of the CPI(M),among several others, have said that theMaoists of India have to learn fromNepal’s experiences and take theparliamentary road to come to power.What does your Party say in this regard?

Azad: Why Yechuri alone? Even theDGPs of Jharkhand, AP and other stateswhere Maoist movement is strong had saidthat before. Just two days ago the SP ofWarangal, Sajjanar, notorious for his cold-blooded murders of the revolutionaries,

was saying the same thing. Leaders of otherreactionary ruling class parties had beenharping on the same theme ever since therevisionists began participating inparliament in our country. Some like formerRAW chief Thorakan have said that theMaoist victory in Nepal would have ademonstration effect on the Maoists ofIndia.

Firstly, those who say this forget thatthe situation in Nepal and India arecompletely different. In Nepal theimmediate political task before the entireNepali masses was a struggle against themonarchy which circumstance hadbrought about a measure of unity amongthe various parliamentary parties andbroad sections of people. The Kinghimself, with the active guidance and aidfrom US imperialism had created a situationwhere all forces had to close their ranksand wage a struggle for democracy. Thefact that hardly two per cent of the Nepalipopulation supported the monarchy, asrevealed by a 2008 Survey report, showsthe basis for such a united struggle of theNepalese people and the CPN(M) utilizedsuch a situation. In India, it is a fightagainst the semi-colonial, semi-feudalsocial system of which the parliamentarysystem is part and parcel. All the majorparliamentary parties are representativesof the comprador-feudal classes, obey thedictates of imperialists, and hence standin the counter-revolutionary camp. Herethe immediate task is struggle for land,livelihood and liberation for the vastmajority of the masses.

Secondly, Yechuri and others, in theirdesperate attempt to laud theirparliamentary line, consciously underplayand hush up the experiences of Chile, ElSalvador, Nicaragua etc. In this context, itis very much relevant to cite the experienceof Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, the SandinistaNational Liberation Front took over powerin a popular rebellion in 1979 byoverthrowing the long dictatorship ofSomoza family. The Sandinistas broughtmassive changes in the economic, social,political spheres, achieved significantsuccesses in land reform, literacy, healthprogrammes, and so on. The US imperialistsunder Ronald Reagan armed, trained andgave all sorts of aid to the mercenary privatearmies called contras to fight theSandinistas and created economic


problems by enforcing trade embargo onNicaragua. The Sandinistas agreed to holdelections in 1990 after peace negotiationswith the UN but they lost to the right-wingcoalition of 14 opposition parties. MassiveUS funding and support from thereactionary classes of the Nicaraguansociety, combined with the grave economiccrisis, led to the defeat of the Sandinistasdespite many revolutionary andprogressive changes they brought infavour of the poor and oppressed sectionsof society during their rule. That theParliamentary system can bring a fanaticmass murderer like Narendra Modi to poweris enough to understand the limitations ofthe Parliamentary road to power.

Lastly, these social democrats alsounderplay the tremendous impact of thedecade-long people’s war in Nepal on thelives and consciousness of the Nepalimasses which led to the victory of theCPN(M). As pointed out by the CPN(M) inits Commitment Paper for the ConstituentAssembly released in March 2008 just priorto the elections: “None can imagine today’spolitical transformation without thecontribution of the Maoist people’s war.The class, ethnic, regional, sexual andDalit consciousness that has emerged inthe country today and that the country hasbeen constitutionally declared a federalrepublic, the credit mainly goes to the 10years of People’s War. Had there been no20 thousands of People’s Army developedin the course of People’s War none couldimagine that monarchy would havekneeled down so easily.

Yechuris, Karats and Buddhadebshave over 40 years of experience in theParliamentary pig-sty. But what basicchanges have they brought in the system?Their parliamentary cretinism has done nogood for the masses. The rich have grownricher and poor poorer even in the stateswhere these revisionists have been inpower. Without their support the rulingUPA government headed by ManmohanSingh would not have dared to carry outthe anti-people policies. They hadcorrectly dubbed themselves as “abarking dog that doesn’t bite”. Theyagree that they are powerless to doanything more than acting as “speed-breakers”, as described by one of theirspokespersons, in the path of the anti-people onslaught by the UPA government

at the Centre. The fact is, they are notmerely speed-breakers. They actually actas political brokers intermediatingbetween the vast masses and thereactionary rulers trying to bring aboutclass harmony in place of class struggle.In the states where they are directly inpower they have become no less exploitersand oppressors than the Congress andthe BJP. Singur and Nandigram are theirlaboratories for carrying through their pro-imperialist, pro-comprador big businesspolicies. And in this they have becomeeven more brutal thanks to the vast armyof social fascist gangs at their disposal.These political prostitutes spin one theoryafter another such as “the bigger evilversus the lesser evil”, that they have nopower to stop the SEZs across the country,unless, of course, they come to power atthe Centre to justify their hob-nobbingwith Congress at one time, TDP at anotherand such antics. But in the same breaththey hypocritically say that without SEZs,privatization, foreign investment, etc.,West Bengal and Kerala cannot go aheadwith industrialization, and so on.

No wonder, imperialist and compradorcapital is very impressed by theperformance of the Indian “Left”. NRIindustrialist Lord Swaraj Paul, who is thechairman of the Caparo Group which issetting up a component unit in Singur, wasall praise for the CPI(M) and its leaderBuddhadeb when he visited West Bengalas the head of a delegation of the UnitedKingdom branch of the CommonwealthParliamentary Association. These socialfascists have now become the blue-eyedboys of the World Bank, Tatas, Salems,Swaraj Pauls and the people of India willfare no better under a CPI(M) governmentat the Centre.

There is little wonder they have beenasking the Indian Maoists to follow suit.Our Party firmly believes that a basicchange in the system cannot be achievedthrough the parliamentary path butthrough class struggle. In our country thistakes the form of armed agrarianrevolutionary war. We, of course, do notreject other forms of struggle andorganization, besides armed struggle andarmed organization, and you would haverealized this if you are a keen observer ofour movement. This is of no consequenceto our Mr. Yechuri who only dreams of

seats in the Parliament like any other rulingclass party. We, on the other hand, inviteeveryone opposed to imperialism,feudalism, comprador bureaucratcapitalism and the neo-liberal policies ofthe reactionary ruling classes of India, tocome forward to wage a united militantstruggle instead of whiling their time in animpotent anti-people Parliament and actingas lobbyists and power brokers. Forrevisionist chieftains like Yechuri, who arebogged down neck-deep into the morassof parliamentarism and bourgeoislobbying, such a revolutionary alternativeis naturally an anathema.

The task before the revolutionaries isto destroy and reconstruct the entireeconomic, social, political, culturalinstitutions that sustain the status quo andhamper any radical reform. Just coming topower through Parliament cannot lead to arestructuring of the system. There areseveral other so-called independentinstitutions like the judiciary, the electioncommission, the human rights commissionsponsored by the imperialists, the media,various artistic, cultural and even religiousbodies, non-government organisations,and so on all of which can be transformedonly through a upheaval of the masses andnot through Parliamentary reforms.

Q: Prachanda had earlier said that hewould be the first President of RepublicanNepal but a few days ago he changed tackand declared that he would head theministry. Do you think it is correct foranyone in a Communist Party to be thehead of the government, chief of the Partyand army at the same time?

Azad: We too had seen his statementsin this regard. He still says he wants to bethe President if it is acceptable to all i.e. bypolitical consensus. As such, the presentConstitution of Nepal has no provision foran Executive President. It will take anothertwo years for the Constituent Assembly toadopt the newly drafted Constitution andto arrive at a final decision on this. Hencecomrade Prachanda might havereconsidered his earlier decision anddecided to become the Prime Minister.

Now the question is not whether theParty chief should be President or PrimeMinister. Who should lead a governmentor any other body is for their Party to decide.But we have a different opinion altogether.


We think that the principal concentrationof the Party chief and the main leadershipshould be on developing class struggleand not get immersed in the administrationof the state. If we believe that the role ofthe Party is to continue class struggle untilthe final stage of Communism then we canappreciate our viewpoint. The lesson thatwe draw from the historical experiences ofrevolutions and the most important lessonsof the GPCR is that once the Party has ledthe revolution to final victory it had alsolaid the basis for the rise of a new class ofParty and state bureaucrats. When theParty and state completely coalesce then itwill be terribly difficult to fight the rise ofbureaucratic class and to mobilize thepeople against the wrongs done by thestate. Hence it is very much essential thatthe party leaders do not lose touch withthe masses. They should integrate with themasses, and organize and guide themagainst each and every form of exploitationand oppression. In Nepal, where theMaoists have to share power with a sectionof the comprador-feudal classes, this taskbecomes even more crucial.

Q: Prachanda and Bhattarai haddeclared that they are willing to invite FDIand to create a business-friendlyenvironment in Nepal. They also said thatthey would encourage capitalism. Is itcorrect for a Maoist party to invite foreigninvestment and develop capitalism?

Azad: Firstly we must understand thereality of Nepal. It is an extremelybackward, semi-feudal country that lacksthe minimum infrastructure and industrialproduction. It is a part of the FourthWorld, if we can call it so. The UN hasplaced it in the category of LeastDeveloped Countries (LDCs). Hence thefirst task in Nepal would be to liberate thevast masses from the feudal clutches anddevelop industry on that basis. As regardsdeveloping capitalism in Nepal there neednot be any objection from revolutionariesas long as it is national capitalism and isproperly regulated to meet the needs ofthe masses and is directed towards thegrowth of the internal economy and notfor exports or for serving the imperialists.But if the encouragement is for inflow offoreign capital it will be detrimental tothe interests of the country in the longrun. The foreign capital would begin tocontrol the economy of Nepal even if the

Maoists are the major partners in thegovernment just as it had done till now.The Maoists could consider encouragingindigenous capital and help its growthwhile gradually eliminating foreigncapital. Both Prachanda and Bhattarai hada meeting with businessmen under theaegis of the Federation of NepaleseChamber of Commerce and Industries(FNCCI) as soon as the results becameclear. There is pressure from businessmenfor an investment-friendly environment,maximisation of profit, tax reforms, newflexible labour laws and a positiveindustrial policy.

In the past Maoists had opposedprivate institutions in health and educationsectors. But now Prachanda has promisedprivate-public partnership will beencouraged in health and educationsectors. Bhattarai has promised to removewhatever hurdles that may arise in theprivate sector. We have been hearingreports of talks between the Maoist leadersand the officials of World Bank. If thesereports are true then it could havedangerous consequences on the future ofNepal. Depending on FDI and adopting apragmatic approach towardsindustrialization of Nepal in the name ofovercoming the country’s economicbackwardness will only lead to oppositeresults and will only strengthen the hold ofthe imperialists and continue the prevailingbackwardness. The key aspect for thedevelopment in any backward country isnot just investment of capital but theexpansion of the home market. This canonly be achieved by raising the purchasingpower of the masses. Once this grows itwill act as the motor for the industrialdevelopment of the country.

Q: How do you foresee the futurefraternal relations between your Partyand the CPN(M)? Given the fact that theIndian state does not want the Maoists ofNepal to maintain relations with theIndian Maoists, and the demands by MJFin this regard is a clear indication ofgrowing Indian pressure, will fraternalrelations between the two Parties continueas before?

Azad: We believe and desire thatfraternal relations between the CPI(Maoist)and CPN(Maoist) should continue asbefore. As long as both the Parties standfirmly committed to proletarian

internationalism, international pressuresand internal pressures will not come in theway.

Of course, there is bound to beincreasing pressure from various quarterson the Maoists of Nepal to cut off theirrelations with other Maoist Parties.Particularly India and the US will exertutmost pressure in this regard. We dounderstand the complexity of the situation.However, we must keep in mind that everyCommunist Party is a detachment of theworld proletariat. And any proletarian Partywill place national interests subordinate tothe interests of the world proletariat.Comrade Prachanda had correctly said thatideological ties between the two Parties willremain intact. And we believe theideological debates and discussions haveto continue. The various international forasuch as CCOMPOSA should continue withtheir aims and activities in spite of the newsituation that had arisen.

Besides, we will continue to deepenpeople to people ties between our twocountries and oppose any form ofinterference and domination of Nepal bythe Indian expansionists. We will promotesolidarity for the Nepal people andrevolution amongst the people of India ona wide scale. All this is our proletarianinternationalist duty. We expect the samefrom our Nepal comrades.

Q: What do you have to say aboutcomrade Prachanda’s comment in hisinterview to The Hindu that “for theIndian Maoist party, its leaders andcadres, these efforts of ours provide somenew material to study, to think about andgo ahead in a new way. Our efforts providea reference point.”

Azad: As Marxists we must studycritically any phenomena, particularly newexperiences. Yet, we should not come tohasty conclusions but must carefullyobserve the outcome of such efforts. Allthese need to be assessed from a class view-point and not a non-class approach.Marxism is a science and it gives the toolsto analyse all social phenomenascientifically. This we need to do for theexperiment in Nepal or any other. Of course,we have already many historicalprecedents, these too should be consideredand the Nepal experience seen as part ofthis and not in isolation.


Q: Finally, is there anything you wantto say to the people of Nepal and theCPN(M)?

Azad: Our Party, CPI(Maoist), sends itsrevolutionary greetings on behalf of ourCC, entire Party rank and file, and the peopleof India to the CPN(Maoist) and the peopleof Nepal for their categorical rejection ofmonarchic rule and the comprador-feudalParties through the elections to theConstituent Assembly. We understand theHimalayan task confronting our fraternalMaoist Party in Nepal—the twin task ofrunning and reforming a reactionary statemachinery while advancing the classstruggle to achieve complete victory of therevolution.

We wish to appraise them that the realbattle for the transformation of the livesof the people of Nepal and the economic-social-political system of Nepal beginsnow. Lack of vigilance even for a momentcould prove dear to the Maoists as well asthe people of Nepal as vultures within andoutside their country are only too eagerto maintain the existing social order anditching to destroy all the gains achievedby the people and the Maoists. We wish toremind the CPN(M) and the people ofNepal regarding a warning we had givenin November 2006 when they decided tobecome part of the interim government. I

repeat what we said then: “The agreementby the Maoists to become part of theinterim government in Nepal cannottransform the reactionary character ofthe state machinery that serves theexploiting ruling classes and imperialists.The state can be the instrument in thehands of either the exploiting classes orthe proletariat but it cannot serve theinterests of both these bitterly-contending classes. It is the fundamentaltenet of Marxism that no basic change inthe social system can be brought aboutwithout smashing the state machine.Reforms from above cannot bring anyqualitative change in the exploitativesocial system however democratic thenew Constitution might seem to be, andeven if the Maoists become an importantcomponent of the government. It is sheerillusion to think that a new Nepal can bebuilt without smashing the existingstate.”

Control of the Army is very crucial atthe present juncture of Nepal’s history. If itis not freed from the control of the royalists,imperialist stooges, and other reactionaryforces and firmly placed under people’scontrol then there is immediate danger ofsabotage and counter-revolutionary coupwith the active assistance and guidance ofimperialists and Indian expansionists. It is

an urgent task before the CPN(M) toorganize and consolidate the masses, builda vast people’s militia to defend the massesfrom attacks by the exploiters andoppressors, train up the army with a pro-people democratic orientation, and releasethe huge, latent potential of the masseswhich will serve as the driving force foradvancing the revolution in Nepal to thenext stage. We earnestly hope that theCPN(Maoist) will fulfill these tasks andcontinue the class struggle to achieve realliberation of Nepal from imperialism,feudalism, Indian expansionism andadvance towards socialism andCommunism.

Our Party will wage uncompromisingstruggle against the machinations andexpansionist designs, the interventionand bullying and acts of subversion ofthe Indian ruling classes in Nepal andassure that we shall stand firmly by theside of the CPN(M) and the people ofNepal in their fight for genuine freedomand independence. In the long run it isonly the victory of the revolution in Indiathat can ensure real equality and mutualrespect between the two countries. Andour Party will step up its efforts toadvance the revolution in our country toits ultimate victory.

THE AMERICAN MILITARY BASES IN THE PHILLIPPINES

The US military base in the Philippines is being further strengthened under the notorious “Cooperative Security Location”programme of American imperialism. Most such bases fall in the ‘serious secret’ category. According to the disclosed estimatesof the Pentagon ,such bases are spread over seventy countries (the actual figure far surpasses this) across the globe. And nowanother 100 military bases are on the cards to maintain US hegemony in the world. Such bases require the protective hands ofthe countries concerned and there exists a permanent committee formed by the US Congress to oversee the whole programme ofstrengthening the US bases. Asia Times in its 1st June, 2005 issue referred to a top US official while disclosing such a dreaded factthat the number of US bases (inclusive of both secret and semi-secret) are about 5,458. This number further zoomed during thepast few years in East, Central and South Asia, particularly with an eye to contain Chinese and Russian powers. With such a largenumber of military bases, the frequent joint military exercises of US armed forces with the forces of countries like India, Pakistanetc, immensely facilitate the US hegemonic designs in various regions. US imperialism has maintained its military supremacy forthe past 110 years over the Philippines. The revolutionary communist movement scared the US. When huge anti Americandemonstrations rocked the Philippines in 1992, a formal ban was put on the American base there. Yet, as the Philippines wasstrategically important to the US, it not only refused to bow to the demand of the Philippines people, moreover it continued tostation a huge contingent of its armed forces to the region of 30 to 40 thousand. The successive reactionary governments of thePhilippines not only allowed those forces but also held frequent joint exercises and military operations with them. These puppetgovernments even went to the extent of showing criminal indifference to the terror killings and atrocities on its own femalecitizens perpetuated by the brutal US armed forces.

There is need for a worldwide movement to kick US military bases out of all countries, including the Philippines. In South Asiatoo US bases exist in many countries and US troupes have been training Indian and Nepalese forces to crush their own people.The people of india must join with the people all around the world to kick out such aggressor anti-people force and free theircountries from the US imperialist stranglehold.


THE Maoist movement in Indiais one of the oldest and longest-sustained revolutionarymovements in the contemporaryworld. Spanning a period of overfour decades beginning with thefirst earth-shaking volcaniceruption in a tiny village in Naxalbariit has become part of folk-lore insome regions in the country. It hadrisen, phoenix-like, every time thepolitical pundits had confidentlypronounced its certain demise. Toppolitical and police brass had timeand again boasted that they had“finished off” the revolution whichthey claimed as having been“imported from abroad”. Theyasserted that Maoist revolution issomething alien to the conditionsin Gandhi’s India where, they claim,people are not prone to violentways. The latest in this long list ofliars, wishful thinkers and viciouspropagandists is Mahendra Karma,who declared amidst much fanfarein June 2005 that he woulddecimate the Maoists within a yearthrough his state-sponsoredterrorist campaign christened asSalwa Judum (peace campaign).When his armed gangsters and thestate’s khaki-clad goons took abeating in the hands of the Maoiststhis scab of the imperialist-bigbusiness-feudal combine kept onbarking over the past two yearsthat he would finish off the Maoistswithin a short t ime. However,nailing all these lies and disgustingboasts by the mediocre politiciansand pol ice off ic ials rul ing thecountry, the resilience and growthof the Maoist movement hadsurprised many skeptics who seethe Indian state as an almightybehemoth that can snuff out anyarmed resistance.

Surprisingly, given the greatinternational significance ofrevolution in a vast country likeIndia—the second most populous inthe world—very few scholars haveattempted any serious research intothis social phenomenon and booksdealing with this protractedinsurgency are very few. But of late,several research scholars belongingto various persuasions and

Penguin/Viking Pages 320; Rs. 495

particularly so-called independentagencies have suddenly jumped intothe fray. There is very less objectivityand realistic analysis in most of thesewritings. Many of these have begunto paint a scary picture of rapidly-growing “Red Terror” which issupposed to underminedevelopment measures undertakenby the government. They talk ofMaoist movement spreading at analarming speed to the majority of thestates in India. Agencies like the ORF,SATP, Institute of ConflictManagement, Jane’s Defence Weekly,etc began taking keen interest anda plethora of articles have beenappearing in various magazines.Some websites too have sprung upboth in support of, and decrying,Maoism in India.

In Red Sun, published by Penguin(Viking) Books India in early 2008,the author, Sudeep Chakravarti,makes an attempt to understandand present the phenomenon of theMaoist movement in India. It is not,as the writer himself claims, a historyof the Maoist movement, but atravelogue which tries tounderstand the Other India, as hechristens it. The positive side of thebook is the writer’s attempt topresent the conditions of the vastmajority of the common people—their grinding poverty, excruciatingindebtedness, horrific tales of theirdestitution and displacement by so-called development — leading toextreme helplessness and heart-rending suicides. The writer hadtried to focus on the aspirations ofthe majority in India that had beenleft out of every developmentscheme and model touted as greatboons for the poor by the Indianruling classes. Overall, the writer hasbeen able to present, in a lucidmanner, the explosive socio-economic milieu that gave rise to,and continues to nurture, the Maoistmovement in India. And as atravelogue, this aspect often comesforcefully through conversationswith people from various walks oflife. He logically anticipates theinevitable spread of the Maoistmovement to the urban areas sincesimilar conditions had pushed the

vast majority of the urban poor intoutter wretchedness.

Good exposure of state-sponsored terror campaign inDandakaranya:

The exposure of the state-sponsored terrorist campaign inDandakaranya through the so-calledSalwa Judum comes out forcefully inthe book. It is here that the writeris seen at his best and he boldlyexposes the havoc created by thestate-sponsored vigilante gangscombined with the state and centralforces. There is some amount ofdepth in the writer’s presentation ofthe movement in one of the crucialregions of the Maoists. He vividlydescribes the war theatre, theexplosive situation and thestrategies and plans of the state. Asfar as the writer’s description of theMaoist movement goes this is thebest part in the entire book. Well, ifone has time constraints one caneither have a cursory glance at theremaining pages of the book or justdrop them altogether after goingthrough the first hundred pages orso. For, after this, the presentationof the movement elsewhere isshallow and based more onhearsay.

None of the movements in otherregions such as Jharkhand, Bihar,West Bengal, or Andhra Pradesh hasany in-depth analysis and reflectslack of real interaction with theactual players. Even theconversations with such an eminentpersonality in the revolutionarycamp like VV lack punch andanalysis. The principal weakness ofthe travelogue is that the writer hadtraveled more along the peripheryof the war zone and has hardly anyinteraction with the Maoist fightersand leaders in any of these regions.Whether this is deliberately done, orthe writer found no opportunity tomeet the Maoist revolutionaries inthe battle-field, is not clear. With theright contacts—and the writer claimsto have many such contacts—it is,of course, not difficult to meetunderground cadre of CPI (Maoist).He had sought to make up thisweakness by meeting peoplebelonging to various legal

Book Review by Nitin of:

RED SUN: TRAVELS IN NAXALITE COUNTRY BY SUDEEP CHAKRAVARTI


organizations which profess to berevolutionary such as Kanu Sanyaland CPI (ML)-Liberation.

The excerpts from the FactFinding Report by a team ofdemocratic intellectuals which wasreleased to the media in December2005 and from the Report of April2006 entitled ‘When the StateMakes War on Its Own People’,Mahendra Karma’s statement on theaim of Salwa Judum (“Unless you cutoff the source of the disease, thedisease will remain. The source is thepeople, the villagers.”), presentationof the full text of Bijapur SP DLManhar’s instructions on the wirelessto his men which was taped by theMaoists, the story of local journalistKamlesh Paika, conversations withKR Pisda, Collector of Dantewara,abuse of journalists in the most filthyand uncivilized manner by AlokAwasthi, additional director inChattisgarh’s Directorate of PublicRelations, etc are well brought out.The aim of Salwa Judum as admittedby the government in the officialdocument is also quotedexhaustively. The most chilling storyof the evacuation and setting afirethe village of Darzo in Mizoram bythe Indian Army during the early1970s as part of the sordid plan ofresettlement of the villages is verymuch relevant in the context of theSalwa Judum campaign and theplanned resettlement of the tribalsin Dantewara. The comparison withthe Mizoram of the 1970s is acommendable job.

At several places in the book,during conversations with therevolutionaries, bureaucrats andpolice officials, the activities andviewpoints of the two opposingforces in this class conflict arebrought into sharp contrast.

Some of the remarks by toppolitical and police brass makeinteresting, and at times, disgusting,reading. For instance, the healthminister of Jharkhand, Bhanu PratapShahi, says in an interview: “Onevasectomy in a Naxalite dominatedvillage means that many potentialcomrades less…when you have toomany mouths to feed and too littlefood to eat, you may turn into aNaxalite. All I want is to minimize thenumber of mouths.” The cynicalrevelation by an officer of the militaryintelligence of how he and his teamhad hacked off the heads of six

militants just to petrify their Islamiccolleagues and to serve as a spiritualinsult makes chilling reading. “Thenwe heard these human rights chapswere coming. So we put the headsback on somehow, crudely stitchedthem up. We didn’t bother withmatching head and body.” (p 78) Thatcynical laughter of the officer whilenarrating this ghastly incidentshows the general sadistic mindsetof the police and securityestablishment, whether it is inKashmir, North East, Dandakaranya,Jharkhand, AP or elsewhere. Theirproposed solution to the Naxaliteissue is such outright murders andfascist suppression, despite theiroccasional declarations, if only toplease and appease civil rightsactivists and liberal-mindedintellectuals, that the issue is morea socio-economic one rather than alaw & order problem. Khadi and Khakibandits are all one and the samewith regard to this.

The bogey of Naxal surrenders isalso well depicted by the author.Chattisgarh’s DGP OP Rathor (whodied of heart attack on anti-terroristday) bursts out venom against theNaxals: “Bloody nuisance. There’s noMarxism, Leninism or Maoism aboutthem. When I was young I at leastsensed some ideology about theNaxalites. But these chaps (now) arenothing but thugs and extortionists”(p 263). The Additional ChiefSecretary (Home), Government ofChattisgarh, BKS Ray, shows thesame abysmally crude attitude andapproach towards Naxalitemovement. “ These people are justthugs and extortionists. That’s whyin Chattisgarh you have aspontaneous popular movementagainst them—these tribals are fed upof the Naxals” he says. Why thetribals were not fed up with theNaxals for 25 years and why all of asudden they became restive issomething this arrogant bureaucratwill never be able to grasp or explain.And why will the tribals be angrywith Naxals, even if one accepts theallegations of the rulers that they areextortionists, since the tribals havenothing to lose and everything togain? Is it not only the bigcontractors, bureaucrats, tradersand industrialists who have bigproperty amassed through primitivemethods of exploitation of tribalsand loot and plunder of the entire

region that actually fear the Maoistsand try to snuff it out with all meansat their disposal? No wonder, thisbureaucrat with a police mind setcan only think of extermination ofMaoists as the solution (‘sabkokhatm karo’ [ kill all] he says over thephone to the police officials.) It hasbecome a fashion for every policeofficer and political bigwig to expressnostalgic feelings about the Naxalsof yesteryears as if they reallybelieved Naxals were sincere in thebygone times and had become anuisance now. They say they werean educated lot in earlier times butnow have lumpen elements indominance. The fact is today Naxalshave the real oppressed classesbehind them which is why it isbecoming increasingly difficult for thereactionary ruling classes tosuppress them. The change in thecomposition of the Naxalitemovement shows the maturity andgrass-roots strength of themovement.

Ideological biases:As is natural in a class-divided

society, the presentation in thebook, and the conclusions drawn,are subject to the limitations set bythe class and social background ofthe writer besides the inescapableinfluence of oft-repeated verdictson the movement by earlier writersof various hues. It is not easy towriggle oneself out of the shacklesof ruling ideology, culture and long-inculcated values that continue toreinforce upon one’s mind eversince one’s childhood. Some of theremarks of the writer bring homethis point. For instance, referring toa revolutionary writer’s, speech atthe Tehelka summit in November2006 in Delhi, the writer says:“Democracy, with all its ills, allowshim this public space. I hope herealizes the irony that dogma andundemocratic institutions have nospace for others, tolerate no dissent.Mao didn’t. The bloom of a HundredFlowers turned into deepest tragedy.Maybe when the Maoists talk aboutNew India, they really need to talkabout gentler Maoism—possibly anoxymoron—as their counterpartshave done for Nepal’s fragile peace.”(p292)

The author also cites someinstances of punishment given toinformers in DK, Jharkhand, Orissa


by the “dreaded Jan Adalat, orPeople’s Court, which is little morethan kangaroo court” and concludesthat “These acts are as gruesome,and gratuitous, as what the Maoistsaccuse state security of.”

Another comment or ratherconclusion of the author without anyanalysis runs thus: “In Dantewada,democracy is quite dead, on both sidesof the battle line.” Surprisingly, hecites the game of chor-police (cops-and-robbers) played by tribalchildren to arrive at such anobviously biased conclusion!!

The author’s ideological biasescan be seen also from his blandstatements regarding the futurepost-revolutionary society and aboutMaoist China. He says: “What wouldit be like if ever revolution were tosucceed in India, enough to imposeits imprint beyond tribal and caste-roiled areas? Most probably, instantjustice, dogmatic and puritanical life,Soviet-style post-revolutionary rot,vast May Day parades.” And he goeson: “Perhaps even brutal China-stylestate control and a repeat of theCultural Revolution of Mao himself,that ended up killing and damningmillions of unbelievers.” (p 210)

He concludes: “From availablehistorical evidence, a Maoist statemight do little else but backslide all ofIndia’s hard-won victories despite themire of grand corruption and the uttersmall-mindedness of administration.”(p 211)

Needless to say, this writer, asany other writer without living linkswith the lives of the oppressedmasses and the movement, has alsobecome a victim to the almostinescapable influence of theimperialist and ruling classideological biases as regardscomrade Mao and the GreatProletarian Cultural Revolution inChina, post-revolutionary societies,and so on. From the opinionsexpressed by the writer such as theabove one cannot but come to theconclusion that he prefers the statusquo in place of a new revolutionaryorder where, he imagines, freedomwill be the first casualty

Some factual errorsThere are a few minor factual

errors in the book which could havebeen avoided with a little morediligence and care by the writer.Mistakes such as mentioning

Chundru in place of Chundur orTsundur (p 114), Piyas instead ofRiyaz (p 206), Dr. Ramachandraninstead of Dr. Ramanatham (p197)referring to the elderly former VicePresident of APCLC who wasmurdered in his clinic in Warangalby police in 1985, referring toDarshan Pal as a Professor whenin fact he is a medical doctor(perhaps the title Dr has misled thewriter into thinking that he must bea professor),

Another problem with thepresentation is that severalallegations are made regarding theactivities of the Maoists by somepolice officials and political leaderswhile no opportunity is available tothe former to refute theseallegations. When an authorquotes these officials it will also bethe bounden duty to get theresponse from the Maoists. Or else,it would mislead the people andamounts to gross injustice to theother side in the ongoing war. Forinstance, the superintendent ofpolice of Dantewada district, PrabirKumar Das, alleges that Maoists areagainst development and do notallow bore-wells to be sunk in theirstronghold villages. He is quoted assaying: “When we entered an area50 kilometers from here, deep inside,we found they had broken handpumps. Initially, we thought it wasto deny police water. Later, when wewent to areas we hadn’t been tobefore, there too the pumps werebroken. Villagers told us that theywere asked by the Maoists to drinkonly from wells and other naturalwater sources.” (p 77) The rationaleof the Maoists, behind this move, isattributed to their perception ofbore-wells as a sign of oppression(!!) “Hand pumps were provided bythe state or NGOs with state funding;they were a sign of oppression, andtherefore taboo” says thisgentleman. Nothing could be fartherfrom truth. This even goes againstcommon sense which the top policebrains in India pitifully lack. How canthe Maoists (the police can at leastget their own mineral bottles),survive if they break the hand-pumps? If the author had verifiedthe facts by touring the areas deepinside it would have been reallyuseful in exposing the deliberateconcoctions of the police chief. Andall this is only to justify the brutal

state-sponsored terror campaign inthe name of Salwa Judum with thepretext that the villagers are fed upwith Maoist attempts to blockdevelopment schemes and suchtrash.

Some good photographs andcharts would have enlivened thenarration and made the book moremeaningful and popular. I do notknow why the author hasn’t takenthe trouble to compile somephotographs when it isn’t muchdifficult to get them.

The writer comes to theconclusion that Maoist movementwould soon encompass the urbanareas and mobilize the vast massesof the have-nots living in the mostdistressing conditions in the slumsand factories. He rightly says thatall the material conditions for thespread of Maoists to the urbanareas exist there. He includes entiresections from the document of theCPI (Maoist), Perspective of UrbanAreas, as an Appendix and quotesextensively from this document toprove how the Maoists will emergeas a strong urban force too.

The author also tries to place hisown theories of In-Land, Out-Land,City States etc. which he says willcharacterize the country’s socialscenario in the future. Or in otherwords, that India will increasingly bedivided into two: one inhabited bythe haves and the other by have-nots with continuous frictionbetween the two. Although theessence of his thesis will be theunfolding reality—the pointers to thisdivision are already emerging withthe fast multiplying expressways,multiplexes, shopping malls, superfast trains, amusement parks, highcost of education, housing andhealth, drastic cuts in social welfareschemes, and so on—the emergingscenario will be one of acute classstruggle with the vast majority of theIndian population locked up in bitterstruggles, armed and unarmed,against the exploitative set up, andfascist state dictatorship becomingthe norm. In this cruel, bitter classwar the Maoist movement is certainto gain ground and advancetowards the goal of liberation of ourcountry from the clutches of theimperialist marauders, decadentfeudal forces and comprador bigbusiness sharks.


THE UPA government, leaning onthe ‘Left’ crutches, is now busy

extending the Indian ruling classes’ ageold programme of pitting one section ofthe people against the other in their driveagainst the people, waging nationalityor revolutionary armed struggles. A civilwar enforced by the state through acounter-revolutionary operation namedSalwa Judum has been going on in thestate of Chattisgarh for the past threeyears with the state arming and activelyencouraging a section of the populationin killing hundreds of adivasis, burningdown their villages, committing heinousatrocities against women and forciblybundling people in to camps. All this tocrush the people’s revolutionarymovement led by the Maoists. Thisgenocidal campaign is the product ofsimulated bonhomie of the BJP-Congress.The Congress leader, Mahendra Karma,who is a past master of such savagedrives, justified the Salwa Judumoperations against the rising of thepeople.

The Indian state tried this tactic inKashmir. It failed to bring about thedesired result. In Chattisgarh too it isfacing the same fate, as the people’srevolutionary forces led by the Maoistsare dealing blow after blow on the forcesof the Salwa Judum, inflicting heavylosses. But the crisis driven ruling classescan never learn a lesson from suchbeatings and persist in continuing thetwin operations of using the armed forcesand of arming a section of the populationin their desperate bid to crush therevolutionary and nationality struggles ofthe people.

The Central cabinet has nowofficially endorsed the Salwa JudumCampaign. The ‘left’ supported UPAgovernment’s recent submission beforethe Supreme Court during the hearingon the brutalities of the Salwa Judum,smugly dismissing the piled-up chargesof civil rights organizations, is apronounced threat to the right of the

SALWA JUDUM FROM CHATTISGARH TO MANIPUR

people to rise against chillingexploitation and resist state terrorism.Despite waves of protest from variousquarters, the Indian state, the centraland state governments of all hues havestruck to the conspiracy of pitting onesection of the people against the risingvast masses of people. Manipur is thelatest one to embark on this course.

The chief minister of Manipur, OKaram Ibobi Singh has now decided toarm a section of the villagers, providearmed training to about 500 in twovillages, Heirok in Thoubal district andLilong Chajing in Imphal West district, tofight the state’s war against the Manipurrebels fighting for self determination. Thisdisastrous decision comes in the wake ofMr Singh’s earlier audacious verbiagedemanding the brutal death of all rebelsfor the so-called great duty of savingManipur.

Such an ominous master plan is anextention of the Salwa Judumprogramme. Democratic and sensiblepeople of Manipur have justly come outin strong protest against such adraconian plan to pit a section ofterrorized, poverty stricken Manipurisagainst the rebel Manipuris wagingmany decades of armed struggle, withmassive popular support for the rightto self determination. Just before thisdecision, the centre sent a high levelteam to direct the Manipurgovernment to implement a SalwaJudum in Manipur. The fascist ArmedForces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) wasin vogue in Manipur with the militaryhaving been given carte blanche tocommit any sort of barbarity. Thedeluge of popular protests led bywomen after the rape and cruel killingof Manorma in 2006 against the armedforces and for the abrogation of theAFSPA is indeliably fresh in the minds ofthe Manipuris. The current SalwaJudum of Manipur has already evokedprotests from the villagers who wereroped into the state’s counter-

insurgency operation.

The Indian state’s terror machine isover active to build up a vast networkof informers in all the areas ofresistance alongside the armedoperations. Simultaneous with othermeasures, counter-revolutionarygroups and organisations, raised froma section of the people and armed andtrained by the state are in operation inmany states. In the Jharkhand-WestBengal border NASUS, a communalgang organised by the police,Jharkhand Mukthi Morcha etc, havebeen on the rampage, killing theMaoists and their sympathizers, rapingwomen and terrorizing the people inall possible means. The CPI(M) is noworganizing GOSUS, another criminalgang with logistic support from thepolice in West Midnapur district ofWest Bengal, to fight the rising Maoistmovement there.

Arming a section of the people,burning down villages and forciblyherding people into concentrationcamps etc, are actually the tacticsadopted by the British Imperialists intheir war against the revolutionaries,the Malaya (now Malaysia) CommunistParty during the 50s of the last century.It was known as Brigg’s plan, namedafter the butcher and commander of theBritish forces. The Indian rulers, walkingin the shoes of their imperialist masters,have been using these tactics right fromthe days of the Great Telangana PeasantArmed struggle.

Since the armed explosion of thepeople everywhere in India grew outfrom the extreme poverty, deprivation,oppression and exploitation by the statecontrolled by the exploitative classes, therevolutionary movements shall wadethrough all the repressive hurdles totranslate the professed aims andobjectives in to a reality.


Question by PT: The GDP is growing ata rate not seen in post 1947 India at 8 to9%. What then is the problem with thismodel of growth compared to the earlierperiod what is referred to as the mixedeconomy? What is the Maoist view onthis?

Arvind: What they say that the higherthe rate of growth rate the higher will bethe employment generation in the country.The higher the employment the higher willbe the purchasing power and the standardof life of the people. But, the past decadeexperience itself has shown this to befalse. There has been jobless growth andexcept in the service sector, all sphereshave in fact seen an absolute decline inemployment. This can be seen inagriculture, manufacturing and even in theemployment in the public sector. Not onlyare employment opportunities decliningbut also their wages/salaries are beingbadly hit by extensive contractualisationof labour and also high inflation ofnecessities. In other words there is adrastic drop in the purchasing power ofthe masses. The major basis of the presentgrowth rate has come from a giganticincrease in the wealth of the rich andparticularly the super-rich, the import-export sector, the financial sector and theso-called ICE (information,communication and entertainment)sector. Today the service sector accountsfor 55% of the GDP but only 0.5% of theemployment of 20 lakhs. On the otherhand agriculture now accounts for noteven 20% of the GDP but it has 70% of theemployment. Even in the manufacturingsector, employment has dropped by 3% inthe last decade. Such warpeddevelopment is unsustainable. The realbenefit from this model has been to createMukesh Ambani types who is now therichest man in the world, one lakhmillionaires and a growing upper classeating off the crumbs of the super-rich.For 90% or more of the population itentails greater and greater poverty.

Q. But then are you saying that theNehruvian model of the mixed economy,where growth rates were a mere 3-5%,was better than the present, which hasbeen introduced in this era of globalization,liberalization and privatization.?

ON THE INDIAN ECONOMY & THE FUTURE

A. If at all comparisons are to be donewhat is going on now under the LPG modelis outright plunder, loot and robbery,reducing the masses, and particularly therural population, to a state of destitutionnever seen before in these six decades ofpost-1947 rule. The over one-lakhpeasants who have committed suicide inthe last decade is only the tip of theiceberg. And the situation for the massesis deteriorating by the day. Massiveretrenchment is taking place in all PSUsand all jobs are being contracted out. Inthe earlier model though conditions werevery bad, now things are much worse. Thepoint is not which of the two is better, asit is the same people who have adoptedboth these systems; both were needed forthe growth and development of bigbusiness at their particular times. Soonafter 1947 the Tata, Birla type big businesshouses themselves promoted the publicsector through what was the Bombay Plan(or Tata-Birla Plan) as they needed cheapraw material for their industries and alsothe development of an infrastructure atpublic expense. So these big businesshouses milked the exchequer for funds,depended fully on government banks fortheir funding (PSU banks held majorityshares in their companies), usedtaxpayers money for infrastructuraldevelopment and robbed the rawmaterials cheap (also developed throughhuge capital expenditure by thegovernment which they were not preparedto put in). So, one can say the big businesshouses as also the existing foreignindustries .grew with such gigantic dolesfrom the government in the so-calledmixed economy. Now once having set upmassive empires with government props,these same big business houses aredemanding privatization andliberalization without governmentinterference as they now need the freedomto grow at break-neck speed and govtregulations (particularly in the sphere oflabour) act as a restriction. Now the LPGpolicy facilitates maximum growth oftheir wealth; then, the Nehruvian modelhelped maximisation of their wealth. It isthe so-called Left that has created thismisnomer of the socialist (or mixed)model versus the supposed capitalist

model. Both are capitalist modelsdemanded by their needs at differenttimes. Also imperialists have played arole in the models chosen. After the SovietUnion degenerated into an imperialistcountry their influence on the country inthe 1970s and early 1980s had atemporary impact on the model ofdevelopment. But then, this did not reduceBritish/US investment and also coincidedwith the needs of big business as outlinedin the Bombay Plan.

Q. The country has so far seen onlythese two models of development. Alldiscussions in the financial and academicspheres only compare one or the other.Now you say that both will not help thecountry. That is the problem with youMarxists you can never see anythingpositive in any policy. Everything isnegative…… then and also now. Is this notsome form of nihilism?

A. However much we may wish good,that will not come unless there arerealistic policies to achieve it. What Ihave said in the last answer is merelyportraying the reality. Tell me is the realityany different from what I have said, sothat you could accuse me of nihilism etc.But we should not run away from thereality. The fact is that two centuries ofcolonialism played havoc with thecountry and destroyed all that wasgrowing. From this state of ruin thecountry was taken over by the elite butthe imperialists merely retreated to therear and these masters also have beenchanging. But it is they who have beencalling the shots both then and now. So,the country and its people continue gotowards ruination. No doubt the elite havegained then; they gain now on a scale theynever dreamed of before. But we are nottalking of their gains; when we saycountry, we mean the mass of its people.They have always lost out on any newpolicies which are made by themoneybags, for the moneybags and intheir interests. One must understandthere are certain laws that govern thesesystems and they have their internaldynamics; however much we may wishsomething good mere good intentionscannot achieve those positive resultsunless the inner dynamics of the system


is understood and then changed in a waythat can deliver the positive results thatwe seek. The problem with many an NGO,social worker, liberal, etc they seekchange, but do not wish to see how thiscan be achieved as they do not delve intothe laws that govern the system. So theyrest content with mere palliatives.

Q. If it is neither of these two models,then what is the solution to the ills of thecountry?

A. To this Question the answer cannotbe given in just a few words as what youare asking is a full-fledged alternative forall the ills of the country. The answer tothis would require an entire book and nota few lines as this entails not only theeconomic welfare of the masses thatconstitute the country (which ofcourse isthe starting point) but also the social,political, cultural, health, etc developmentof the masses. That would require a veryexhaustive answer. Besides, we have nomagic wand for all the ills of society. AsMarxists we understand the laws thatgovern society and seek to apply these toour country and the situation prevailinghere. With further experience gainedthrough both the practical movement ofthe day and also the experiences aroundthe world, and taking cognizance of thechanges continuously taking place, ourknowledge further grows. But, whilesaying so we must understand that thelaws of development of society discoveredby Marx and Engels and further developedby Lenin, Stalin and Mao, gives the onlyscientific basis for understanding society.No, doubt, like in the natural sciences, withthe discovery of further laws ofunderstanding society and change, thisscience too will develop. Anyhow now tocome to the point that you have raised.We will give a very brief picture of thechange we envisage. If the economy mustgrow the starting point must be that theremust be extensive industrialization allover the country; not a few pockets ofindustrialization in an oasis ofbackwardness. This is not possible unlessthe purchasing power of the masses isenhanced and they have the capacity tobuy goods that will act as the motor forindustrialization. It is the expansion ofthe home market of the country that hasto be the starting point. Once this isachieved other steps follow. But how is

this to be done? Today over 70% of thepopulation of our country live in the ruralareas in utter backwardness and povertyweighed down by varied forms of feudal,semi-feudal and now ‘modern’ forms ofexploitation and loot. According to a studyover 77% of the population live on Rs. 20per day. Here, the land Question is central.Coming out of this archaic form ofexistence, through distributing land onthe basis of land to the tillers and thenmoving on to cooperatives, destroying them o n e y l e n d e r / t r a d e r / p o l i t i c i a n /bureaucrat nexus that robs them in everyconceivable way, and extricating thefarmer from the more recent trap of theimperialists, etc is the only solution. Nohalf-baked step can help an iota. Oncethe huge rural population is freed fromthe chains of backwardness and marketfetishism and start bettering theirstandard of living the demand willdevelop for goods, leading toindustrialization all over the country. Thecapital for this initial phase ofindustrialization can come from takingback the wealth looted from the countryand people by TNCs, big business houses,bankers, politicians, mafia, et al. The loothas been enormous so there will very littleproblem as the amounts looted and thathave to be taken back are huge.

Q. But what you are suggesting here isa socialist model; that has been a totalfailure where it was experimented as inRussia and China. Why should it workhere?

A. There is no doubt that all the greatsocialist revolutions that had taken placeduring the last century had been reversedby the end of the century. That is true. Thereasons for the reversals have beenstudied to some extent; they have to begone into in much greater depth whilebuilding new socialist societies. Whilethat is true it is also true that the seriousproblems people face have not beensolved by capitalism and cannot be solvedby capitalism. The reality today provesthat. In fact in this stage of imperialismthe system is in continuous crises, movingfrom one crisis to another. And in thisphase of imperialist globalization, thebubble-type economies it is generatingdue to the necessity of dependingexcessively on speculative capital (due toa lack of outlet for investment in industry

and manufacturing) has made the systemeven more fragile. In 2000 the IT bubblebust; now the housing bubble has bust inthe US, precipitating a worldwidefinancial meltdown. Besides this, thecapitalist/imperialist system results inthe massacre of millions throughgenocides as has happened in Africa andLatin America in the last decades and warsas is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.Besides, it silently kills lakhs each daythrough hunger, starvation, disease, etc.In the coming days, with the economic/financial crisis likely to deepen horrifyingconditions can be expected. An attack onIran is imminent precipitating enormouschaos and suffering worldwide. Theholocaust may look mild in comparison.So capitalism does not have any answersfor the unbelievable suffering of thepeople. So, what is the alternative then?Society has not given any other answerbesides socialism. All the erstwhilesocialist countries took gigantic leaps intheir societies and for their people whileit lasted. This cannot be denied. That therehas been a setback in the socialistexperiments will help enrich futurerevolutionws. Besides, the laws of socialdevelopment show that the inbuilt causesfor the recurring crises of capitalism areinsoluble; and that development, if it is totake place can only take place in thedirection of socialism. So, howeverpainful the path, real development ofsocieties is possible only in the directionof socialism. In a country like India whichhas not even reached real capitalism andis mostly bogged down in extremebackwardness it would first have to gothrough a democratic revolution to free itfrom the chains of semi-feudalism andimperialism. That is what the genuineMarxists in the country are attempting.

Q. If yours is just another economicmodel where is the need for all thatviolence that is taking place wherever theMaoists are active?

A. What the Maoists say is very clear;i.e. a thorough democratization of thecountry ……… its economy, its polity, itsculture, and all social relations. Here itnecessary means depriving the feudalelements of their power and land and bigbusiness and TNCs of their ill-gottenwealth which has reached vulgar levelsof opulence. Quite naturally the gigantic


sums extracted by politicians, bureaucratsand all their hangers-on will also beseized. Without this there can be no re-organisation of society on a genuinelydemocratic basis. There are unfortunatelyno short-cuts. Those that have tried likethe parliamentary ‘Marxists’ and NGOs(see Narmada Bachao movement) havefailed miserably. Because we areprincipled and uncompromising it is thestate that is intolerant of such forces. Whyus who Question the entire system; theywere even unable to tolerate a top RAWofficial (i.e. someone from their own class)who brought out details of corruption inthe top hierarchy. He has been hounded,threatened and is likely to be arrested. Soit is the government and their imperialistbackers who are not willing to toleratethe slightest opposition to their freedomto loot the people and the country. Theyfirst try and buy them through corruptionand if that is not possible they come downwith a heavy hand. But, unlike others theMaoists do not buckle under and equipthemselves to retaliate. They know to whatlevels of viciousness these reactionariescan go (and have gone) and so preparefor that in advance.

Q. Well now let us come to the present.What do you have to say about theenormous amounts being invested inmining, infrastructure, SEZs etc. Will thisnot lead to some level of themodernization and industrialization of thecountry?

A. Yes, lakhs of crores are going intothese projects by big business and TNCs.The amounts involved are mind-boggling.Just recently Laxmi Mittal has signedMoUs with the Orissa and Jharkhandgovernments for 12 million ton perannum steel plants in each of the statesinvolving a huge investment of $ 10 billioneach. All such MoUs give massive tax andother concessions to these giantmagnates by the respectivegovernments; though they are neverprepared to give a paisa to the starvingmasses. That is why much secrecy ismaintained about the details of theseagreements. They are never disclosedpublicly, not even to the people who areaffected. Parts of Orissa for example, thepeople have faced starvation deaths fordecades, but the government has donelittle about it. But to financial magnates

like the Mittals who are in no need forconcession, due to their vast wealth, aregranted every possible gift. What is thelogic of this? It is nothing but the classsystem that demands this; no doubt theministers and bureaucrats will get theircommission. But that too is part of thissystem. From the smallest to the biggestdeals worldwide are done through givingkickbacks. But with each developmentproject thousands will be kicked off theland, deprived of their only source oflivelihood pushing more and more peopleeach day to the brink. All the new projectsare with hi-tech machinery so the localpeople can never have any hope foremployment. And the number employedwill only be a microscopic fraction of thosedisplaced. This can be seen with all theprojects, whether mining, SEZs, dams,infrastructure or urban development.According to reports the SEZs are all setto grab a huge 1,750 sq kms of landdisplacing 1.14 lakh farming householdsand 82,000 labouring households; i.e. aminimum population of one millionpeople. Where will all these people gofor their livelihood? Today, a huge 1,000megawatt power plant requires barely50-100 people to run it. TISCO has nearlyhalved its staff (from70,000 to 40,000)but production has been increased five-fold. Then take the massive retail chainsthat are coming in. The second biggestemployer in the country after agricultureis retailing with 12 million retail shops inthe country and 4 crore peopledependent on it. At a conservativeestimate it is expected that 4 to 6 lakhfamilies will be displaced by these retailchains (EPW; Feb.12 2005). So, what wehave as the end result is not‘development’ but retrogression with anever-growing pool of destitute people.Besides giving windfall profits forbusiness, how does it benefit the peopleof this country. Not only is it destroyingthe people but also the ecology. Thismodel of development has alreadydestroyed much of our soil (greenrevolution), forests, water resources andeven the health conditions of the country.Yet, it pushes on in the same path at aneven faster pace. One can only imaginethe havoc it will create with theenvironment of the country. So, thepresent model of development is a

prescription for disaster. Ofcourse,meanwhile the moneybags will maketheir pot-full of wealth and stack it safelyin foreign safe havens.

Q. But it is said that this developmentwill be much like the industrial revolutionwhich created much deprivation initiallybut later took the countries on the pathof industrialisation. So, if this is so, surelythis industrialization will in the long termbe good for the country and itsdevelopment.

A. This is also the argument of theCPM when they came to the defence oftheir projects after Singur and Nandigram.But it is not the reality. Here the model ofdevelopment is not like during theindustrial revolution. No doubt in bothcases the rural base is feudal (or semi-feudal as in India); but during theindustrial revolution there was noimperialism (and compradors) to suckaway all the surplus and then the level oftechnology was intrinsic to the level ofdevelopment of that time and so able toabsorb the displaced population. This isnot the case here in India. The projectsmostly displace people and are not ableto create much employment. The few jobsthat will get generated are only for thewell-educated urban middle class. So, ifwe look at it from the long-term it willmean crores thrown out from the land asa result of mining projects, big dams andinfrastructural development with noalternative source of employment. In theurban areas the development taking placein the malls, huge retail chains are all setto displace the massive population(second only to agriculture) that surviveon small retailing. So, with displacementto take place in crores, with jobs beingcut due to extensive contractualisation oflabour, and with the agrarian crisisdeepening ………. a nightmarish situationis developing in the country. What istaking place is not development; it isretrogression. Ofcouse if you look at thesituation from the eyes of the power-that-be, India is shining with high GDP growthrates, stock-market booms and privatesector profits sky-rocketing. The glossy TVand print media only focuses on thislatter aspect of India, pushing the realIndia into oblivion. That is why middleclasses are not realising the gravity of thesituation, and are getting carried away


by the media propaganda. And the crumbsthrown off the table are lapped up by asection of the middle classes who createpublic opinion for the present model ofdevelopment.

Q. If that is the case you should not beopposing the industrialization but shouldbe demanding jobs for those displaced.Also we see no future on the land asagriculture has become totally unviable.In fact in some places entire villages areasking for projects to buy up their village.In such a situation where agriculture isunviable what is the logic of clinging on tothat small plot of land. Surely going forindustrialization is the solution, if it canbe done in a more humane way?

A. To demand for jobs is one thing; butwhat we must realize whatever may be thepromises of the government in the presentmodel they will not be able to providelocals with jobs. Let alone the ruraldisplaced population, in fact even the nextgeneration of middle classes will not beable to get stable jobs except probably inthe police and the army. All PSUs whichprovided the main source of stableemployment are cutting jobs on a hugescale, contracting out all their work; alsothere is strong pressure from the IMF todo this, in order to cut the fiscal deficit.So, the present model will not be able toprovide the jobs as propagated by thesupporters of this model, including theCPM and the particularly vocal WestBengal Chief Minister. According to a studyby Team Lease Services (Outlook Apr 9 07)there will be a 15-fold increase inunemployment by 2020. Now come to theQuestion of the viability of the land. Whohas made it unviable? Experiments haveshown that even one acre of land, withsufficient water, and a few cattle issufficient to support a whole family for ayear if scientifically used. So, today whyis even 5 acres said to be unviable.Reason is due to continuation of semi-feudal backwardness the poor peasanthas never been able to come out of theclutches of the landed/moneylender/trader/politician/bureaucrat combine;thereby keeping him in a continuing stateof impoverisation. Then added to this hascome the commercialisation of crops toserve imperialist and CBB interests, whichinitially gave the rich peasant some profitbut is now ruining the entire peasantry

due to uneven terms of trade (between theoutput and the cost of inputs), destructionof the soil, lack of irrigation, etc. Finallyit has been made unviable due to the heftydrop in investment by the government inagriculture (According to the RBI theCentre’s expenditure on agriculture fell by20% between 1990/91 and 2004/05 andon irrigation and flood-control by 15%).All these three factors have destroyed thepeasantry even further and madeagriculture unviable. If one goes awayfrom this model through getting out of theclutches of the semi-feudal looters andthe imperialist/CBB dictated marketeconomy, rejuvenate the soil throughavoiding chemical fertilisers andpesticides and through scientific methodsof watershed management and re-forestation, and through systematicirrigation of the land…… the land can notonly be made viable, it can produce evena surplus. So in fact the non-viability ofthe land is part of the overall model ofthis method of development.

Q. You Marxists always speak of crisiscreating a situation for revolution but yourcrisis never seems to come?

A. Well it did not require a crisis tokill over a lakh farmers by suicide andpush crores to the brink; it did not take acrisis to displace millions of people bythe warped development policies; it didnot require a crisis to reduce the healthconditions of the masses to the levels atwhich has reached today, which isprobably today the biggest silent killer; itdid not take a crisis to massacre hundredsthrough state terrorism onrevolutionaries, nationalities, muslims,dalits and any struggling people. Evenwithout a crisis all this is happening. Youcan just visualize what would happenwhen a crisis strikes. But, today theinternational economy is exceedinglyfragile as proven by the recent sub-primecrisis in the USA; major banks in the US,Britain, EU, Japan were on the verge ofcollapse and were only saved by thegovernment pumping in huge funds to bailthem out. Even according to the head ofthe IMF the real impact of the sub-primecrisis will strike in 2008. The war cloudsare gathering with increasing threats toIran. Oil prices have peaked at $ 92 perbarrel and is likely to shoot through theroof in the case of war with Iran. All major

economies like those of Europe, Japan arestagnating with unemployment at peak levels.The US has the biggest budget and tradedeficits ever and the dollar has dropped to itslowest level ever (1.4 dollars to the euro). Thereis fervent military exercises as to be seen in thedevelopment on the Quadriangle (led by USand comprising Japan, Australia and India) onthe one side and the SCO (Russia, China andCentral Asian countries) on the other. Thewriting is on the wall.

Q. What do you have to be say aboutthe current high rate of inflation?

The worldwide high rates of inflationare nothing but one more reflection of thegrowing crisis in the world economy withits reflection in India. The latest figure forIndia of 11% would actually be around 20%if we take retail prices and prices of basicnecessities. It is destroying not only thepoor but also the middle classes. The maincause for this is the nature of the crisis-ridden world economy where the TNCs andbig business are not willing to cut theirsuper-profits and agri-business is makingfortunes. Besides speculation in futures (inbasic commodities), hoarding, theskyrocketing prices of oil (now at theunbelievable $140 per barrel and likelyonly to go up), the conversion of vastamounts of foodgrains tobio-fuels, etc. areall adding to the price rise. This is boundto go up as the days go by as the economiccrisis is only deepening.

Q. So what then is likely to be theimmediate future?

A. While big business will continue tomake fortunes while more and more peoplewill be pushed to destitution. At theinternational plane wars and devastationwill be the order of the day. Already 7 lakhshave been butchered in Iraq, thousands inIran, and now an impending attack on Iran.We can expect devastation on a huge scaleall over the world and particularly in Indiawhere the rulers are bent on tying thecountry to the apron strings of the mostbrutal terror in the world — the US. Thecountry and our people face twoalternatives — horrors of acute distresson a scale rarely seen before or the agonyof revolution. The former gives no hopewhile the latter gives birth to a new brightfuture. The pain and agony is that of thebirth of a new society born from the wombof the present will usher in a just andequitable order.


ACCOUNTABILITY is a major pointof discussion in politics. Politics

means power. The authority gainedthrough power gives a means to beunaccountable to anyone. Any mistake,misappropriation could be mystified with‘power’. All the so-called reforms takenup to cleanse the electoral system andthe bureaucracy prove to be a fiasco. Thisis the case with the ‘government of thepeople, by the people, for the people’.

But the case is different in a people’sparty and with the real people’sgovernance. In the DandakaranyaSpecial Zone there are instances wherenot only representatives but also theleaders of the people’s government wererecalled for the guilt of misappropriationof the government (Janathana Sarkar)funds. There were also cases wherepersons in responsible positions wererecalled on account of moral mistakes.In one of these cases the people made acomplaint against the president of thelocal government; the judicialdepartment investigated into the matterand found the person guilty. It conveneda ‘gram sabha,’ the mass meeting of theconcerned villages in the JanathanaSarkar and put the facts before them.People expressed their opinions. Theyprotested against the misdeeds of theirleading representative. Applying theregulations of the Janathana Sarkar, theysuspended the guilty person. Suchpersons are kept under people’sobservation for a period of time, afterwhich they would be co-opted back intothe Sarkars if proved to have rectifiedthemselves.

Apart from this, there is one incidentthat needs to be mentioned. This incidentshows the sincerity and openness of boththe people’s party and the people’sgovernment and the way in which thedowntrodden masses exercise theirdemocratic authority without any fearor compulsion. In this incident the‘Janathana Sarkar’ imposed a fine on thepeople’s party in a murder case.

HOW ACCOUNTABLE IS THE PEOPLE’S PARTY AND PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY

It is an area where the mode ofproduction is relatively less developed,almost in the food gathering stage. Thereis no irrigation and no vegetablecultivation. There is no academiceducation, scientific education and notmuch knowledge about the outsideworld. Blind beliefs are in the rule.

In such an area, mass organizationswere formed, Militias were formed. Theleaders of the village in discussion werenot yet strong enough to guide all aspectsof the people’s lives. This situation led toan untoward incident.

A man was beating his wife daily. Hedrinks liquor, comes home and beats her.She runs for her life and takes shelter insome one’s house. This is no secret in thevillage. But he is not afraid of anyone.There was no check on this person. Therewere no warnings from anyone, evenfrom the women’s organisation, since itwas not active enough.

At a point, the wife lost patience. Shemet the militia comrades and spoke outher woes. She asked them to threatenher husband hoping to solve her dailydifficulty in this way. The militiacommander, who in fact is enoughmilitant in the actual sense took this tohis heart. But this was not the onlyreason. It was feared that the wife beaterpractices witchcraft.

This is one blind belief stronglyprevalent among the people of thisparticular area. Some people arebelieved to have been causing illnessthrough ‘some’ means, of which no onecan provide any objective evidence. Themilitia commander too did not yet gainenough ideological and politicalconsciousness to dismiss away suchwrong superstitions.

So he decided otherwise. He tookalong two of his associates and went tothe wife beater’s house. He did not takemuch time to implement his decision. Hedid not try to convince the man. Heentered into a quarrel and killed him inthe heat of rage. There ended the

matter.

Here ensued a discussion. The matterwas reported to the local partycommittee, the Janathana Sarkar andother related committees. The Militia isguided by the Party and supported by theJanathana Sarkar in different aspects.The Party Committee called the militiacommander and told him that this was amistake and that he should only educatethe people about their misdeeds andwrong beliefs. There are other kinds ofpunishments if the need arises. Death isno solution.

The area level Janathana Sarkar(comprising of around 100-150 villages)discussed the matter in its meeting. Itresolved to fine the Party for this mistake.This was informed to the concerned partycommittee. The Party Committee had athorough discussion and reviewed thewhole matter. It owned the responsibilityfor the incident. It suspended the militiacommander.

Com. S, the in-charge, DivisionalCommittee Member of the area said —the party and the mass organisationsare taking propaganda activity againstthe age old blind beliefs. The culturalorganisation is enacting plays and skitson this issue. Anyway it is a long processof scientific and political education. TheParty discussed the matter in the partycommittee and Janathana Sarkar.There are one or two other suchincidents too. So the Party took up aspecial campaign on these matters. It isalso discussing this in the village levelcommittees, mass organisation and allsorts of units.

The Party is confident that it willovercome this situation in a period oftime.

This kind of accountability andadmission of mistakes is possible only in asincere, true revolutionary party and apeople’s democracy of the same kind. It isthis accountability that is giving more andmore confidence of the masses for theparty and for people’s democracy.

Disaster of Polavaram - BANNEDTHOUGHT.NET

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