Khammam form Nandigram - But the CPIM is the same!
Salute to the martyrs of Mudigonda Police Firing!
But know all the people who are deceiving you!
116 days after 14th March - the CPIM and its govt's Nandigram mass-murder mass-rape, the CPIM leapt out and yelled "Murder"! Mudigonda, Khammam, Andhra Pradesh, 28/7/07: Police fired on bandh supporters, 8 Killed. "The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Telugu Desam Party on Sunday demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for using 'brutal force' for 'suppression' of the Left struggle for land distribution to the poor, leading to the police firing at Mudigonda village in Khammam district on Saturday. ... ..." So said "The Hindu". But nobody can forget Nandigram so early, and so hastily CPIM-friendly "The Hindu" added, "Mr. Yechury said there was no comparison between what happened at Mudigonda and Nandigram as the incidents in the West Bengal village took place during an armed struggle, in which even policemen were killed." ...!! [Emphasis ours. Retrieved on 30.07 07 at about 12:30 Hours from http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/30/stories/2007073057390100.htm] Ask any one of the West Bengal State Police - and he'll say not a single police was killed in Nandigram fight till that date. And everybody saw so many video clippings in so many channels; people know what occurred there and how. In the tough race for 'International Goebbels Award For Falsification & Misinformation' the CPIM and its pet media are really driving rashly! How can one forget the "Frontline" story last year informing its readers that 95% of the Singur villagers had given their land voluntarily, that most of the Singur land acquired for TATA was single-cultivation land, ... etc, when the govt is now divulging in the High Court that villagers owning much more than 30% of the acquired land hadn't even taken their due cheques till date, the Ministers now saying that no question of 'willingly giving land' arise in case of land acquisition by the British era act of acquisition, and the "Frontline" reporters and photographers chose not to see what other could see easily: the canal irrigation, govt run deep tube wells and so many mini-deep electric-run tube wells in that 'single cropped land'! True disciples of Herr Goebbles they are! But lets leave Nandigram for now and go straight to the much talked about bhu poratam or 'Land Struggle' of Andhra.
After a sweeping victory to power in the assembly election of 2004, the Congress, naturally due to pressures from different sections of Andhra society, started a 'peace-talk' and 'truce' with the CPI (Maoist). The Hindu on 7 Nov 2004 reported that, "The CPI (Maoist) and the CPI-ML (Janashakti) have given the Government time till the first week of January to launch distribution of surplus, forest and temple lands to the poor failing which people will forcibly occupy them." Anyway, the peace talk didn't last long as the Maoists pulled out charging that the state is violating the truce (see, for example, the related BBC news-story, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4183997.stm Last Updated: Thursday, 20 January, 2005, 11:27 GMT). Nonetheless, due to pressure from below and advices of many eminent members of the intelligentsia, the govt made a committee to look into matters of 'land reform'. Even CPIM-friendly Hindu group's Frontline admitted this by writing, "After the talks with the Maoists, the government constituted the Land Committee, headed by Municipal Administration Minister Koneru Ranga Rao, to look into land ownership patterns and other aspects of land distribution in a time-bound manner. The government made the panel's recommendations public recently and convened a workshop on June 12 ..." (Frontline June 16-29, 2007, M Rajeev's article, http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2412/stories/20070629000904900.htm). Meanwhile, we also find that: "In this back ground a ground swelling movement is going on demanding the state government to implement the recommendations of Koneru Rangarao Committee. 195 grassroot organisations including NGOs cutting across political and ideological affiliations have joined hands in support of this demand. Of late major political parties in the state have also extended their solidarity. The ongoing struggle reached its peak with the Hunger fast movement where the leaders of CPI(M) and CPI sitting on fast." (http://landstrugglesinap.wordpress.com/ Land struggles in AP, July 28th, 2007 - From S.Vinay kumar/INN).
The CPIM naturally demands proudly that they have been struggling, fighting, ... etc on this issue, but the only remarkable things they did so far, that is before May 2007, were, according to the interview of its state secretary's interview in the party's weekly on 1st July 07, "Another thing to be remembered here is that this struggle is not a sudden one. We have been conducting programmes on this issue continuously for the last three years. Thousands of applications for house-sites were given by the poor under our leadership thrice in the past. In July 2005 CPI(M) organised a big campaign, with 25 leaders from across the state going on a hunger strike for 7 days demanding house-sites for the poor. The hunger strike was withdrawn only after the government had a written agreement with us saying it will settle the land issues in six months. The government promised to locate house-sites for urban poor. But nothing happened. The agreement has been thrown into dust-bin. This is the background in which we began the struggle." [Emphasis ours]
"The Hindu" writes on 18th July, "The struggle for land agitation led by the CPI (M) continued to spread to other parts of the twin cities on Thursday with hundreds of poor occupying nine acres of Government land at the hilly terrains of Mahendra Hills. Nearly thousand people, mostly women, made a beeline to Mahendra Hills from wee hours of Thursday and amidst slogans, they began pitching poles demarcating the area for erecting huts, as a strong contingent of police watched. Homeless people from Addagutta, Chilkalguda, Tukaramgate, Mahendra Hills and Musheerabad formed the largest chunk of protestors. "Our income does not exceed Rs. 5,000 per month and it is impossible for us to get a house. The Government is not doing enough to provide us with shelter," said Fatima Bibi, another resident from Chilkalguda." The poor toiling people of Hyderabad city and many other urban areas who are fighting for a justified demand of own housing sites may please ask the CPIM leaders there - "how many acres of urban land was given to ownership of how many poor toiling persons in West Bengal during the last 30 years of CPIM govt reign?" In fact the CPIM initiated 'land struggle' of another sort in WB, where the govt is grabbing land for the capitalists and for SEZ too, even for 'Chemical Hub' of MNC-s or 'Nuclear Power Station', while the people have the only alternative to fight the CPIM-govt-land-grab! What else are Singur, Nandigram...?
Anyway, from May this year, the 'land struggle' started getting spontaneous to a considerable extent. We cite two reports here, first one from the previously mentioned CPIM state secretary's interview, and another from a non-CPIM source: " ...195 organisations - among which included Left mass organisations, dalit organisations, NGOs working on land issues - involved in this struggle, there is a greater credibility to it. It has also gained support among the middle classes, as was seen in many sms polls conducted by private TV channels. .... In Nellore, where there has been a most atrocious attack on women, children and old by the police, the people refused to vacate the lands despite our people trying to persuade them to retreat temporarily. A spontaneous bandh was observed by all sections of Nellore town in protest of the police brutalities." (Emphasis ours, Peoples Democracy, July 1, 2007; INTERVIEW WITH B V RAGHAVULU) Now, the second one: "The Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Karmika Sangham in association with 55 other people's organizations at a meeting held on Wednesday at VUDA's Children Theatre resolved to launch an agitation after May 15 and occupy the surplus government lands for distribution to the poor. The meeting held under the chairmanship of Sangham district committee president P Sesharatnam discussed the issue and the course of agitation. The Secretary M Appalaraju sought regularization of all lands occupied by the poor. Meanwhile, Yadava Mahasabha District President B Rama Rao said that the Government is allotting thousands of acres of lands to corporate industries and MNCs.... The former Vice Chancellor of Andhra University, KV Ramana called upon the landless poor to prepare themselves for the struggle. The Sangham President stated that 195 people's organizations had met in Hyderabad on April ..." (VIZAGINFO news, http://www.vizaginfo.com/vnews/2007/may/Land-poor-agitation-May.asp). Moreover, we have another reporting from Andhra News saying, "The Bhu poratam will continue up to May 20. At a round table conference held in the city by the Bhu Ikya Udyama Committee comprising of 195 organizations including TRS, BJP and TDP supported the agitation" (http://www.andhranews.net/state/2007/May/7-27-CPM-leaders-participating-Bhu-poratam-arrested.asp). Then, as Frontline wrote in the article already mentioned above, "What began as a token agitation in urban areas on May 6 for house sites has now spread to the entire State with activists and people's organisations taking possession of "arable government lands". ..."
What the CPI(M) did? The state secretary of CPIM in his already mentioned July 1interview said, "Knowing that it is a report of a bourgeoisie party-run government, we however feel the recommendations made in the report would provide some relief to the poor. That is why we are demanding its implementation." Then, The Hindu on July 17 wrote, "State Secretary B.V. Raghavulu on Monday warned Government that if it did not announce the formation of a Land Reforms Commission within two or three days, his party workers would launch indefinite hunger strikes across the State on July 22..."; and on 25th July wrote, "As part of intensification of the ongoing indefinite hunger strike, Left party leaders have decided to stage a rasta roko on Wednesday and lay siege to government offices on Thursday."
All these explain, though in a roundabout way, the reason behind CPIM actions - they tried their best, as a legalist reformist party, to interfere to contain the spontaneity within a limit, a lakhshman rekha, so that the spontaneous masses, who expressed by their action the 'land hunger' - the problem which only a democratic revolution can solve, do no go forward to occupy forcibly not only the vested land belonging to the govt, but also the land of the non-peasant owners (non-peasant ? who doesn't toil in any major agricultural work), the land allocated for so many SEZ..., etc: as, they, the CPIM, as a "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition" party cannot let the people take up 'law' in their hands! Here is a concrete example from CPIM-friendly The Hindu. Just 4-5 days before the police firing, we heard news from The Hindu (e-paper, July 24 edition): "CPI district secretary G. Obulesu and leaders W. Ramu, Fakirappa, Hussain Basha and Vijayalakshmi, AP Agricultural Workers Union leader Obulaiah, CPI(M) district secretary B. Narayana and leaders S. Magbul Basha and Subbanna participated. ...Left parties were agitating for shelter and land to poorer sections, Mr. Obulesu asserted and deplored Congress leaders' charges that Communists were waging agitations to raise money. He asked District Collector M.T. Krishna Babu to declare extents of Government, endowments, DKT and other categories of lands in the district. The Government was indifferent to the demand for a couple of cents of land to the poor, Mr. Narayana alleged." [Emphasis ours] See, how courageously CPIM fought to restrict the poor peasants land hunger within just 1 or 2 cents, just that much!! Their statements in this Para and the Para above show amply clear the inherent reformism among them.
It is not for nothing that the bourgeois media is full of praise of 'land reform of CPIM in West Bengal' - just 1 cent (less than 450 sq ft) or so of housing site for rural landless households, just 5-10 Kottahs (3 Kottah ? 0.02 Hectare or 10 metres ' 20 metres) or so of arable land to some landless households (that land pieces are slipping away too), the much media hyped Barga Recording, which is a tacit way of legally approving feudalism and feudal rent with only consolation of 'not to be evicted' ... and here ends the much hyped WB land reform that didn't even touch 7% of the total arable land of the state, and the larger part of govt 'vested land fund' was made during Congress era! In Nandigram CPIM dug its grave due to, out of so many factors, the fact that many Nandigrams peasants are unrecorded Barga or tenants, who by force of struggle in the past, 1960s and before, occupied the land pieces, and who are not entitled even to any tiny compensation if govt grabs the land there. That much-hyped land reform of CPIM lost its steam before the arrival of 1990s. In the 1990s it was calculated (by a govt expert) that it would take almost 30 more years to distribute all the land in govt fund at the prevalent speed then! And now the reverse - reform ? la Globalisation - is going on - govt Land-grab for the capitalists! But then, the CPIM has preserved a very good part of the 'vested land fund' for bad days like at present, they are cunningly planning to throw some paltry pieces to landless households soon, to contain the Effect Nandigram in rural Bengal!
Is it a new policy of CPIM as we saw in AP recently or in WB from 1977-1988? No. Even during the peasant struggles of 1960s the CPIM had the same line. The then firebrand CPIM leaders, including much praised Harekrishna Konar, strictly followed their maxim during the Second UF govt reign: first the govt will legally make a land 'vested' with 'ceiling laws' and then the peasants will occupy with their struggle the legally possible land pieces! According to their line of thinking and practice: The peasantry should not be allowed to go on for seizure of land through revolutionary ways!! Because they saw how things might go out of hand, out of their control, as it happened in Naxalbari during the short tenure of the First UF govt, where the govt's police forces fired on the peasants fighting for land.
The CPIM is all the same in WB and AP, and deteriorated, rotten further, much more than they were in the 1960s. And what is more, revolutionary working class activists must take into account - firstly, the land hunger among the rural poor is very much there; it may be in a dormant state for years, but it has not got erased, it could not be erased, by long periods of passivity in terms of struggle for land; and - secondly, we got another sign of the 'ground' getting hotter, the abrupt burst of spontaneity of AP toiling poor has shown that.
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