ML International Newsletter December 2002

 (In Two Parts)

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An update on news and ideas from the revolutionary left in India.
Produced by: Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation
international team
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Website: www.cpiml.org
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Table of Contents

1)     Party Congress: Request for Fraternal Greetings
2)     Last Five Years of CPI (ML): Red Challenge to Saffron Rule
3)     From First to Seventh Congress: The Long March Continues
4)     Comrade VM and His Party
5)     Never will the Party deviate from the cause espoused by Comrade
Nagbhushan
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PART - 1
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Party Congress

Request for Fraternal Greetings


Friends,

The fascist Indian state and imperialist powers have escalated their
offensive against the Indian people. The Indian state, while on the one hand
has organized genocides in Gujarat and on the other has devastated lives in
India with their agricultural and industrial policies. This unfettered
exploitation of India is continuing with the active collusion of the
imperialist powers. The forthcoming Seventh Congress of the CPI(ML) to be
held at Patna from 25-30 November will address itself to this greatest
challenge facing the country.

On the occasion of the Seventh all India Congress, delegates from all over
the country and honoured guests from the international anti-imperialist
movement will assemble in Bihar to chart the course for a powerful communist
resurgence, for a strong and united left and democratic counteroffensive
against the saffron design of fascist subversion. We look forward to your
wholehearted support and solidarity to fulfil this task and carry forward
the march to a new democratic India, a socialist India. If you have not
already done so, please send your messages of solidarity to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


Last Five Years of CPI (ML)

1997-2002: Red Challenge to Saffron Rule

From: Liberation, December 2002.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government came to power in 1998, and saffron rule soon overshadowed India.
The CPI (ML) lost no time in taking the saffron bull by the horns and
launched its nationwide "Oust Saffron, Save the Nation Campaign". From major
cities to remote villages, people under the ML banner protested against the
"Hindu Bomb" at Pokharan. As prices of essential commodities soared sky
high, members of All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) formed
the front ranks of the protest. When the saffron brigades vandalised the
sets of the movie 'Water', students mobilised by All India Students
Association (AISA) challenged the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) claim to
represent 'Indian culture' and marched on the streets of Benaras in defense
of filmmakers' rights to portray the oppression of widows. When goons of
Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal attacked a programme featuring the renowned ghazal
singer Ghulam Ali and Pak jingoism, students and youth with AISA and
Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) at the forefront, protested all over
the country.

The saffron menace faced a 'Red Challenge" at the height of the "Oust
Saffron" campaign, with massive rallies flooding the streets of various
states from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh to Assam, Punjab, Bengal, UP and
Bihar. Bihar witnessed a virtual "Red October", with CPI (ML) rallies being
held in one district after another. At Lucknow, a colourful and militant
procession of 10,000 people marched on 12 October, giving voice to popular
resentment against the Kalyan Singh govt. for its communal, criminalised and
anti-people governance.

In 1999, it was the CPI (ML) alone, which unhesitatingly came out on the
streets, categorically condemning war and calling for peace. Courageously
and unconditionally, the CPI (ML) went to masses and mobilised them to call
for an end to the Kargil conflict. Students, youth and women were the voices
of peace and sanity, even as the BJP, as well as the parties claiming to
oppose it, competed to cash in on war hysteria. When youth seeking
recruitment in the army were gunned down at Darbhanga and Chapra, soon after
Kargil, AISA, RYA and the CPI (ML) channelised the spontaneous anger into
protests which exposed the hypocrisy of the ruling elite which used poor,
unemployed youth as cannon fodder for its war machine.

When Tehalka flipped the lid off the can of worms that was the defense
establishment and the 'super-patriotic' BJP, it was the CPI (ML) that
organised a militant 'Vajpayee Hatao' campaign in August 2001, with "Rasta
Roko/Rail Roko" agitations all over India.

Following the World Trade Centre (WTC) bombing, the BJP was desperate to woo
the US, ---- make Pakistan a target for its racist 'war on terror'. Even as
the ruling classes of India and Pak escalated the tensions between them, the
CPI (ML) joined by other Left groups, organised anti-war demonstrations all
over India. On June 13, they synchronised with the peace demonstrations at
Lahore organised by 4 Left parties of Pakistan. On both sides of the border,
people's voices could be heard over the din of war cries, shouting "Bread,
Not Bombs", "Withdraw Forces from the Borders", "No to War, Yes to Peace",
and " US Imperialism, get out of the Indian subcontinent"!

During the BJP rule of the last 5 years, US imperialists have been given
opportunities and encouragement to fish in the troubled waters of the
subcontinent. The NDA govt. rolled out the red carpet for Clinton in April
2000, for Powell in Jan 2002. The BJP and its NDA govt. acted as a willing
pawn of US imperialism, imposing the diktats of the IMF-WB-WTO on the Indian
people. Hindutva fascism found a mirror image in US-backed Zionist
expansionism, and the BJP govt. distorted Indian foreign policy, backing
Israel in its blatant aggression against Palestine. CPI (ML) rose to the
occasion every time, with a series of anti-imperialist protests.

When Clinton came to India, and Indian leaders vied to prostrate themselves
before him, thousands on the other side of the barricade greeted him with
red flags, telling the "World's Terrorist No. 1" to "Go Back". The day
Clinton set foot in Delhi, CPI (ML) burnt his effigy at the busy ITO
crossing. On the day Clinton addressed Parliament, CPI (ML) gave a call for
a nationwide protest. In Delhi the CPI (ML), led by its General Secretary
Dipankar Bhattacharya, and CPI (ML) Member of Parliament, Jayanta Rongpi,
who boycotted the session, marched to Parliament, broke police barricades
and courted arrest. At Hyderabad, Clinton was greeted on his arrival by a
massive rally by 9 Left parties including the CPI (ML). At Calcutta, when
CPI (ML) activists broke the barricades at the American Centre, they faced a
brutal lathi-charge by the West Bengal (WB) police.

The CPI (ML), anticipating the US war on Afghan people, launched anti-war
marches and protests all over India between 24-29 Sept. '01. The US air
strikes began on 7 October, and on 8 October, thousands of workers,
assembled for AICCTU's National Conference at Dhanbad, took out a massive
anti-war rally led by CPI (ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya.

On 9 November, the CPI (ML) and its peasant organisation, the AIKSS,
organised a historic rally at Delhi in protest against the Afghan war and
the Vajpayee govt.'s capitulation of the anti-people World Trade
Organisation (WTO) at Doha. In this largest anti-war, anti-WTO rally to be
held in India, the poorest and most downtrodden of this country unfurled the
red banner of revolutionary struggles and announced their intention to wage
a decisive war against "US imperialism, and their official agents in India,
from Doha to Kabul". Against the US-Israel colonial war against Palestine,
CPI (ML), AISA and RYA activists all over India demonstrated in solidarity
with Palestinians, telling "Terrorists Bush and Sharon" to keep their "Hands
Off Palestine".

Right from 1998, students and youth under the banner of AISA and RYA had
galvanised themselves to challenge the distortion of education by the BJP's
policies of saffronisation and privatisation. In August '98, more than
10,000 students and youth under the banner of AISA RYA took out a massive
march on the streets of Patna, followed by the 3rd National Conference of
AISA. Responding to the call by this Conference, all-India students strike
was observed on 21 September, with campuses all over India speaking out
against fee hikes, privatisation and saffronisation. Striking students in
Allahabad gheraoed the HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, shouting slogans
like "Reactionary Joshi, Destroyer of Secular Education, Go Back!".

On March 31, 2000, the RYA commemorated the Martyrdom Day of Comrade
Chandrasekhar by holding a militant march and a National youth convention
against the anti-national, bigoted, pro-imperialist policies of the BJP-led
NDA government. The convention called for a 'Parallel Parliament' by student
and youth that was organised by AISA and RYA in April 2000. At this
'Parallel Parliament', thousands of students and youth from all over India
participated, as well as historians and educationists. The 'Parliament'
debated a detailed charge sheet against the BJP-led govt., and launched a
nation-wide 'Daam Bandho, Kaam do' movement.

Even as the policies of globalisation assault India's agrarian economy,
pushing rural poor to starvation and driving farmers to suicide, militant
protests by peasantry under the revolutionary red banner have risen up in
resistance. A landmark has been the All India Kisan Conference organised by
the CPI (ML) at Faizabad. In the massive Kisan rally held on the occasion on
3 March '02, the All India Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (AIKSS) was launched. In
September '01, the AIKSS along with BKU (Ekta) held a massive
"Freedom-from-Debt" rally-cum-convention at Mansa, Punjab, from where the
call was issued for a massive rally against the WTO on 9 November at Delhi.

If peasants have been on the warpath, workers have not been far behind.
Whether it was Peenya factory workers in Bangalore or Dunlop workers in
Tamil Nadu against factory closures, job cuts and de-industrialisation, All
India Central Confederation of Trade Unions (AICCTU) has been at the
forefront of several militant struggles. In Delhi, when a Supreme Court
directive ordered the closure of small industries and eviction of workers,
spontaneous militant protests were followed by a massive CPI (ML) 'Pratirodh
Rally', where thousands marched raising the cry that 'Delhi is not the Jagir
of Jagmohans / It belongs to the Working People!'.

The CPI (ML) also took initiatives to forge new platforms of united struggle
against globalisation. One such landmark was the "People's Conference
Against Globalisation " held in Delhi from March 21-23, 2001. An entire
spectrum of activists and leaders, ranging from communist parties, trade
Unions to people's movements and intelligentsia, participated in this
Conference. Strategies and experiences of fighting globalization offensives
were shared and resolutions were made for broader, united mobilisations
against globalization. Prominent among the participants, apart from CPI (ML)
General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, were CPI (ML) Red Flag G. Secretary
KN Ramachandran, Medha Patkar, Justice VR Krishna Iyer, Vandana Shiva, and
SP Shukla. The Conference was inaugurated by Walden Bello, director of
'Focus on the Global South', who is one of the leading theorists of the
global anti-corporate movement.

During the last few years, UP and Jharkhandh were two of the states where
the BJP had tried to replicate its 'Gujarat Experiments'.  But, due to a
great extent to the militant mobilisations of the CPI (ML), the rural poor
and tribals rejected the path of communal bigotry, and opted for radical
struggles in the face of fierce state repression. In October 2000, the AISA,
RYA and CPI (ML) gheraoed the UP Assembly, protesting against the police-
mafia raj of the Rajnath government, fee hikes, and the saffron branding of
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) as an 'ISI den'. In November '01, CPI (ML)
won a landmark battle in eastern UP against a dress reversal of the POTO
regime. CPI (ML) activists and leaders of Mirzapur district, who had been
the lone voices of protest against police murders of peasants in fake
encounters in the same region, were illegally arrested and subjected to
brutal torture. CPI (ML) leaders including the State Secretary Comrade
Akhilendra were arrested as well, sparking off a series of militant
protests, due to which all the arrested comrades were released
unconditionally. The CPI (ML) rally at Mirzapur on 5 December which boldly
raised slogans saluting the revolutionary and legacy of Naxalbari, was a
fitting rebuff to the Rajnath Govt's repeated attempts to brand CPI (ML) and
AISA as "fronts" for "terrorist groups".

In the newly formed state of Jharkhand, the CPI (ML) took the lead in
voicing the sense of betrayal and disillusionment felt by tribals and
workers. The CPI (ML) stormed the first budget session of the Jharkhand
Assembly on 27 Feb '01, protesting against state terror, and the anti-people
Koel Karo project, which was displacing hundreds of tribals. The CPI (ML),
collided head-on with saffron state repression, with the brutal lathi-charge
on the huge rally and the arrest of the Party General Secretary, Dipankar
Bhattacharya. A series of militant protests followed in which the leader of
the NBA, Medha Patkar, and noted anti-globalisation campaigners like
Prabhash Joshi, participated. In the face of the swelling protests, Comrade
Dipankar was released, and the CPI (ML) organised a 'Save Democracy' rally
at Ranchi on 14 March. More than 10,000 demonstrators flooded the streets of
Ranchi, violating the Section 144 imposed by the Marandi Govt.

The Marandi Govt's attempts to impose police raj once again reared its ugly
head in March 2002. Jharkhand witnessed a spate of massive rallies in this
month: a 10,000 strong Samajik Parivartan Rally at Jamua, a 7,000 strong
Bhrastachar-Virodhi Rally at Deori, a 5,000 strong rally at Saria, and a
7,000 strong Chunauti Rally at Birni, among others. In retaliation,
Marandi's police cracked down on CPI (ML) leaders, arresting CPI (ML) MLA
Mahendra Singh on 2 April'02. A massive Giridih Bandh on 4 April, and
statewide protests followed, including a militant blockade of coal movement
in coalfields all over Jharkhand until the CPI (ML) leader was released.

In other states too, state repression and anti-people policies faced stiff
resistance by the CPI (ML). The CPI (ML) has led a protracted struggle of
the fisher folks for defending Chilika Lake of Orissa, against the
prawn-mafia. The CPI (ML) gheraoed Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh, and
along with other left parties demanded redressal of farmers' suicides due to
globalisation policies.

Students in Uttaranchal have spearheaded massive protests, expressing anger
at the betrayal of people's aspiration by the successive governments. In
Assam, the CPI (ML) has been at the forefront of mass mobilisation against
state repression and for autonomy for the hill people. In Bengal, a spirited
demand for justice for the martyrs of Naxalbari, and to protest against the
continuing crackdown on activists, dissidents and revolutionaries by the CPI
(M)- led LF govt., was led by CPI (ML).

Women under the banner of AIPWA have challenged the reactionary, patriarchal
BJP govt. head on repressive, anti-people state governments have faced the
ire of the women's movement. In March '01, following the Tehalka
revelations, a huge women's rally marched on the streets of Patna, against
the fascist RSS, and anti-national BJP govt. In June'02, AIPWA took a team
to genocide-ravaged Gujarat to assess the Govt's claim of 'normalcy' in the
state.

>From massive protests against the Bathe massacre and Mianpur Massacre by the
Ranvir Sena, to various mass rallies and bandhs on the issues of
development, democracy, rights and dignity, CPI (ML) in Bihar has lived up
to its role of consistent revolutionary voice of the rural poor in Bihar. A
massive rally at Patna in December 1999 gave the call to "Badlo
Bihar"(Transform Bihar). In July 2000, CPI (ML) activists stormed the Bihar
Assembly in a historic protest against the massacres of landless poor and
dalits by the state-patronised, RSS-backed Ranvir Sena. In August 2000,
following the formal bifurcation of Bihar, the CPI (ML) led a massive march
to Parliament demanding a special central package for Bihar's development
The CPI (ML)'s intensive campaigns also sensitised people about the need for
radical, militant movements to smash the forces determined to perpetuate
Bihar's economic and social backwardness. Significant among these campaigns
was the series of protests in the Mithilanchal region on the question of a
lasting solution to ravages by floods.

The BJP govt., in the name of fighting terrorism, introduced draconian black
law, especially POTA, to crush popular movements. Ever since POTO was
introduced, the CPI (ML) has defied and challenged it, at the grassroots as
well as through protests, against bans on Left groups.

In the past year, the BJP-RSS has once again been whipping up tensions over
and in the wake of its Ayodhya campaign, has perpetrated the Gujarat
carnage- the worst genocide in India's recent history. A day before the
VHP's  'Shila Pujan' charade at Ayodhya on 15 March, the CPI (ML) launched a
massive rally at Patna with the slogan of "Save democracy from Communal
Fascism". Nearly 1,00,000 people participated in the massive rally against
the Gujarat carnage and the Ayodhya hate Campaign.

On 10 May, AISA, RYA, AIPWA and Jan Sanskriti Manch organised a 'Shaheed
Mela' at Faizabad-Ayodhya, in memory of the martyrs of the 1857 First War of
Independence. The Mela was banned by the local administration, with the
Mayawati govt. succumbing to pressure by the RSS. But thousands of students,
youth and women vowed to challenge the saffron monopoly over Ayodhya and to
reassert Ayodhya legacy united Hindu-Muslim struggle against imperialism in
1857. In the crackdown that followed, nearly a thousand were incarcerated
for a week in jails of Mau, Faizabad and Sultanpur. But the popular response
to the Mela was enormous, and the Ayodhya convention was held in defiance of
the ban, demanding a strict separation of religion and politics, ban on VHP
and other Sangh outfits and an amicable, secular solution to the Ayodhya
dispute. No temple or mosque should be a symbol of nationalism in a secular
country and the convention also gave expression to the popular demand for a
'martyrs memorial' for the 1857 martyrs at Ayodhya, which was a truly
fitting tribute to the nationalist legacy of Avadh,

On 26 June, the CPI (ML) took the initiative of organising a national
convention against 'Communal Fascism and Imperialist Intervention', in which
a range of left parties and activists of people's movements participated.
This convention gave a call for a nationwide "Saffron brigade, Quit India"
protest on 9 August  '02, the anniversary of the Quit India Movement. All
over the country, CPI (ML) activists filled jails in thousands, vowing to
intensify the struggle to free India from saffron rule.

On 28 September 2002, the CPI (ML) held a nationwide "Anti-communal Fascism,
Anti-Terrorism" protest. The most significant of these was the massive
Ahmedabad March, in which a range of Left parties and democratic figures
participated, challenging the Modi govt.'s attempts to cash in on the
genocide as a run up to elections.

In Delhi, AISA and RYA commemorated 28 September as Bhagat Singh's birth
anniversary. Students and youth from all over India marched to Ferozshah
Kotla Grounds, where Bhagat Singh and his comrades had founded their
revolutionary party. There, a 'Sankalp Sabha' was held, where students and
youth pledged to carry forward Bhagat Singh's legacy of revolutionary
socialism, and struggle against imperialism and communal fascism. His
nephew, Prof. Jagmohan, released a book on Bhagat Singh's ideas and
struggles and the participants declared that if Bhagat Singh had sacrificed
his life to throw out the 'white sahibs', they would fulfill his dream of
overthrowing the anti-people 'brown sahibs'!

---Please see Part - 2
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