Interview with GN Saibaba on the Economic Crisis and Operation Green Hunt

Wilhelm Langthaler, 21 February 2010

 

G.N. Saibaba is Assistant Professor of literature at Delhi University. He is one of the most vocal voices of the democratic opposition. He has played an important role in bringing together the most diverse trends against the ruling elite. Saibaba represents the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF).

Q: The “India Shining” campaign promised industrialisation and increasing wealth also the poor majority. Did this become true?

The application of globalisation policy in India meant benefits first of all for the ruling oligarchy. A handful of families are in full control of the levers of power. Thanks to their position they could amass huge fortunes, particularly in the last twenty years. Eventually among the list of billionaires there are a lot of Indians. The concentration of wealth has been growing rapidly while some 80% of the population has to live on less than half a dollar a day and can hardly afford a daily meal. According to the government’s own statistics this was not the case two decades back. India pursued globalisation policies in the most aggressive way, as there are vast untouched resources available on which the western powers and especially the U.S. want to get a hold. But huge poverty also evokes huge conflicts. In the last six years we entered a new phase called “Second Generation Reforms”.

Q: What is the difference to its predecessors?
The first phase was marked by the liberalisation of the economy and the legal framework. It was mainly based on the IT sector. But there was little foreign investment. This has been changing. Several hundreds of memoranda of understanding (MOU) with multinational corporations (MNC) have been signed, mostly related to the exploitation of natural resources. Mainly in central and eastern parts of India there are enormous deposits of iron ore, coal, bauxite, limestone and other minerals the western powers want to tap. Thus incredibly huge swathes of land are being awarded to the MNCs.

We are faced with an unprecedented sell-out of land, forests, minerals and water which did not even happen under British colonialism. So the last half decade also saw growing resistance by the people against land grab, Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and industrialisation projects. Given the intransigent reaction of the elites these often turn violent and armed – with or without leadership.

Q: What is the impact of the world economic crisis?
India cannot keep the crisis outside, unemployment has grown and huge job losses are continuing. Some five million workers lost their employment (as many as in the U.S.) and the textile industry virtually collapsed. Actually the middle classes are bearing the brunt of the crisis, while the upper middle classes can no more dream of a western-type comfortable life. It is the first time that the service sector’s white-collar employees are affected, such as in IT. In Gurgaon [a suburb of Delhi were such industries are concentrated] engineers for the first time joined strikes of production workers.

There are also signs that working-class and peasant struggles are coming together. For the first time since 60 years we see a reversed pattern of migration. People are leaving the towns and returning to the countryside. But there is nothing left in rural India, though they cannot survive in the town either. Nowhere a source of livelihood remains. The agricultural sector is shrinking, despite the fact that some 60% of the population depend on it. India’s food security got lost which has been built in the last half century.

The promised investments for industrialisation are hardly flowing in, though agreements are being signed. Therefore popular protests are breaking out both in rural as well as in urban areas. Clashes in the streets erupt. Fortunately there is a revolutionary movement which can help organising the spontaneous turmoil caused by the crisis.

There is a great potential for the revolutionary forces to grow in the present phase, as the brutal impact of the crisis pushes people to struggle against the system.

Q: Can you draw a first balance sheet of the military campaign “Green hunt” launched by the Indian army in the last autumn against the Adivasi resistance to evict them from their ancestral lands?

The operation is entering its fifth month and it is a full scale war with some 250,000 soldiers and U.S. military logistics involved. But there are no visible signs of success. Hundreds of innocent civilians are being killed, as well as ordinary soldiers, often from outside the region, who do not understand the local language let alone the political background of the conflict. As the governmental forces do not advance, they choose soft targets and commit atrocities.

They have been suffering severe blows from the Maoist movement, who could kill some high-level targets. Motivation of the troops is plummeting.

Q: What about the reaction in the cities, especially among the educated middle classes?
The middle classes are slowly acquiring consciousness. But a polarisation is under way, as the picture is changing day by day. The opposition against Green Hunt is growing and a big upheaval is not far away. The government cannot go ahead with this attack on the fast track and had to slow down. As a matter of fact, most of the big mining and industrial projects are stalled due to the popular resistance.
The press happens to speak of a “terrorist threat” also in India. The American policy is being copied in India and used against any serious opposition. The army is sent even against ordinary demonstrations. The Muslims are collectively stamped as terrorists and the same with the Adivasis (Indian native people). Also the Dalits (untouchables).

The U.S. ideology is excessively used by the Indian elite. In 2008 they installed the Unlawful Activity Prevention Act which is almost a replication of the earlier draconian Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act. By law, Maoism is now equated with terrorism. Also targeted are all Muslims, as well as the liberation movements of Kashmir and the Northeast.

Q: You yourself are accused by the police to be a decisive aide to the Maoists.

In the last months the government tried to implicate me with banned organisations, as I participated in the campaign against the ban on the Communist Party of India (Maoist) [CPI(M)]. Actually the concrete accusations are all together laughable. How can I participate in a tactical counter-offensive or give shelter to central committee (CC) cadres? They say that I am broadening the base of what they call “outfight”, that my views are considered by the CC of the Maoists. In this way they can make me responsible for anything which is happening in India.

They accuse me of my views and political stand. This is part of a larger plan to silence the voices of democracy and the opposition to the anti-people policies of the government. They fear the growing criticism to their military campaign against the poorest of the poor, stripping them of their land and its resources.

Today they want to shut my and others mouths, tomorrow all democratic voices. First they banned resistance organisations, which is wrong in itself. Now they try to burn the surroundings. But civil society has come out and condemned the government for the vilification. A whole series of press conferences and public protests with high ranking personalities are in the making.

Q: Eventually on geopolitics: some think that India could join a future bloc together with China and Russia in favour of a multi-polar global system.

India has become the U.S.’s main ally in the region. I do not see any condition in the foreseeable future that this could change. The elites here are completely subservient to Washington and the tendency is worse and worse.

Fight a United Struggle for Full Implementation of Reservations!

This year is the third and final year for the fulfillment of 27% OBC reservation. Since the last two years the administration tried to deliver social justice in installments and even then created many hurdles to ensure that OBC reservation is finally scuttled. First OBC reservation was made mandatory on 54% seat increase and ‘lack of adequate infrastructure’ remained the recurring (il)logic of the administration to delay full implementation of OBC reservation. Next, the casteist and opportunist misinterpretation of cut-off was brought. Over-ruling the MHRD guidelines and supreme Court verdict, the eligibility cut-off has been surreptitiously replaced by a ‘merit cut-off’, i.e. instead of deducting ten points from the eligibility marks, ten points are deducted from the marks scored by the last general candidate. This has stopped the admission of stipulated number of OBC candidates in various centers despite they being fully eligible for admission. The vacant OBC seats have been thereafter was allowed to lapse, and were conveniently converted to ‘general category’ (read upper caste) seats. If this faulty and casteist admission policy persists it will be impossible to fulfill OBC seats even after full reservation is implemented on paper. It is imperative on all the pro-reservation forces in campus that a united and assertive struggle is waged to ensure that the Academic Council which is going to meet on the 18th of March does not get yet another opportunity to scuttle 27% OBC reservation as well as SC/St reservations in faculty positions.

The guidelines for implementation of OBC reservation are clear and legally binding; all that the JNU administration has to do is to implement it. Instead, they are simply forming one casteist committee after another to subvert reservations. And Prof. Aditya Mukherjee is leading all these casteist endeavours of the administration and the anti-reservation ‘intellectuals’. He has been utterly undemocratic in the deliberation of the committee and has repeatedly recommended the devious ploys like ‘merit’ cut-off to ensure non-fulfillment of OBC seats. However, this is not just an individual who has singlehandedly subverted reservation. Mukherjee represents the entire feudal and brahminical forces and their reactionary attempts who want to retain the ‘upper caste’ hegemony of knowledge production in JNU. The repeated violations of SC/ST/PH reservations and the gross violation of faculty reservation in JNU in associate professor and professor’s posts despite constitutional mandates is a glaring evidence of this. 

In this context it becomes crucial that the pro-reservation forces fight a united, uncompromising and successful battle to force the administration to yield to the just demand of fulfillment of 27% OBC reservation. So far, the fight to ensure reservation has been far from adequate. The AISA-led JNUSU gave up their token hunger strikes in the last two successive years with the mere assurances of formation of committee by the administration. Now the same committee led by Aditya Mukherjee is leading from the front to scuttle reservations. Last year there was not even a protest demonstration before the AC meeting. The administration took opportunity of the situation owing to the Supreme Court stay on elections to not call the JNUSU in the decision-making bodies of JNU. But the JNUSU unfortunately showed the same logic to bypass all efforts to put up any assertive or decisive struggle. There can not be any compromise in our struggles to ensure proper implementation of full 27% OBC reservation and the roll back of ‘merit’ cut-off. In this context, when there is no JNUSU even on extension, it becomes necessary for the pro-reservation forces to come together in a united battle to ensure reservation.

This year too there has been a lack of efforts so far from the various organisations like SFI and AISA to fight a spirited, united and uncompromising battle to defeat the anti-reservation forces in the administration. AISA outsourced the struggle for reservation to an exclusive group of AISA activists called Forum for Democratic Implementation of Reservation (FDIR). It started as a unilateral and sectarian ‘forum’ to raise the issue of reservation. We condemn such one-upmanship and sectarianism, especially in the absence of the JNUSU. Yet DSU has joined the struggle initiated by FDIR given the seriousness of the issue. This is a time when all progressive forces should come together to strengthen the fight for reservation. And on that account SFI is competing with AISA in their show of sectarianism. In its bid to pursue its own narrow political points against AISA, it is refusing to come together for a united struggle. All pro-reservation organisation must realize that we are faced with a casteist, reactionary administration which is all set for scuttling reservations. This is a time to collectively work towards forcing the casteist administration to yield to our most legitimate and just demand for fulfillment of 27% OBC reservation and in the SC/ST reservations in faculty posts. The struggle to ensure full implementation of reservation is too serious to be left to a sectarian Forum or organisations which have a dubious record of fighting for reservation. It is the students of JNU alone who can force the administration to fulfill reservations by coming out to protest in big numbers. We call upon the students to actively participate in large numbers in the University Strike on 18th March and the protest demonstration in front of the Academic Council Meeting.

Silencing Dissent: Indian State's Assault on Democratic Voices

Swapan Dasgupta, editor of the journal Bangla People’s March and owner of Radical Publication was arrested under UAPA on the 6^th October 2009 from Kolkata, although none of the publications have ever been banned by the government or found to be ‘seditious’. Dasgupta, a terminal patient of blood cancer, was incarcerated in appalling conditions, denied proper diet and even blood transfusion on the pretext of being an Unlawful Activities [Prevention] Act (UAPA) detainee. He died in police custody on 2^nd February this year, even before his trial began. He has been declared by the people as the first martyr to die under the draconian UAPA.

Lalmohan Tudu, president, People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), Lalgarh, which is leading a mass resistance against state atrocities and displacement in adivasi regions of Jungal Mahal in Bengal, was picked up from his house and shot dead by the paramilitary forces in a fake encounter on 23 February, 2009. The lies of the state that he was a ‘Maoist’ have been exposed by the recent media reports.

Shahid Azmi, a 32 year old lawyer, was defending more than fifty Muslim youths languishing in various prisons after being falsely accused by the state in its ‘war on terror’. On 11 February 2010 he was shot dead in his office in Kurla, Mumbai by gunmen pretending as clients. The killing points towards a conspiracy by the state to silence a courageous legal practitioner and a defender of people’s rights, particularly that of the religious minorities.

On 20 November 2009, Wadeka Singana, the President of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) along with another activist was caught and shot dead by the police during a rally called by the organisation to protest against the atrocities committed on women by the government’s armed forces.

Shamim Modi, a Lohiyaite activist working in Madhya Pradesh had for a long time been fighting against exploitation of tribal workers. She had been repeatedly harassed by the state and booked under false charges. On 23 July 2009, she was attacked and seriously injured by the goons backed by the government and the mafia.

Himanshu Kumar, a Gandhian social activist has been working in Dantewada, Chattisgarh, who ran Vanavasi Chetna Ashram for the past eighteen years. He had been working among the tribals and was rehabilitating some of the adivasi villages displaced by the notorious Salwa Judoom. His ashram was built with the consent of the gram-sabha. After almost two decades, the government deemed the structure ‘illegal’ and as an ‘encroachment on forest land’. This followed after Himanshu Kumar found helping the villagers to file complaints of atrocities committed by the police and Salwa Judum SPOs. On 17 May 2009, his ashram was razed to the ground.

Dr Binayak Sen, a people’s doctor, national Vice President PUCL and a strong voice against Salwa Judum was arrested in 2007 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004, and the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005 on baseless charges. Under pressure of growing public opinion against his detention, Dr Sen was finally granted a bail in 2009. But the charges against him have not been dropped, and the case is still going on. 

Shihd Badr Falahi, the ex-President of SIMI, Dr. Mohammad Hasan and numerous other Muslim leaders have been booked repeatedly on flimsy charges or on concocted ‘police confessions’ for being ‘terrorists’. Similarly, Clerics Maulana Abdul Haleem and Maulana Nasiruddin were picked up from Ahmedabad and Hyderabad respectively by th police in connection with trumped up cases of alleged terrorist activities. They were acquitted in lack of evidences after they served many years in jail, while thousands of Muslims still languish in various jails across the country.

In the charge-sheet of Kobad Ghandy which runs into 700 pages, the Delhi Police has made an attempt to frame various people’s organisations, democratic and civil rights organisations like PUDR, PUCL, CRPP, APDR, RDF, DSU and others as organisations sympathetic to the Maoist movement. Activists of these organisations, including Prof. G N Saibaba of Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), Gautam Navlakha of People’s Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR), Rona Wilson of Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) and others have been charged of ‘sympathizing’ with the Maoists. These organisations and individuals have come under the Indian state’s attack as they have been consistently campaigning against anti-people policies of the central and state governments, particularly the Operation Green Hunt in recent times. 

These are just a few of the numerous instances of state clampdown on democratic voices who uphold the politics of dissent to the prevailing order. They have challenged this oppressive system, its entrenched exploitation, discrimination, injustice or state repression. This branding of people in a sweeping manner and thereby justifying all sorts of repression on them is a fascist tactics adopted by the Indian state to silent all voices of dissent against it, be it in the name of fighting Maoism or ‘Islamic terrorism’. But people have refused to buckle under the terror-tactics of the state. Shahid Azmi’s brother Khalid Azmi has taken over the cases to fight for the people. The PCAPA and CMAS have elected their new president and the fight goes on. Shamim Modi refuses to give up. The first thing Maulan Nasiruddin said after he came out on bail was ‘US imperialism down down’. Himanshu Kumar has made a makeshift ashram to continue his activities. So will all the people and all the democratic organisations despite all the attempts by the state to silence their voices, to clamp down on them.

The Indian state and its ruling elite have completely surrendered to its imperialist masters especially the US.  And thereby has turned into a loyal foot soldier in the US declared ‘war against terror’. But who is a terrorist in its definition? Anyone who Uncle Sam deems to be one; and anyone who challenges its hegemony and unquenched thirst for super-profits, for people’s resources. It was first the Muslims who were made the targets of US-backed war against Islam to facilitate its grabbing of oil. The next in line are the adivasis. The Maoists who are organising the most downtrodden and exploited of our society into a political force has been singled out as the greatest impediment to the imperialist loot of mineral and natural resources. So anyone who now speaks against this massive plunder of resources and the ruthless dispossession of people from their livelihood can be branded as a ‘Maoist’ and thereby booked under the repressive UAPA or simply ‘encountered’.

The Indian state therefore is baring its fascist face, shedding all its pretensions to even look like a ‘democracy’. While prices of essential commodities are sky-rocketing, the government’s annual budget is reflecting the wish-list of corporates and feudal interests, pushing the poor of the country towards destitution and death. The disgruntlement of the people fail to bother Chidambaram-Maonmohan, though its own Arjun Sengupta Report has revealed that more than 77% of India’s total population is forced to live on twenty rupees a day. Instead of improving the situation the Indian state chooses to facilitate further massive plunder of resources and huge corporate land grab for the Indian big bourgeoisie and MNCs. The passing of the SEZ Act was a decisive step in this direction. Hundreds of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with mostly foreign MNCs now await implementation, turning the adivasi regions into a MoUist corridor. But for this the state needs to forcibly remove the 90 million adivasis, who by the state’s own definition are the real owners of these resources. The government’s own Report terms it as the ‘biggest land grab after Columbus’. “This open declared war will go down as the biggest land grab ever, if it plays out as per the script,” said the government report commissioned by the rural development ministry. But the union home minister, a proven lackey of the US, has a dream that 80% of India will live in the cities one day! Does not matter if most of this ‘neo-urban population’ comprise of those who have been displaced out of their homeland forcibly by the armed forces and herded to the cities to live in the slums. The government is desperate to drive people out of the mineral rich areas and from the agricultural lands to hand it over to its corporate masters. But the growing resistance of the people, and the democratic voices supporting them, stands in the way of turning the dreams of the ruling class into a reality.

So a well organised military offensive is the policy adopted by the fascist Indian state. The state first declared the Maoist movement which has been organising the most dispossessed section of the population –the tribals, dalits and backward castes against this state–  as a ‘terror outfit’. Thereafter, to exterminate the ‘terrorists’ it has launched a massive ‘Operation Green Hunt’. The target of this hunt is not just the Maoists but anybody the state considers to be an impediment in implementing the MoUs done with Vedanta, Tata, Posco, Mittal, Essar and hundreds of its likes. So far more than 200 people have been killed under Operation Green Hunt since November 2009 in various places of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The government has launched joint operations in many regions, with state police, para-military forces, CRPF and the specialized forces like the CoBRA, Grey Hound, Jaguars, Octopus, c-60 etc. The uses of choppers and drones have also been approved. This is an attack on the people of an unprecedented scale. It is natural that progressive and democratic sections in the country and outside– the intellectuals, activists, writers, students etc– will vehemently oppose such an extermination campaign of the state.

A worldwide campaign has already started against the Operation Green Hunt. The state is responding with McCarthy-style witch hunt to silence all other voices of dissent which seeks to criticize the stat’s policies and also to build a resistance against it. The branding of all democratic voices as ‘terrorist’, ‘aid to terrorist’ ‘sympathiser’ is the policy which the state is trying to adopt. The regions where the military offensive is going on have been cut-off from fact finding teams, activists, even the media. The government is desperate to execute this genocide in silence. So it’s necessary that all the democratic voices that are rising in protest should be silenced too. But let us not be intimidated by the state’s brutal offensive. As George Orwell said, "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act". And truth stands with the uncompromising fight of the most exploited and dispossessed sections of the population for their land, lives, livelihood, dignity... for a new society.

DSU PUBLIC MEETING:

The Centenary Year of International Women’s Day: Carry forward the struggle for women’s liberation!

100 years of International Women’s Day: From the day of the First International Women’s Conference in 1910 in Copenhagen called by the Second International where 8th March was instituted as the International Women’s Day, the women’s movement worldwide and also in our country have achieved many victories. As an integral part of the revolutionary communist movements across the world, the women’s movement too has grown in strength and gained valuable experience in a century of class struggle in this period. Whether be it the victorious Russian Revolution or in the successful Chinese Revolution, the assertive struggles waged by organised working women was inseparable from the revolutionary movements fighting for a society free from all forms of exploitation. From being the soldiers of the Viet Minh Army to the Red Army of Nepal’s Maoist movement, women broke away in the last hundred years from the socially-sanctioned traditional space in the kitchen and in the fields, to be equal partners in building a new society, in building socialism. Relegated to sub-human conditions by stringent norms and customs of patriarchy which were perfected in its history spanning thousands of years, the liberation of oppressed half of the humanity for the first time seemed to have become a possibility. From what started as collective assertion of economic demands of higher wages and better working conditions by organised working-class women in the factories of US in the nineteenth century, armed with Marxism, the international women’s movement in the twentieth century broke the barriers of economism and reformism to fight political battles for a revolutionary transformation of society, in which lies the liberation of women and all other oppressed sections of the society. The achievements of the women’s movement in post-revolutionary Russia and China till date remains unsurpassed; the inspiration for the continuing battles waged by women of all oppressed societies, including India.

When more than 40 elderly Manipuri women removed their clothes to protest in front of the Assam Rifles garrison in Imphal on 15th July 2004 against the rape and murder of Thangjam Manorama, it was the Indian state that was standing naked. “Indian Army Rape Us!” their banner called out, daring the Indian state to repeat what it perpetrated on Manorama a few days back, a victim of the Indian state’s fascist war on the freedom-loving people of the North East. While the sentries standing on guard at the gates lowered their heads, their political masters refused to be shamed, and continue to pursue their policy of repression wherever the people have fought for freedom and against exploitation. Be it in Nagalim, Mizoram, Kashmir, Asom, Manipur, or in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra, Orissa, Maharashtra or Bengal, the ruling classes have unleashed untold military repression to crush people’s movements fighting for a better society. If some times it is done with the excuse of ‘national security’ and ‘territorial integrity’, at times it is justified in the name of ‘war on terror’, or even ‘peace’ and ‘development’. Whether it is the national liberation movements, the revolutionary movement, or people belonging to religious minorities, all are targets of calculated witch-hunt and planned extermination for the Indian state. Women in particular bear the brunt of the state’s fascist violence. Women suffer humiliation, torture, molestation, rape and death at the hands of the mercenaries let loose by the likes of Manmohan and Chidambaram to please their US bosses. Have we not had enough Manoramas, Kauarbis, Tapasi Malliks or Sodi Sambos to realise that no justice and equality for women within the present Indian political and social set-up is possible, and that there is a need to demolish it to build a new India? It is quite clear that the liberation of women is not conceivable without a revolutionary transformation of Indian society, and therefore the women’s

And this is what the revolutionary women’s movement in India today is striving to achieve. What gets reflected in the organisational set-up of Peoples’ Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) in Lalgarh, where half-the committee members at every level are women, is nothing but a revolutionary consciousness in practice. In comparison, the farce of ‘the largest democracy of the world’ stands exposed, where even a formal provision like the Women’s Reservation Bill languishes for more than a decade to be denied once again today. The anti-people parliamentary democracy has preserved and nurtured the structural violence on women over the last six decades –abject poverty and lack of rights over property for women, famine-like malnutrition of women and children, extremely high rate of maternal death, women foeticide, dowry death, ‘honour‘ killing, commodification of women and all other forms of violence on an everyday basis. Organising and politicising the most oppressed classes of women, be it adivasi or dalit women, the revolutionary women’s movement is not only fighting against direct onslaught by the forces of the Indian state, but is also confronting the age-old forms of feudal and patriarchal oppression witin the present anti-women male dominated society. To build and expand an uncompromising movement among the women who have been systemically deprived of even the minimum democratic rights and basic formal education is a daunting challenge.

This struggle today is being successfully waged by the revolutionary women’s movement in the country. Tens of thousands of women are today part of various revolutionary women’s organisations, actively participating in production and public life and deciding their own destiny. On the centenary year of the International Women’s Day, it is the responsibility of the progressive and democratic sections of the society to stand in solidarity this movement, along with strengthening the revolutionary movement in India. Only this way can the slogan ‘Women Hold up Half the Sky’ become a reality in our lived experience.

Raise the banner of Resistance against Patriarchy, Feudal oppression and Imperialism on the Centenary of International Women’s' Day !

Lumpenism cannot be an answer to sexual harassment!

The growing incidents of sexual harassment and violence against women are alarming in the campus. The recent case of harassment of a woman in Periyar hostel is another instance. The administration has repeatedly failed to punish those guilty of sexual harassment. Rather they choose to further victimize and intimidate the victims and the complainants! In the case of the North-Eastern woman who was harassed, abused and beaten up in the dhaba, a month back, the administration failed to take any step to ensure justice. Instead it chose to send “show-cause” notice to the complainant herself, blaming her for ‘using abusive and unparliamentary language’ against the harassers. The administration jumped to a conclusion, completely ignoring the aspect of violence and harassment that she had to face and even bypassed the enquiry process that is going on in GSCASH. Such acts only embolden harassers in general and also delegitimise GSCASH. Even in the case of Periyar hostel, instead of punishing the culprit, the hostel administration started interrogating the woman with utmost insensitivity.

After all the cases of sexual harassment, it has become a common trend for the harassers and their associates to boldly assert that they can get away even after harassing women, that none can do anything to punish them! What strengthens these harassers apart from administrative shielding is the lack of collective confrontation of the harassers by the student community at large. In the case of north east dhaba, Imran Amin and Amit Mishra insisted that they will go scot-free. Soon a group of “witnesses” came up with a slanderous pamphlet to prove that nothing has happened and that the complainant is mad and morally unscrupulous! In Periyar hostel too, after assaulting a woman and beating up a north east student, Mukesh Dhaka, is roaming confidently. He is blessed with support from NSUI leadership. They also brought out a outrageous pamphlet next day, putting the blame on the woman, that she was intoxicated and so on.

But in the face of growing incidents of sexual harassment, lumpenism can not provide any solution. And that is what AISA did! AISA’s pamphlet that initially reported the incident was cunningly silent on the fact that the next day AISA lumpens led by Akhilesh, Martand, Uday, Puneet, Ravi and others had gone and beaten up Mukesh Dhaka. Many residents of Periyar hostel are witness to this incident. We would not have problems if the victim along with other women confronts the sexual harassers. But acts like this are feudal and mindless, which will further degenerate the campus space and the democratic culture. It diverts the issue of sexual harassment into inter-organisational rivalry which can eventually create a situation of 'gang wars' on campus. AISA after silencing this aspect has now put up anonymous ‘public appeal’ describing the ‘real incident’. In that too, they have revealed the name of the woman, have given details of the incident and has also revealed the name of a witness. In their desperate effort to save their own skin, they have seriously violated GSCASH rules and guidelines. This converts any case into a ‘public trial’ and particularly for cases of sexual harassment; this is utterly unethical and sets a dangerous norm. In the past also we have seen the case of harassment by a faculty member was turned into a complete public trial by both AISA and SFI who in a bid to outsmart the other went room to room talking about ‘facts and counter facts’ of the incident. Women who have to face sexual harassment, violence and slandering are anyway subject to extreme trauma and pressure. Repeated public discussion of the case only adds to that pressure.

The most shocking and unfortunate aspect is the diminishing credibility of GSCASH for the administration and harassers at large. GSCASH which was formed through struggles of students has been under attack by the administration in the past too. The Ashok Mathur Committee recommendations were a direct assault on the GSCASH which was rolled back through widespread protests on campus. Even now the administration deliberately delays to implement GSCASH recommended punishments and at times, like the North-east dhaba case completely delegitimizes the fact that a case is going on in GSCASH. This emboldens the sexual harassers who do not perceive GSCASH as a threat any more. It is not isolated cases of lumpenism, like what AISA did, which will ultimately check the growing trend of harassment. It is politicization, collective action by students and an empowered GSCASH which can ensure steps towards making this campus gender-just.

Press Release against the targeting of democratic and people’s organisations by the Indian Government in the name of fighting Maoists/Naxalites

The Delhi Police produced its chargesheet against Mr Kobad Ghandy in the Tees Hazari Courts New Delhi on 18.02.2010. This document has baselessly alleged unlawful activities against a number of individuals and legitimate democratic organisations working in the public domain. These include Dr. Darshan Pal of the People’s Democratic Front of India (PDFI), Mr. GN Saibaba, a professor with Delhi University, Mr. Rona Wilson, Secretary of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, Mr. Gautam Navlakha of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), PUDR itself, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the Democratic Students’ Union (DSU), Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), the PDFI, the Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), Anti-displacement Front (ADF) and the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR; wrongly named in the chargesheet as the Association of Peoples For Democratic Rights). APDR, PUDR and PUCL in particular have been solely concerned with safeguarding democratic and civil rights in India for over 30 years, and are internationally reputed for their rigorous and scrupulous approach to these issues. Among the charges against these established and respected organisations, is the completely unfounded one that they are playing “a very important role to broaden the base of the [CPI (Maoist)] outfit”. The chargesheet has provided no evidence whatsoever to substantiate its allegations.

These individuals and organisations have been actively and openly working for democratic and civil rights and liberties across the length and breadth of country, on issues ranging from displacement, people’s movements and rural destitution to issues of ethnic conflict and custodial deaths. Today, however, they are being targeted in the chargesheet because, along with hundreds of others, they have actively and openly protested ‘Operation Green Hunt’ (OGH). They have been consistently engaging with violations of civil and democratic rights arising out of the conflict between the Indian state and the tribal communities that have been resisting it. The Indian state over the last few months has targeted the people protesting against OGH, as well as those who have taken up their cause. The chargesheet is yet another instance of the state’s attempt to criminalise any resistance or protests against its actions in the areas covered by OGH. The allegations in it only suggest the state’s intention to clamp down on legitimate protest against its undemocratic practices, and especially against its own attacks on its citizens – in fact, these allegations themselves constitute an unprovoked and unwarranted attack on these democratic and civil liberties organisations and individuals. It aims to further cramp already restricted democratic spaces: as the Supreme Court recently observed (with reference to charges against Mr. Himanshu Kumar of being a Maoist sympathiser) in the name of ‘sympathizers’ and ‘sympathizers of sympathizers’ and so on, all criticism and opposition is being stifled.

It seems the intent of the chargesheet is also to intimidate and silence all those who are engaged in protesting OGH. Evident in this is a 21st century, Indian version of McCarthyism: an attempt to silence independent voices that was evident in the trumped-up case against Mr. Binayak Sen, in the brutal illegality of the demolition of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram and the eviction of Mr. Himanshu Kumar – all in the name of the fear of ‘Maoists’. The fear psychosis is being sought to be generated so openly now, that the union government even tried to allege that Maoists were infiltrating the Telengana movement in Osmania University – which it had to recant in the Supreme Court recently. We collectively and unitedly condemn the state’s attempt to intimidate and silence legitimate protests and affirm the democratic rights of all people. In the light of the above we also reiterate our demand that the state engage in genuine dialogue with the CPI (Maoist) instead of prosecuting war against its own people.

Protest against the Profiling of People's Organisations and Individuals!

Ever since the filing of the charge sheet of Mr. Kobad Ghandy on 19.02.2010 before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, a deliberate profiling of the civil rights organisations and other people’s organisations as espousing the cause of the Maoists, is being planted in a section of the media by the investigating agencies. This is ostensibly on the basis of the specific mention of these organisations in the charge sheet.

The manner in which the profiling is intended to vitiate the public space as inimical to any democratic protest/dissent against the policies of the government raises ominous portends towards a fascist polity as desired by the powers that be for the future. To protest against all such vilification campaigns to strangulate any voice of sanity, PUCL, PUDR, CRPP, Jan Hasthakshep, CPDM, NPMHR, Saheli, Kashipur Solidarity Group, RDF, DSU and other organisations have convened a PRESS CONFERECE ON 27.02.10 (SATURDAY) 12 NOON AT THE DELHI PRESS CLUB

Justice Rajinder Sachar, Arundhati Roy will address the Press Conference along with others. We invite you to attend the press conference in protest against the silencing of dissenting voices in the name of fighting Naxalism/Maoism.

Condemn the cold blooded murder of Lalmohan Tudu, President of the PCPA and two others in Lalgarh by the mercenary forces of Congress-CPI(M)!

The joint forces comprising of central paramilitary and state police forces operating in Lalgarh has recently stepped up its fascist and anti-people repression of people’s movements, the calculated elimination of their leaders and activists. Three days back on 22 February, the joint forces killed three adivasi villagers in Lalgarh in what they claimed to be in ‘retaliatory fire’ when the Maoists ‘attacked’ a police camp in Katapahari, Paschim Medinipur district. But as the PCAPA and civil rights organisations have confirmed, Lalmohan Tudu, the Presient of People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) which is leading the Lalgarh movement, and two of his relatives  were picked up from his house and killed in a nearby paddy field. Asit Mahato, a spokesperson for the PCPA, said, “Lalmohan Tudu was picked up from his house by the police and shot dead.” Tudu became the President of the PCAPA in November 2008 when it was formed.

At Tudu’s village Narcha, 3km from the CRPF camp, Sanatan Murmu, a 60-year-old neighbour, said, “I saw Tudu here at 7.30 last evening and he said he had come to collect a few things since his daughter was appearing for the Madhyamik exams from today. After that, I went to my house and shut the door.” Murmu said that around 8.30 he heard a lot of footsteps and peered out. “I saw a lot of policemen and quickly shut the door,” Murmu said. “About 15 minutes later, I heard four or five gunshots from the paddy field behind the house and now I hear that the police are saying that he had died in a gun battle. I find it very difficult to believe.” (The Telegraph, 24 Feb.)


We demand punishment of the guilty police officers and their political masters in Bengal and Delhi! Resist the growing fascist attacks on the people’s movements, democratic/ civil rights organisations and individuals by the government in the name of fighting Maoists/Naxalites!

Separate Statehood for Telangana: A People's Democratic Demand

The struggle for a separate Telangana state has intensified in the last few months. Every university in Telangana has now become a struggle center. One of the striking features of this movement is the role played by the students, leading it militantly from the front and resisting manipulations by the parliamentary political parties. Students have formed their own Joint Action Committees in the schools, colleges and universities of the ten districts of Telanagana, while the Telangana Students’ Joint Action Committee (TSJAC) is coordinating and leading this struggle. As the recent turn of events shows, the collective articulation of the separate statehood demand by the students and youth under the banner of TSJAC has made insecure not only the powerful political lobby of Andhra region, but also the parliamentary political leaders and parties of Telangana who are very much threatened by the collective assertion of students’ power. The message to the government is loud and clear: the movement can’t be crushed by brutally repressing the students of Osmania University (OU), since it is not only in OU or in the city of Hyderabad that the students are protesting. Every district and every educational institution in Telangana have today become nerve-centers of the struggle. The success of the students owes greatly to the fact that they have been able keep the TSJAC away from the influence of the parliamentary parties who have merely used the democratic aspirations of the people of Telangana for their vote-bank politics for many decades. At a time when all the parliamentary leaders and parties have become exposed and incapable of leading the struggle, the students of Telangana has taken up a historic role to carry it forward while consistently maintaining an independent political identity.

The brutal repression of the movement by the government continues. While the central government in Delhi is playing diplomatic games to delay and deny the separate statehood demand for Telangana, the state government in Hyderabad which is run by the powerful Andhra ruling classes is resorting to the fascist clampdown on the agitators, who have so far been conducting their movement in a peaceful manner. The government has continued the deployment of huge police force, paramilitary forces, anti-Naxal Grey Hound squads, Rapid Action Force etc. in all the university campuses of Telangana. A student of Kakatiya University recently told the media that “We are under constant surveillance. If we issue statements or give slogans in favor of Telangana in any TV channel, the police and Intelligence Branch identifies and arrests us. If we go outside the campus premises, we run the risk of being arrested any moment. We have not been allowed to be outside the campus safely on any ground.”

But even the university campuses have not remained safe for the struggling students any more. Regional Telugu TV channels vividly showed how a woman sub-inspector lathi-charged girl students inside their hostels and threatened them not to utter the word Telangana. Such attacks by the government have only grown in the recent weeks as the movement also is taking a more militant form. Several students have self-immolated as a mark protest against the government’s continued disregard for the demand for Telangana, the latest being the 19 year old S Yadaiyah who died on 21 February after setting himself on fire at the gates of Osmania University.

Osmania Univeristy has been singled-out by the government for persecution. Like other universities in Telangana, the students of OU have also been playing a historic role in the movement. This university has a long history of representing the aspirations of the people of Telangana, and thereby has also continued to face state’s repression. More than 300 students from this university have laid down their lives during the long struggle for a separate state. Last month, the funeral procession of Venugopal Reddy, the MBA student who was martyred for the cause of Telangana, was joined by thousands of students with a large number of people waiting to join it outside the university premises. Fearing the spirit of struggle this march will ignite among the people, the government planned to stop it within university premises. When the march reached the girls hostel, policemen in civil dress who were in the march, pelted stones. Making this a pretext, the paramilitary and police forces stationed in the university resorted to massive lathi charge. The police used more than 600 tear gas shells and even threw them into the girls’ hostel premises. Several students got severely injured. A girl student lost her both her legs while the eyes of another girl student were damaged. Several students were brutally beaten up and left on the roads unconscious for several hours. Even government ambulances and teams of doctors were not allowed to attend the injured students. The Telangana Medical Association sent four ambulances to pick up the injured students, but was also prevented by the police from entering the campus. Legal norms of using women police to arrest women agitators were completely violated.

The people of Telanagana reject Sri Krishna Commission. From the day of Andhra Pradesh state formation, whenever there is a mass movement demanding separate state, central government resorts to forming one committee or the other and thereby to quell the movement. Gentlemen’s Agreement, 6-Point Formula, 8-Point Formula, Constitution of Regional Boards, special packages, Pranab Mukharjee Committee, Rosaiah Committee have been constituted one after another in the past without any fulfillment of the demand. Now even after declaring that the process of forming a separate Telangana state will be initiated, the central government has formed Sri Krishna Commission to hold ‘consultations’ and to build ‘consensus’ on the issue. Once the terms of reference of the Sri Krishna Committee were made public, the people of Telangana were in no illusion that it’s nothing but a ploy to delay the process. The Telangana Students JAC has decided to reject the Committee in toto and called for the resignation of all the elected representatives from Telangana.

The brutal police attack of 14^th February: TSJAC took out a peaceful march from Osmania University to Tarnaka on 14^th February. The march was stopped midway and the police started attacking the students. This time even the media representatives were not spared but rather were targeted by the police. That night the police forces entered OU’s girls’ hostel at midnight by flouting all rules and after cutting off the electricity supply. They molested many girl students and passed highly objectionable remarks. Such calculated attack on the students, be it in the form of arrests, torture, molestation, physical assault, etc. are being frequently resorted to by the police at the behest of their political masters all over Telangana. And when such fascist repression is also being defied by the people to carry forward the struggle, the government is spreading the story that Maoists/ Naxalites have infiltrated the movement! This is a clear signal that the government is going to brand the pro-Telangana agitators as Maoist sympathisers/ members and many of them are going to be persecuted in its attempt to crush the movement.

             Unleashing of force will not stop the peoples’ movements from achieving its aims. The ruling classes of both Delhi and Hyderabad thinks that by using force they will crush the people’s democratic demand for a separate Telangana. But the heroic people of Telangana have a long history of struggle, whether it is against the feudal oppression of the Nizam or the Indian ruling classes. The glorious Telangana armed struggle is a testimony to this. The people of Telangana are not ready to be betrayed and fooled by the ruling classes once again. The political consciousness that has generated the Telangana movement is a reflection of the anger against not only the powerful Andhra rulers or the criminal negligence shown by central government towards their just cause, but is also directed against its own representatives who have failed the people again and again. We must stand in solidarity with the ongoing movement for separate Telangana, and work towards the realization of a democratic Telangana, that is free of social, cultural and economic exploitation; free of feudal and imperial domination.