After 25 years of '84 Anti-Sikh Riot

On 3rd November, 2009 some religious Sikh groups called a state wide strike in Punjab. This Punjab bandh was a symbolic protest by the victims of '84 Anti-Sikh Riot who are still waiting for justice.
Twenty five years have passed after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards created turbulence in the Indian society which led to the infamous '84 Anti-Sikh Riot. Thousands of Sikhs were burnt alive and butchered. Hundreds of ladies were raped in front of their brother, father, son or husband. Any rational person can easily say that there is no point of considering a whole community as criminal for the murder of a famous person. There can be a lengthy discussion whether there was any political influence behind the riot or not. People have been waiting for justice for 25 years. Is it justice delayed? Or, it is justice denied. Many of the accused, who have close links with the Congress Party, were given clean chit by our legal system although a lot of witnesses were there to send those people behind bars.
Our motherland is a great example of “unity in diversity” in terms of its geographical, demographical and social features. But our society witnesses Hindu-Muslim riots, Anti-Sikh riot, attacks on Christians, etc. Our country with multilingual and multi-religious society is perhaps the most racist country in the world. Racism exists in India because of the discriminating attitude of people regarding castes, religions, states and languages. Recent attacks on North Indians in Maharastra led by Raj Thakray bears the evidence of my opinion.
Why don't the politicians teach people to love? Why don't we take lessons from one riot and try to stop another? Answer to these questions are very simple. It is DON'T WANT. Yes the narrow minded politicians, who can teach people to hate, do not want to spread the message of love and friendship among people. We do not to take any lessons from our faults in the past. We easily get influenced by people with bad intention. This is our fault and we just not only need to accept that but also work on to rectify ourselves. If we cannot do that in future we will experience several riots where we will have to witness exploitation and murder of our loved ones.

27/10/2009 : PCPA, Maoists and Rajdhani Express

It seems that the impact of Bollywood films on Indians is increasing day by day. In a “very filmy style” Rajdhani Express (Bhubaneswar-New Delhi), was hijacked by the members of PCPA (People's Committee Against Police Atrocities) near Jhargram, West Midnapore, West Bengal on 27th October, 2009. PCPA was formed by the victims of police atrocities in West Midnapore. A weeks back Chhatradhar Mahato, the PCPA chief was arrested by some police officers who impersonated as journalists from a Singapore based TV channel. The entire Rajdhani Express hijack episode, which caused its 7 hours delay, was a symbolic protest against the arrest of Chhatradhar Mahato. It created a history. But shall we boast of this history? Obviously, we should not.
Actually, PCPA was running a peaceful movement. But it failed to bring any happiness to the members of PCPA. So they decided to form an armed force called Sidhu Kanu Gana Militia. PCPA claimed that the Rajdhani Express hijack was the first significant achievement of Sidhu Kanu Gana Militia. According to the police, there are enough evidences of nexus between PCPA and the banned CPI (Maoist). Some journalists believe that as it is not possible for the Maoists to come up openly in public they are protesting in form of Sidhu Kanu Gana Militia. So somehow it can perceived that Maoists were behind the Rajdhani Express hijack.
Rajdhani Express was not only hijacked but the blankets of passengers and food packets were looted. Passengers suffered not only because of panic, security threat but also for the want of water and food. It is very evident that Indian Raliways failed to ensure safety of the passengers of one its best train. Shall we not blame the Railway authority for that? Obviously, we should.
Mamata Banerjee, the Railway Minister, blamed the West Bengal state government for the incident rather than accepting her fault. Mamata Banerjee drove Tata Motors away from Singur, West Bengal as she thought it was in favour of the agrarian population of the state. But the same person is showing very reluctant attitude to criticize the act of PCPA. Is there no public sentiment associated with it? Mamata Banerjee's opinion to the press was that the Rajdhani Express hijack was planned by the state government. She did not even bother to listen to the claim of PCPA about the incident. This attitude is very dangerous for a democracy. Politics should not work as a curse for the people.

22/10/2009: PoW, Maoists and the Government

On 22nd October, 2009 India, the largest democracy in the world, witnessed a history when the Communist Party of India (Maoist) released Atindranath Dutta, the Officer-in-charge of Sankrail PS, West Midnapore, West Bengal, who was under the custody of Maoists as prisoner of war (PoW). He spent almost 54 hours with Maoists in remote forest areas (Junglemahal) of West Midnapore. He was handed over to journalists at a press conference named as Juddhobandi Mukti Sammelan (PoW release conference) held in the evening in Junglemahal. The series of incidents that happend since 20th October, 2009 is not less than a Bollywood flick. On 20th October a 30 to 40 member Maoists squad attacked the Sankrail PS, killed two policemen and took the OC with them as hostage. On the same day they made a bank robbery at the SBI branch adjacent to the Sankrail PS. Interestingly, there were some active female members in this Maoists squad. On 22nd October top Maoist leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji called the press conference to release Atindranath Dutta. The press teams were guided to the spot although the journalists were not able to see the direction of roads as their eyes were covered with tightly fastened handkerchief. After the release when journalists asked Atindranath Datta about his willingness to be in the police service, he was not very clear about this. But one thing became very clear to the people of West Bengal. They understood the mental strength of the police. Everybody understands that it is not the fault of Atindranath Dutta. He is a very simple honest person who needs to think about his wife, 2 year old daughter and parents. Several questions arise here. Is our police department not competent enough? Is the government not efficient enough? Are the Maoists revolutionaries in true sense? Is our democratic system rotten? Perhaps a lot more can be added to this sequence.

One thing is very clear about the Maoists activities in India. CPI(Maoist) is mainly active in adhibasi/ tribal areas of 160 districts; mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra and West Bengal. A lot of questions are there. Why have the innocent tribal people taken arms in hands? Why do they not have any faith in the Indian constitutional system? Why do they not rely on the democracy for their development? Is the Maoist movement continuation of the Naxalite movement of '70s?

Democracy can turn into kleptocracy if the people of the country do not take active participation to make sure healthy condition of the constitutional system. There is no way to escape from reality. We have to accept that there is fault in our bureaucratic system. Corruption and lethargy in Indian politics and bureaucracy have stopped the country to develop uniformly. If someone gets neglected, abducted, exploited and insulted day after day without any ray of hope for justice, it is very obvious that the person will take up weapons in hands. Recently in an interview famous writer Arundhuti Roy has equivocated to this by saying “ If I were a person who is being dispossessed, whose wife has been raped, who is being pushed off his land and who is being faced with this police force, I would say I am justified in taking up arms. If that is the only way, I have to defend myself.” This is the reason why Maoists have strong hold in tribal areas where most are living below poverty line (BPL). Tribal people have seen CPI(Maoist) as their savior. They believe Maoists not only have empathy for them but who can fight for them. With this faith a lot of tribal youth have joined CPI(Maoist). In a recent interview on a Bengali news channel Kanu Sanyal, the famous leader of Naxalite movement of '70s, has clearly mentioned that there is nothing which can be termed as “Maoism”. He does not consider it as the continuation of the Naxalite movement of '70s. He thinks that Maoists are very loose on the ground of ideology.

We have seen Maoists to actively take part in armed clashes with police. There are several incidents of murders of politicians, policemen and bomb blasts by Maoists. Perhaps that is the reason why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Chindambaram are considering CPI(Maoist) as biggest threat for the national security. The government will never be able to solve the 'Maoist problem' with combat forces. It can only bring the end of lives of poor CRPF jawans. Further strict defense action may even lead to civil war which can be very dangerous for India. The only way to effectively tackle it is significant development of tribals and their native places. Without any lethargy and corruption ministers and officials need to implement it as early as possible. Intellectuals of our country are ready to work as moderators of the discussion between Maoists and the government. They should be utilized for this without further delay.

One interesting thing to notice is Maoists have not yet killed any coal mafia although they have killed some coal mine executives. Don't they consider coal mafias as enemies of the country? Don't they think that coal mafias exploit the poor tribal people of Jharkhand and West Bengal? Honestly speaking, I do not have answer to these questions. But perhaps this is the reason why some people think Maoists as bandits, why Maoists have a bad image in the mind of the common Indian mass. If Maoists start to kill all the corrupt politicians along with mafias and underworld dons of the country, they will surely be called revolutionaries by the common Indian people (Aam Aadmi) who desperately want to see something like this. That is the reason why Aam Aadmi applaud movies like Rang De Basanti.

Prakash Karat, the General Secretary of CPI(M) has recently said that Maoists are not leftists. CPI(M) has faith in the Indian constitutional and democratic system and it considers Maoists as some misguided people. The Aam Aadmi may get confused by so many variations of communist party in India with so many forms starting from peaceful CPI and CPI(M) to a bit extreme CPI(M-L) to ultra left wing CPI(Maoist). With the existence of so many communist parties it is very clear that Indian communists are not united. There can be a lengthy debate over the issue whether Maoists are “leftists” or not. But one thing is very sure that these people are “left-outs”. These neglected exploited “left-out” people have formed People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA). The PLGA, which is dedicated to overcome all Fascist forces in order to lead the entire mankind towards liberation, is the Salvation Army to supporters of Maoists. Perhaps Maoists also know that the way of killing and violence will never bring liberation for the exploited tribal people of India. But it is very unfortunate for our democracy that their past experiences have taught them to take this path.

-Arnab Mandal
 Durgapur

Me and My World

I, me and myself.

It's my world.

Everyday I start with joy and new spirit

In order to improve my life, my world.

But I fail.

I rectify myself.

I criticize myself.

I try again and again.

But I fail.

I fail to fulfill my dream.

I fail to exceed my expectation from me.

I wander here and there

In search of bliss.

But I fail to get the glee.

I want to destroy the system.

I want to break the 'rooster coop'.

I want to make people free from the rotten thoughts.

But I fail.

Every time I fail,

I start with more enthusiasm.

I know failure will not be there forever.

One day I'll surely succeed.

And I'll make paradigm-shift.

I'll make this world change.

___________________

- Arnab Mandal

Delhi

Red Alert for the Left

India's General Election was one of the most crucial event which the world was closely watching this year. The world's largest democracy has a lot of things to offer in the midst of global economic slowdown. In the recession hit market Indians have selected the Congress Party to run a stable government. It is a clear people verdict. Obviously, India's oldest political party is really happy to get this mandate by Indian citizens. It will lead the alliance called UPA (United Progressive Alliance) for the second consecutive term.

There are several things to notice in this Lok Sabha Election. Congress has won a huge number of seats which is beyond their calculations. The Left Parties have performed severely bad. The Left bastion of West Bengal has been ruined by Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress which made an alliance with Congress before the election started. This is worst performance of the Left since 1977 when they came to serve the people of West Bengal. During '70s West Bengal was on fire as the Naxalite movement was at its nascent phase and at its all time high. A lot of young educated talented Bengali youths jumped into Naxalism with an aim to drastically change the rotten system which forces the poor to become slave of the rich; which persuades farmers to commit suicide. The Naxalite movement was a clear war against Imperialism. A group of people like Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal started a political party named as Communist Part of India (Marxist-Leninist) [CPI(M-L)] after coming out of

Communist Part of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], the biggest Left party of modern India. The internal clash of opinions about the form of Communist movement led to the formation of CPI(M-L). No matter, how they wanted a revolution in India's social system. What matters is what they wanted. Both CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) were keen on the social development of the poor. Numerous communists were killed by the then Congress government of the state led by the Chief Minister Siddhartha Sankar Ray. It was a dark period in the history of Indian politics.

The Left has been running the government in the state of West Bengal since 1977. But, the result of this Lok Sabha Election is clearly a deep wound on the Red Body. It is a Red Alert for the Left given by the people of WB about their functioning. If they do not take corrective measures and make reforms within the organization and in administration, then a clear danger is waiting for them. Probably, the Red Fort will observe its destruction after the WB Assembly Election which is going to happen after two years until and unless the Left become able to rejuvenate its connection with the common people.

There are views and counter views as usual about the performance of Trinamool Congress. People are saying that the people of WB have gone crazy and it is proved by result which shows peole's faith on Mamata Banerjee, the lady who drove Tata's people car 'Nano' out of the state. Some folks are doubtful about high tech rigging implemented on EVMs by Congress. And obviously there are people who see this as the Red Alert for the Left. Without moaning on the recent debacle if the Left takes this as Red Alert it will be better for them.

-Arnab Mandal

 Delhi

Action speaks louder than words

On Saturday, the 28^th March, 2009, I visited an orphanage home named Sai Kripa Bal Kutir at Sector -12, Noida. At first glance it is very difficult to make any differentiation of Bal Kutir from other orphanage homes of our country. But once you get into the detail about this orphanage home, you will surely be able to distinguish it from the rest.

Sai Kripa was started by a Keralite lady named Anjina Rajagopal in the year 1989. In 1976 she moved to Delhi with her family as her father got transferred there. Gradually, with the passage of time this noble lady from Kerala mixed up with the North Indian society. Her philanthropic attitudes towards the society and her big heart inspired her to dedicate herself for the benefit of down-trodden, street children and orphans. She did not get into marriage, family and stuff like that rather she made the whole society her family. This feeling forced me to think that how selfish I am. Currently she is running three projects under the name Sai Kripa (www.saikripa.org) namely Bal Kutir, Sai Shiksha Sansthan and Sai Bal Sansar. The latter two are schools for poor children located at Sector -135 and Sector-41, Noida respectively.

It was my first day in Bal Kutir and I found a profound desire to grow among the children who reside there. On that day they just came up from Air Force Museum, Palam and they were very happy. I noticed the kind of emotional attachment the share with Anjina madam. They never feel like orphans and the inferiority complex hardly comes to their mind. It is only because of the love of mother. Yes, I am talking about Anjina Rajagopal. After having a discussion with her I learned a lot of things. I came across a new perspective of life. In books we have read about great personalities who devoted themselves for society. But today we especially the youth of “modern India” can not even think of such incidents. Today's party crazy urban youth which is best defined by the mall culture will perhaps find me mentally ill if I talk about this in a college canteen.

What I strongly feel is if we, all the educated youngsters, spend a single day per week and 100 bucks per month from the pocket money a significant contribution towards up-liftment of the down-trodden can easily be made. The youth has to take the responsibility in order to change India, to build a new India- the country of our dream.

Only delivering lectures will not solve a single problem. So we need to take action to change India in the field of politics, bureaucracy and social service. Friends please do remember “action speaks louder than words”.

I Love to Cherish the Dream

I met you amidst angels

In woods of a lovely paradise.

You were singing a song

Standing over there beneath a tree.

Your charismatic beauty mesmerized me.

Your melodious song forced me to forget everything.

I lost myself in the symphony.

I became puzzled by the awesome ambiance created by you.

I wandered here and there

In the wonderland

To drink each drop of alcohol made by you.

Your dazzling appearance made me crazy.

I lost my senses.

I know it is not true.

It is my imagination.

This dream is my creation.

But I love to cherish the dream.

- Arnab Mandal

New Delhi

Business in the name of Che

“Better to die standing, than to live on your knees.” 

“I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.”  -Che

A few months ago a Bollywood movie named Rock On came and it rocked the Indian audience especially the youth. The movie was about a rock band. It evolved around everything how it was made, how it rocked, how the members split and of course how they reunited. The movie was a big hit mainly because of it's music and superb performance by the actors. During those days when the Rock On fever was at it's peak I heard a group of guyz & gals to discuss among them about the photo on Farhan Akhtar's T-shirt. They thought it was a photo of a rock idol. I chuckled and murmured “Hey Che”.

A more funny incident took place a few days back when an Executive Engineer of a renowned company asked one of my friend “Yeh kiska photo hain bhai? Koi filmstar ka kya?” indicating Che's photo on desktop of my friend's computer. My friend was shocked by witnessing the GK domain of his boss.

I know there are lots of people in the world who know nothing about the great Che Guevara. But the more surprising fact is millions of people use T-shirts, jackets, caps, wristbands wearing Che's photo.

Actually communists started to use Che's photo to spread the message of communism and gradually Che became the poster boy of communist movement. But later Che's photos became a medium of business to capitalists. Now-a-days capitalists are using Che's name in order to make money. The are using Che, a great Marxist to build capital after his death.

If people become aware of Che's name and his activities, the fight against capitalism will automatically spread. So, the business made by capitalists may act as boomerang to ruin capitalism.

-Arnab Mandal

New Delhi

My Love

I know the way you see life.
I know how you create memory-archive.

I love the way you talk and smile.
I know that you are agile.

I imagine you holding my hand
In no man's land.

Your charismatic beauty soothes my eyes.
You came in my life as surprise.

You are an angel with small magic stick.
You are a person who has no critic.

I may not be as good as you.
But I really love you.
I don't know what you think about me.
But I know how much you matter to me.


-Arnab Mandal
New Delhi