1. Heightened offensive of globalisation resulting in severe industrial and agraraian crisis, increasing intervention of US imperialism and the growing threat of communal fascism have strengthened the urge for unity among a whole range of Left and
democratic forces belonging to the entire ideological spectrum ranging from communists and socialists to other activists who are broadly described by the generic name of new social movements or civil society organisations. The growing trend towards a two-party system both at central and state levels has also reinforced the need for a third force or third front in national politics and also in most states.
Yet, in terms of a political united front, the situation is in a state of flux. With the rise of the BJP-led NDA, the united front formations comprising the Left Front and other non-BJP non-Congress parties have all collapsed. The People’s Front, formed with loud claims of unleashing mass movement against the BJP rule, had proved to be a non-starter and its formal end came at the time of the Presidential election. Except for the support extended by our Party, the JD(S) and some small parties, the CPI(M) and its Left Front partners stood isolated in the Presidential poll.
While the CPI and CPI(M) may find this situation ripe for yet another disastrous attempt to hobnob with the Congress, we must intensify our consistent and principled attempts for developing closer cooperation and broader unity with all sections of the Left. Simultaneously we should also increase our interaction with various other social and political forces to develop issue-based joint action.
2. In terms of our cooperation with other forces of the Left, good progress has been seen in Andhra Pradesh where nine organisations including the CPI, CPI(M), our Party and some other ML organisations have been working together on a range of issues. Powerful protest movements were organized on the issue of cotton farmers’ suicides and against Bill Clinton’s visit and rise in power tariff. In Assam too, the CPI(M) and CPI are now joining hands with us in issue-based joint struggles. Eight left and democratic parties including our Party and the CPI, CPI(M), SUCI, RCPI, RSP, SP and JD(S) are now organising some joint activities in the state. A joint protest march was taken out in Guwahati against the Gujarat genocide. In May this year, Guwahati bandh was organised jointly to protest eviction of people from forest land. Both in Andhra and Assam, the CPI and CPI(M) suffered heavily because of their earlier alliance with and dependence on parties like the TDP and AGP.
3. It was in Bihar where a real possibility of a Left and democratic front seemed to have emerged in the course of the popular anti-corruption oust-Laloo campaign. But the CPI(M) and CPI resisted any such possibility and after a brief spell of united movement the two parties again went back to their old ways. However, in the concrete conditions of Bihar, the two parties could not come to an agreed tactical perception and the last Assembly elections found the two parties in two different camps. The electoral understanding between the CPI(ML) and CPI had generated a lot of enthusiasm among Left ranks, and joint action of the two parties and the larger Left forces did continue for nearly a year after the February 2000 Assembly elections. A bandh on a number of burning issues was observed on 17 January 2001 at the joint call of all Left forces. However, thereafter the CPI has been following a policy of distancing itself from the CPI(ML). The CPI and CPI(M) have formed a separate Left coordination committee in the state. It remains to be seen whether the CPI’s renewed proximity to the CPI(M) presages a revision of the CPI’s present tactical course in Bihar and a return to the fold of the RJD-Congress coalition.
In Jharkhand, we continue to have joint activities with the CPI, CPI(M), Forward Bloc and MCC led by Comrade AK Roy.
4. In West Bengal, we have working relations with some other communist revolutionary organisations. We have also been able to enlist the cooperation of several organisations and progressive individuals in some of our campaigns, especially on the question of defending democratic rights and punishing the architects and perpetrators of the white terror unleashed in the state in the 1970s. In the last Assembly election we had a partial seat adjustment with the SUCI. Among the partners of the Left Front, the RSP, Forward Bloc and CPI have on occasions openly criticised some of the measures and moves of the Left Front Government like the proposed agricultural policy, labour law amendments, POCA and cases of human rights violation. The RSP did not also hesitate to join hands with us in the Tollynullah anti-eviction struggle in Kolkata and the Chandmoni Tea Estate workers’ struggle.
5. In Punjab, political cooperation is developing with the breakaway CPI(M) group led by Comrade Pasla. After years of serious inner-party struggle the split in the Punjab CPI(M) was formalised on the eve of the last State conference of the party. While the split had its roots in inner-party struggle over allegations of corruption and bureaucracy, the split has also got a programmatic-tactical dimension. Comrades of the breakaway group have been opposed to the CPI(M) leadership’s growing soft approach towards the Congress. They also opposed the revision of the CPI(M)’s 1964 programme in the Thiruvanantha-puram conference, especially the newly introduced provision for participation in central government. While most CPI(M) dissidents these days tend to move rightward and/or become inactive or localised, the Punjab comrades have shown their preference to remain a part of the all-India left movement even though as an organisation they are still in a state of transition.
We in the CPI(ML) do have our share of programmatic differences with the 1964 programme, but we have repeatedly made it clear that historically the 1964 split marked the first rupture with right opportunism and we too therefore have a stake in the struggle inside the CPI(M) against rightward revision of the 1964 programme. It is on this principled basis that we stand for developing closer political cooperation with the Punjab comrades. We conducted a joint campaign in the February 2002 Assembly elections and subsequently we have also participated in joint national and state-level political campaigns.
We have also had joint action with the Left parties in Rajasthan. In November 2000, a massive joint march was organised in Jaipur to protest the government’s move to divide and privatise the State Electricity Board.
6. Nationally, we have been maintaining ties of close cooperation with the Lal Nishan Party (Leninvadi) of Maharashtra. We have also been participating in a joint forum of six ML organisations. However, only two of the other five constituents are showing any seriousness in joint activities. The September 28 Ahmedabad convention and march has been the best example of cooperation in recent years among ML organisations.
7. On 26 June this year we organised a National Convention against Communal Fascism and Imperialist Intervention in New Delhi. This was attended by a whole set of Left parties and democratic personalities with only the CPI(M) remaining conspicuous by its absence. Some of these forces also participated in the August 9 jail bharo programme which marked the culmination of the “save democracy, save independence” campaign launched on June 26.
Recently, the CPI and CPI(M) have also invited us to participate in a couple of joint initiatives. But this must not be construed as a step towards any broader unity of the Left. The Congress too has been invited to these meetings even though it does not show much interest. On November 14 a joint demonstration was organised under the banner of the Committee against War on Iraq. The move has been initiated by the CPI(M) and the Congress is also included in its ambit, but ironically it remained absent in the first anti-war demonstration. The tactical temptation of courting the Congress will mar the potential of these otherwise necessary and significant joint moves.
8. To foster closer interaction with the whole range of anti-globalisation forces, excluding of course the advocates of saffron swadeshi, we took the initiative to organise a People’s Conference against Globalisation in Delhi in March 2001. The conference witnessed extensive participation from a whole range of forces engaged in the struggle against globalisation, but nothing concrete could emerge from it. Anti-globalisation conventions were also organised in Jaipur, Guwahati, Kolkata and Bangalore. This was followed by a broad-based anti-WTO campaign called the Indian People’s Campaign against WTO comprising our Party, Naramada Bachao Andolan and the parties of the erstwhile People’s Front. Currently, most anti-globalisation forces are interacting as part of the WSF process. The 2004 meet of the World Social Forum is scheduled to be held in India and in January next year there will be a national gathering of all forces active in the WSF India process in Hyderabad.
9. At the level of mass organisations, we are also continuing our association with the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions and the National Platform of Mass Organisations. Even after the collapse of the UF government and vigorous implementation of neo-liberal policies by the NDA government, these platforms have however failed to regain their initial momentum. There have been only a handful of major action programmes during the last four years of NDA rule including three countrywide general/industrial strikes on 11 December, 1998, 11 May, 2000 and 16 April, 2002 apart from some conventions, protest days and rallies. While the strikes have generally evoked good responses, most other programmes have been very formal in nature. Considering the intensity of the government’s policy onslaught on the living and working conditions of the working people and the massive resentment among the people, the response of these joint platforms has indeed been quite inadequate.
The failure of the central trade unions to organise any solidarity strike in support of the historic 67-day long strike action of BALCO workers and employees was particularly disappointing. A major political reason behind this insufficient mobilisation of class solidarity lay in illusions about the Ajit Jogi government’s pretentious initial opposition on this score and in exaggerated emphasis on the legal aspects of the issue. The BALCO experience proved a turning point. After more than two months of heroic strike, while BALCO workers felt let down in the absence of a powerful mobilisation of the larger working class, the government became emboldened to accelerate the pace of its disinvestment campaign. Similarly, illusions about the BMS taking on the NDA government on the question of economic policies have also slackened the Left trade unions’ own initiative. In fact, even on the trade union front, the CPI and CPI(M) are now more interested in joint action with the pro-Congress and pro-BJP trade union centres and the predominantly left-led platforms of joint action like the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions and the National Platform of Mass Organisations have been systematically devalued. We should however continue to play an active role in these platforms and develop closer ties with Left ranks in the working class movement.
Apart from the trade union front and the general platform of mass organisations, on other mass fronts like peasant and agricultural labour front, student-youth front and women’s front, the Left Front parties maintain their separate coordination. While remaining associated with the NPMO we should therefore pay greater stress on our independent initiative on these fronts. With the launching of the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, we were able to develop links with many peasant and farmer organisations not only in Bihar and UP, but also in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Kerala. The Faizabad peasant conference against the new agriculture policy in March 2001, the Mansa meet on “freedom from debt” in September 2001 and the anti-war anti-WTO rally in Delhi on November 9, 2001 (the day the Doha summit of WTO began) marked a series of important initiatives in this regard.
10. Our attempts to build a Tribal People’s Front and/or an Assam People’s Front did not meet with much success. The autonomous state movement in the hill districts of Assam did serve as a source of inspiration for several other autonomy movements elsewhere in the state and left-leaning leading elements of some of these movements also felt attracted to the Party. But with debates over the orientation of ASDC and the subsequent split and defeat of ASDC in the last council election, the process has suffered a temporary setback. Renewal of our initiative on this front will have to await an effective reorganisation of the Party and rejuvenation of the movement in the hill districts.
In Jharkhand we have had a number of joint action with the JMM. It supported the first Jharkhand bandh called by our Party on December 6, 2000. Two months later, following the killing of tribal people protesting the Koel-Karo project in police firing, another Jharkhand bandh was called on 5 February 2001 by the entire non-Congress opposition in the state. While seriously exploring possibilities of joint action with the JMM on basic issues concerning the toiling tribal people of Jharkhand, we must have a realistic Marxist assessment about this organisation. It has undergone a clear metamorphosis since the heady days of Jharkhand movement in the 1970s. Today it sees itself as the natural claimant to power in Jharkhand and decides all its courses of action accordingly. If AK Roy’s liberal romanticism about the JMM turning Jharkhand into “lal-khand” (the red region) had proved to be thoroughly illusory in the 1970s, any hope of JMM rediscovering its early leftwing leanings today would be even more misplaced and illusory. However, as long as the JMM stays away from the BJP or the Congress, issue-based joint action with it has its own importance precisely because of its continuing influence on a good section of the adivasis in Jharkhand.
11. In the Varanasi Congress, we had taken note of the PWG’s attempts to float semi-political formations to take up the question of political liberty in the face of state repression. The MCC too has moved in this direction. The ND group, once engaged in bitter internecine war with the PWG in Andhra, is now sharing a joint platform with the PWG in one such forum. However these forums have a very restricted focus, campaigning only against POTA and WTO and lack any effective mass political orientation. On the whole they operate in the shadow of the anarchist armed activities of the underground organisation. We should not however completely rule out the possibility of issue-based joint action or sharing of platform with these forums.
12. United front activities at the present stage should be understood as a multi-layered multi-dimensional area of practice. It is impossible to visualise a single front of the entire range of forces with whom we can undertake joint activities. In terms of political parties our focus will remain on realising the concept of a broad-based and movement-oriented Left confederation covering the broadest possible sections of the Left including communist revolutionary organisations and state-level Left formations. We are however not averse to undertaking issue-based joint action and if necessary even entering into tactical and temporary alliances with non-Left or centrist parties under very specific circumstances, but as the Varanasi Congress pointed out, we do not consider them reliable allies and strategic cooperation with them is ruled out. However, we should be very selective in sharing platform with these parties in states where they are in power.
United front practice forms an integral part of our overall practice even when we do not have any formal united front organisation or platform. Instead of waiting for a united front to emerge from above, we should try to explore all prospects of building a united front below. We must always make conscious efforts to reach out to all the potential constituents of a democratic front by addressing specific problems of various classes and communities at whatever level possible. Such decentralised and issue-based joint actions can help us identify like-minded positive forces and build durable relations with them.
13. Dalit politics in India has undergone major changes in recent years. The BSP has effected a shift in its discourse from the earlier accent on bahujan politics to sarvajan politics to justify its growing alliance with the number one ‘Manuvadi’ party like the BJP. Even though the BJP-BSP alliance is still confined to UP and formally the BSP is still not a partner of NDA, within UP the alliance is growing into a long-term strategic partnership. The BSP has also internalised its alliance with upper caste feudal-kulak-mafia elements and MLAs from such a background now outnumber BSP MLAs from OBC, dalit or minority origin. The BSP also went out of its way to justify the Gujarat genocide and campaign for the BJP in the Gujarat elections.
The Congress is also trying desperately to regain its traditional base in dalit politics. A special meet of dalit intellectuals and activists was held recently in Bhopal to evolve a suitable plank for winning dalits back to the Congress fold. The Bhopal Declaration focussed on the theme of economic partnership for dalits on the basis of the new economic policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. With Ram Vilas Paswan finally parting ways with the NDA, there is now a distinct possibility of his eventual incorporation into the Congress framework.
While the BJP and Congress are thus trying to integrate dalit politicians into their projects of Hindutva and economic neo-liberalism, the socio-economic or political reality for millions of toiling dalits in this country is still marked by extreme economic exploitation and social oppression. Jayalalitha’s anti-conversion law or the killing of dalits at Jhajjar in Haryana symbolise new dimensions of attacks on the survival, dignity and basic human rights of dalits. This is forcing more and more dalit activists to seek new channels to raise their voices of protest. We must also find ways to intervene effectively in the ongoing dalit discourse and interact with dalit organisations and trends that oppose the BSP’s brand of political opportunism and crass betrayal and challenge the politics of Hindutva and the economics of globalisation.
14. Adivasis in India, who have historically been subjected to tremendous deprivation, displacement and repression, are now faced with much greater insecurity and disempowerement in the era of globalisation. While drought and dismantling of the public distribution system have rendered adivasi families vulnerable to starvation deaths, in the name of preservation of forests they are now also being subjected to wholesale eviction from their traditional forest-based settlements. In June 2002 the Supreme Court appointed a Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to go into the issue of freeing forests from so-called encroachments. While reports filed by the state governments of Orissa, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Kerala describe a total area of 7,25,861 hectares as area under encroachment, the CEC estimates the actual area under encroachment to be much higher and calls for complete eviction of all post-1980 ‘encroachments’. In Andhra Pradesh, there is also a move afoot to regularize forest lands to non-adivasi encroachers by amending Regulation 1 of 1970 and this has resulted in a powerful resistance by adivsis in West Godavari district.
The government however seeks to camouflage this real onslaught on 15 million tribal people by driving a wedge between Christian and non-Christian adivasis. The RSS is carrying on a systematic work of indoctrination among adivasis and recent events in Gujarat have exposed the deep penetration that the Sangh has succeeded in making among them.
Under these circumstances, we have a challenging task cut out for us: to oganise adivasis in militant struggles for realisation of their aspirations ranging from preservation of their traditional ties with nature to a radical improvement in their living conditions. In opposition to the BJP’s design of using adivasis as cannon-fodder for their fascist project of Hindu Rashtra, we must fight for securing a new dignity for adivasis as an integral part of a new democratic India. To this end, we must strengthen our existing work among adivasis in Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand, Orissa and Andhra and also develop some pockets of work among adivasis in Rajasthan and Gujarat. We must earnestly address the agenda of resisting the ongoing eviction campaign of the government, intensifying struggles against displacement and alienation of adivasis from their traditional land and natural moorings and defeating the anti-adivasi nexus of predatory corporations, greedy contractors and corrupt forest officials, and to this end we should develop interaction with other social and political forces active in adivasi areas.
15. The religious minorities in India, especially Muslims and increasingly Christians as well, are facing a systematic persecution campaign led by the RSS and its network of organisations. Attacks on churches and schools run by Christian missionaries have become a common occurrence in almost all parts of the country. From Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, there have been several cases of sexual harassment and rape of nuns and Orissa witnessed this most barbaric incident of an Australian clergyman Graham Steins and his two sons being burnt alive by Bajrang Dal activists. For his refusal to hold early elections in Gujarat, even Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh was subjected by the saffron brigade to a malicious hate campaign that targeted him as a Christian. In his capacity as Prime Minister of the country, Atal Bihari Vajpayee only sought to legitimise this Christian-bashing campaign by calling for a national debate on religious conversion. And now Jayalalitha has shown the way with anti-conversion legislation. The genocide in Gujarat did not spare prominent Muslim citizens including those in the judiciary, police and bureaucracy.
On the basis of this organised and state-sponsored communal violence, the ideologues of the Sangh are trying to redefine and reshape the nature of Indian polity and the parameters of Indian nationalism. This anti-minority campaign, especially the anti-Muslim witch-hunt has acquired greater momentum in the wake of September 11. The more the minority communities feel encircled by a climate of fear and insecurity, the more the BJP invokes the bogey of minority appeasement.
Against this backdrop, we must resolutely stand by the minorities and frustrate the fascist campaign to reduce members of the minority communities to the status of second-grade citizens in their own land. We must expand our interaction with various representative organisations and individual members of minority communities. While the dominant trend within these communities may again rally around the Congress on the national level alongside minor trends of extremism and even defeatist collaboration with the BJP, there is also a growing general recognition of the need for a powerful Left-led third force. In our areas of strength in the Hindi belt, especially in Bihar and Jharkhand, there is a great deal of support and sympathy within the Muslim community, especially the youth and intelligentsia, for the revolutionary movement led by our Party. We must make all-out efforts to raise the level of participation of the Muslim community and other minorities in the democratic movement. q