Mahendra Singh: Unquenchable Voice of ‘People’s Jharkhand’

(For over two decades, Mahendra Singh had led innumerable struggles – for the right of the tribals and poor of Jharkhand to have a State of their own, against criminal ganglords and the corrupt political class, against the Sangh’s gameplan of turning Jharkhand into another saffron laboratory and against State terror. We carry a brief overview of some of the major struggles in Jharkhand’s political history, which Mahendra Singh played a key role in shaping.)

Mahendra Singh spearheaded a vigorous, creative Left intervention in the movement for Jharkhand statehood – leading major mass interventions through the Jharkhand Mazdoor Kisan Samiti (Jhamkis), and roping several democratic forces into a joint forum, which took up an economic blockade movement in 1993. Some of the initiatives of the 90s included a Parallel Assembly in 1994, a Rally in Delhi demanding separate Statehood in 1996 and an Ulgulan Yatra – a cultural festival of Jharkhandi youth, in which a broad section of writers and democratic cultural personalities participated, as well as a joint Rally by Left and democratic forces in Ranchi in 1997.

When the BJP put forth its ‘Vananchal’ formula, Mahendra Singh’s voice rang out clearly exposing and denouncing it, in stark contrast to the surrender of most other forces. When the new state was formed, Mahendra Singh and the CPI(ML) lost no time in voicing demands which would make Jharkhand’s resources belong truly to its tribals and workers - the return of land stolen from the adivasis and a special package to restructure the dying industrial infrastructure of Jharkhand, safeguarding the livelihood of its workers. Right from the birth of the new State, Mahendra Singh led the CPI(ML) in issuing a challenge to the rapacious mafia and MNCs who cast covetous eyes on Jharkhand: he demanded confiscation of wealth amassed by the mafia forces, and an immediate stop to uprooting people in the interests of big capital and foreign multinationals.

The saffron fascists, from day one, found Mahendra Singh and the CPI(ML) a major hurdle in their aim of turning Jharkhand into another Gujarat. Mahendra Singh made full use of his standing as an MLA to voice the popular resistance to the BJP State Government, by boycotting the oath-taking ceremony and the Governor’s address. The NDA appointed as the Governor none other than Prabhat Kumar, who, as Home Secretary of UP had connived in the Babri demolition, the CPI(ML) called a Bandh on 6 December, the anniversary of the demolition. Both the CPI and the JMM supported the Bandh. In Bagodar, on 5 December, police launched a fierce attack on CPI(ML) activists, injuring several in firing and even raiding the Party office. In protest, the same night, Mahendra Singh led a torchlight procession and courted arrest.

The BJP Government behaved like a government under siege – its first 100 days set a record of sorts in incidents of police firings, targeting minorities and tribals. On Id day, four young Muslim men were killed in Doranda, in the centre of bustling Ranchi town, when police fired on a crowd that was protesting a hit-and-run killing of a 5-year-old Muslim girl. What followed was a state-sponsored witch-hunt in Muslim localities, with the police spreading communal propaganda about ‘ISI’ involvement. It was the CPI(ML) fact-finding team which exposed the truth and called a bandh against communal terror. Against the rape of a nun in Kurparia near Bokaro, and numerous other instances of systematic saffron terror against Christians, the CPI(ML) was the consistent political voice of resistance.

When the Marandi Government announced its intention to speed up the Koel Karo hydel project in January 2001, the tribals promptly organised a road blockade and a gherao in Topkara, which, for the last 20 years, had been a centre of the Koel Karo movement against displacement by the dam, and exploitation of the mines by multinationals. Police firing on the protesting tribals killed 8 and injured several, and the CPI(ML) held a protest bandh on 5 February 2001.

In the very first Budget session of the Jharkhand Assembly, Mahendra Singh set the tone for the days to come: making sure that the protest at the gates of the Assembly shook the Assembly from within. Thousands of CPI(ML) activists led by the General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya gheraoed the Assembly, demanding punishment for the police authorities who ordered the firing at Topkara, an immediate stop to the Koel Karo project, protection of tribal land rights and action against mafias. 100 activists slipped past security to reach the gates of the Assembly, and just as they were lathicharged, Mahendra Singh led a protest of Opposition MLAs to the well of the House. Meanwhile, the CRPF-RAF brutally assaulted the protestors at Birsa Chowk, arresting Dipankar Bhattacharya and 40 others and holding them in an undisclosed place. Comrade Mahendra led other MLAs from the JMM, CPI, and RJD to Birsa Chowk, where the CRPF lathicharged them, especially targeting Comrade Mahendra.

Protests burst out all over India. In Jharkhand, every highway was blocked, and an indefinite dharna began at Ranchi, where NBA activist Medha Patkar, journalist Prabhash Joshi, and former Chief Justice, S M Daud participated. Comrade Mahendra Singh was the moving force behind these protests, galvanising the intellectuals, media persons and democratic forces into action. Following a nationwide protest on 7 March, the CPI(ML) activists including the General Secretary were released. A massive ‘Save Democracy, Save Jharkhand’ March was held at Ranchi on 14 March.

Mahendra Singh’s interventions within the Jharkhand Assembly were truly a model for Communist representatives. He did his homework well, backing his demands and observations with painstaking research and facts, making them tough to refuse or r efute. He also skilfully used the ‘rules of the parliamentary game’ against his opponents. However, he never harboured or disseminated the slightest illusion about what could be achieved within the Parliamentary system, and lost no opportunity to ruthlessly expose its hypocrisy and doublespeak.

All the cut motions proposed by Comrade Mahendra in the first Budget session were accepted. In that session, he raised the issue of the Ranchi land scam case and spoke against the Government’s protection to RSS structures built on stolen tribal land. He proposed that the royalty on minerals and natural resources paid to the Jharkhand Government by the Centre be calculated based on value rather than weight – a proposal that the Finance Minister accepted and recommended to the Centre. Instead of the proposed ‘beautification’ drive of Ranchi city, that would demolish the footpath shops of countless poor people, he proposed the construction of a ‘New Ranchi’ township, arguing that surely the Centre should keep up its commitment of funding capitals for the new states. He criticised the increase in the police Budget, terming it as a step in the direction of a Police State, and demanded action against those guilty of the Doranda and Topkara firings. At the time of passing of the Finance Bill, the treasury side was outnumbered by the Opposition. Mahendra Singh insisted on a vote, arguing by citing rules. The Speaker came to the rescue of the Government, calling for a division, but avoiding counting by announcing an adjournment immediately after.

The first year of the Jharkhand State, also the first year of the BJP State Government, was marked by a massive ‘Social Transformation Rally’ at Rajdhanwar in Giridih. Giridih being the Chief Minister Marandi’s own constituency, such a mass upsurge of a wide cross section of diverse classes and strata of people was significant. Even the media hailed it as a ‘Red storm that swept away the saffron dust’. In an article written on the occasion, Mahendra Singh commented on how the people of the district had boycotted the CM’s inauguration of three bridges, inaugurating them on their own instead. He also pointed out that rather than spontaneous upsurges that die down as soon as they flare up, Jharkhand had begun to witness movements with a resolute and mature leadership, against the loot of development funds and repression.

The year that followed witnessed an intensified mass movement spearheaded by the CPI(ML) and a corresponding crackdown on the Party’s leaders by the saffron regime. Successive mass rallies were held in several blocks of Jharkhand, followed by a systematic targeting of all mass leaders of CPI(ML).

In March 2002, a Samajik Parivartan Rally was held at Jamua, and on Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom day, 23 March, an anti-corruption Rally led by Mahendra Singh was held at Deori. The next day, Comrade Mahendra unveiled a statue of Bhagat Singh at a mass gathering at Saria – the same place where he was eventually killed. On 25 March, a popular party leader Loknath Paswan was arrested during an anti-liquor campaign; his arrest was followed by militant protests. On 26 March, a ‘Challenge Rally’ was held at Jutha Aam in Birni block, followed by another ‘Challenge Rally’ at Tisri, which was addressed by Mahendra Singh and Rajkumar Yadav. On the same day, Rajkumar Yadav was encircled and arrested by a posse of policeman. People immediately protested his arrest with a militant road blockade which continued all night.

In the Giridih Bandh that was held on 4 April, another leader Comrade Laldhan Mahato was killed in police firing, and Comrade Mahendra was arrested, but released after several hours of detention. When Comrade Mahendra was returning to Bagodar with Comrade Laldhan Mahato’s body, he was again encircled and arrested. On 5 April, bail was granted, but Comrade Mahendra was rearrested as soon as he was released! 6 April was observed as Black Day in protest against the crackdown, and an indfinite dharna began at Giridih on 8 April, demanding the release of Comrade Mahendra and Rajkumar Yadav. The Coal Mine Workers Union (CMWU), of which Comrade Mahendra was the President, organised a blockade of coal movement and ‘local sale’ of coal demanding the release of the CPI(ML) leaders. A Jharkhand Bandh and a Ranchi Chalo March took place. A range of Left parties – CPI(M), Marxist Coordination Centre, RSP, Forward Block, and even the RJD and JMM demanded the release of Mahendra Prasad Singh. He and other leaders were eventually released after several months in jail under all kinds of trumped up charges.

The new year of 2003 began with the police firing on tribals who were raising land-related demands and withdrawal of false cases at Markachcho thana in Koderma. The CPI(ML) organised a militant Jharkhand Bandh against the firing which had killed 5 and injured several others. On 17 February a massive Sankalp Sabha was held at the same spot where the firing had taken place; General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya attended it, and, at a Martyrs’ Column built by the comrades, Mahendra Singh felicitated the martyrs’ families. The Markachcho firing continued to reverberate in the politics of the State in the years to come.

As the Lok Sabha elections of 2004 approached, the repession once again intensified. Rajkumar Yadav was arrested on the instigation of his rival, BJP leader and Commerce Minister Ravindra Rai, and contested from within jail. Several false cases were also slapped on Comrade Mahendra and other leaders. Most of the Party’s leading activists were jailed. In the 2004 elections, CPI(ML) polled third in Koderma, and BJP retained its seat by setting a record of electoral malpractices, but CPI(ML)’s performance was impressive – with Rajkumar Yadav, the candidate from Koderma, polling 1,36, 554 votes.

The Government at the Centre changed, but the shadows of POTA, state repression and starvation continued to haunt Jharkhand. A spate of starvation deaths occurred in Deoghar, Palamu and Garhwa – the rulers turned a blind eye to chronic hunger, and it was Comrade Mahendra and the CPI(ML) which gave voice to the anger and sense of betrayal of Jharkhand’s poor.

In the Budget session of the Assembly in March, Mahendra Singh had, in his typical fearless way, backed with well-documented facts, nailed the Giridih Superintendent of Police Deepak Verma. Verma was part of a web of crime and extortion which involved the powerful and ruthless coal mafia as well as senior BJP Ministers. Comrade Mahendra sat on a dharna in the well of the House and threatened to go on a hunger strike, in order to force the Government to take notice of a Report of its own Vigilance Branch of the Police, which had indicted Varma for the killing of a young advocate Prashant Sahai. The Government had promised to take action against Verma, and was due to report on action taken to the Assembly in its next session.

In the ‘Justice March’ in Giridih in January 2005, the demand for the arrest and trial of Deepak Verma was a prominent one, as also in the massive Vikalp Rally at Ranchi, where the people of Jharkhand heard the ringing voice of Mahendra Prasad Singh take on the communal, corrupt and criminalised ruling class of Jharkhand for the last time.