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.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
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.
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
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
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