Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
LIGHT AHEAD OF GUJARAT DEBACLE
V.K. Tripathi
Dec 24, 2007
Gujarat Assembly Election results have been a major disappointment. The voices of sanity were louder this time than 2002 but the facade of development and peace (implying suppression of violence through the pogrom of 2002 and subsequent state actions) created by the ruling regime and its middle class supporters overshadowed the pressing problems of farmers, minorities, and other weaker sections. It is surprising that the Congress, which in 2004 parliamentary elections won in 91 out of 182 Assembly segments (winning 12 of 26 seats for parliament) could get only 62 seats this time. Read more…
MODI’S VICTORY: PORTENTS FOR INDIAN DEMOCRACY
Ram Puniyani
Surpassing many predictions, Modi did very well in the recently held assembly elections, (Dec. 2007) bringing his victory tally to the one close to post carnage elections of 2002. While 2002 elections were preceded by an unprecedented polarization of the society, in the current one it appeared as if there are many a factors which will go against Modi, the internal dissidents, the incumbency factor, the efforts of secular groups and slightly better efforts by Congress. This gave the impression that the results will be touch and go, but they turned out to be similar to the previous one giving him a massive mandate. Read more…
MODI’S WIN IN GUJARAT SHOULD BRING COMMUNISTS AND CONGRESS CLOSER
Kaleem Kawaja
There is no question that the convincing win of the Modi led BJP in the Gujarat election bodes ill for the Indian nation and the nation’s pluralist political culture. In the short run it will be a shot in the arm for the fascist forces who regularly trample on the weaker sections of society, who abuse religion in the pursuit of power, and who give two tuppence for India’s millennium old secular and democratic ethos. However let us hope that it will ring a timely alarm bell loud and clear for all secular and democratic forces in the nation to come together and isolate the fascist political forces. Read more…
MODI, GUJARAT, AND INDIA
Vinod Mubayi
Despite predictions by many liberal journalists, Modi has won handily in Gujarat again, even if his margin is slightly smaller than in the post-pogrom elections of 2002. Gujarat has been described many times as a “laboratory” of Hindutva. But, as Ram Punyani points out perceptively in the article reprinted below, it would be incorrect to consider Gujarat anymore as a laboratory for experimenting with the notion of Hindu rashtra. It has now graduated instead to a full-fledged industry, a veritable mass-production factory, for promoting Hindutva. Read more…
BENAZIR’S ASSASSINATION LEAVES PAKISTAN ON THE EDGE OF A PRECIPICE
Vinod Mubayi
Just nine weeks ago, Benazir Bhutto received a tumultuous welcome in Karachi from hundreds of thousands of supporters on her return to Pakistan after a decade in exile. She narrowly escaped death on that occasion when a suicide bomber struck her cavalcade and killed several hundred innocent people. Her assassination at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, despite the “hundreds of riot police manning security checkpoints with metal detectors” according to press reports, demonstrates the extent to which self-destructive and, ultimately, self-defeating violence has entered Pakistan’s political processes. No amount of American aid, military, financial, or political, dedicated to “defeating terrorism” seems likely to be able to reverse this downward spiral. In fact, it may, perversely, be tending to accelerate it. Read more…
THE YEAR 2008 DAWNS ON A SAD AND UNCERTAIN NOTE FOR SOUTH ASIA
Editors
The most popular politician in Pakistan and potentially its next Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the Peoples Party of Pakistan, was killed on December 27 by a suicide bomb attack. The murderer Narendra Modi was re-elected as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, which has encouraged fascist goons of the Sangh Parivar to renew their attack on Christians in Orissa. There seems no end to the killings in Sri Lanka in the midst of the undeclared war between the Government and the Tamil Tigers. Bangladesh remains in the grip of a non-elected military regime and a growing fundamentalism. Whether or not the Seven Party Alliance in Nepal reaches unanimity on the issue of Nepal becoming a federal republic remains uncertain. Read more…
NANDIGRAM PRECIPITATES A MINI CRISIS IN THE INDIAN COMMUNIST MOVEMENT
Daya Varma
Fortunately, and somewhat uniquely, the Indian communist movement did not the face the same crisis that befell most other communist parties in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. If anything, its influence increased especially in West Bengal. However, the Communist Party of India –Marxist (CPM), which is the major communist formation and the leading partner of the Left Front Government of West Bengal, and whose support is critical to the survival of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the center, has been challenged by almost every political formation since December 2006, when it attempted acquisition of land in certain areas of Bengal for industrial development. Although CPM abandoned the industrial development program in Nandigram, its opponents would not let it off the hook. November 2007 witnessed a renewed crisis of which the likely victim would not be CPM alone but rather the Indian communist movement as a whole.
UNCALLED FOR CRITICISM OF CHOMSKY, TARIQ ALI, ZINN et al
Daya Varma
It is surprising that the brief note “To our friends in Bengal” by Professor Noam Chomsky and his peers, which appealed for left unity in India in the aftermath of the unfortunate developments in Bengal and expressed solidarity with forcibly dispossessed peasants, received such a scathing attack by the venerable Mahashweta Devi, writer Arundhati Roy and 16 other intellectuals.
NANDIGRAM AND BEYOND
Srinivasan Ramani
The recent events in Nandigram and it’s coverage by a section of media as well as the response by sections of civil society (wrongly mentioned as intellectuals) point out to a grotesque dysfunction of bourgeois democracy, but that is not the concern of this article. This piece will be concerned more about the whys and wherefores of the problem that erupted in West Bengal over the past year, a problem that has not been studied well enough and that has been deliberately misrepresented by voices that professedly speak for variegated ideologies.
ANNOUCEMENT: DR ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER VISITING NEW YORK EARLY IN 2008
Dr Asghar Ali Engineer, noted human rights activist and Director, Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai, will be in New York for a conference from February 19-22, 2008. He will be available for a week or so after that to meet groups, deliver lectures, etc. If you are interested in sponsoring a talk by him in your city or institution, please contact Vinod Mubayi at 516-380-3204 or mubayi@bnl.gov)
INDIAN AMERICANS DEMAND THE DISMISSAL OF GUJARAT GOVERNMENT
Friday, October 26, 2007: Several prominent Indian organizations and individuals based in US and Canada have called for the immediate dismissal of the state government in Gujarat, India following an exposé by the Tehelka news magazine in which many top Hindu nationalist figures linked to the administration admitted to their active role in orchestrating and perpetrating the massacre and ethnic cleansing of Muslims in 2002 in Gujarat. The exposé reveals active participation of key state institutions including police forces and judiciary in the anti-minority pogroms. Read more…
HINDUS DETAIL INVOLVEMENT IN DEADLY ’02 RIOTS IN INDIA
Rama Lakshmi
(Washington Post Foreign Service, October 26, 2007; A13)
REVIEW OF YOGINDER SIKAND’S BOOK
Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied
The Book: Bastions of the Believers: Madrasas and Islamic Education in India by Yoginder Sikand (Penguin, New Delhi, 400 pp., Rs. 495, ISBN 9780144000203)
GURNAM SINGH MUKATSAR PAYS TRIBUTES TO SAHEB KANSHI RAM
Jai BirdiOn Saturday, October 27, a visiting scholar from India Prof. Gurnam Singh Mukatsar will pay tributes to Saheb Kanshi Ram who died on October 9 last year. The event is organized to pay tributes to one of the foremost leaders after Dr. Ambedkar who mobilized Dalits, minorities, and other oppressed groups to organize politically and make effective differences in their lives. Mukatsar had known and worked diligently under Kanshi Ram and has now written several books highlighting Dalit assertion in India. In his book, “JOOTH NA BHOL PANDE”, Mukatsar “emerges as the sole spokesman of Dalit Sikhs and point blank tells the upper caste Sikhs not to speak falsehood but acknowledge what is said in the Guru Granth itself that the founders of Sikh religion are the Dalit saints. Guru Nanak’s admission that Guru Ravidas is his guru is mentioned in the Guru Granth”, says VT Rajshekhar of Dalit Voice. The tribute was organized at the Dr. Ambedkar Library, Shri Guru Ravidass Community Centre at 7271 Gilley Avenue in Burnaby
MASS PROTEST OVER MURDER OF A COMMUNIST ACTIVIST IN CUSTODY IN BIHAR
Thousands of people held out a Resistance March on Oct. 12 at district headquarters of Sitamarhi to demand immediate arrest of killers of Comrade Ashok Sah, who was murdered in custody by the Sitamarhi police after illegally arresting him at mid-night of 3-4 October. This march was led by AIALA National President Rameshwar Prasad and CPI(ML) Central Committee member Mina Tiwary along with many local leaders and cadres of Sitamarhi and Darbhanga districts.
NEPALESE PRIME MINISTER HOPES MAOISTS WILL REJOIN THE GOVERNMENT
Nepal’s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala announced on October 20 a new date for the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections would be fixed after holding a meeting of the seven-party alliance immediately after Dashain festival ends next week. He expressed unhappiness over the postponement of the CA elections which was scheduled for November 22. He made a point that the Maoists would rejoin the government once the fresh date for the CA polls is finalized. “If the Maoists don’t join the government after date for the polls are finalized, then it would prove that the Maoists are running away from the elections,”
Koirala added. He said that the Maoists have failed to abandon the attitude of armed group even after inking the comprehensive peace agreement. “It takes time for change. Prachanda and Baburam alone cannot help it,” he said.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION WILL DELAY POLLS, SAYS UML LEADER
Madhav Kumar Nepal, the General Secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-UML) said that elections to the Constituent Assembly (CA) will be delayed for at least five years if the poll is switched to the proportional representation (PR) system of voting now. Nepal expressed optimism that the new date for the CA elections could be fixed soon “as the Maoists have already agreed to declare the country a republic through the first session of the elected Constituent Assembly.”
The elections were deferred for a second time earlier this month for an indefinite period after the Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala-led Nepali Congress outright rejected the Maoist demands for declaration of a republic through the interim parliament and a PR system for the CA elections.
OTTAWA CONFERENCE ON NEPAL
Canada Forum for Nepal held a two day conference from Oct 5-7 on Nepal under the title “Unfolding Futures: Nepalese Economy, Society, and Politics” from October 5th to 7th 2007.
MYTH, HISTORY AND POLITICS
K.N.Panikkar
(28 September, 2007, Countercurrents. Org)
Ever since Ayodhya became a disputed territory, Rama has been at the centre stage of the political mobilisation by Hindu communal forces. The incidents associated with the Rama Katha were invoked one after the other to appeal to the religious sentiments of Hindus. It began with a claim to the birthplace of Rama at Ayodhya, around which Hindu religious sentiments were so aroused as to lead to the destruction of the Babri Masjid. In the movement culminating in this vandalism, several symbols linked with Rama such as Rama Jyoti, Rama Paduka and Rama Shila were floated.
MODI, DEVELOPMENT AND THE WEAKER SECTIONS
Irfan Engineer
With the impending elections for the State Assembly, the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is busy re-packaging himself as the Vikas Purush (to borrow the term from Venkaiah Naidu, ex-BJP President). After Modi took over the reins of power in Gujarat in the year 2001, he essentially packaged himself as Loha Purush, a term Venkaiah Naidu might have borrowed from the description used for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. All the might of this Loha Purush was exercised not on any powerful sections of the society but on the vulnerable and hapless minorities. Fake encounters targeting Muslims, misusing POTA on Muslim youths, Government’s failure to provide an environment in which theatre owners could screen films like Parzania and Fanaa, BJP members vilifying and castigating B.B. Lyngdoh, the then Chief Election Commissioner, and Sonia Gandhi for being Christians who meet in church and conspire for BJP’s defeat in Gujarat are some of the instances of the Loha Purush avatar of Narendra Modi.
THE POST BOMBING SCENARIO – NARRATIVES FROM THE HOSPITAL
Shahid Fiaz
The October 18th – we will remember it for a long time and for all the wrong reasons. Today is 21st October – the third day of the bombing of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) rally. The nation is mourning the dead and trying to help the injured.
PAKISTAN AT THE CROSSROADS: THE HOMECOMING OF BENAZIR BHUTTO
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party returned to Pakistan on October 18, 2007. She was greeted by an unprecedented mass of over 200,000 people, who had come to Karachi from all parts of Pakistan. All other political considerations aside, the very fact that so many people welcomed her is in itself very significant. The fact that the majority of Pakistanis welcoming Bhutto were ordinary people, workers, peasants, laborers and unemployed lends credence to her claim to political leadership in Pakistan. Not too many leaders in South Asia can elicit such a response at this point in time. The fact that the other prominent Pakistani politician in exile, Nawaz Sharif, when he returned to Pakistan, failed to attract anything close to the magnitude of the crowd that welcomed Benazir is testimony to the relative popularity of the two leaders. Even though Nawaz Sharif was refused entry into Pakistan by the government and unceremoniously put back on a flight to Saudi Arabia, the protests by his supporters against the treatment he received were of a perfunctory nature. Read more…
THE 123 DEAL IN LIMBO ALONG WITH UPA
Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma
The last few months have witnessed many media and street protests in India by left intellectuals, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-led left parliamentary caucus and other left parties, the champion of Hindutva, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and various environmental groups and anti-nuclear activists – all against the nearly finalized Indo-US nuclear deal (the 123 Deal), which was negotiated by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Since CPM has apparently decided to oppose the deal no matter what, the fate of the deal seems to be sealed, at least for the moment, while the fate of the UPA government itself appears to be in limbo.
NARENDRA MODI AND INDIAN DEMOCRACY: THE TWO CANNOT COEXIST
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi The Tehelka exposure of the crimes of Hindutva fascists led by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi only proves what was already well known. Yet proof is important because legal action against any one requires proof. The crimes committed by the ruffians of Sangh Parivar in 2002 are horrendous. They cannot happen unpunished in a civilized society and the fact they happened in India and the criminals remain scot-free simply reveals not only the cultural degeneration of Indian society but also the sham and incompetent nature of Indian democracy. Read more…
DEPORTATION OF NAWAZ SHARIF REVEALS LAWLESSNESS OF MUSHARRAF
Daya Varma
Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minsiter of Pakistan who was ousted by the current President General Pervez Musharraf in a coup in 1998 and exiled, returned, as promised, to Pakistan on September 10. But he could not come out of the airport and was put on a plane along with his associates for Saudi Arabia.
PAKISTAN: WE HAVE TO REMAIN THE WATCHDOGS
Nirupama Subramanian
(The Hindu, September 09, 2007; source SACW Sep 8-10, 07)
Asma Jehangir, Supreme Court lawyer and chairperson of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, is internationally renowned as a tireless activist of the rights of women, children and religious minorities; a fearless voice against military rule and a dogged campaigner for democracy in her country.
INDIA’S RESPONSE TO DEVELOPMENTS IN NEPAL
The Home Ministry alerted all the five states along Indo-Nepal border (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim) and asked the para-military forces to step up vigilance on the 1,751-km boundary in the wake of Maoists withdrawing from the government and starting a new agitation.
NEPAL MAOISTS QUIT GOVERNMENT, START NEW PROTEST MOVEMENT
Life in Kathmandu comes to a grinding halt, people out in the street demanding republican government. More than a lakh vow to rewrite Nepal’s political hope.
IT IS A MATTER OF SECULARISM AND NOT A MATTER OF FAITH
Irfan Engineer
[Some Hindu religious zealots believe that in ancient times, monkeys built a bridge on the Indian ocean between India and Sri Lanka to facilitate the passage of the army of their god Rama to go to the land of Ravana; in the confrontation between the state and the fundamentalists, the spineless United Progressive Government of India has backed down. The article below by Irfan Engineer presents an analysis of this episode. Ed.]
CPM BREATHES SACHAR FIRE
[The article below was supplied by Kaleem Kawaja with the following note: “On behalf of a large number of Indian-Americans, especially those who happen to be Muslim, I wish to thank CPM (Communist Party of India – Marxist) for their honest and principled stand in taking to task the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government (led by Congress) for doing lip service to the Sachar Committee report, but doing very little to implement it. This has been the signature behavior of Congress party for 60 years whenever they are faced with a matter of principle. No matter who are the needy community they play this charade. They say one thing and do the other. What a decline for the 100 plus years old party that gave India its freedom from colonialism. It is refreshing to see CPM take a principled stand.” ed.]
INDIAN DIASPORA’S ACHIEVEMENTS IN US ARE TRULY REMARKABLE
Kaleem Kawaja
Kaleem Kawaja (KK), a Mechanical Engineer from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, is an engineering manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Washington DC. He is the founder and President of the Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM), Washington DC.
MORE ON THE INDO-US NUCLEAR DEAL
Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma
With the formation of a joint committee by the Congress and the left parties charged with reviewing the Indo-US nuclear deal, the overt political rift among the members of the UPA has been temporarily papered over, pending the output of the deliberations of the committee. Furthermore, the somewhat positive statements of Jyoti Basu and Buddhadev Bhattacharjee regarding nuclear energy have revealed differences in the left’s own camp. How this will play out over the next few months and what impact it will have on the survival of the UPA regime and the prospects for fresh elections remains uncertain.
THE CRACKDOWN IN MYANMAR
Daya Varma
The military junta in Myanmar (Burma) has resorted to what it is good at – killing and imprisoning its citizens who are demanding democracy, no more. The fate of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for almost 18 years is not known. Monasteries have been locked, access to the internet has been curbed and cell phones are nonfunctional, and several newspapers have stopped publication.
INDO-US NUCLEAR AGREEMENT: SOME ISSUES AND CONSIDERATIONS
Vinod Mubayi
The opposition to the proposed 123 Indo-US nuclear deal in India can be divided into several categories: (1) anti-nuclear activists who are unalterably opposed to anything “nuclear” even if it is for peaceful uses, such as electricity production, either because of a belief in the inherent danger of ionizing radiation to environment, safety and health, or because of a perception that nuclear electricity and nuclear weaponry are inextricably linked, or a combination of both, (2) right-wing Indian nationalists who believe that the deal will impose unacceptable restrictions on India’s sovereign “great-power right” to further develop its nuclear weapons arsenal, and (3) left-wing Indian nationalists who feel that the deal will make India into a junior, subaltern partner of U.S. imperialist interests and curtail India’s foreign policy choices.
SIXTY YEARS OF FREEDOM, ONE HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS OF STRUGGLE
Kaleem Kawaja
India’s Independence Day this year marks full sixty years of freedom from the colonial yoke. Also it marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of India’s first war of independence in 1857. It marks one hundred fifty years of the struggle of the Indian masses to remove the domination of foreign control on their society, their ethos, their educational system, their economy and their place among the comity of nations.
HYDERABAD BOMB BLAST
Irfan Engineer
Yet another bomb blast in Hyderabad in Lumbini Park and Gokul Chaat on 25th August 2007, has left us all shattered. The sooner the culprits are caught and punished, the better for the society. At least the suspense would end as to who is involved and why?
PAKISTAN: ANY WAY OUT?
M B Naqvi
(The News, August 29, 2007, produced by SACW August 29-30, 2007)
The situation today is precarious, pregnant with different possibilities. If good sense prevails, Pakistanis can regain their lost sovereignty and a democratic dispensation may be within reach. But equally, selfishness of rulers can lead to dangerous consequences. It all depends.
NEPAL: HINDU RIGHTEOUSNESS
Prashant Jha
(Nepali Times 24 August 07 – 30 August 07)
India’s Hindu right which has been traditionally sympathetic to the monarchy and opposed to Nepal going secular is split about Nepal policy. There are differences in approach between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about the political approach to Nepal. The RSS is reassessing its past policy on the future of the monarchy and says putting all their eggs in the royal basket was not a wise move. Besides being a Hindu king, they believed only the king could fight the Maoists. Now, senior RSS leaders admit the erosion of the king’s credibility in Nepal has damaged them as well.
SPECIAL COURTS TO TRY RIOT CASES
Special Correspondent
(The Hindu Aug 14, 2007)
MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said that special courts would be set up to try serious cases in the 1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai. He told a delegation that at least four to five courts would be set up to try about 24 to 36 cases.
ATTACK ON OUTLOOK MAGAZINE BY FASCIST SHIV SANIKS CONDEMNED
Statement of Dr John Dayal,
Member, National Integration Council, Government of India and President of the All India Catholic Union (Abridged)
ATTACK ON TASLIMA NASRIN AT HYDERABAD CONDEMNED
Three statements by:
- C.M. Naim
- Muslim Intellectual Forum
- John Dayal Read more…
STOP DEMOLITION OF HINDU TEMPLES IN MALAYSIA
A statement by the Association of Indian Muslims of America
(sent by Kaleem Kawaja)
We have learned with much sorrow that in recent months several Hindu temples in Malaysia have been demolished to make way for the government’s development projects. The government of Malaysia has explained that these temples were built on government land without obtaining the government’s approval.
MORE INDIANS IN ‘CITY OF WIDOWS’
Jyotsna Singh BBC News
(sent by Rana Bose)
The number of young Hindu widows seeking refuge in India’s holy city of Vrindavan – nicknamed “the city of widows” – is rising, a study says. The study, funded by the United Nations women’s organisation Unifem, found it was poverty, and not spirituality, that was driving women to Vrindavan. The report said that poor and helpless women went to the northern city to escape “humiliation and dependence”.
RAPE OF ADIVASI WOMEN
Tapan Kumar Bose
South Asia Forum for Human Rights
Eleven women of Vakapalli village in Nurmati panchayat of G. Madugula mandal in Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh were raped by personnel of a Greyhounds unit in the village on the morning of August 20, ’07. All the women belong to the Kondh tribe (indegenous people), administratively listed as a PTG (Primitive Tribal Group). Ten of them are in the age group of 20 to 30 years, while one woman is 45 years. All of them are married. The village is located about 43 km from the divisional headquarters of Paderu in the Agency region of Vizag district. Paderu is about 100 km from Visakhapatnam.
Obituary: LAL SINGH DIL
Jai Birdi
I am very saddened to hear the news about the loss of a renowned poet and a stalwart of literary works of the peasants- Mr. Lal Singh Dil. He will be missed but his legacy will undoubtedly be cherished for generations to come.
LAL MASJID, IMPERIALISM, AND ISLAM
Vinod Mubayi
Over the last year, the maulavis controlling the Lal Masjid, located in a posh area of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, and the students of its various Jamias and madrasas had begun to act as a private religious police force enforcing their own brand of sharia law in the capital. Many of their actions were ignored or tolerated by the Pakistan government, which was itself facing considerable public protest over a completely different issue – the removal of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Chaudhry, on the orders of President Musharraf.
THE DARK SIDE OF INDIA: DO WE CARE?
Daya Varma
Below we are producing two stories – first the attack on ANHAD by Sangh Parivar goons and the second on disappearing girls.
RAMPAGE BY SANGH PARIVAR – STATEMENT BY ANHAD
A statement by Shabnam Hashmi of ANHAD on the attack by the Sangh Parivar on July 6, 2007 at St Xavier’s Social Service Society in Ahmedabad, Gujarat (slightly abridged).
DISAPPEARING DAUGHTERS, A BOOK BY GITA ARAVAMUDAN
A news item in Agence France-Presse by Parul Gupta says: “India’s unwanted girls have been drowned in milk, burned alive in sealed mud pots or fed milk laced with poisonous seeds, but these days it is much easier to kill them in the womb.” Aravamudan’s book describes stories of women forced to endure successive pregnancies to produce male children, and of others forced to have up to four abortions in five years.
AMARTYA SEN FAVORS LAND ACQUISITION FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION
Below is an interview of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen by Sambit Saha of The Telegraph on land acquisition for industrialization
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION – TEACH HOW YOU PREACH
Pramod Dhakal
The word “inclusion” was not in the Nepali language’s vocabulary when I left my village of Sarkuwa in Baglung District, Nepal, some three decade ago. This time around, however, I found my village to be a different place. People are much more conscious of their rights compared to ever before, and inclusion has become a buzzword among the literates. Marginalized groups want to be included in the mainstream. Yet, as I tried to look beneath the surface, I feared that my villagers are not any nearer to an inclusive society today than they were three decades ago. In fact, all indicators seem to say that the New Nepal may very well be founded on the principles of the most profound of exclusions while inclusion buzzwords are ringing on the slogans of the political parties.
MUSLIM KINGS UTILIZED HINDU FESTIVAL OF HOLI TO PROMOTE HINDU-MUSLIM FRIENDSHIP
Kaleem Kawaja
The last Moghul Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar allowed his Hindu ministers to smear his forehead with gulal on Holi every year. He believed that his religion would not be affected by this social ritual and was sure that God would redeem him for he had not broken the heart of his subjects. That, in fact, is the true spirit of Islam that one should not hurt the feelings of the followers of other faiths.
NEWS BRIEFS
- PRATIBHA PATIL, INDIA’S FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT
- VITHAL RAJAN: LITERATURE THAT FLOWS FROM LIFE
- MOHAMMAD HAMID ANSARI LIKELY TO BE THE NEXT VICE-PRESIDENT
- COMMUNISTS TO ADDRESS CASTE ISSUE
- ANDHRA GOVERNMENT FOR RESERVATION FOR DALIT CHRISTIANS
- AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST TORTURE IN INDIA
- DON’T STEREOTYPE INDIANS, SAYS INDIAN PRIME MINISTER Read more…
OBITUARY: C.R. ASLAM (1915-2007)
Veteran Communist leader and a life-long campaigner for the rights of the workers, peasants and other downtrodden sections of society, C R Aslam expired on July 10, 2007 in Lahore after a prolonged illness. He was 92. His funeral was scheduled on July 11at 5.00 pm at his residence, Temple Road, Park Lane, Lahore.
NANDIGRAM AND CPM MORALISTS
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
Police atrocity is routine in India. But the death of 14 people in police firing in Nandigram on March 14, 2007 in West Bengal, ruled by the Left Front of which has the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) is the leading constituent, has come under more scrutiny and bashing than any similar event earlier.
INDIAN MAOISTS ON A RECKLESS SPREE
Daya Varma
Indian Maoists are doing what they are good at. Lately they blew up railway lines in a more callous manner than was done during the Quit India Movement of 1942. The railway station in Birmadih, Bengal was also burnt. The driver and the guard of the train were taken hostages. I do not know whether or not they hoisted the red flag and declared the area in West Bengal ruled by the “revisionist” Left Front as a liberated zone. In any case, emulating some of the Jihadi groups, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) claimed responsibility for this act.
HISTORY FROM BELOW
Irfan Habib
Frontline: June 16-29, 2007
The Revolt of 1857 must be set in the larger context of what colonialism was doing to India and its people at the time.
PAKISTAN, BANGLADESH-1857
We do not know if any organization or news media has taken note of the 150th anniversary of the great 1857 rebellion. Both countries were part of the entity which rebelled. If people in these countries do not recognize 1857 as a part of their history, it is regrettable. Ed.
POLICE AND MINORITIES
Asghar Ali Engineer
(Secular Perspective June 1-15, 2007)
The police as such is unfriendly, even antagonistic to people and much more so when it comes to minorities. The police act was drafted by Britishers in 1961 and its main purpose at the time was to suppress people and to enforce British rule. Thus the police act was meant to suppress people and make them obedient to the British rulers. It was understandable that any foreign rulers would do that.
NATIONAL SEMINAR ON ENCOUNTER KILLINGS HELD ON MUMBAI 26 JUNE 2007
Mumbai, June 26: The different communities living in India should join hands together to counter the state terrorism in order to bring dignity of life to each and every individual.
WEST BENGAL ELECTION RESULTS
(People’s Democracy, June 10, 2007; Abridged)
When Mamata Banerjee addressed a media conference at her luxuriously appointed private layer that doubles as the office no one of the Trinamul Congress at Kalighat in south Kolkata, and announced a victory of the people, the presence of an uncharacteristic tremble and weakness of tonality in her rasping voice was evident.
NEPAL ASSISTANCE TO BE TRIPLED: INDIA
(Kantipur Online, May 29, 2007)
BANKE: Indian Ambassador to Nepal Shiva Shanker Mukherjee Monday said New Delhi was preparing to triple the existing Indian assistance to Nepal for its education, infrastructure and health sector. Opening a school built with Indian assistance in Nepalgunj Monday, the Indian envoy said the increase had begun since last June’s meeting between the two countries’ premiers.
CANADIAN ACADEMICS TO STUDY RACIAL PROFILING UNDER SECURITY AGENDA
Alnoor Gova
MARU together with the University of British Columbia is currently engaged in conducting a study to document experiences of people living under heightened security practices in Canada.
DRAWING A BLANK IN PUNJAB AND UP ELECTIONS, A WAKE UP CALL FOR COMMUNISTS
Daya Varma
Sarju Pandey was a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a peasant organizer in the eastern districts of Uttar Pradesh. The 1952 elections to state assemblies and the parliament were held while he was still in the Jaunpur District jail. Sarju Pandey contested both the UP state Assembly and the parliamentary elections from his jail cell as a CPI candidate and won both. So did communists in other constituencies from UP, Punjab and elsewhere. Ravi Narayan Reddy, a prominent leader of the legendary Telangana peasant struggle, polled the highest number of votes in the country in the 1952 parliamentary elections, far more than Nehru; CPI became the official opposition in the Parliament.
HINDUTVA SLAPPED HARD IN THE FACE
I.K.Shukla
The RSS and others are delusional and damn wrong to certify BSP’s win as Hindu Social Engineering. First and foremost, it was they who pioneered and profited from Hindu Social Engineering in philistine and perverse ways in state after state. The credit of invention goes to them and the right to intellectual property (patent) is entirely theirs.
U.P. ELECTIONS – A PROOF OF MATURE DEMOCRACY
Asghar Ali Engineer
From Secular Perspective May-16-31-2007;
The election results from U.P. have stunned even great pundits. All predictions by observers and analysts as well as exit polls have gone wrong. Everyone thought that there will be fractured mandate and that BSP will go no further than 150 seats. Some said that Mayawati would once again align with the BJP in order to become Chief Minister. Others said that Mulayam Singh would align with BJP, in order to avoid being arrested by the Mayawati Government. The BJP was, on the other hand, projecting itself as one who will form the next government and projected Kalyan Singh as its chief ministerial candidate.
ARMY AND THE PEACE PROCESS IN KASHMIR
Ram Puniyani
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of People’s Democratic Party, the party ruling in alliance with Congress in Kashmir, recently called for demilitarization of the state and withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (April 2007). This demand was looked at with a great amount of skepticism on the argument that how can we control the armed militancy in the state without the army presence and the special act to back that up.
CARNAGE IN KARACHI- WHAT’S NEXT?
Pervez Hoodbhoy
General Pervez Musharraf is now a desperate man. Dozens were left dead in the horrific carnage on May 12, initiated by his violent political allies in Karachi, the MQM (Muttahuida Quami Movement, an organization primarily of Urdu Speaking Pakistanis who went from UP and Bihar, ed.), in an attempt to stem the popular protests against Musharraf’s dismissal of the chief justice of Pakistan. But this may still not buy him enough strength. Protests will continue. His “million man rally” in Islamabad, held on the same day, blatantly used the state’s full organizational machinery and was widely ridiculed. It was seen as a sign of his weakness rather than strength. So what is Musharraf likely to do next?
RISING NUMBER OF FATWA VICTIMS IN BANGLADESH
(Editorial, New Age (Bangladesh), May 13, 2007)
A survey by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad reveals that the number of victims of fatwa is on the rise. Over the last four months alone, 50 women in seven districts fell victim to the obscurantist religious decree. Needless to mention, the unfortunate ones are mostly poor women of rural areas. In the year 2006, the number of such cases stood at 66. The survey is based on newspaper reports and so one cannot be sure that the number is exhaustive, as many cases may have gone unreported. Set against this rising incidents of fatwa is the rarity of the instances of prosecution of perpetrators. As the president of the Parishad said, very few cases have been filed against those who have issued fatwas. The main obstacle is that under existing laws the issuing of fatwa is not treated as a crime.
HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM AN OBSTACLE TO INCLUSION AND PROSPERITY IN NEPAL
Canada Forum for Nepal Press Release
May 22, 2007, Washington DC: The Member of Parliament and an emerging leader of Nepal Nepali Congress Sujata Koirala said that the Government of Nepal is working diligently towards constituent assembly election despite some delay resulting from mistakes made by Seven Party Alliance and the Maoists during recent months. She was speaking on a program in Washington DC organized by America Nepal Society (ANS).
NEWS BRIEFS
- CPI(ML) DEMANDS REMOVAL OF SAHABUDDIN FROM PARLIAMENT
- HINDUTVA GODMEN EXPOSED AS MONEY LAUNDERERS
- AIR INDIA TRAGEDY OF 1985 AND LAX CANADIAN SECURITY
- AIR INDIA TRAGEDY OF 1985 AND LAX CANADIAN SECURITY
- INDIAN FILMMAKER RAKESH SHARMA WINS LAWSUIT IN NEW YORK COURT
- CERAS STATEMENT ON DR. BINAYAK SEN’S UNJUST ARREST
- BUDDHA JAYANTI IN TORONTO Read more…
NEWS BRIEFS
- CPI(ML) DEMANDS REMOVAL OF SAHABUDDIN FROM PARLIAMENT
- HINDUTVA GODMEN EXPOSED AS MONEY LAUNDERERS
- AIR INDIA TRAGEDY OF 1985 AND LAX CANADIAN SECURITY
- AIR INDIA TRAGEDY OF 1985 AND LAX CANADIAN SECURITY
- INDIAN FILMMAKER RAKESH SHARMA WINS LAWSUIT IN NEW YORK COURT
- CERAS STATEMENT ON DR. BINAYAK SEN’S UNJUST ARREST
- BUDDHA JAYANTI IN TORONTO Read more…
HOMAGE TO PC JOSHI ON HIS 100TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY!
It is heartening to learn that both the Communist Party of India (CPI) and CPI (Marxist) are paying homage to Puran Chand Joshi (popularly known as elder PC to distinguish him from the other PC Joshi, also a communist and younger) on his 100th birth anniversary.
JUDICIAL ACTIVISM IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO PEOPLES’ PROBLEMS
Daya Varma
The Indian left is put to test time and again about what attitude to take on Judicial Activism. When judges’ decisions suit the left, such activism is hailed. When it does not, a critical appraisal is made. Obviously, any judicial decision will make some people happy and others unhappy. In the case of the present stay order by the Supreme Court on the issue of reservations for OBCs, the elite are happy and the left is unhappy.
OBC RESERVATIONS – MANDAL II – THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EGALITARIAN SOCIETY
Feroze H. Mithiborwala
Muslim Intellectual Forum, posted by Yogi Sikand)
[Given the social, economic and political effects of the Indian caste system, the Indian Constitution recognizes the marginalized section as OBC (other backward classes), SC (scheduled caste, commonly known as dalits) and ST (Scheduled tribes, which includes most of the indigenous people) ed.]
BJP’S ANTI–MUSLIMISM
Asghar Ali Engineer
(Secular Perspective April 16-30, 2007)
The CD controversy in U.P. election has proved once again, if any proof is needed, how much BJP hates Muslims. BJP’s anti-Muslim record has touched new heights. How can any politically responsible party taking part in democratic election and taking oath for secularism, can produce such propaganda stuff. The CD is full of hate for Muslims and uses very derogatory language. The only parallel one can find is Nazi’s hate of Jews, no other example could be found.
SOMNATH REQUESTS BJP MP TO STAY OUT OF PARLIAMENT
The Hindu (April 27, 2007)
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Thursday “requested” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Babubhai K. Katara, now in police custody in a human trafficking case; not to attend the House till party leaders decide on the further course of action.
PROTECTION OF WOMEN AGAINST SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE
Ramya Chellapa
(Based on a report in the Hindu, March 31, 2007)
In a landmark judgment in the case of Visakha vs. State of Rajasthan in 1997, the Supreme Court defined a set of guidelines for institutions to follow on sexual harassment at the workplace. Later, a survey conducted by the National Commission for Women (NCW) revealed that 60% of women employees and many employers didn’t know about the guidelines. This led to the creation of the draft bill: ‘Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill 2007’. On March 31, the Hindu published comments from women from all walks of life on the effect of this bill on women in the unorganized sector. Here are some excerpts:
ARREST OF POLICE OFFICERS TRIGGERS MORE DOUBTS
Dionne Bunsha
(The Hindu, April 26, 2007))
The arrest of three police officers on Tuesday for allegedly killing three persons in a fake encounter outside Ahmedabad has opened up a can of worms, bringing up questions about Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders’ responsibility for the shootings and raising doubts about other police “encounters” in the State.
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS DEMAND BAJRANGI’S ARREST
(Express News Service, Ahmedabad, April 25)
As a mark of protest against police inaction in arresting Babu Bajrangi (the word Bajrangi denotes a devotee of Bajrang Dal, a goon outfit of Hindutva fascism), the self-styled messiah of Hindu girls, civil society organizations staged a demonstration in front of the Ellisbridge Police Station in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
RATIONALISTS TARGET YOGA, SPIRITUALITY, ART OF LIVING
(Express News Service, Pune, April 26, 2007)
Indian spirituality, yoga and Art of Living have been accepted worldwide. But the Federation of Indian Rationalist Association (FIRA) has questioned the new age “pseudo science” which bank on spirituality, yoga and Art of Living that are “manipulating the masses.” The FIRA will undertake a campaign to question the beliefs of these gurus and ask them to present their evidence before the common man.
NEPAL’S TRYST WITH DESTINY
(Opinion, editorial, the Hindu, April 3, 2007)
The formation of an interim government in Nepal with the participation of revolutionaries who, until recently, were engaged in an all-out war to overthrow the state is an event of historic political significance. In 1996, when the Maoists walked out of the House of Representatives with a charter of demands aimed at deepening Nepal’s fledgling democracy, few expected them to have any impact on the course of the country’s politics.
OUR MAIN PRIORITY IS FREE, FAIR AND FEARLESS ELECTIONS, SAYS PRACHANDA
Maoist chairman Prachanda has said that the main priority of his party after having joined the interim cabinet will be to ensure that elections to the Constituent Assembly take place in a free, fair and fearless environment.
NEWS BRIEFS
- PRO-TALIBAN ELEMENTS IN PAKISTAN TERRORIZE PROGRESSIVE THEATRE GROUP
- DISGRACEFUL TREATMENT OF CANADA’S ABORIGINAL KIDS
- THE US SENATE LINKS MILITARY FINDING TO TIMED US WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ
- ANNIVERSARY (73RD) OF THE IRAQ COMMUNIST PARTY CELEBRATED
ANNIVERSARY (73RD) OF THE IRAQ COMMUNIST PARTY CELEBRATED
A public meeting was held at the International People’s Stadium in Baghdad on Saturday 31 March 2007, to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the Iraqi Communist Party.
A SYSTEM AGAINST DALITS
Vidya Subrahmaniam
Bibipur is a metaphor. Locally it is a symbol of unrelieved Dalit suffering in Haryana. Nationally it is about the staggering insensitivity of the state machinery to a community grievously wronged by history.
THE THREAT POSED BY HINDUTVA
Vinod Mubayi and Daya Varma
In the December 2006 issue of INSAF Bulletin, we argued that Maoists were not a major threat to India. In the March issue we wrote that globalization is also not the most important threat to India. In this final article of the series, we express our position that Hindutva poses the greatest threat to India.
COPING WITH GLOBALIZATION – II
Mritiunjoy Mohanty
In ‘Coping with Globalization’ in the March 2007 issue of INSAF Bulletin, Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi argue that globalization is not the most important threat facing India. Whereas in general I agree with that position, there are a few issues on which I think the argument can be a little more nuanced. I hope this contribution takes that debate forward and clarifies issues that Daya and Vinod, in their inimitable polemical style, raise.
GUJARAT GENOCIDE 2002: FIVE YEARS LATER
Sabrang Alternative News Network, December 20, 2006
BACKGROUNDER: Victim survivors of the Gujarat Genocide, especially those committed to their struggle for justice have been reduced to a life of every day terror and harassment. Five years later, people in Shaikh Mohalla in Sardarpura village of Mehsana district, Gulberg society in Ahmedabad, Ode village in Anand district and other areas live as internally displaced refugees without bare civic rights like ration cards, BPL cards, electricity and water. Victims of the Ode massacre still look in vain for the missing bodies of their lost ones and repeated inquiries to the police face a cold response.
GUJARAT: FIVE YEARS AFTER THE GODHRA POGROM
Dionne Bunsha
The Hindu February 28, 2007
There is no violence but the atmosphere of fear and prejudice still prevails. Gujarat is a society divided – where minorities are segregated and face social and economic boycotts. Muslims have been pushed into ghettos.
NEWS BRIEFS
- MASSIVE INQUILAB RALLY BY CPI (ML) IN INDIA’S CAPITAL
- CPI DISAPPROVES BRUTAL POLICE FIRING IN NANDIGRAM
- CPM ADMITS NEGLECT OF MUSLIMS IN WEST BENGAL
- INDIAN PM RELEASES THE BOOK “CULTURAL HERITAGE OF INDIA”
- PAKISTAN-INDIA VISA REGULATION TO BE EASED
- INDIA-NEPAL TRADE AGREEMENT EXTENDED
- KASHMIR: THE LAND OF WIDOWS AND ORPHANS
- NEPAL MAOISTS BEGIN CONSULTATIONS ON FORMING INTERIM GOVERNMENT
- RALLY FOR COMMUNAL HARMONY
LETTER: Anand Patwardhan
Dear Vinod (Mubayi), Daya (Varma) and Sekhar (Ramakrishnan)
Your article “The Siege of Nandigram” in INSAF Bulletin Supplement (March 2007) is poorly thought out, perhaps born out of distance from the scene.
CERAS CONDEMNS THE FIRE BOMBING OF SAMJHOUTA EXPRESS
On February 18, 2007, 67 people were killed and 50 others were injured when bombs exploded in a train from Delhi to Lahore. We, in CERAS, strongly condemn this bloodshed and offer our sympathies to the family members of the victims.
COPING WITH GLOBALIZATION
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
In the December 2006 issue of INSAF Bulletin, it was argued that contrary to an earlier assertion by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Maoists were not a major threat to India. The other two threats mentioned in that issue were globalization and Hindutva. Here we claim that contrary to the assertion of left parties and individuals, social activists and a great many NGOs, globalization does not pose a major threat to India either.
BUDDHADEB BHATTACHARJEE ON DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Opinion: Marcus Dam,
The Hindu February 27, 2007
These are challenging times for Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, West Bengal’s Chief Minister. In an interview in Kolkata, he speaks of the absence of an alternative to the industrialisation drive his government has undertaken, the opposition he faces from both within the ruling Left Front and outside, and the need to take the people into confidence. Excerpts:
WEST BENGAL ATTEMPTS TO INDUSTRIALIZE, 2007
Sudhir Joshi
In our contemporary world, capitalism has emerged as the only economic order left standing. It is sad but true that the attempts to create an alternate economic model, a socialist economic order, in early 20th century (Soviet Union) and in mid 20th century (China), has either failed or has been abandoned. The evolution of the “Socialist” economies of the Soviet Union, and China, were characterized by massive collectivization in its industrial and agricultural sectors, centralized planning, and a huge bureaucratic, repressive and stifling state apparatus, which exercised control over every aspect of life of its citizens.
WHY MUSHARRAF SUCCEEDS
S Akbar Zaidi
(Economic and Political Weekly, January 27, 2007)
Military rule in Pakistan has had long spells because the army has learnt how to be repressive and yet accommodative, target only the marginalised and minority groups, buy off support from political groups and, in Musharraf’s case, make use of the US fear of “Islamic” power. Why does military rule persist in Pakistan for as long as it does, at times up to a decade, often without much resistance? Why is military rule acceptable to a large number of people, perhaps even the majority at certain times, and even preferred to Pakistan’s own form of electoral politics or democracy?
INDIA, RUSSIA, CHINA AGREE COOPERATION HOLDS THE KEY
Based on a report by Amit Baruah
(the Hindu, February 16, 2007)
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, Li Zhaoxing and Sergei Lavrov (right) at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on February 14, 2007 and announced that cooperation, rather than confrontation, should govern the approaches to regional and global affairs.
HAILING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDIA’S FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE!
Kaleem Kawaja
Sunday, February 25, 2007, marks the 150th anniversary of the date in 1857 on which the first war for India’s independence began. On that day the 19th native regiment of the Indian army rebelled against their British officers in Berhampur, Bengal. On that day the Indian soldiers of the regiment refused to use the cartridges for their guns that the Indian army gave them.
INDIA DENIES CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION
According to a press release (February 25, 2007) of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the Government of India continues to refuse the existence of caste-based discrimination as defined in the International Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
KABIR SADBHAVNA PEACE MARCH FROM AYODHYA TO MAGAHAR
In light of the worsening communal situation in eastern Uttar Pradesh, a communal harmony peace march is being planned from Ayodhya to Magahar. With the impending assembly elections in U.P., the communal forces are once again adopting their strategy to polarize the Hindu votes by such incidents.
UNITY BETWEEN NEPAL’S TWO MAJOR COMMUNIST PARTIES POSSIBLE
According to a report by Himal News Service, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) Chairman Prachanda said on February 26 that his party’s integrated policy-wise and program-wise union with CPN (UML or United Marxist-Leninist) is feasible. Prachanda said: “It cannot be disregarded that the ongoing debate between the two parties might end in a union.”
NOVEL WAYS TO BE ANTI-MUSLIM AND GETTING AWAY WITH IT
Daya Varma
Canada, like many other western countries, invents various tricks to be racist and anti-Muslim but shroud it in fancy secular excuses. A small town of 1,300 near Montreal with no Muslim or immigrant population recently passed a code that the city would not allow stoning of women, female circumcision, etc.
HONORING FAIZ AHMED FAIZ
I.K. Shukla The genius of Faiz Ahmed Faiz was honored with the launch of a special CD-ROM ‘Faiz- Aaj Kay Naam’ dedicated to the times, life and works of this literary giant of Pakistan (and also of India, ed.) Read more…
AMU – A FILM BY SHONALI BOSE IN SEARCH OF JUSTICE
Rahul Varma
Shonali Bose’s debut docudrama Amu isn’t merely a movie depicting massacre of over 5,000 Sikhs following the assassination of India’s Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi, but more importantly a film that makes a case for an inquiry into state culpability in organized mass murders and denial of justice for the victims and survivors of 1984 communal carnage against Sikhs in the name of revenge.
CPM FEASTING ON RED REVENGE, SAFFRON TOO!
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
The Left Front Government of West Bengal, of which the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) is the leading partner, embarked upon an ambitious industrial development program.
RUSSIA OFFERS INDIA NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS AND FUEL WITH NO RESTRICTIONS
Vinod Mubayi
President Vladimir Putin of Russia was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day ceremony of January 26, 2007. During his visit it was announced that governments of India and Russia had signed a memorandum-of- intent (MOI) for Russia to supply India with four additional nuclear power reactors at the Koodankulam site in Tamil Nadu.
MASSACRE OF MIGRANT WORKERS BY ULFA IN ASSAM
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
Hyper-nationalism within multi-national countries is the new curse of the postcolonial era. More often than not it acquires murderous overtones such as exhibited by Hindutvawadis of Sangh Parivar, but experience has shown that none is more virulent than the United Liberation Front of Asom, which deserves to be called the United Lynching Fascists of Assam.
REMEMBERING P.C. JOSHI AND THE CULTURE OF COMMUNAL HARMONY
Daya Varma
In the 1940’s the Communist Party of India (CPI) was not very big but its influence was far beyond its size (see note 1). Until 1942, CPI was with the Congress and Puran Chand Joshi, the General Secretary of CPI directly interacted with Congress leaders including Gandhi and Nehru.
HONORING FAIZ AHMED FAIZ
I.K. Shukla
The genius of Faiz Ahmed Faiz was honored with the launch of a special CD-ROM ‘Faiz- Aaj Kay Naam’ dedicated to the times, life and works of this literary giant of Pakistan (and also of India, ed.).
ROAD TO FAIR REPRESENTATION
Pramod Dhakal
Swayed by the news of the positive and historic developments in the political landscape of Nepal of late, I spent hours scanning the analysis of the events presented in the weekly and daily newspapers of Nepal. Although it is my predisposed expectation to find them poorly biased, I read them in search of something philosophically important or intellectually intriguing.
NEPAL: NEWS BRIEFS
- NEPAL MAOISTS TO SHARE POWER
- NEPAL MAOISTS WARN AGAINST FOREIGN INTERFERENCE
- NEPAL MAOISTS TO DISSOLVE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.
OTHER NEWS BRIEFS
- HONORING GURSHARAN SINGH: THE PEOPLE’S VOICE
- PADAMSHREE AWARD FOR TEESTA SETALVAD
- HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN ON THE STATE OF WOMEN
- THE MURDER OF A PRESIDENT
- AHMADINEJAD: SADDAM’S EXECUTION SHOWS TRUE NATURE OF US POLICIES
- MASSIVE PROTEST IN WASHINGTON AGAINST IRAQ WAR
OBITUARY: BAREN BHATTACHARYA
Baren Bhattacharya CPI(ML) Kolkata District Committee member and Secretary of Tallygunge-Garia area committee expired on 30 December 2006 at Maniktala ESI Hospital in Kolkata. He was suffering from liver abscess since August 2006. His friends and Kolkata CPI(ML) dist. party comrades left no stone unturned for his recovery from this fatal disease.
OBITUARY: TILLIE OLSEN
Julie Bosman
(January 3, 2007, The New York Times)
STRANGE! SINGUR UNITES THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
The acquisition of farmland near Kolkata by the Left Front government for an automobile manufacturing plant to be owned and operated by the Tatas (one of India’s largest industrial groups) has caused an unprecedented, if not totally unexpected, stir against the West Bengal government, in particular, its leading entity the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM. Ranged against this decision of the Left Front government is a very wide and diverse array of groups from the extreme left, i.e. those who consider themselves left of CPM, to the extreme right, like the Bharatiya Janata Party, along with regional “sore loser” politicians like Mamata Banerjee, various shades of Gandhians, environmentalists, and those who consider themselves India’s conscience keepers.
INDIAN MAOISTS THROWN INTO DISARRAY BY THEIR NEPALESE COMRADES
Daya Varma
It is possible for a man to be a genuine feminist, for a Hindu to treat a Muslim as their kith and kin and for a caste Hindu to have no innate sense of superiority over Dalits. However, it is a Himalayan task for an Indian to refrain from chauvinism towards the Nepalese. Therefore it is not surprising that the Communist Party of India (Maoist), or CPI (Maoist) acts like a big brother towards their Nepalese counterpart, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).This “revolutionary” chauvinism is worse than even that displayed by the Indian rulers from Nehru to Manmohan Singh.
VERDICT OF COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) ABOUT NEPAL
Press release (November 13, 2006)
A New Nepal can emerge only by smashing the reactionary state!
WHY ARE MAHARASHTRA’S DALITS SO ANGRY?
Kalpana Sharma
(The Hindu, December 02, 2006)
Why did Maharashtra burst into flames on Thursday following Dalit protests, almost without warning? To those who have not been monitoring what is happening among Dalits, and more specifically amongst the followers of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar this year, it would appear that the protests came out of nowhere. Yet the signs of anger have been more than evident, particularly over the last two months since the murder of four Dalits in the village of Khairlanji, 100 km from Nagpur on September 29. Ironically, just three days after this atrocity in which the mother and three grown children of the Bhotmange family were brutally killed, a major event took place in Nagpur bringing together the national leadership of Dalits. On October 2, Dussehra Day, Dalits marked 50 years since Dr. Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism. On October 14, the actual date of the conversion, once again lakhs of people gathered in Nagpur. Not a whiff of the atrocity so close at hand disturbed the occasion.
NEWS BRIEFS
- DR. MANMOHAN SINGH DEFINES THE LEGACY OF INDIA
- STATUES OF BHUPESH GUPTA AND INDRAJIT GUPTA IN INDIAN PARLIAMENT
- INDIAN MUSLIMS IN AMERICA ON HOLOCAUST DENIAL (Kaleem Kawaja)
- FRONTLINE HIGHLIGHTS THE SACHAR REPORT ON THE PLIGHT OF MUSLIMS
- ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER RECEIVES ANOTHER AWARD
- CANADIAN NEPALESE HAIL THE PEACE ACCORD
- NEPAL KING NO MORE HEAD OF THE STATE
- NORTH AMERICAN NETWORK FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF NEPAL (NANDRON)
- MORE THAN 400 ACTIVISTS ARRESTED IN BALOCHISTAN
- PERSECUTION OF AHMADIS IN PAKISTAN
- ‘WAR ON TERROR’ AN EXCUSE FOR DISAPPEARANCES IN PAKISTAN
- BANGLADESH: ELITE FORCE TORTURES AND KILLS DETAINEES
- LEBANESE DEMAND OUSTER OF WEST-BACKED GOVERNMENT
- AUGUSTO PINOCHET DIES BEFORE HE COULD BE HANGED
- US NOT WINNING IN IRAQ
- FORMER US PRESIDENT CARTER DEFENDS PALESTINIAN RIGHTS
- DETAINEES IN CANADA ON HUNGER STRIKE
LETTER TO MOSES, JESUS AND MOHAMMED: A POEM
(A poem by Feroz Mehdi from Jerusalem)
Pages from history: A Cominform document
(The article below was published in For a Lasting Peace, For a People’s Democracy, Bucharest, Organ of the Information Bureau of the Communist and Worker’s Parties in its January 27, 1950 No. 4 issue. It had a profound influence on the Communist Party of India and laid the seeds of its later split. It is noteworthy that all predictions in this article such as the victory of socialism in the erstwhile USSR, and the revolutions in Malaya, Burma and Philippines have proven false. The portion of special relevance to India has been italicized and the most significant part is presented in italics. It neither clearly excludes nor includes the desirability of unity with Congress – hence the turmoil in the party).
OBITUARY Naxalite pioneer Mandakini Narayanan
Deepak Kapur
KOZHIKODE: Mandakini Narayanan, a pioneer of the naxalite movement in Kerala, died at her residence here on Saturday, family sources said. She was 81 and survived by her daughter Ajitha, a comrade-in-arms for her mother and a leading women rights activist.
Communalism and Economic/Educational “Development” – A Negative Correlation?
Vinod Mubayi
It was a common assumption not too long ago that many of the socio-cultural ills afflicting India, among which communalism and communal violence occupy a high rank, would be “solved” through reduction in the levels of poverty and illiteracy. Economic development by reducing poverty would lead to a reduction in the need for child labor which in turn would allow children to stay in school longer. The spread of education it was felt would tend to at least reduce if not remove many of the prejudices and misconceptions prevalent in Indian society regarding people belonging to different religious, ethnic, linguistic and social groups divided by religion, region, caste, and class and thereby create a more integrated and harmonious country.
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