All posts by apoorvanand

Countryside, Culture, Everyday Life, Government, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Silent changes amidst terror in the Jungle Mahal of West Bengal: Kumar Rana

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Guest post by KUMAR RANA

Nothing seems to have changed in the past quarter decade. Past Jhargram, the town in the woods, the metal road connecting Lodhasuli to National Highway No. 6 wraps itself in a shady serenity. At occasional intervals, the artificiality of a clamour, emitted by a motor engine, creates an unquiet irritation, murdering the resonance of the forest and interrupting its slumber. The bus-stops at Kalabani and Boria are as lonely as they used to be; Gar-Salboni, a roadside village, is stuck in its eternal search for a path to survival. The mud road that breaks from the main road to meet the villages Sirsi, Joalbhanga and Lab-Kush, is as tranquil as it had been 25 years ago. Past the lush green rice fields by the road begins the forest that hems the horizon. The leaves that have just had a splash of shower glistens with the brilliance of the sun.

— Last year it was different, whispered the road.

— Yes, I have heard of it – there had been a drought. And it was the same in the year before the last. It used to follow a cycle like this 25 years ago. Rain ensures the crop. Hunger rides free when there is a drought.

Continue reading Silent changes amidst terror in the Jungle Mahal of West Bengal: Kumar Rana →

Centre watch, Countryside, Government

Nutritional Neglect: Starving Our Future: Priyanka Nandi

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Guest post by PRIYANKA NANDI

Urja aehi, swadha aehi, sunrita chirawatyehiti
[Come nutrition, come food, come truth, come security]
– Atharvasamhita 8.10.4

“Come nutrition, come food, come truth, come security”, invites the Atharvasamhita. Clearly, this is not the expensive military view of security we are encouraged to take these days. What, then, is this security?

This is the security that comes from having access to regular and adequate nutrition. From not having to starve, or suffer chronic hunger. There is no violence in this idea of security, except the quiet, steady violence done to generations of ‘common’ people by making something as basic as daily nutrition unavailable to them. Continue reading Nutritional Neglect: Starving Our Future: Priyanka Nandi →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Frontiers, Identities, Violence/Conflict

Killing poetry and other possibilities of life

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The news of the ‘postponement’ of Harud, a literary festival scheduled to be held in Kashmir in September, should be read with concern by those who believe in, and fight for, the right to express themselves freely. How the self-righteousness of some fighters for democracy actually forecloses any possibility of democracy can be seen from this incident.

In a statement last week, the organizers of Harud explained that they were forced to put off their festival as there was a concerted campaign by some people on the Internet, on  Facebook and some other sites attacking the festival. According to these critics, “We fear, therefore, that holding such a festival would, willy-nilly, dovetail with the state’s concerted attempt to portray that all is normal in Kashmir. Even as the reality on the ground is one of utter abnormality and a state of acute militarisation and suppression of dissent, rights and freedoms.” Continue reading Killing poetry and other possibilities of life →

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Law

Reflections on a Genuflection to the Vox Populi by Subinay Inder Singh Bedi

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The republic and the legislature look to the public for gauging the mood of the nation during the process of formulating laws that necessarily must tap into the prevailing moral sentiment and ethos of the day. Thus a law against child marriage might have been moot a half century ago, but a necessary devolution of current social perceptions. On such issues, public sentiment can guide, indeed force the hand of the legislature and judiciary to come down particularly heavily on one side of the fence. However, it is parochial of us to invoke the illegal and hare-brained claim that since democracy is popularly, rule of, for and by the people, a representative democracy is inherently bound to genuflect to populist opinion, a case in point being the recent debate over the Lokpal bill that at the time of writing was still raging and occupied prime placement amongst the media of the day.

Continue reading Reflections on a Genuflection to the Vox Populi by Subinay Inder Singh Bedi →

Bad ideas, Debates, Movements, Politics, Right watch, Theory, Violence/Conflict

Reading Ur-Fascism in our times

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When people are marching to barricades, I go back to my library . I know that streets across India are now re-educating many of us and we are keen to get enrolled in this university of action. Yet I want first to understand this moment of action we are being advised to be part of.

Continue reading Reading Ur-Fascism in our times →

Bad ideas, Culture, Movements, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Resisting The Popular

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The drama that is being enacted in Delhi for the last one week, rather five months, has thoroughly exposed the intellectual hollowness of the political life of India. This moment would also be remembered as the lowest to which collective intelligence of a people can descend to. Critiquing people is not the job of the politicians or the media, not in our times at least . Gone are the days when you had a Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi who could stand up to the masses and withdraw a popular movement risking their wrath or a Jawaharlal Nehru who commanded the authority to chide his own people. The days of Rabindra Nath Tagore are also over who had the courage to openly challenge, criticize a saint like Gandhi and write ‘anti-people’ novels like Ghare baire. If we have time and patience to turn the pages of our history , we would find that their criticism was an integral part of their long and continuous engagement with their people. Theirs was not a utilitarian relationship . People knew that they love them and care for them and that is why they never turned away from them.

The names we have mentioned above belong to an era when the grammar and vocabulary of popular politics were being transformed. They refrained from simplifying things and devised a language which people were challenged to learn. It was their inexhaustible trust in the intelligence of their people that encouraged them to constantly innovate and complicate rather than simplify. It was this air which a young man Bhagat Singh was breathing, who, going against the grains, wrote that violent methods were no substitute to popular political mobilisation, who knew that the appeal of Subhas Chandra Bose was dangerous and it was Nehru, with a scientific and internationalist outlook, he advised the youth to follow.

Continue reading Resisting The Popular →

Bad ideas, Excavation, Language, Left watch, Politics

वामपंथ, माकपा और जनवादी क्रांति बकौल प्रभात पटनायक

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[This post is a response to Prabhat Patnaik’s article ‘Why the Left Matters’ which appeared in the Indian Express on 17 March. A version has appeared in two parts in Jansatta]

पांच राज्यों में विधान सभा चुनाव हो रहे हैं. इनमें से दो, बंगाल और केरल वाममोर्चा शासित प्रदेश हैं. केरल में तो भारत के अन्य राज्यों की तरह  चुनावों के परिणामस्वरूप सरकारें बदलती रही हैं , बंगाल ने पिछले  चौंतीस  साल से वाम मोर्चे के अलावा किसी और सरकार का तजुर्बा करना ज़रूरी नहीं समझा है. इसे अक्सर बंगाल की जनता की राजनीतिक परिपक्वता के तौर पर व्याख्यायित किया गया है. बौद्धिक जगत में साम्यवादी विचार की वैधता के लिए भी जनता द्वारा दिए गए इस स्थायित्व का इस्तेमाल वैसे ही किया जाता रहा है जैसे कभी सोवियत संघ और अन्य पूर्वी युरोपीय देशों या अभी भी चीन में  साम्यवादी दल के  सत्ता के अबाधित रहने से उसे प्राप्त था.  बल्कि कई बार इसे अन्य  राज्यों की जनता के राजनीतिक दृष्टि से पिछ्ड़े होने के प्रमाण के रूप में भी पेश किया जाता रहा है . इस बार स्थिति कुछ बदली हुई लग रही है. अगर बंगाल में अनेक स्तरों के स्थानीय निकायों के चुनाव कुछ इशारा कर रहे हैं तो वह सत्ता परिवर्तन का है.

Prabhat Patnaik, leading CPI-M aligned intellectual
Prabhat Patnaik, leading CPI-M aligned intellectual

संसदीय प्रणाली पर आधारित लोकतांत्रिक व्यवस्था में इस प्रकार का परिवर्तन जीवन का नियम माना जाता है, बल्कि इस अस्थिरता में ही उसकी जीवंतता का स्रोत भी देखा जा सकता है. लेकिन बंगाल की जनता द्वारा मत-परिवर्तन की संभावना एक विशेष बौद्धिक संवर्ग के लिए चिंता का विषय बन गई है. प्रख्यात अर्थशास्त्री प्रभात पटनायक ने कुछ पहले इस संकेत की असाधारणता की ओर ध्यान दिलाते हुए एक टिप्पणी लिखी है. बल्कि यह जनता और विशेषकर भारत के शिक्षित समुदाय से एक अपील ही है – भारत की लोकतांत्रिक क्रांति की रक्षा की अपील. उनके कहने का सार यह है कि भारत की सतत वर्धमान लोकतांत्रिक क्रांति पर प्रतिक्रांतिकारी शक्तियों के बादल मंडरा रहे हैं और इस बार यह खतरा वास्तविक और आसन्न है. इस खतरे का सामना करने के लिए प्रभात आवश्यक मानते हैं कि वामपंथ को चुनाव में प्रतिकूल परिणाम न झेलना पड़ॆ.  उनके अनुसार वामपंथ को कोई भी चुनावी धक्का दरअसल लोकतांत्रिक क्रांति के लिए मरणांतक आघात साबित हो सकता है.

Continue reading वामपंथ, माकपा और जनवादी क्रांति बकौल प्रभात पटनायक →

Bad ideas, Images, Language, Movements, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

लोकतंत्र की आत्मसमीक्षा का क्षण

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अण्णा हजारे के ‘नेतृत्व’ मे शुरू हुए भ्रष्टाचार विरोधी आन्दोलन का पहला चरण सफलतापूर्वक समाप्त हो गया है. अनेक लोगों को सरकार को हिला देने का सुख और संतोष इस आंदोलन ने दिया है. हजारे ने खुद यह कहा कि एक बार तो भगत सिंह ने अंग्रेजों को भगाया था, इस बार ‘काले’ अंग्रेजों को भगा दिया गया है. इसे दूसरी आज़ादी की लड़ाई भी कहा जा रहा है. इसके पहले एक और ‘दूसरी आज़ादी’ की लड़ाई लड़ी गई थी लेकिन शायद वह असली नहीं रही होगी तभी तो इसे तीसरी नहीं दूसरी आज़ादी की जंग कहा जा रहा है. यह सोचने का विषय है कि इस देश में हर प्रकार के संघर्ष को अपना औचित्य सिद्ध करने के लिए क्यों खुद को स्वतंत्रता संग्राम के रूप में प्रचारित करना पड़ता  है. कहा जा सकता है कि यह तो भाषा का रूपकात्मक प्रयोग है, इसे आगे खींचने की ज़रूरत नहीं. इस रूपक को गढ़ने  को मजबूर दिमाग जिस ग्रंथि से जूझता है , वह शायद यह है कि हममें से अधिकतर को यह रंज और गम है कि हम 1947 के पहले पैदा नहीं हो सके थे और इस देश को आज़ाद कराने में हमारा कोई हिस्सा नहीं.दूसरे, उस आन्दोलन के अंतिम क्षण के शत्रु रक्त से रंजित न होने के कारण नवीन राष्ट्रीय शिशु के जन्म की वास्तविक अनुभूति से हम वंचित रह गए. इसके कारण हम सबको एक स्तर पर अपना राष्ट्रीय अस्तित्व ही अप्रामाणिक प्रतीत होता है.   हर पीढ़ी को इस कुंठा से मुक्ति के लिए कभी न कभी एक स्वतंत्रता संग्राम की आवश्यकता पड़ती  है. गोरे अंग्रेजों और काले अंग्रेजों को ‘भगाने’ के जिस  विकृत सुख लाभ की आकांक्षा इस तरह के वक्तव्यों में झलक पड़ती है, उसके पीछे छिपी हिंसा को पहचानना भी आसान नहीं होता. क्या यह इसलिए करना होता है कि ऐसे आन्दोलन एक ‘राष्ट्रीय’ कल्पना को उत्तेजित करना चाहते हैं और इस लिए राष्ट्रीय संदर्भों के सहारे अपनी वैधता हासिल करते हैं? जंतर मंतर के अनशन मंच की पृष्ठभूमि में भारत के मानचित्र को आवृत्त किए हुए, बल्कि उसकी सीमा से बाहर राष्ट्रीय ध्वज को लहराते हुए  गौर वर्णा भारत माता की छवि के विह्वल  आह्वान को जो अनसुना करे क्या उसे दुखियारी माता का पुत्र कहलाने का अधिकार रह जाएगा?  क्या उसके उद्धार के लिए, महिषासुर का दलन करने के लिए पुन: अपने अस्त्र-शस्त्र को शाणित न किया जाएगा? Continue reading लोकतंत्र की आत्मसमीक्षा का क्षण →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Centre watch, Countryside, Ecology/Environment, Empire/ Imperialism, Movements

Niyamgiri, You Are Still Alive

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This 17 minutes long film won the Vasudha, Environment Award at the International Film Festival of India in Goa, 2010.

Bad ideas

6 दिसंबर : न्यायिक विस्मरण के विरुद्ध

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एक बार फिर 6 दिसम्बर आ कर गुजर गया. लेकिन क्या ज़रूरी था कि हम इसे याद करें ही? क्या अठारह साल  पहले हुई एक ‘भूल’ की बार- बार याद दिला कर हम अपने  समाज को मानसिक रूप से आगे बढ़ने से  रोक तो नहीं रहे? याद करना और याद रखना  हमेशा स्वास्थ्यकर हो, आवश्यक नहीं. कई बार तो ज़िन्दगी में इत्मीनान के लिए भूलना बेहतर है. बल्कि,जैसा लातीन अमरीकी     कवि जुआन रामोन हिम्नेज़ का कहना है , याद करना  प्राय: कृत्रिम है जबकि  भूलना या विस्मृति अधिक प्राकृतिक क्रिया है. ऐसा तो नहीं कि हम याद करने को भूलने के ऊपर इसलिए तरजीह देते हैं कि याद रखने में आयास करना होता है और विस्मरण अपनेआप होने वाली क्रिया है?  क्या विस्मृति की निष्क्रियता उसे हीनतर बना देती है स्मृति के मुकाबले? और क्या इसी वजह से हम याद रखने को आधुनिक मनुष्य का नैतिक कर्तव्य मानते हैं? हिम्नेज़ लिखते हैं, ‘स्मृति शोर-शराबे की पुत्री है जबकि विस्मृति मौन की.’ वे कवि को यह कहते  हैं कि स्मृति पर काबू पाना विजयी होना है और उसके आगे घुटने टेक देना पराजित होना है. सबसे ताकतवर  व्यक्ति वह है जो सबसे अधिक भूलता है. हिम्नेज़ इसलिए विस्मृति का आदर करने की सलाह देते हैं क्योंकि वह  हमें वर्तमान  क्षण को विलक्षणता पर एकाग्र होने का अवसर देती है. कवि का मश्विरा है कि हमारे लिए ज़रूरी है अपनी ज़िंदगी के पैमाने पर स्मृति और विस्मृति को समान स्थान देना और दोनों के बीच  संतुलन की तलाश करना.
Continue reading 6 दिसंबर : न्यायिक विस्मरण के विरुद्ध →

Capitalism, Left watch, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Thailand – Two Elites and a Proletariat: Satya Sagar

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A guest post by SATYA SAGAR

The two month long street protests in Bangkok by thousands of ‘red shirt’ opponents of the Abhisit Vejajiva government demanding fresh elections and the violence that followed has been described as the worst conflict Thailand has ever faced in its modern history. It left in its wake at least 88 dead, hundreds injured and close to US$2 billion worth of property destroyed, the toll being much worse in all aspects than previous political violence of October 1976 and May 1992.

Much of the loss of life and damage came in mid-May when the army brutally cracked down on the protestors using trained snipers and war weapons to take on street protestors armed mostly with slingshots, burning tyres and Molotov cocktails. Angry, retreating protestors in turn set fire to over two dozen buildings in Bangkok including Central World, the second largest shopping mall in South East Asia.

Continue reading Thailand – Two Elites and a Proletariat: Satya Sagar →

Left watch, Media politics, Violence/Conflict

Humanise First

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There is dismay in some sections that the FIR lodged by the driver of the ill-fated Gyaneshwari Express does not name Maoists as the suspect perpetrators. Within hours of the derailment and death of the passengers, newspapers were already lamenting that the centre did not have guts to take on Maoists. Suggestions have been made that this is an extraordinary situation and vacuous talk of human rights should not be heeded. There is a familiar taunt being hurled at the UPA government for its unmanly response to the biggest threat to the internal security of the country. The principal opposition party, which otherwise very zealously guards the rights of the state and resents any interference by the centre in matters which fall under the state list, even in one of the most extra-ordinary moments of recent history , I am referring to the state sponsored massacre of Muslims in Gujarat , now feels that the nuanced division of the rights and duties of the state and centre is not something which should keep the centre from treating the Maoist threat as a national issue and going for an all out armed intervention against the enemy of the nation.

Continue reading Humanise First →

Left watch, Violence/Conflict

Death of the Ignorant

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My hand trembles as I write again. To say that it is murder, mass murder and we cannot remain silent when faced with such horror. I do not know who is responsible for this and what caused it. Was it a bomb blast or tempering with the fish plates which derailed the Gyaneshwari Express train near Midnapur in Bengal? Who did it? Was the PCPA involved as claimed by criminally inefficient police of Bengal citing two posters owning the blasts? Or it was not, as claimed by its spokesperson Asit Mahto?  How do we condemn the deaths of ‘innocent civilians’ when we do not know the source of violence? Is it not a possibility that some actors, covertly sponsored by the state did it to further defame theCPI(Moist)? Or could it be the handiwork of the CPI( Marxist) which has an  ability to organize violence in Bengal again to besmirch the revolutionary reputation of the CPI( Maoist) and also to justify a military campaign against them? Continue reading Death of the Ignorant →

Countryside, Debates, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

युद्ध के रूपक का जाल

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अपने नए बंद के दौरान सी.पी.आई.( माओवादी) ने छत्तीसगढ़ और बंगाल में अर्ध-सैन्य बल के सदस्यों के साथ बस में सफ़र कर रहे साधारण ग्रामीणों की हत्या करने के बाद जो बयान दिया है उससे यह साफ़ है कि अभी शायद इससे भी क्रूरतापूर्ण कार्रवाइयां देखने को मिल सकती हैं. उनके प्रवक्ता ने कहा कि उन्होंने पहले ही छतीसगढ़ के ग्रामीणों को यह बता दिया था कि उन्हें इस युद्ध की विशेष परिस्थिति में क्या करना है और क्या नहीं करना है. मसलन, पुलिस या सैन्य बल के लोगों के साथ किसी भी तरह का कारोबार या सामजिक व्यवहार प्रतिबंधित है, उनके साथ किसी सवारी गाडी में सफ़र नहीं करना है. इसके आगे उनसे यह भी कहा गया है कि उन्हें पुलिस या सैन्य बल की गतिविधियों पर नज़र रखनी है, उनके पास हथियारों का अंदाज़ करना है और इसकी खबर जनता सरकार को देते रहना है. इस दल के प्रवक्ता ने कहा कि साधारण लोगों का मारा जाना अफसोसनाक है लेकिन एक तरह से वे खुद इसके लिए जिम्मेदार थे क्योंकि उन्होंने चेतावनी का उल्लंघन किया था. Continue reading युद्ध के रूपक का जाल →

Left watch, Politics, Violence/Conflict

On Regret and Control

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As I get ready to mail this piece, I read the news of the killing of four CRPF men who were out on a patrol in an IED blast in Begal. I know that these deaths do not qualify as deaths of the ‘people’ since all the dead were ‘combatants’. I therefore do not expect any expression of regret from the CPI( Maoist). But the sheer lack of remorse with which the CPI( Maoist) has owned the land mine blast which killed more than 40 people travelling in a bus in Chhatigarh shows that the lives of the tribal people matter little for them. Their central committee member Azad told the reporters that it could not be helped. He said that since they had informed the villagers through circulars that they should refrain from travelling with the security persons, the Maoists cannot be blamed for these deaths. They paid the price with their lives for ignoring this warning. The circular issued by the ‘Janadhan Sarkar’ very clear forbids them from mixing with Jawans or police, inviting them to village for any event , providing them food or shelter, giving any service to the security persons , or travelling with them, including the police, CRPF , SPOs or the CRPF . They have also been asked to keep track of the number of policemen in their area and also the arms they carry and report to the ‘Janadhan Sarkar’ their movement and destination. Continue reading On Regret and Control →

Capitalism, Countryside, Government, Violence/Conflict

Welcome to a Leninist State

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I have been thinking about the recent warning issued by the Home Secretary G.K.Pillai to Indian intellectuals, especially to those who are seen to be sympathetic to the Maoists. He says that they could be booked for their intellectual support to the dreaded enemy of the nation called Maoists.  I felt like thanking him. For once the government, rather the state seems to have taken notice of the importance of the breed called ‘intellectual’. They do matter! Their opinion is valued! The masses are influenced by them!!! They are heard!!! Continue reading Welcome to a Leninist State →

Debates, Left watch, Movements, Violence/Conflict

The Maoist Killings Once Again

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The news of  killing of more than 40 people travelling in a bus  blown by a blast in Dantewada is only a new chapter in the  book of brutalities that is  being scripted in Chhatisgarh and other parts of India in the name of ‘the People’. Six people were found slain in Rajnandgaon just a day before this blast. A day before that four villagers were killed in Bengal  because they were thought be close to the CPM and were labeled as informers. Two days before these killings in Bengal, two villagers who were Gram Rakhis were killed in Orissa. This list does not include the death of 6 Para Military persons in Chhatisgarh who were killed a land mine detonated by the Maoists in Chhatisgarh.

Are these operations  a response to the Operation Green hunt launched by the government? Or are they part of the Protracted  People’s War that is being carried out by the purest revolutionaries of our earth who do not waver and shiver at the sight of blood? Or, as some friends caution us  from rushing to any conclusion, as Shuddhabrata Sengupta has done, are they “ ‘ false flag operations’ conducted by some rogue elements of the state machinery” or directly endorsed by the state ? How are we to know who is the perpetrator of these crimes? Do we wait for a statement from the Maoists and if they deny their involvement, launch an investigation to find out the real culprit? It took nearly a month for the Maoists to officially own the attack which extinguished the lives of 76  CRPF men. The Maoist leadership congratulated the bravery of its combatants who had achieved the feat of eliminating a whole company of Indian para military force.
Continue reading The Maoist Killings Once Again →

Law, Media politics, Mirror Worlds

A Media Simulated Ecstasy?

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Amidst the blood lust evident in the mass media in the run up to and especially the aftermath of the judgement on Kasab, comes a slight relief in the form of the following story in The Telegraph, Calcutta.  Sociologist Andre Beteille, not particularly known for his radical and loony views, said “It appears that people want vengeance — not justice,” underlining that  “the media’s role is crucial in whipping up passions. I’m not really surprised”.

A photograph and some extracts:

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam outside the court after the death sentence was delivered on Thursday. (PTI)
Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam outside the court after the death sentence was delivered on Thursday. (PTI)

May 6: Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam was asked outside court this afternoon: “Sir, what’s your score?”
Nikam figured out the question in a split second, beamed like a gladiator and replied with a chilling echo of Ab Tak Chhappan: “Thirty-eight death penalties and over 600 life terms.”

Clap, clap, clap….

The crowd, not entirely made of journalists, could not resist the temptation to celebrate. Crackers were burst, drums beaten, cheers whooped, effigies hanged and mock funerals held in an outbreak of exultation. “Death to Kasab! Hang him! Hang him!” they cried; Nikam waved heroically and flashed more Vs — the prize fighter who’d delivered the knockout punch for India…

Left watch, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Violence and revolution

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THIS note attempts to understand the nature of the politics behind the violent actions of the Maoists. There seems to be an agreement among human rights activists that Maoist violence is a ‘forced’ response to the extreme repression of the Indian state. The argument is that since the Indian state has been consistently ignoring or violently repressing various people’s movements, the people are left with no choice but to take recourse to the gun.

There is a fallacy in this argument. We know about people’s movements on issues of land rights or displacement which have not turned into armed insurrections, even though they have suffered major losses and have been treated in a very callous manner by the state. Apart from the Narmada Bachao Andolan there are hundreds of big and small peoples’ resistance movements in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and other states which have not given up on the ‘parliamentary’ path of struggle.

Interestingly, we find that Maoist groups are also active in these areas and they constantly try to infiltrate and take control of such movements. We do not know of any movements organized by the Maoists which were initially ‘peaceful’ but compelled to turn to arms after all attempts at working with the state failed. I would suggest that the theory of ‘peaceful’ movements mutating into ‘violent’ insurrections appears flawed. Also that instead of using ‘Maoist’ as an adjective in a careless manner we should treat them as a political formation organized on the lines articulated in its political programme and constitution which is based on its own Marxian theory of revolution which is impossible without violence. Continue reading Violence and revolution →

Left watch, Movements, Violence/Conflict

Maoist Revolution, Liberal Naivete

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Responding to the call by the Home Minister and prime Minister of India to halt violence to facilitate talks, Maoist leaders ridiculed them and asked them to get their history right. According to them it was wrong to say that the ‘war’ that is now being played out in the theatre of the jungles of  Chhatisgarh, Jangalmahal of Bengal, Jharkhand , Orissa and other states is of recent origin. This is only the latest   phase of the “people’s war” that is being waged since 1967 and would not stop until the ultimate objective of establishing Communism is achieved.  The Constitution of the CPI(Maoist) is very unambiguous, “The ultimate aim or maximum programme of the party is the establishment of communist society. This New Democratic Revolution will be carried out and completed through armed agrarian revolutionary war i.e. the Protracted People’s War with area wise seizure of power remaining as its central task.”

Area wise seizure of power is what the Maoists are busy with. They have succeeded, partially or fully in many areas of different states. What needs to be understood is that it is not development they are opposed to as is evident from the statements of their leaders.  They are ready to let development activities take place, provided it is under their supervision. They are interested more in making themselves the lone political voice of the people. One should ask why do they keep abducting, harassing, threatening or killing the members and leaders of other political parties in the areas where they rule using the strength of their guns? Why do they force people to resign from other political parties? Their answer is very simple: whoever is seen to interrupt or impede the armed people’s war is either a class enemy or an agent of the class enemy represented by the state and is therefore on the other side of the war.
Continue reading Maoist Revolution, Liberal Naivete →

Debates, Left watch, Politics

माओवादी नेपाली कॉमरेडों से सबक लें

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भारत के माओवादियों को नेपाल के माओवादियों से सबक लेना चाहिए, ऐसा पिछले दो साल से कहा जा रहा है. समझ यह रही है कि नेपाली माओवादियों ने सशस्त्र संघर्ष का रास्ता छोड़कर संसदीय लोकतंत्र में भागीदारी का फैसला किया . लेकिन नेपाली माओवादियों के प्रति भारतीय वामपंथियों के आकर्षण की वजह शायद यह भी रही है कि उन्होंने दीर्घ जनसंघर्ष के रास्ते वह हासिल कर लिया जो यहां की  कम्युनिस्ट पार्टियों ने  अलग-अलग समय में हथियारों के सहारे हासिल करना चाहा था और जिसमें वे सफल नहीं हो पाईं. संसद में हिस्सा लेने के उनके निर्णय को उनकी परिपक्वता का सबूत  माना गया. संसदीय लोकतंत्र को लेकर माओवादियों या आम तौर पर कम्युनिस्ट दलों का रुख क्या रहा है, यह उनके दस्तावेजों को पढ़ने से मालूम हो जाता है. वे इसे लोकतंत्र  की एक हेय या हीन अवस्था मानते हैं और इसे अपना ऐतिहासिक दायित्व मानते हैं कि वे लोकतंत्र को एक उच्चतर अवस्था पर ले जाएं. चूंकि समाज के विकास का एक नक्शा उनके पास है, जिसमें सामंतवाद के बाद पूंजीवाद का आना अनिवार्य है और तभी समाजवाद  के लिए आवश्यक  उत्पादन-पद्धति और उत्पादन संबंध की ज़मीन बन सकती है, यह जिम्मेवारी भी वे अपने ऊपर ले लेते हैं कि सामंतवाद से पूंजीवाद के संक्रमण को वे पूरा करें.
Continue reading माओवादी नेपाली कॉमरेडों से सबक लें →