Summary of CC deliberations and decisions

Bhilai, 13-15 May 2002 (Excerpts)

Genocide in Gujarat and Growing Aggression of Communal Fascism: The Central Committee took a serious note of the Gujarat situation and called for intensifying countrywide mass protests demanding dismissal of the Modi government and exemplary punishment to all the perpetrators of the genocide in Gujarat. The CC pointed out that while till date the genocide remained confined to Gujarat, the saffron brigade was working overtime to spread the fire to every corner of the country. The CC also noted that while the violence in Gujarat was directed primarily against the Muslim community, journalists reporting the violence and non-Muslim citizens working for peace were equally vulnerable to attacks by the saffron goons. As communal violence acquires an increasingly fascist character, the attacks are bound to intensify against a whole array of targets ranging from the minorities to communists to the liberal intelligentsia. Indeed, RSS ideologues often vent their ire against the ‘children’ of three M’s: Marx, Macaulay (the designer of modern education in colonial India) and Madrasas. The CC therefore warned against treating communal fascism just as a communal question and called for paying greater attention to its fascist aspect.

The CC noted that the fascists had not yet succeeded in hijacking the entire system and some pockets of resistance could be identified within institutions like the press, Parliament, judiciary and various bodies of active citizens. While the fascists are trying hard to whip up communal tension and effect a total communal polarisation, the country is also witnessing large-scale anti-communal awakening and activism. To intensify popular resistance against fascist aggression, the CC called for mobilisation of the entire Party on the basis of a three-pronged approach: (i) leading the resistance with exemplary revolutionary courage, determination and initiative, (ii) strengthening the resistance by going to the masses and arousing and mobilising them in anti-fascist struggle, and (iii) broadening the resistance by enlisting the support and cooperation of all possible allies who are demarcating themselves from the fascists and offering a degree of opposition.

The CC appreciated the initiatives taken so far by various Party Committees independently as well as in cooperation with other progressive forces including organising team visits to Gujarat, publication of reports on the genocide and the role of the state and various social and political forces, collection of monetary relief for the riot-affected people, and conducting mass political campaigns. Considering the continuing gravity of the situation and the intensity of the fascist offensive, the CC called for sustained and still bigger efforts on the part of the Party and mass organisations.

May 4-10 Campaign against Communal Fascism and for People’s Unity: The CC heard reports of the May 4-10 campaign in different states. The campaign has been marked by a number of conventions, seminars, dharnas and marches. The high point of the campaign was the May 10-11 programme at Faizabad demanding separation of religion and politics and construction of a memorial at Ayodhya as a tribute to the great martyrs of 1857 who symbolised Hindu-Muslim fraternity as well as an intense yearning for liberation from the yoke of British colonialism. Visualised as a Shaheed Mela (cultural festival dedicated to the martyrs of 1857), the programme evoked encouraging response from sections of the local people and intelligentsia, but the participation of non-Party activists and intellectuals from outside Faizabad remained very limited.

At the behest of the Sangh parivar, the Mayawati government banned the programme at the eleventh hour and resorted to an unprecedented police crackdown. Nearly 1,000 comrades including, apart from students, youths and cultural activists, many women and some children were arrested when they took out the Sadbhavna March (peace and goodwill march) defying prohibitory orders. In an unprecedented repressive move, the arrested were remanded for 14 days and sent to two separate jails. The next day a convention was held at the local press club in police encirclement and six comrades including a professor of Delhi University were arrested. The crackdown evoked widespread opposition, questions were raised by some opposition MPs in Parliament and many intellectuals and political figures like Surendra Mohan and Arif Mohammed Khan joined the citizens’ protest in Delhi on 13 May. The comrades have eventually been released after a week. The CC congratulated the participants of the Ayodhya March for their spirit and determination and called upon the entire Party to widely propagate the message of the struggle.

Save Democracy Campaign from June 26 to August 9: As a follow-up to the May 4-10 Campaign, the CC has called for organising a bigger national campaign from June 26 to August 9. The campaign will start on June 26, the day Emergency was clamped down in 1975, with a national convention against fascism in Delhi. The day will also be marked by similar programmes in other state capitals and if possible also in district headquarters. Attempts should be made to involve other Left parties and democratic organisations and personalities in this convention and also in the entire campaign. The campaign should be observed all over the country through a variety of programmes and August 9 (Quit India Day) we should have a countrywide mobilisation against fascism and imperialism. Unless otherwise decided later, the August 9 programme would be organised in the form a massive jail bharo campaign.

7th Party Congress: The Seventh Congress of the Party will be held at Patna from 25 to 29 November.