[mukto-mona] Participation in election must be made conducive to sustained mass movements-- SUCI

 

 

Ensuing Lok Sabha poll

Appeal of SUCI Central Committee to the electorate

The country is faced with another bout of general election to Parliament for constitution of the 15th Lok Sabha, polls for which are slated to be held throughout the country, between 16 April to 13 May next. Simultaneously, elections to State Assemblies will be held in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim.

The country goes to polls in a situation of adverse and explosive economic, political, social and cultural environment. So dark and long is the shadow of tense concern cast, so menacingly it looms, this overriding situation presents the spectre of a life for people that is all in a shambles — dismal, wretched, stunned at the impasse. All hopes of economic and political security in their lives drained off to the dregs, the masses of people find themselves without the minimal means to provide for themselves and destitute in every way. Unable to trace the actual roots of all these problems, people of this country are truly without a guiding beacon. Today so confounded are all sections of them, irrespective of their nationalities, their religious faiths, languages, castes, or regions where they live, that incidents flare up here and there when one section is attacking another, one killing the other, much to the glee of the real culprits of this ghastly state of affair — the capitalist rulers. The problem of unemployment is aggravating all over the country.

Backdrop of coming election: unbearable economic situation

The process of industrialization that began in the wake of independence, in whatever measure, got bogged down in the mire of market crisis in a space of a few years only. The setting up of new industries gradually came to a grinding halt. Not only that. Even the industries established erstwhile began closing down. Else, these industrial units took to wide-scale retrenching and laying off of workers. All this was the inevitable result of the market crisis. In the aftermath, the labour-intensive mode of production came gradually to be replaced by the capital-intensive mode in the production process. Inevitably further retrenchment of workers took on a menacing dimension — job opportunity was further squeezed. Invariably, this increasing squeeze-in of job opportunity, instead of opening up of large-scale job opportunities and setting up of more and more industries keeping pace with the growing population, consequently made earning a living as difficult as to be beyond every means. The sequel to this slide into abyss could not remain confined only to those living in urban areas; it hit the lives of rural people who live on agriculture. As in the context of population growth, to eke out a living depending upon agriculture became ever more difficult and consequently necessity for getting employment in factories and industrial units increased manifold, it was found that because of the deeply entrenched recession, to eke out a living by agriculture based rural people became even much more difficult, and the living standard declined fast. Price spiral of essential commodities made life even more difficult to bear with. As the ranks of landless peasants and agricultural labourers swelled ever faster, many of them transformed into rural workers. In the decades since the independence, 80 per cent of the Indian people, living in abject poverty have become impoverished even further in this course. Let alone there be any amelioration of this terrible condition, the situation has become more menacing with the passage of time. Such is the stranglehold of the situation today, its grip clamped all over the country, that this destitute peasantry, who have been forced out of all means of earning a living in the encumbering state of rural economy, who are unable to anyhow catch at a straw for survival, are joining in thousands every day the long line of tragic exit from village home and hearth towards towns, driven by life's urge and in the hope of securing any jobs in industries. But hopes belie as they do not get the much-wanted jobs. So, in order to eke out a living in the towns, they take to driving rickshaws and vans, pulling handcarts, or toiling as daily wage earners in whatever way. They struggle for bare existence, anyhow. Many of them find themselves unable to carry on in this hard way for long. So, inevitably at last, they have to pass days in starvation, and inevitably too most of them fall prey to severe ailments, and, uncared for, untreated, premature in years, they succumb to death, they die on the streets like cats and dogs. Some others, still struggling in their village homes to survive on agriculture, confront yet another situation that is hard in the extreme to bear with. It is needless to speak about the wretched disarray in education, in healthcare, in road conditions, or in electricity supply in the villages. The problem that brings the maximum of distress to the peasants, besides all these, is that they cannot sell their produce at fair prices. Their rhetoric notwithstanding, no government, whether at the Centre or the states, run by any of the parliamentary parties, are taking any effective measures to ensure fair price for agricultural produce, in the way governments in other countries are taking. Let alone middle and marginal peasants be provided with fertilizers, seeds, electricity and irrigation waters at cheap rates, the costs of these articles are soaring up by the day. On the other hand, under the stranglehold of middlemen, actual producers receive only a minor fraction of the sale prices of their produce in the market. Further to note, compared to the rate at which prices of essential commodities are rising skyhigh, sale prices offered to the peasants for their produce fall so short that a fatal gap comes to separate the two. Circumscribed in this situation, peasants find themselves forced to take loans from money lenders at prohibitive rates of interest, the burden of debt fatally going on the increase. The general ranks of the peasantry cannot repay their loans from any possible increased incomes from agricultural produce. Many of them are forced to pawn their lands, or else forced to sell out lands at throwaway prices. In the end, when they find no other means to repay, many take recourse to ending their lives by suicide. Already in many states, suicide by debt-laden peasants in thousands has taken on an alarming dimension. Yet, even this explosive condition leaves all the governments in the country unmoved. Their conduct bespeaks their attitude: 'Nothing so serious about it, such things are quite natural.' Distress penetrates so deep in peasants' lives that they prefer in many cases to leave their lands uncultivated. These are the reasons as to why destitute peasants, evicted from home and hearth, are thronging townships in increasing numbers; the numbers of destitute pavement-dwellers are increasing in every city in the country. So widespread and intense are the pangs of want that big businessmen and self-seeker parasites, corrupt to the bone, are out to exploit the situation to their heinous end; they are using a very large section of the helpless youth today not just for theft, robbery, snatching and wagon breaking, etc., they also use them for far more heinous crimes, far more unethical activities.

The unbridled spiral of prices of all articles of use including commodities of daily consumption are affecting the whole multitude of people of the country, hitting 90-95 per cent of them who are workers, peasants, toiling masses living in towns and villages, reducing them to destitution every day, every moment. This skyhigh price rise of commodities result from the price-fixation policy in the interest of the handful of capitalists to make maximum of profit, and alongside from the inflation caused by unrestricted supply of banknotes, continuous enhancement of taxes, speculative price manipulation, blackmarketing, hoarding, and so forth, under government patronage. Precisely it is this what is causing steep and fast decline of the purchasing power of all sections of common people. In a word, this unbridled spiral of prices is grinding down all sections of people.

So-called globalization on the plea of development not just aggravates plight of people, it bleeds them white

In this unspeakable misery in people's life, the other ghastly onslaught, yet more savage and deadlier, by monopoly capitalists and imperialists together is being mounted under the 'enchanting' banner of globalization. Just like the unsparing onslaught which had been mounted on the poor masses in the interest of the capitalist class with the slogan of garibi hatao or 'banish poverty', under the dispensation of Indira Gandhi in the 70's of the past century, this time raising the slogan of 'development and more development', the lives of workers, peasants, employees, toiling masses who are 85-90 per cent of the population are being subverted, dispossessing them of the poor means of survival they may be left with still. Foreign monopoly capital is making deep inroads into the market, almost in tidal gushes. They are buying raw materials of the country at cheap rates, plundering natural resources. They are producing commodities by employing the minimum number of workers, paying minimal possible wages and selling the products within the country and abroad to loot the maximum of profits. Thus are they contriving to realize their object, alluring the country's capitalists and the capitalist rulers with the lucrative baits of selling their products in foreign markets. In the face of this onslaught, small-middle-big industries all over the country are plunged in an intense crisis of the market, industrial units in thousands are closing down fast, workers and employees in millions are losing jobs and going to ruins, the system of permanent employment is getting abolished. In its place, the system of employing workers on contractual basis is being introduced not only in industries but in offices, schools, colleges, hospitals — in every establishment in fact. Workers are being employed on unbelievably paltry wages, while they are made to work for even 14-15 hours a day. Hardly any scope remains to build up workers' movements to resist this naked assault and realize their just demands. Through various means the workers' right to movement is being robbed off. More than that, the mental make-up to protest is being destroyed. The fleecing and exploitation of workers has thus become still more unbearable, more savage. The state-owned industrial establishments, which were set up with people's money, are either being handed over to private national or foreign capitalists at throwaway prices, or, through backdoor arrangement, their production process transferred to private capitalists with a signboard of government undertaking put up on the outside. As a result, large-scale retrenchment is taking place in these establishments while private capitalists are looting super profits. Unsparingly, on the other hand, the monstrous stranglehold of this capitalist globalization has come down on the rural life. Cultivable lands are being forcibly acquired under the false captivating slogan of setting up of industries. And, this way, thousands of hectares of land are being snatched away from peasants throughout the country for setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZ), and, in the name of industrialization, they are being handed over to monopoly capitalists from this country and from abroad. Exceptional favour, privileges and exemptions are being doled out to them at a loss to the public exchequer in the name of industrial development. The terms and conditions granted leave no room for building up workers' movements. No industries that create job opportunities are, in fact, coming up in these zones. The capitalists are reaping super-profits by building houses, apartments, markets etc., on these lands. But this crafty handiwork is no exclusive performance of the rightist parties alone, parties putting up the label of Marxism betray no less craft to carry out this business in the interest of Indian and foreign capitalists. What is noticeable alongside is that at this phase of globalization the urge of big capitalists to invest capital in lands grabbed by them, seizing upon the growing wants and poverty of poor and marginal peasants and to set up farm industry to reap profits has grown manifold. In spite of the fact that mechanization of agriculture would be conducive to the aggregate interest of the ruling capitalist class, the Indian capitalists so far refrained from taking this recourse on consideration that those who would as a result be rendered unemployed in the agricultural economy could not be provided jobs in industries, which in turn would accelerate the danger of social revolution. But now, faced with the new contradiction in the situation arising out of globalization, their aggregate interest is taking a turn. In many of the states, the Land Ceiling Act has been withdrawn. In other states too it is going to be the same. This is giving the monopoly capitalists the cherished opportunity to set up farm industry. In sequel to this, the threat of peasants losing their lands in multiplying numbers is becoming more acute. Whatever little was left to them, even after gradually losing security of livelihood, is now going to be lost — the peasants already in despair now face total disaster. Equally noticeable is the trend that the governments are now utilizing this opportunity to wash their hands off all the welfare measures which they had been taking for people in towns and villages so long under pressure of popular demands and movements. This is how, in the name of globalization, they are stomping over the whole of the country, and the common masses are groaning in a life that is unbearable.

A partner of all-out crisis-ridden world capitalism, Indian capitalism has attained imperialist character itself

As inevitable consequence of its own governing law, worldwide capitalist-imperialist economy is immersed in a deep crisis. Plagued by its unrelenting market crisis, capitalist economy is in the throes of a grave recession. Spokesmen of capitalist economy admit, in terms of spread and penetration, the present crisis by far outweighs the crisis of 1930-34. So deep is its impact that the leading force of the imperialist-capitalist world, the US, is gasping like in a dying state. The ballooned economy of artificially created market demand, providing house loans galore, and unrestricted speculation on packaged debts or securitized debt instruments in the share market, has burst. This sub-prime crisis of today, an outgrowth on the already crisis-ridden economy there; is rocking the entire base of economy. Palliatives in plenty, even a call for taking interest-free loans are failing to work. Ordinary citizens of the US who have lost jobs and means of income, are suffering from a trauma of insecurity. Evicted from homes, they have been taking taken shelter under trees and in open lands. In Britain, France, Germany and Japan, in all the major imperialist countries, the economy is in the deadly grip of this crisis, which has brought public life everywhere face to face with the looming danger of disaster. All the malaise of the world capitalist system, steeped in extreme crises, rocked by daily and hourly crises, and their fallout are vividly manifesting themselves in this way in the Indian capitalist economy, and every day it is getting exposed. Creation of increasing job opportunities through augmentation of production, a characteristic feature of capitalism in its days of rise and development, has become a myth today. No sign of economic development exists in the Indian economy of today. Behind an inflated and blown-up façade of false propaganda hides a capitalist economy enmeshed in an extreme economic recession. Long back the great Marxist thinker Comrade Shibdas Ghosh showed that Indian capitalism, after having given birth to monopoly capital has reached the stage of finance capital through merger of banking capital and industrial capital, that it has acquired imperialist character and is exporting capital abroad. Not only to developing countries, it is exporting capital to developed countries also. With the passage of time, the market for capital investment is ever shrinking owing to this recession-entangled Indian economy.

On the other side, the monopoly capitalists are more inclined to export capital to foreign markets. No question, this crisis-ridden economy of the country is enmeshed in full in defalcation, forgery and speculative manipulation. Every day, one or another shocking financial scam is getting exposed. It is the people, the masses, who have to pay for all this. In India too, as in every other capitalist-imperialist country, increased productivity based on increased incomes of people, which is called 'demand-driven economy', is conspicuous by its absence because of the drastic fall in purchasing power of the people. In its place, we witness now that in a desperate bid to cope up with this situation, a craze for buying or 'consumerism' is being fanned up among the people through aggressive publicity, and side by side, there is the bid to prop up a 'credit-driven economy' by dishing out loans on a wide scale. But this attempt is also proving to be futile, for which the capitalist economists themselves are forced to admit that it is a 'bubble economy'. It is in this situation of the capitalist economy of India that the few rich people are getting richer while, in stark contrast, the poor are getting poorer. Even the statistics furnished by the government cannot deny this reality.

Backdrop of coming election : explosive political situation

Along with this terrible economic situation, the political situation too has become unbearable. Such is the situation since after independence that common people representing 85-90 % of the population are rendered so helpless that despite their unspeakable unbearable economic condition are left with no political power worth the name to confront the increasing economic onslaught and thereby get their grievances redressed. Wherever the masses have risen in protest when the onslaught of exploitation and repression crossed every limit of endurance and suffering, the subserving governments of the ruling capitalist class have let loose extreme repression on them. As the exploitation intensified, people's will to resist, their firmness have grown. At times their accumulated grievances burst out powerfully. And all these governments have reacted with savage repression and torture mounted to crush these with indiscriminate use of lathis and bullets. And they are at it as before. Not just the police or CRP battalions, the military too at times have been deployed to crush democratic mass movements, and state terrorism has taken monstrous proportions. Draconian laws are being enacted, one after another, to rob the people of their fundamental rights. In effect today, people are practically left with no democratic rights.

Elction at all levels today has come down to nothing but worst farce

From the very beginning, elections in this country have been a farce, a smokescreen. In Lenin's words, polls are held to elect who, or which group or groups, will gain agency to exploit people in favour of the ruling capitalist class. From the word go, polls have been used as a contrivance to hide the rule of the capitalists. Today, at this stage of decadent capitalism, the electoral process at all levels having been sapped of even the remnants of democratic elements in the wake of centralization of all political power in the hands of the handful of monopoly capitalists, the whole of the poll process has been reduced to a gameplan driven by the power of black-money of these monopoly capitalists. They are vitiating people's mind with a design, pandering to divisive sentiments round religion, caste, language, nationality, regionalism, and so forth, and, there upon, inciting one section against another section of people, only to render it impossible for the electorates themselves to make choice of the parties and candidates taking the aggregate interest of society as a criterion and exercise their right to vote. On the other hand, they are seizing upon the absence of adequate political consciousness of the electorate masses and their abysmal poverty to silence people's conscience spending money lavishly. To channelize the election results in favour of chosen parties and candidates, they are deploying at will the capitalist-controlled newspapers and other print media, television and radio. At the same time, the capitalists and their servitor parties are setting up gangs of hired criminals all over the country. These criminal gangs are being deployed to intimidate and terrorize the poverty-stricken voters to cast their vote as dictated by them, and, moreover, these gangs are used to capture polling booths. These musclemen are used to seize the ballot papers and freely stamp them to ensure victory of the candidates of their choice. They are forcing government employees to act in a partisan manner. In the petty interest of election politics, they are stirring up communal and caste hatred. At every stage, starting from the preparation of voters' lists to counting of the votes, cast or manipulated, the monopoly capitalists and their agent parties are using the administrative power and utilizing the police, para-military forces and gangs of criminals to manipulate poll results. If need be, they go to the extent of tampering with the voting machines to facilitate manipulation and yield the poll results that they want. This situation makes it all the more clear that in the ultimate analysis no ground remains for the claim of the much-vaunted 'free, fair election and universal franchise'. Today, the election verdicts are no longer reflection of people's real interest, will, choice or preference. These circumstances have created wide opportunities for notorious criminals who are without a shred of principle, void of ideology, depraved individuals to easily become members of the Assembly and Parliament and be ministers or deputy ministers. In this way bourgeois politics throughout the country and bourgeois parties have become havens of criminals. Criminalization of politics is a stark reality today, none can deny it.

People must rid themselves of parliamentary infatuation

At the other side of the political scenario of the country what is being found is that whichever government took charge through this so-called electoral process since after independence, of whatever party or whatever alliances, from the seat of power they just carried out the daily dictates of the capitalists. Whichever the government formed through this 'great democratic process' of elections, they have been burdening people with one after another of exploitative fiscal measures solely in the interest of the capitalists. On this or that pretext, one by one they have stripped the people of their democratic rights in order to suppress people's discontent. With batons and bullets they have silenced organized movements of people. Just to this end, they have passed Acts at will in the Parliament and the State Assemblies. And they are not stopping there. Very well do they keep track of the pent-up grievances and discontent of the working masses. Constantly they are hatching plans and schemes so that these grievances and discontent cannot anyway get channeled into organized movements and revolutionary movements. To ensure, on the one hand, that the ever-growing discontent of the overwhelming majority of people cannot create a decisive impact on this electoral process, to ensure that the chance of those parties which are the ever vigilant guards to protect the interests of the oppressed masses, those parties which are by no means ready to surrender to the capitalists — that their chance to enter the parliamentary forum almost becomes nil, and even to debar them from participating in the polls and also to ensure, on the other hand, that only the most favoured and trusted agents of the capitalist rulers find room in the Parliament and Assemblies without any trouble, favourable electoral laws and bye-laws are being enacted and erstwhile laws are being amended, as need be.

So, it is clear as daylight that in this drummed-up electoral process, whoever may in this way secure the stamp of 'elected' they do not represent in any way the genuine aspiration, desires and wishes of the masses of people of the country. This electoral process in its entirety is nothing other than a heinous game of 'fixation' organized under the aegis of the black money, which the capitalists sucked out from the masses.

At the instigation of capitalist class all kinds of separatism-divisive traits are fast on the rise throughout the country

The other aspect of grave concern of the country's political situation is the rupture in the amity and unity of the people, which is manifest in India today with disastrous consequences in this land of multi-lingual, multi-religious, multi-ethnic people. It is true that because the freedom struggle of India had been waged under compromising bourgeois leadership, it could not develop into a truly secular national movement free from divides of caste, religion or nationality feeling. As a consequence of the domination of mainly high-caste Hindus in the Congress leadership many among the Muslim population, even Hindus of Dalit community, could not freely join the freedom struggle in vast numbers. Clearly, taking advantage of this the British imperialist rulers, the reactionaries, the vested interest, engineered the partition of the country. It is also clear at the same time that to whatever extent the national unity and fraternity had developed, notwithstanding this weakness in the relative sense in the anti-imperialist struggle — even this is now being systematically destroyed. It is being increasingly felt that divisive mentality, separatist thinking, communalism, extremely narrow ethnic feelings and thinking, parochial mentality have spread over the whole of India. The dangerous growth of divisive mentality and separatist thinking no doubt makes the task of developing powerful struggles in different areas against the exploitative rule, oppression and injustice perpetrated by the capitalist class harder than before, more difficult to accomplish. Correct analysis clearly reveals that under patronage of the capitalist class all the parties who are the trusted defenders of capitalist interests are craftily working to crush people's bid in the budding stage itself to unite in their anti-capitalist struggle, raising whatever slogan they deem fit at whichever places, instigating one section of people against another, one group against another — the bloody fratricidal conflict and clashes endangering the entity and survival of a united India.

There is another aspect of this grave political situation. While under the patronage of the exploitative capitalist class, divisive mentality, splitist thinking, separatist thinking and parochial tendency centring round ethnic identity, religion, language and caste are assuming greater dimension, it is also being observed that as their inevitable consequence the extremely harmful phenomenon of formation of political parties completely devoid of any ideology, simply based on religious, linguistic, caste divides, which stood totally condemned in the period of freedom movement, and they are today raising their ugly heads. Caste and religion-based parties have mushroomed all around the country. These are liberally funded by the capitalists of the country. Newspapers, magazines, television, radio, the whole media under the capitalist control are projecting these parties, and, in inevitable sequel, this utterly anti-people act of destroying the people's unity —a condemnable mischief — is gaining a kind of legitimacy. In this way, not only a new grave danger appears before the united struggle of all exploited and working masses irrespective of caste-religion-language-regionality, the concept of 'one India, one nation' is threatened to be wiped out. Under the secure patronage of the capitalist rulers, these enemies of people are setting up a Hindu communal party in the name of protecting the interest of the Hindus; or a party under the signboard of Muslim League — the same one used by the party whose political stand contributed in a large way to the partition of the country – has been propped up again by enemies of the people who are now stomping across the country. Behind all this, what is at work is the interest of the capitalist class and their conspiracy.

Communalism has assumed a menacing shape all over the country

One more aspect of grave concern in the political situation of the country is that the divisive trend between the two major sections of population, Hindus and Muslims, has reached an explosive stage today. Not that only the divisive trend between the two communities is growing alarmingly, or that the mutually hostile and inimical mentality between them is aggravating, communal parties and organizations are orchestrating ghastly carnages. In most of the instances, the poverty-stricken masses of the minority Muslim community are at the receiving end of such heinous and cruel communal attacks, they are the helpless victims of slaughter. The BJP and other outfits of Sangh Parivar are spitting communal venom, unchecked, overtly and daily all through the country. The BJP is a branded communal party, but the Congress too, with its so-called secular posture, is inciting communal hatred overtly and covertly, it is instigating communal riots. The communal bloodsheds of Rourkela, Jamshedpur and Bhagalpur in the past, and the organized communal slaughter of Sikhs in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination are clear pointers to this. How could one forget that worship of Rama was started in the Babri Masjid by this very Congress? To make the Rama issue a handle at the hustings, the BJP engaged in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Palpably noticeable side by side is the stark fact that not one of the political parties owing allegiance to the bourgeoisie has done anything effective to counter the aggressive communal machinations of the Sangh Parivar, other than some rhetoric and a feeble show of protest. And it is this situation which has made possible to freely conduct hate campaign against the minority and mount raids of onslaught on them with even greater vengeance. The feature to note here, is that, let alone prevent these criminal perpetrations, the government, of whichever party it is, and the state machinery in tandem is allowing unhindered recurrence of these crimes to happen. The idea of administrative neutrality is fast losing ground, in its place prejudiced administrative practice is getting institutionalized. To get saddled in the seat of power and from the greed to anyhow stick to the seat, social democratic parties like the CPI(M) and CPI have taken to pandering to the capitalist class and have to this end abandoned the road of democratic mass movements of all kinds. It is for this, it goes without saying that united movement of the toiling people under inspiration of genuine left and democratic ideals is languishing in a state of extreme weakness. This at the same time has handed down to the rabidly communal parties the opportunity to rave about recklessly. It is no exaggeration to underscore that, as a result, millions of minority people are passing sleepless nights. The fright of losing everything at any moment has gripped them. Further, this is also interposing a block on the road to building movements of the exploited masses for survival, and through these to realize some of their demands. Evidently, on the other hand, this has a role to aid in further consolidation of the capitalist economic-political base in India. For this reason the capitalist class is doling out any sums of money to these vile communal parties, and assisting them grow stronger with its propaganda machinery. In sequel to the criminal perpetrations of these communal parties with the banner of Hinduism, who at the same time are standard bearers of capitalism, the fundamentalist and communal forces are again raising their ugly head among the minority community people. These vile forces are casting their evil influence on the helpless ranks of the minority community. It is not just that these activities born of communal bent cannot bring any shreds of relief to the life of the oppressed minority community; it is aiding the RSS-BJP outfit to become aggressive and desperate in their nefarious acts. Clearly, thus, their communal outlook and activities instead of bringing any relief further endanger the security of lives of the minority people, proving thereby that counter communalism can never be the antidote to communalism. Equally true, the communal resurgence of the RSS-BJP outfit is not just posing grave danger to the lives of the minority people; it is striking at the roots of the effort to build united broad-based movements of the exploited working masses as also to build working class struggles. The battle cry of all these forces is against the ideology of Marxism and communism. They are out to overwhelm the minds of the exploited people with communal feelings. They are creating not only severe hindrance towards their coming into contact with this noble ideology but, more than that, poisoning people's minds against this ideology.

United movement of all sections of people and its higher spiritual content, only can thwart communalism

It is known to all that during the independence movement communal outfits like the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS could create practically no impact on the people despite all their bid for it. Freedom-loving people hatefully rejected them in those days. In the aftermath of independence, however, when the selfsame forces tried to raise their ugly heads under patronage of the ruling capitalist class, the Congress then saddled at the Centre and the states, who garnered votes of the minority people on lavish promises of ensuring security to these people, took no effectively hard measures against the aims, plannings and abettings of the rabid communal forces. These heinous communal perpetrations were not opposed or resisted by any means. On the contrary, covert as also overt support and assistance were given to these reprehensible activities. And it is in this environment that the strength of the RSS-JanSangh-BJP rose rapidly. Needless to say, it is in this course that the Hindu-Muslim communalism has come to assume today a dangerous dimension throughout the whole of the country.

Clearly, to resist these detestable communal forces, working people from every part of the country, irrespective of caste-religion-language-nationality, need to be rallied under the banner of united movements with the object of realizing burning demands related to life and livelihood, and these movements are to be conducted basing upon true leftism and leftist ideas and on the edifice of higher ethics and morality. A torrent of united movement has to be released among all sections of people against the enemy of all people — the ruling capitalist class. The flame of inspiration for fulfillment of their yearning to be freed of shackles of the grinding capitalist rule and exploitation has to be kindled deep in the hearts of exploited people of all communities, and in this way a new sense of unity has to be created in them. In this way too they have to be freed from the tentacles of communal sentiments and ideas. Thus, by building up a contrary, higher and nobler ideological movement, creating a new spiritual atmosphere, the rockbottom foundation of communalism has to be uprooted. It is a matter of deep regret that the social democratic parties — the CPI(M), CPI, and the like — in their burning craze for winning elections by hook or by crook and be in the saddle of power, veritably stands as obstacles on the way to building these movements. Similarly, their shameless cozying up to the Congress stands as a formidable obstruction to building resistance against communalism in the right course. It is evident, some difference in the mode of operation notwithstanding, both Congress and BJP are perpetrating the same division of Hindu-Muslim people — this in the sole interest of the capitalist class. That the role the Congress played simply conduced to fortification and rise of the RSS-BJP outfit is a fact of history. Yet, the CPI(M)-CPI by covering up wholesale this role of the Congress, and by labeling the Congress 'secular', has come into alliance with it at the battle for votes. Hoodwinking people and building this alliance with the Congress they have sought to fulfill their greed for power. And to hide this nefarious bid, they raised the slogan: 'The Congress is a secular party. If the secular parties rally together and are able to defeat the BJP at the polls and form government, then the danger of communalism will end.' But the truth is otherwise. Roots of communal ideas and sentiments cannot be eradicated in this way, as each and every turn of event goes to prove this. Even as the BJP loses at one of the elections, it wins at another. Not only does the danger of communalism persist, it is growing all the more. Clear as daylight, the task to build united democratic mass movements to resist and fight back communalism, which is a historically imperative necessity today, faces a most difficult obstruction as a result of the hypocrisy of these parties.

CPI(M) politics today revolves round appeasing capitalist class and rising to power and clinging to it

It should be pointed out, this dangerous role of the CPI(M) cannot be examined in isolation from this party's base political line. From their craze to occupy the corridors of power, they have taken to the course of appeasing the capitalist class and to realize this objective they have not only thrown away the banner of mass movement, they are fostering among the masses throughout the country an apathetic attitude and mental make-up towards movements. The free association and hobnobbing of the CPI(M) with the capitalist class and its most trusted agent, the Congress, and other such parties are as clear as daylight. 'Capitalism is inevitable' – this is no longer an implied assessment, now it is the express language of theirs. On the other hand, the love of the capitalists for the CPI(M) is no longer a secret. Taking care of CPI(M)-CPI with money and media support, the capitalist class is protecting them as the apple of its eye. The capitalists lavishly shower praise on them, and they too in turn are full-throated in expressing appreciation. In the states where these parties are in power, in full trustworthiness they are implementing the programmes of globalization and privatization which serve the interests of the monopoly capitalists. Advancing this process of privatization in the interests of the monopoly capitalists, the way they are withdrawing economic benefits and welfare measures for people, won long back through hard struggles, in the fields of industry, agriculture, education, healthcare, in a word in all public services rendered by the government, they have, in fact, overtaken even bourgeois governments in such activities.

They are forcibly seizing fertile agricultural lands, indiscriminately setting up SEZ projects; and to forcibly grab agricultural lands in the interest of the capitalists they are suppressing in a barbaric manner with batons, boots, bullets, and rape of women the movements being developed to secure the poor and middle peasants' existence. Well-meaning people all over the world have been thunderstruck at the savage display of their conduct in Nandigram and Singur in West Bengal. People of this country witnessed the fascistic method the CPI(M) employed to repress mass movements in Nandigram and Singur. They shuddered in hatred at the heinous crimes committed by the CPI(M) and its associates who call themselves leftist. It is not that they are capitulating only to the capitalists of the country, these parties, all who once thundered against infiltration of foreign capital, are openly rolling out red-carpet of welcome to monopoly capitalists of many imperialist countries, including the US, for investment of capital, and are offering them all conceivable and inconceivable facilities and privileges. They are eager to give the capitalists access for business not only in the wholesale market but in the retail segment of the market as well. Thus, they have endeared themselves not to US imperialism alone but to all imperialist powers in fact. Treading this course to subserve the imperialist-capitalist interests, they are fast losing people's support in the states where they run the government, have become isolated from people, and in the circumstances have turned rabidly corrupt, giving up all ethics and principles only to stick to power anyhow. The entire government administration has been usurped in the petty party interest, in fact, the administration has become a tool in their hands to secure their reprehensible objects. Corruption unbounded and total lack of principles are glaringly manifest at all levels of government and the party. People of these states find little difference between these parties and the branded and condemned bourgeois parties.

This is the background in which the conscious section of the proletariat recalls, in deep respect and wonder, the unerring, scientific and profoundly wise analysis of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, an outstanding Marxist thinker, great leader of the proletariat, founder General Secretary of the SUCI, who 62 years ago exposed the petty bourgeois social democratic character of the CPI, now split into CPI(M) and CPI.

Yet another grave aspect of the prevailing political situation is the stark fact that by concentrating all capital and wealth in the hands of monopoly capitalists of the country, robbing off all political rights and power of people, vesting all power in the capitalist state machinery, creating a peculiar mix of science and religion, the ruling capitalist class, like in every other capitalist-imperialist country, has already installed administrative fascism in this country to perpetuate its rule, and to this end they keep up the façade of parliamentary politics, using it as a shield. Constantly they are working to consolidate it. With the same object, and conducive to it, they are working day and night in their bid to foist a system of government by two underlings — their two most trusted and obedient political parties. They are yet to realize this objective because there are a few obstacles on the way. But the capitalist class has already nearly instituted the two-party system, by artificially dividing into groups the power-hankering, capitalism-driven, ideology-bereft political parties with the slogan that this is the era of coalition governments. The sign of polarization is today quite manifest and pronounced in the conduction of the affairs of the state. It pertains to point out, one grave aspect of introduction of this system is that the subserving parties are no more obligated to seek people's verdict for formation of government on the basis of respective policies and programmes presented to the electorate in the run-up to elections. Whether the Right or the liveried Left, no parties have any use for principles, ideologies and programmes at the hustings for formation of government. Think, hardly any difference exists between buying MLAs and MPs for cobbling up a government by offering them ministerial berths, lucrative offices and any amounts of money, and buying articles in the market in exchange of money. What ought to be noticed is that the entire media in orchestration create hullabaloo over any procession of people in cities and towns, any election graffiti on walls, are not coming out at all against all this loathsome abomination by the rulers. Precisely for it, this political debauchery has become the order of the day.

This cooked-up 'polarization' that now is surfacing in its clearer relief is doubtless the first step towards institution of a two party parliamentary system. This is how the rulers are manoeuvring to inculcate in people's mind a favourable attitude for the two party parliamentary system. The result is that the roots of the capitalist class rule, the very capitalist order are penetrating even deeper. No doubt, in consequence the people are going to be divested of their rights and scope to elect the party or the individual of their free choice. Even greater is the consequence that the tested revolutionary party that refuses to conform to the exploitative rule of the capitalist class, the party that is tempered in the struggle against the encumbering capitalist order, is going to be deprived of access to using the parliamentary political forum, as far as and as long as it remains an imperative of the revolutionary necessity. And this with the result that there will be no one present in the Lok Sabha or the Assemblies to espouse the cause of the exploited masses, fearlessly and unswervingly, to expose the ruthless exploitation, limitless hypocrisy and savage tyranny of the capitalist class. It is in this direction of disaster that the capitalist rulers and the subserving political parties are driving this country to.

Parliamentary politics, and the electoral process as part and parcel of it, has thus been robbed of its democratic essence to be transformed into a naked instrument to serve the interests of the capitalist class. Over and above, the other face of this parliamentary politics to cause deep anxiety is that men of learning, men who are honest, dedicated, strong in character, who are cultured, knowledgeable, experts in different fields, and, of course, who have patriotic devotion, find access to the forum of Assemblies, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha blocked for them. Instead, the doors of Lok Sabha, and Assemblies are wide open for entry of ugly characters, the obedient servitors of the capitalist rulers — moneyed men, smugglers, contractors, speculators, convicted criminals — but who have no capabilities to participate in deliberations and discussions yet who sneak into Lok Sabha with money and muscle power. To win seats by whatsoever means, deliberate attempts are being made to induct in parliamentary politics even such film actors and actresses who hardly have any insight, but are just symbols of a decadent culture. Not patriotic feelings, but the urge to line one's pocket, self-aggrandizement, getting a ministerial position or an office to spin money as much as one can by any dishonest means — these alone are today the sole objective at work for persons to stand as candidates at the polls. This situation is what makes persons of culture and scholarly pursuit averse to parliamentary politics. The proceedings of Lok Sabha and Assemblies do not evince any inquiry into truth and untruth, right and wrong, the correct and the incorrect. High-standard deliberations, once considered the hallmark of parliamentary politics, have become extinct now. Sessions in Lok Sabha and Assemblies are the haunt of bourgeois parties to bargain for the safeguard of petty party interests, and for spoils and shares. Not to mention the rows and brawls witnessed every day, shouting over issues that have nothing to do with people's interest is the free recourse to obstruct for days together the holding of sessions. Thus, colossal amount of people's hard-earned money is wasted. Shamelessly and without batting an eyelid these members of Lok Sabha and Assemblies are selling themselves out, and then using again the black money of the capitalists some or other of the bourgeois parties are buying them in open daylight. Lok Sabha members sentenced to life-imprisonment for murder have been brought from behind bars and allowed to cast their votes. Enactments on the basis of deliberations, principles, ideals and critical considerations, which as a matter of fact involve the question of people's life and death, for which purpose the institution of elected legislative body was introduced in the stage of development of democracy, has become a really impossible task today. Clearly, Parliament or legislature having lost its earlier glory and importance, getting divorced from social interest to the extent it was attached to at the time of its advent, has today turned out to be a centre for the pursuit of the naked interest of the capitalists.

It is the capitalist system that is breeding terrorism

The other side of this burning situation is that certain forces extremely inimical to people's interests are carrying on subversive activities in different parts of the country day after day with arms and explosives for their own political ends— with which the question of solution to the burning problems of lives of any section of people concerning their livelihood and living are not related in any way — and they are wantonly killing innocent ordinary people of all nationalities, religions, castes and languages. Even the last vestige of physical security of people is thus disappearing. This spree of indiscriminate killing and destruction is being termed terrorism, whatever be people's perception of it. Of course, these cowardly deeds have destroyed common people's peace. The situation today is such that people have little time to ponder on the burning issues of life — issues of food, clothing, housing, education, healthcare. 'Till now I am alive, I wonder if I shall be alive in the evening', or, 'I am leaving home all right now, I don't know if I shall be returning alive', — such questions haunt people every day now. Had the central and state governments a real will to do it, it would not have been difficult for them to contain these dastardly acts. It is not an insurmountable task for them to identify these violent enemies of people and get rid of them. Even in the face of this urgency, governments run by different parties show no inclination at all to guarantee security to public life in general. The attitude seems to be: 'What harm if some poor people of the fast growing population die?' There are, on the other hand, no lapses or relent in measures to ensure safety of the rich capitalist owners or their ministerial minions and bureaucrats. For the general rank of working people they bother least to do something for safety and security.

Social-cultural crisis — a planned onslaught of capitalism on morality of the nation

This unbearable economic-political situation has its reflection also in the social-cultural life of the country. The overall decadence in social-cultural spheres has led to erosion of elements of noble character, such as honesty in approach, sincerity of purpose, truthfulness in action. Sense of responsibility is disappearing, commitment to duty is crumbling, an attitude of total indifference to society, country and people as a whole is growing. Compassion, humaneness, love, affection — all these tender qualities are evaporating. Feeling of utter helplessness and total insecurity appearing in life's course has sapped people's life to result in loss of sense of all considerations of good and bad, just and unjust, right and wrong, virtue and vice, bringing them down to the level of subhuman, cruel and all-for-self creatures. Capitalism has engendered a mentality which draws people back from any consideration other than for money. Today, the sole purpose and aim of life is to earn money — anyhow, by hook or by crook. The reality is that no act is vile enough to dissuade them from taking to any means to earn money. People have been brought down to a level where considerations for parents and sibling are no matter, even wife and children do not matter. The overwhelming consideration is of self, self alone. He or she is driven by the sole thought of how to ensure a good living for self, how to secure better positions for self. This mentality haunts him or her constantly. For persons with this 'only-self' mentality, principle, ideology, sense of values have no appeal. If this self-interest gets hurt, they have no qualms to commit murder even. Long back the system of joint family broke up in the country. Today, the idea of nuclear families comprising only the husband, wife and children that started taking shape is fast crumbling. To fulfil self-interest anyhow, the husband may anytime leave his wife, or vice versa, they may even murder their children. Conscience no longer haunts him or her to commit these deeds. Dispossessed of all normal means of life, young girls and women in towns and villages find themselves forced to leave home in thousands to sell their bodies. They are driven to bring destruction to their own lives and youth. The sordid tale does not end here. Left with no other means, a father is taking his daughter to the brothel. Married women pose themselves as office-goers in daytime to go to hotels in towns and indulge in flesh trade, and they come back home at night, and this is how they strive to anyhow ensure survival of their families. This account has not an iota of exaggeration. This true reflection of the reality of life today faithfully portrays the pervading picture of sordid life of this capitalism-ruled country.

But nothing happens without a cause behind. This tragic downturn, this abysmal slide-down of the cultural life of this country — what causes it to happen in this land, the same land which gave birth to hundreds of thousands of courageous, spirited students and youths aflame with patriotic fervour in the days of freedom struggle, which kindled selfless patriotic love in people, this is the question that churns up the mind of every thinking person today. The correct answer is there for all to seek. In every respect it is clear today that the ruling capitalist class, scared of any revolutionary upsurge against it, is bent upon destroying people's sense of honesty and sincerity, their culture and ethics and reasoning faculty. It is the class interest that lurks behind the planned onslaught in culture and ethics mounted by the ruling capitalist class to which our most beloved leader, great teacher, an outstanding Marxist thinker of the era Comrade Shibdas Ghosh pointed long before: "But you should keep in mind that however acute a form oppression and penury may assume, the people of a country, a nation can still stand up firm and erect, raising its head high even amidst severest of tortures if its moral strength is not decimated." Doubtless, this capitalist class from its fear-complex of revolution is leaving no stone unturned to sap people's human essence to the last drop. Commercialization of education is one heinous recourse, in its class interest, towards curtailment of common people's access to education. The poor and those of the middle class are being driven out from the arena of education. Education is turning into an article of privilege and luxury of the rich. A well-connived bid is afoot in this country to deprave the student community, the youth, the whole of the people, down below the level of lowly creatures, drowning them in drugs and drinks, sexuality and cruelty. As its inevitable consequence, women of this land have lost freedom to move about in safety. They are subjected to ever newer kinds of abuse and oppression, and shaken all the while with fear of being raped anywhere, any time.

There is the other face of this raving social-cultural crisis that truly beggars description. 75-80 per cent of those who live below the poverty line feel they have no other means than to put an end to their existence. They prefer death to come for relief, awaiting its stalking footfalls to deliver them. At times, some are killing wives and children with their own hand, in the end taking their own lives. As victims of economic insecurity in life, countless young men and women are losing balance of mind. Outbreak of mental disorder on a terrible scale is spreading all over the country. Nothing remains of their creative abilities in any field, and in the end they fall into the jaws of premature death. Nobility of motherhood thrown away, the mother is killing her child whom she bore in her womb, and killing herself in the end. This is the reality, the stark reality of the social life of entire India today. The intensity of problems may be varying from place to place, but the thrust of disaster is pushing fast into all the states.

No less a matter of concern of this burning social-cultural crisis is the total loss of faith that pervades in a major section of the thinking people, which arises in the wake of crisis in cultural life side by side the ever deepening crisis in economy. Such is the magnitude of this want of faith and lack of trust today that they are averse to believing that something good and trustworthy might yet outlive in some corner — that some honest idea, nobility of ideology, uncompromised and steadfast principle is alive in some people. The problem is no longer confined within bounds of pessimism, it has now assumed the character of cynicism, an anti-life psyche, one that is born of want of trust in everything, a total apathy. The other side of the same coin is that a great majority of the thinking people who are daily and hourly witness to the spate of corruption, depravity, deception and playing with people's life, which is the recourse of all parties, small as also big, in all the states — with the genuine exception of one or two but who are kept out of people's vision —condemns not only the parliamentary political parties but politics itself, unable as they are to realize that the root cause of all this is the capitalist economic system of this country. Then again, for the same reason those people who maintain individual honesty in some measure even in this situation are carefully avoiding politics. The situation is such that they have taken the suicidal course of abandoning politics — politics which great Lenin called 'concentrated economics', politics which keeps a person inseparably entangled in it, no matter whether he likes or dislikes it, which influences his or her life in the positive way or in the negative way — "politics", which great Shibdas Ghosh said, "calls for noble feelings of heart".

Not election politics, only road to people's emancipation lies in advancing towards the goal of socialist revolution based on impeccable analysis of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh

The only streak of silver lining that shines in this all pervasive suffocating atmosphere is that the exploited and oppressed working masses of all states —though they are not conscious of the truth that capitalism is the root cause of all this exploitation, oppression, savage repression — are unwilling any more to accept everything without protest, without resistance. Every now and then the courageous advanced section of people is busting forth in discontent, though because of the absence of a correct leadership over these struggles on the correct realization to the effect that capitalism is at the root of their inhuman suffering, the capitalist rulers are very easily crushing their outbursts with bullets and bayonets. However, this in no way lends itself to denying that these incidents are expression of people's strong desire and yearning for the way out of this suffocation, for emancipation from capitalist exploitation and oppression. At the same time it certainly brings to the fore the deep yearning of each and every man and woman with head and heart for knowing the exact cause because of which the freedom won 62 years back, overturning the British imperialist exploitative rule with boundless sacrifice of millions of people, the courting of death by thousands of students and youth, has transformed into blissful heaven for the handful of the rich but into an altar of slaughter for the poor who are 90 per cent of population. Exactly here, it is very pertinent to recall that long 61 years ago at the dawn of this political freedom, Comrade Shibdas Ghosh the founder General Secretary of our party, an outstanding Marxist thinker of this era correctly realized by applying the science of Marxism that under the tentacles of the exploitative capitalist rule this country and its people are heading for this tragic end, this atrocious suffering and misery.

Making a correct analysis of the situation, he brought to the fore the pertinent fact that two mutually conflicting goals existed side by side in the freedom struggle. 90-95 per cent of the population, the ranks of the common masses, who earn their living with their own toil, desired freedom to free themselves from exploitation and rule of British imperialism, desiring at the same time emancipation from all sorts of exploitation, true emancipation of the masses, all-out emancipation from the tentacles of all exploitation — from landlords, from money lenders, from jotedars, from capitalists of the country. Else, if exploitation of 90-95 per cent of population by a handful of the rich continued without relent, exploitation and poverty could not be eliminated, peace, happiness, relief would not descend in people's life. The tragedy that happened is that contrary to people's yearning, the country's capitalists or the handful of bourgeoisie conspired to cash in on the burning patriotism of people and clamp their rule over the whole of the Indian market, ending British imperialism through mutual understanding and compromise. In a word, two contradictory class urges existed side by side from the inception of Indian freedom movement. Comrade Ghosh further brought to the fore another pertinent fact that because of the absence of a genuine communist or revolutionary party on this soil the revolutionary leadership could not be established over the independence movement. In this situation, seizing upon the want of adequate political consciousness of people, the capitalist class established its rule of exploitation and oppression. Emancipation from exploitation eluded people. British imperialist exploitative rule was substituted by the terrible rule of exploitation of the Indian capitalist class. Exhorting the countrymen Comrade Ghosh said that people had been aware of the character of the foreign rulers without much difficulty, but they did not as easily understand that a tiny section of this country itself had established its own rule of exploitation, which however will have to be realized by all the exploited people. Exhorting further, he said, for emancipating the entire masses of people from under the yoke of all sorts of exploitation, genuine revolutionary leadership would have to be given birth to.

He urged that the anti-Marxist character of the pseudo communist party going by the name of Communist Party of India (the then undivided CPI) has to be uncovered in full, and the genuine communist party built up all over the country on the basis of the correct theory and through pursuit of the correct methodology. Under the banner of this revolutionary leadership continuous mass movements and class struggles have to be developed centring round burning demands of people's lives, directed against exploitation by the capitalist class every day, against exploitation and oppression by the state and government of the capitalist class. And, in this way, preparing the ground conducing to revolution, the capitalist state has to be overthrown with the might of revolution, and scientific socialism established in its place in the country. By eliminating private ownership over means of production and establishing social ownership in its place, the foundation of genuine socialism has to be established which would ensure people's own rule. Time and again he laid emphasis on it, pointing out that other than to be on strict, unflinching pursuit in this course, the unaccomplished goal of the independence movement, that is, winning emancipation from all sorts of exploitation, people's emancipation, would be impossible to realize. To this end, people of the country would have to be freed from the illusion of such parliamentary elections. Because, the government, the caretaker of the capitalist state, can be changed through election but thereby the state does not change, and unless the state is replaced capitalism continues together with its tentacles of exploitation and oppression. Dwelling on one of the major aspects of anti-capitalist socialist revolution, he said, the working class movement for seizure of state power would triumph only in culmination of this long course of preparation. This process would be accelerated by giving birth to people's own political power developing through conduct of continuous democratic mass movements and class battles under working class leadership, on the one hand, and, on the other, by making the exploited masses politically consciousness on the basis of the Marxist-Leninist thoughts, and forging their unity. At the same time, Comrade Ghosh emphatically pointed out that till the creation of this conducive condition the capitalist state would routinely go on holding this drummed-up ostentation of elections with the object of diverting people's attention away from revolution, and people too would get entangled in it because of want of possession of adequate political consciousness. In the given situation, in accordance with the teachings of great Lenin and precisely with the object of ridding people of their illusion for parliamentary elections, the revolutionary party has the onus to take part in elections, and if victory comes its way the party's object will be to expose from within the Parliament before the people the real character of bourgeois state, its Constitution, bourgeois democracy and carry on the attempt to free people from illusion of all these. The truth is as clear as daylight today that this caution, this penetrating analysis by the great teacher Comrade Shibdas Ghosh revealed unmistakably the correct road to emancipation of the millions of exploited masses of India. Meanwhile, 61 years have passed by. Elections to Panchayats, Assemblies, and the Lok Sabha have been held over and again. Replacement of MLAs and MPs has been effected. Several times have the central and state governments changed hands. But the stranglehold of capitalist exploitation, let alone relent by an iota, has all the more tightened its grip, become all the more unbearable. The country has become a hell now, this suffocation strangling people to death. This state of affairs, this thriving encumbrance prove to the hilt the correctness of the guideline Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, they go to highlight irrefutably the correctness of his analyses. To accelerate the process of their complete emancipation, therefore all sections of the masses must make rapid strides along the course of revolution as was unerringly delineated by this great revolutionary thinker — Comrade Shibdas Ghosh.

Oncoming election exposes filthy opportunist character of all parliamentary parties including Congress-BJP-CPI(M)

In this extremely crisis-ridden economic-political-social backdrop, elections are going to be held for the 15th Lok Sabha and the Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim. Round these elections, all the trusted servitor big and small parties of the capitalist class have plunged into a nefarious game to win seats by any means and form governments, trampling down the vitally important question of principle, ideology, programme and in total disregard of the burning issues of people's lives — witnessing all which people are bursting in hatred. They witness, not the Rightist parties only have plunged into this nefarious game, the self-liveried Leftist parties too are desperately in the fray to anyhow win seats at the polls. It is very clearly noticeable that on the realization that no chances are there to form the government single-handedly at the Centre, the Congress and the BJP, each the apple of the eye of the capitalist class, are pursuing the object by forming each its labeled alliance — the UPA and the NDA— they are shamelessly on the run to cajole any small or big parties in the country, caring a fig for principle or ideology, giving bye to picks and choices. And these small and big parties at their end are weighing options to decide going which way will bring them bigger windfall and accordingly they are bargaining before selling themselves out. Also can be noticed, the CPI(M), CPI and their left allies who bear the sacred onus to form a government in full trust of the capitalist class and serve its class interest, are not lagging behind. Under the colours of the 'Third Front', they too are in the race with the two political brokers of the capitalist class — the Congress and the BJP, and they too are running about to cajole indiscriminately political parties that are corrupt to the bone, rabidly anti-people, brazenly parochial and communal. The source of funds for this trading is, of course, one and the same for all. Each one falls back on the resource of the capitalists to offer baits of unlimited amount of money and promises of ministerial berths. This is the ghastly picture of reality of the parliamentary election that would decide the fate of the people of India for the next 5 years; this makes conscientious people shudder and burst forth in utter indignation and hatred.

Participation in election must be made conducive to sustained mass movements

In the face of this burning situation, addressing countrymen we like to firmly affirm: Resting with mere condemnation under these circumstances has no meaning and significance. All ought to realize what is its root cause, and ought to organize and direct people's struggle in the right course to overcome this unbearable situation. People, therefore, will have to play a decisive role at the ensuing elections as well. Explaining further, Comrade Shibdas Ghosh exhorted that people ought to realize that in the same way as the population is divided into the two camps, centring round production and production relations, the exploiters and the exploited, into the capitalists and labours, the same divide is sharply manifest in regard to political parties also.

As things are going on at this hour of election it is clear to all that on the one side, the subserving parties of the ruling capitalist class are begging votes, or buying votes with slogans like 'Give us your votes, then all the problems will get solved'; while opposed to that we on behalf of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), the party built up by Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, the great leader of the proletariat, the party inspired with his thoughts, are emphatically asserting to the people: It is impossible to solve the basic problems of people's life by changing governments through elections. Only by conducting continuous democratic mass movements built on the edifice of higher ethics and principles in demand of solution to the burning problems making them conducive to the goal of overthrowing capitalism can people stall to an extent the steam roller of exploitation and extract some measure of relief in people's life. It is for this that the people have to participate in elections making this participation conducive to the development of continuous democratic mass movements. Only on this basis they can correctly decide whom to vote for, whom not to.

Make SUCI candidates victorious to build up surges of mass movements over the country

Our earnest appeal to the people of our country is that this crucial political divide cannot be forgotten for a moment. The pertinent fact that the SUCI is on the one side, the subserving parties of the capitalist class on the other side cannot be glossed over at all. This is the yardstick, the one and sole yardstick, to judge parties or candidates at the ensuing elections. Our people will have to be conscious about the danger of getting caught in the web of speculations on victories and defeats, losing sight of ideology and basic goal. People have to be on their guard against falling victim to the conspiracy of entangling them in the mock fight between servitor parties of the capitalist class. They have to decide on their task at these elections on the clear and sole consideration of how to vote, for whom to vote taking into account the primary question of principle, ideology, programme in order that the branded enemies of people can be defeated, democratic mass movements can be strengthened, certain demands may be realized thereby, and at once the struggle for ultimate emancipation will get enhanced, fortified, stronger, thereby accelerating the progress on the road to revolution.

Projecting this outlook, with appeal to this end, we, on behalf of Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), the only revolutionary party in India, the genuine communist party of India, the tested and trusted party at the helm of legitimate democratic mass movements conducted with the basic objective of overthrowing capitalism, urge the people who are the electorate to bring resounding victory to SUCI candidates at the seats where they are contesting, and at those seats where the party has not fielded its candidates to make victorious those who are honest, having a commitment to certain principles and ideology and tested in democratic mass movements. Where such candidates are not there at this moment, we call upon people to come forward to take initiative for putting up as candidates those who have firm belief in democratic movements, who are tested in democratic movements.

Programme of Movement and Charter of Demands

On the occasion of the forthcoming 15th Lok Sabha Election, SUCI Central Committee raises the following Charter of Demands and Programme of movement, to give effect to which the SUCI candidates, if made victorious, will, as elected MPs, carry on incessant and resolute struggle within and outside the Parliament.

1. Central and state governments must bring down the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene in keeping with the fall in the prices of oil in the international market and by withdrawing all taxes imposed by them.

2. Prices of all commodities must be brought down by strictly curbing hoarding and black marketeering. By introducing all-out state trading, all ssential commodities must be supplied regularly at low prices through the government distribution system

3. Financial allocation on education, health and social welfare must be increased by slashing allocations for military and administrative expenses.

4. All undemocratic black acts must be scrapped. Detention without trial must be done away with. All political prisoners held without trial must be released forthwith. Attack of police-military on democratic movements with a view to suppressing them must be stopped.

5. Forcible grabbing and destruction of firm lands must be stopped. Policy of setting up industries mainly on non-agricultural land must be pursued. SEZ must be annulled. Effective measures ought to be taken towards ensuring permanent effective control of drought and flood. Rivers-rivulets-canals- ponds and wetlands must be dredged and maintained properly and made pollution-free. Dams or reservoirs must be constructed at every block level for abundant supply of irrigation water. Use of ground water for irrigation purpose must be dispensed with.

6. Poor peasants must be freed from all debt burdens. Interest-free long term government loans must be made available to them by putting an end to the system of forcing them to borrow money from usurers at exorbitant interest-rates. Move towards abolition of land-ceiling must be abandoned. Peasants should be supplied with fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, power and diesel at amply subsidized low costs. The government must ban wholesale trade of agro-products and instead itself procure these from peasants at fair price.

7. Arrangements must be made for proper drinking water, power, primary school, road construction and health facilities in all villages. Rural labours must be provided with permanent job and fair wages throughout the year.

8. Tampering with BPL lists and corruption in rationing system must stop immediately.

9. All closed industries must be reopened and all retrenched workers-employees reinstated. New industries must be opened. Abolishing posts in the Central and state government establishments must be stopped and all vacant posts must be filled up with fresh appointments. Contract appointment in government as well as private sectors must be abolished and all appointments should be on a permanent basis. Privatization and disinvestment must be stopped. Government ownership on all hitherto privatized industries must be restored. Moratorium on recruitment must be withdrawn. Government should neither support nor extend any help to any move to close down any industry by labeling the same as sick. If necessary, government must take over such industries.

10. Imposing increased burden of income tax and wealth tax on middle class people must be stopped.

11. Interest on small savings must be raised.

12 Right to work must be recognized as fundamental right in the Constitution. All able-bodied men and women must be given permanent job and fair wage according to their ability. Till such permanent jobs are provided, adequate unemployment allowance must be given to them.

13. Right to free education must be recognized as fundamental right in the Constitution. Privatization and fee hike of education must be stopped. The decisions of the 'National Knowledge Commission' aimed at destroying education must be scrapped. Universal democratic, secular and scientific education must be introduced at the earliest. Sex education must be stopped. Examination system must be kept in operation by scrapping gradation system of evaluation

14. Hospitals with all modern and developed facilities of medical treatment must be established at the initiative of the Central and state governments at all village panchayats, towns and cities. Commercialization of health service must be stopped. Price of all life-saving drugs must be reduced

15. Dowry system and dowry deaths, female foeticide, torture and trafficking of womenfolk must be stopped with a firm hand.

16. Publicity and spread of pornographic publications, cinema, drama and advertisement materials must be curbed firmly.

17. Rampant spread of all kinds of intoxicating materials, including liquor, drugs etc. must also be curbed with an iron hand.

18. Government must come out of the scheme of capitalist-imperialist globalization. No tie-up with the imperialists including US imperialists should be entered into. Bold resolute stand must be taken against imperialist aggressions round the globe. All military and civilian treaties as well as proposals of undertaking joint military exercises with the US imperialists must be scrapped. US imperialists must get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

19. Fomenting and pandering to noxious religious-casteist-community and racial conflicts designed with a view to disrupting people's unity in democratic movements and fulfilling the heinous interest of creating vote-banks must be stopped.

20. State terrorism must be stopped immediately.

21. Despotic Armed Forces and Special Power Act must be withdrawn.

22. Highhandedness of bureaucracy must be curbed. Corruption must be extirpated from all levels of administration.

23. Administrative neutrality must be restored.

24. Low-cost, neutral and rapid justice at all levels of judiciary must be ensured.

25. Unearth and confiscate all illegally accumulated black money in the country including those lying as bank deposit in foreign countries.

SUCI Supports Mallikaben Sarabhai

SUCI is supporting Mallikaben Sarabhai, an independent candidate, at Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat. Incidentally, SUCI is contesting 40 seats in the ensuing Lok Sabha election round the country (the list of candidates is given in the last issue of Proletarian Era).

 

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Mukto Mona plans for a Grand Darwin Day Celebration: 
Call For Articles:

http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=68

http://mukto-mona.com/banga_blog/?p=585

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VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

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"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190

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[ALOCHONA] Uphold rule of law.

The National Human Rights Commission does have a right to ask for an independent inquiry into every incident of extra-judicial killing and publication of the reports. When a civilized nation wants to establish rule of law any extra judicial killing is a clear challenge to achieve this goal. Almost everyday we read in New Age where suspects of criminal activities are being killed by the law enforcement agencies in' encounters" or in many cases suspects are being caught red handed by the general public and killed. The frustrations in the administration and also among the general public about the continued deterioration of the law and order situation in Bangladesh is a good recipe for such extra judicial killings. These killings do not disturb or unnerve the peace loving and law abiding citizens rather they feel relieved. This is the natural consequence of an administrations abject failure to establish the cherished rule of law. If there are people in the law enforcement agencies who think that by killing the suspects will clear the society of criminals they are wrong. They must know that by breaking law they wreck the same law they are supposed to uphold.

The responsibility for this dangerous situation lies in the perpetual political corruption. Once Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujib encouraged unlawful killings in a public speech due to his utter frustration in the law and order situation in the country. If the citizens are given the right to take law in their own hands it will result in anarchy and I am constrained to say that there is virtual anarchy in Bangladesh. Since 1971 till this day every successive administration in Bangladesh showed total and at times deliberate negligence in establishing rule of law in the country. From a moral point of view a government forfeits its mandate when it fails to uphold law or becomes a party to lawlessness. No administration can afford to forget this responsibility or no excuse can be enough to shed this responsibility. The Bangladeshi politicians are a bunch of people who never showed any sign of political maturity to run a nation with responsibility. Their callousness in dealing with the nations burning issues has led to this crisis where the promise of rule of law has become a mockery of truth.

 

Akbar Hussain

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RE: [ALOCHONA] Political appointments in key missions

Dear Ezaj
Yes it is political appointment but considering their performance. Brother of finance minister is a professional diplomat. He is serving in your country Kuwait now. Expatriate who got appointment in Moscow is a high educated Phd holder. So I think nothing wrong with this appointment. Newspaper cretisized it because they are just AL supporter.
 
Regards
 
J.A.Chowdhury

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To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
From: ezajur.rahman@q8.com
Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 18:03:31 +0300
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Political appointments in key missions

Political appointments in key missions

Courtesy New Age 27/5/09

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/27/fb.html

 

I started reading your front page news 'government prefers political appointment in key missions' (May 24) with interest and ended with disgust. After nearly five months during which key missions have been left without a head of mission (Germany has been without one for over a year and half!), this government has finally laid the 'theoretical' foundation of how it would establish diplomatic missions. As expounded by Mostafa Farooq Mohammad, a former diplomat and a Member of Parliament now, the government will henceforth send to key missions individuals who 'must act as alter egos of the head of government'. I am afraid not many of us understood what he meant by this. Does it mean that the prime minister will choose for these posts those she knows personally and who in turn know her personally, like the name proposed to be the ambassador to Kuwait happens to be a friend of Sheikh Kamal?
   I was disgusted that such an idea has been given by a professional diplomat. The journalist who interviewed this gentleman should have asked him whether he would have subscribed to such a view when he was serving as a professional diplomat. There is no question that he would not for that would have meant acknowledging that he is incompetent. The 'theoretical' base that this government is laying for appointment of ambassadors/high commissioners is being laid by openly telling the professionals of the ministry of foreign affairs that they are incompetent.
   On the issue of being alter egos, how do former diplomats who have left the country to become citizens of another country become better alter egos of our prime minister? As alter egos, would they have an access to the prime minister of a regular basis? What would then happen to our poor Dipu Moni? Most importantly, does it mean that in the past 37 years when people like Mostafa Farooq Mohammad as professional diplomats headed missions had been worthless? I am told that this gentleman was a good professional diplomat but I am afraid in his eagerness to sell an un-sellable agenda of the government, he has proven himself no better no worse than a sycophant.
   At a time when we are trying to create a digital Bangladesh with emphasis on professionalism, we are doing the reverse by posting in our key missions individuals in place of professional diplomats. These political ambassadors would no doubt be placed in their positions over career diplomats who would be manning the ministry of foreign affairs. Does logic say that they would cooperate with these 'outsiders' in implementing the policies of the government? Or does Farooq Mohammad think that foreign policy and its implementation begins and ends in ambassadors being the alter egos of the prime minister? At this stage, I am not sure whether I should be laughing over it or be disgusted and say 'God help Bangladesh!'
   The appointment of an expatriate in Russia as the country's next ambassador to Moscow takes the cake! So does the appointment of the individual named for Saudi Arabia who happens to be a brother of the finance minister. People who know the foreign ministry better however know too well that no theory or anything is behind these appointments. These have been made on purely personal interests.
   All told, I am astounded how a former career diplomat comes out to make a statement denigrating his juniors in a service that I am sure he was proud to serve. This is betrayal to say the least.
   Rashed Ahmed
   Gulshan, Dhaka

 

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