ML Update 21 / 2013

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.  16                          No. 21                                                                                                                             14-20 MAY 2013

The Game Is Up for Team Manmohan -

It's the PM who Must Go Now!

Recent revelations have once again confirmed the extent to which the UPA Government is mired in corruption and cover-ups, from a series of Ministers right up to the Prime Minister.  

The UPA Government, which had brazenly denied the coal scam in which the PM was directly implicated, has now been caught red-handed trying to 'fix' the probe into the scam by 'editing' the CBI's status report submitted to the apex court. Now, the Supreme Court has delivered a scathing indictment of the role of the Government and the CBI, calling the CBI a "caged parrot speaking in master's voice", and finding that the "heart of the report had been tampered with".

The CBI's own affidavit testifies to the fact that the Government lied to the Court when it assured that the report had not been amended.  Not only the Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, but the Joint Secretaries of the PMO and the Coal Ministry (the very same institutions directly being probed for their role in the coal scam!) perused the CBI's status report and dictated strategic deletions and amendments. Eventually the Government, which had defiantly refused to sack the Law Minister, was forced to get the Law Minister to belatedly resign as a last-ditch attempt at damage control. But if Ashwani Kumar had to lose his job as Law Minister, why should not Manmohan Singh lose his job as Prime Minister, since the PMO too was equally implicated in the same offence of influencing the CBI report?   

Another instance of blatant corruption directly implicating the UPA Government came to light with the CBI's arrest of the nephew of the Union Rail Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, on charges of taking a Rs 90 lakh bribe from a member of the Railway Board, allegedly to secure a new post within the Railway Board. In the Rail Scam as well, the UPA Government first tried to brazen it out, until eventually forced to go for the belated resignation of Pawan Kumar Bansal.

The Railway Board is a very powerful body, directly answerable to the Rail Minister. The open support of JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav for Pawan Bansal, and the silence, if not open defence of the tainted minister, of various former Rail Ministers across parties (including Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar and Laloo Yadav), is clearly because the cash-for-posts scam is a long-entrenched practice that goes back a long way. A thorough probe that investigates the tenures of former Rail Ministers as well is called for to expose the extent of the scam.

The Congress party is trying to hide behind the Karnataka results, claiming that Karnataka proves that Congress' electoral fortunes will not be affected by the spate of scams and cover-ups. The opposite is true. Karnataka proves that the people are waiting to punish governments for corruption: in Karnataka, the BJP paid the price of defeat for its Government which presided over the worst corporate plunder and loot of land and minerals. Karnataka exposes the BJP's bluff of being a 'clean' alternative to the corrupt Congress, and it is also a stern reminder that the corrupt UPA Government will undoubtedly be taught a lesson by the people, as the BJP was taught a lesson in Karnataka.

The PM cannot hide behind the resignations of Ashwani Kumar and Bansal. As the PM who presided over the Coal Ministry at the time of the Coal Scam, and is directly implicated in the PMO's manipulation of the CBI's status report, and is moreover leading the pack of a series of corrupt Ministers, Manmohan Singh must quit! With one tainted minister after another being exposed and forced to make an ignominious exit, the game is up for Team Manmohan. The captain must now quit and let the people express their mandate.

For the people of the country, it is completely unacceptable that the CBI remain a parrot of the Government, in a cage where the ruling party holds the key. But it is also equally important to assert that the country can no longer afford a Government which is the parrot of corporations, and which keeps the people shackled by neoliberal policies and repressive measures. Ridding the country of pro-corporate policies and guaranteeing the rights of the people with pro-people policies and institutional arrangements is the urgent need of the hour. 

CPI(ML) Welcomes Pakistan Elections

The CPI(ML) welcomes the historic Pakistan elections, in which for the very first time in the history of that country, a transition has taken place through democratic elections from an elected civilian government to another. The people of Pakistan must be congratulated for defying all odds to assert their democratic rights.

Apart from the return of Nawaz Sharif, another significant development in these elections has been the emergence of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party led by Imran Khan as a significant Opposition force which has emerged victorious in Peshawar. The latter's success in Peshawar can be attributed in large part to his promises to resist the American drone attacks that have claimed numerous civilian lives there in the name of fighting terrorism.

The CPI(ML) wishes the people of Pakistan well in their struggle to overcome the many challenges that face them, calls for strengthening the unity of the people of Pakistan and India against imperialism, war-mongering and fundamentalism, and calls upon the Indian Government to seriously pursue dialogue and friendly relations with Pakistan.  

Bihar Human Rights Commission Indicts State Government for Police Brutality

On 2 May 2012, CPI(ML) Central Committee member and former MLA Comrade Rajaram Singh and other activists leading the struggle against the murder of a young panchayat mukhiya (head) Chhotu Kushwaha in Aurangabad district of Bihar were brutally beaten up by the police in the course of a peaceful demonstration. Rajaram Singh in particular was singled out for sustained public beating by senior cops, following which he was jailed. Two women activists - Usha Sharan, District Convenor of All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch and ex-mukhiya Kiran Yadvendu were also badly beaten up. Shocking photographic images testified to this brutality.

The Bihar Human Rights Commission investigated allegations of custodial violence, and has recently concluded that the allegations are true, and has directed the State Government to pay compensation of Rs 1 lakh to Rajaram Singh and Rs 50,000 to two other activists.

For the Bihar Government under Nitish Kumar, police brutality has become the norm: Forbesganj firing on minorities, Madhubani firing on students, brutal lathicharge on teachers which the Supreme Court also noted, and the Aurangabad brutality are just some of the worst instances. After the Supreme Court's scathing observations on the lathicharge on teachers, the Bihar Human Rights Commission's observations are yet another glaring indictment of the repressive State Government. The State Government must lose no time in complying with the directive and paying the compensation, and must sack the DM and SP of the district who presided over this brutality which took place in their presence.        

Excerpts of the Bihar Human Rights Commission's observations and conclusions are below:

"The Commission is satisfied on seeing the visuals that Raja Ram Singh was mercilessly beaten by the police. There is nothing on the record to indicate that he committed any act of vandalism, destruction of property etc. or that he incited the people to engage in such acts. Raja Ram Singh is a former two-time member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly (MLA), member of the Central Committee of the CPI (ML) and National General Secretary of the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha. As a public figure and an activist, he had every right to

participate in the protest meeting which had been organized to highlight the police inaction.

Similarly, applicant Usha Sharan is the District Convenor of All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch and applicant Kiran Yadvendu is an ex-Mukhiya, and as public figure they had right to participate in the protest meeting. They were also allegedly physically beaten by the police in the occurrence even though were simply bye-standers. It may be relevant to mention here that they met the Chairperson of the Commission and showed their injuries on their bodies in presence of the then Secretary of the Commission Smt. Vandana Kini while presenting complaints on 9.5.2012. The Commission found clear marks of injury on different parts of their body. Photographs showing marks of injury have been annexed and they are part of the record. There are no specific visuals showing them being assaulted by the police but the Commission is inclined to think that they too sustained injuries as a result of the beatings by the police in the same occurrence. As in the case of Raja Ram Singh, there is nothing to indicate that they either committed any acts of vandalism etc. themselves or incited others to commit such acts. The police action viz. beatings, therefore was uncalled for and unjustified.

In the facts and circumstances, the Commission is satisfied that all the three victims suffered violation of human rights at the hands of the police and are entitled to compensation.

In the facts and circumstances, the Commission is of the view that the compensation of rupees one lakh in the case of Raja Ram Singh and rupees fifty thousand each in the cases of Usha Sharan and Kiran Yadvendu would be just and adequate.

The Commission accordingly directs the State Government through Secretary, Department of Home, to pay compensation of rupees one lakh to Shri Raja Ram Singh and rupees fifty thousand each to Smt. Usha Sharan and Smt. Kiran Yadvendu within six weeks. Put up on 28.6.2013 awaiting compliance report."

AISA-RYA Agitate for PM's Resignation 

On 12 April, AISA and RYA held agitations at several centres in the country to declare that belated resignations of two Ministers is too little, too late – the PM responsible for the coal scam cover up and manipulation of CBI must quit! Students from DU, JNU, and Jamia Millia Islamia, and youth from various localities in Delhi, held a vigil at Jantar Mantar, where protestors raised slogans saying, "CBI is PM's Parrot, and PM is Corporates' Parrot', 'Corrupt, Cover-Up PM Must Resign' and 'Free CBI from Govt Cage, Free Govt and Country from Corporate Cage.'  

The day-long vigil was addressed by AISA National President Sandeep Singh, RYA National General Secretary Ravi Rai, RYA leader Aslam Khan, JNUSU Joint Secretary Piyush Raj, AISA leader Sunny Kumar, Akbar, Prerna, Anubhuti, Farhan and several others, as well as CPI(ML) leaders Girija Pathak, and Polit Bureau member Kavita Krishnan. 

The protestors said, "The CBI's own affidavit shows that the Law Ministry as well as representatives of the Coal Ministry and PMO were among the 'masters' who coached the 'CBI Parrot'. Today, if Ashwani Kumar must lose his job as Law Minister, why should not Manmohan Singh lose his job as Prime Minister?" They declared, "We neither need cage nor parrot! We need a CBI that is structurally free of political manipulation and control, and a Govt free of corporate control – without any delay!" Protestors noted that the Rail Scam was yet another instance of business-politics nexus in corruption, of which Bansal and Vadra were prime examples, but so is Nitin Gadkari of the BJP.    

Protestors' demands were as follows:  

•         The PM stands directly implicated in the coal scam, as well as in the cover-up of the scam though manipulating the CBI's status report – we demand that the PM must resign.

•         The PM has been shielding corrupt Ministers to the hilt – acting to remove Ministers only when there is absolutely no option left. The PM leading a pack of corrupt Ministers must resign!

•         A thorough probe must be conducted into the rail scam, encompassing the tenures of past Rail Ministers as well.

•         The CBI must be made completely and genuinely autonomous – rather than a puppet in the hands of the ruling Government

•         From Bansal to Vadra to Gadkari and Ajit Pawar – there is an endless list of political leaders implicated in peddling their business/corporate interests. This corrupt business-politics nexus facilitating corporate plunder of our precious resources is at the heart of corruption. We demand a reversal of the policies promoting corporate plunder.

•         We demand release of the anti-POSCO leader Abhaya Sahoo and a stop to the POSCO project, which is a glaring instance of corporate plunder and corruption

Protests were also held at Patna, Jehanabad, Arwal, Samastipur, Darbhanga, Saharsa in Bihar, Bokaro, Giridih, Ramgarh in Jharkhand, Ambedkarnagar, Faizabad and other centres in UP, as well as Bhind in Madhya Pradesh.

Seminar in Patna Against Modi's Corporate Fascist Agenda

On 23 April, a seminar was held in Patna on Narendra Modi's Corporate Fascism and the Democratic Agenda of Resistance. The seminar was organised by AISA, RYA, JSM and Inquilabi Muslim Conference. The speakers included Prof. Naval Kishor Choudhury, Arshad Ajmal, Nivedita Jha and other journalists and intellectuals and the main speaker was CPI(ML) GS Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya.

Speaking on the occasion Comrade Dipankar emphasised that Modi's communal fascism of 2002 now stands before us in a new and enhanced form, as a corporate-backed fascist project. Narendra Modi's agenda today is very much part of the corporate offensive on people's land, livelihood and democracy today. The Congress Govt too is of course competing with Modi to be the champion of this offensive, but with the Congress standing badly discredited by scams and open repression, the corporates have sought to fashion a new darling in Modi and his model of repressive governance. Resisting communalism in India today called for more than speaking against BJP and RSS: it calls for rejecting and resisting the Indian State's growing corporate fascist character. It also calls for resisting the agenda of witch-hunt of minorities, aggressively peddled by the ruling class across parties, which makes communalism in India today an inseparable part of the imperialist agenda of Islamophobia in the name of 'war on terror.'  

He called the bluff of Nitish Kumar's anti-Modi posturing, pointing out that Nitish had backed Modi to the hilt and remained a Minister in the BJP-NDA regime at the Centre when the Gujarat genocide of 2002 was actually taking place, and now Nitish's Govt had facilitated the growth of Modi's party, the BJP, in Bihar. Nitish's surrender to feudal-communal forces had led to the renewed assertion of these forces in Bihar.     

Protest Against Child Sexual Violence in Ranchi and Delhi

An incident of abduction, rape and murder of a little girl came to light in Doranda, Jharkhand on 24 April. A fact-finding team of Ranchi AIPWA, comprising District Secretary Sarojini Bisht, President Singi Khalko, VP Shanti Sen and District Committee member Neela Munda, visited Doranda on 26 April. The child's family is of the Darji (tailor) mohalla, an area of Ranchi where most of the residents are poor Muslims. The entire community had been turned into a virtual police camp. Neighbours and family members informed the team that the little girl had returned from school on the 24th and was playing outside the house. Her mother noticed her disappearance a couple of hours later and the search began. Scores of people reached the police station in the evening; police registered a case but did not search in the area or keep watch at night. As a result the abductors/rapists got rid of the street lights and threw the child's body in an under-construction house at around 3 in the night in the area itself. People informed the police at 5 am, but police turned up only at 8 am. The post-mortem revealed a brutal rape.  

Ranchi observed a bandh on 27 April against this heinous crime and criminal apathy of the police. AIPWA participated with full strength in the bandh, demanding arrest of the rapists, FIRs to be registered against the police officers responsible for criminal delay in searching for the child, and other demands to ensure the safety of women and children. AIPWA held a protest mass meeting at Albert Ekka chowk and then marched ahead from there. Participants in the protest included AIPWA State President Guni Oraon, Ranchi AIPWA leaders Nikhat Parveen, Sabeena Parveen, Gadi Khatun, Soni Tiraiyya of the Prerna team, Soni Kacchap, Meena Lakda and CPI(ML) leaders Bhuneshwar Kewat, Sudama Khalko, and JSM Convenor Anil Anshuman.    

 

Obituary

Progressive Scholar and Reformer Ashgar Ali Engineer Passes Away

Renowned progressive scholar and reformer Ashgar Ali Engineer passed away in Mumbai after a prolonged illness. He was 74.

Born in Salumbar, Rajasthan, in a Dawoodi Bohra Amil (priest) family March 10, 1939, Engineer received early training in Islamic scholarship. A civil engineer, he worked in the Brihan Mumbai Corporation (BMC) before voluntarily retiring and plunging into the movement for social reform within his community.

Disturbed by the growth of communal forces, he dedicated his life to the pursuit of communal harmony. He was at the forefront of the struggle to resist communal violence in Mumbai and ensure friendship and harmony between the Hindu and Muslim communities.

He was also a staunch advocate of women's equality and rights. On some occasions he even faced violence from fundamentalists within his own community. He was a prolific writer, wielding his pen on the subject of the rights of women and against communalism and fundamentalism.

His death is a huge loss to the progressive and secular movement, which will always draw strength and inspiration from his legacy and his writings.  

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication,
R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22518248, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org

Fwd: ML Update Vol. 16, No. 20

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 16, No. 20

 Sarabjit and Sanaullah:

Paying the Cost of Communal Jingoism  and War-mongering  

The brutal attack by co-prisoners on an Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in a Lahore jail, resulting in his eventual death, is a heinous instance of extra-judicial killing and violation of human rights on part of the Pakistani State. The fact that co-prisoners were able to launch this murderous assault on a high-profile death-row prisoner indicates collusion on part of the jail authorities and government in Pakistan. Early this year, another Indian prisoner Chamel Singh had been lynched to death by fellow prisoners in the same jail. In spite of this, no steps were taken by the Pakistan Government and the jail authorities to ensure security for Indian prisoners, especially for Sarabjit Singh, who was especially vulnerable because he was an Indian convicted of a terrorist crime in Pakistan.  A credible probe must be instituted at the earliest, to identify and punish the killers and conspirators responsible for the murderous assault on Sarabjit Singh.

Compounding the horror of the lynching of Sarabjit Singh was the retaliatory lynching of a Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay by Indian fellow-prisoners in a Jammu jail, rendering him brain-dead. The incidents of lynching have underlined the vulnerability of Indian and Pakistani prisoners in jails in both countries, and the costs of the dangerous game of competitive communal jingoism played in both countries. The attempts to whip up anti-Pakistan jingoism and war-mongering in the wake of the lynching of Sarabjit Singh must be firmly resisted in India.     

The shocking indifference of the Indian government to the known threats to Sarabjit's life is also deeply condemnable and shameful. In spite of the killing of Chamel Singh earlier this year, the Indian Government was apathetic towards pursuing the matter of rights and safety of Indian prisoners in Pakistan's jails with the Pakistan Government. The Indian Government's failure to take precautions to protect Pakistani prisoners inside Indian jails following Sarabjit's death, led to the shameful assault on Sanaullah.    

Sarabjit and Sanaullah, like other Indian and Pakistani prisoners and terror-accused/convicted prisoners in jails in both countries, are victims of the lethal mix of communalism and jingoism that drives state policy in the subcontinent. In a climate where hangings and custodial killings are driven by political/electoral calculations in both Pakistan and India, justice and humanity are the casualty. Immediate measures must be urgently taken to ensure the safety of Indian and Pakistani prisoners, as well as all terror-related under-trials and convicts in jails in both countries. A large number of fishermen including several juveniles constitute the bulk of Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails and vice versa. All efforts must be made to secure the release of such fishermen and other innocent prisoners who may have inadvertently crossed the border, with the minimum delay.

The unconscionable crimes committed against Sarabjit and Sanaullah must also serve as a grim reminder of the abysmal state of human rights within prisons in both countries. In India, we must remember that under-trials and convicts from the minority community in terror-related cases have very often been subjected to assaults in court premises, custodial torture by police, as well as lynching inside jails. We should remember the case of Quateel Siddiqui, blast accused from Darbhanga, killed by prisoners in Yerawada jail Pune 8 June 2012. In a mirror image of the lynching of Sarabjit in Pakistan, assaults on terror-related under-trials in court premises and jails in India are justified in the name of blind 'nationalist' sentiment. It must be stressed that there is nothing patriotic about such assaults; rather, such assaults are a shame for the country and its claims to being a democracy.

The culture of extra judicial killings of prisoners, be it in Pakistan, or India, is abhorrent and must stop. Democratic and progressive forces in both countries are rightly rejecting and resisting communalism and jingoism and demanding just and humanitarian treatment for prisoners in jails in both countries.       

UPA Government in the Dock Again

Once more, the UPA Government is shown to be mired in scam after scam. The latest instance of corruption is the CBI's arrest of the nephew of the Union Rail Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, on charges of taking a Rs 90 lakh bribe from a member of the Railway Board, allegedly to secure a new post within the Railway Board. The Railway Board is a very powerful body, directly answerable to the Rail Minister. This is not an isolated instance of bribery: rather it is an indicator of yet another instance of the murky nexus between business and politics, since the Rail Minister and his family have manifold business interests that have flourished in tandem with his tenure as a Union Minister. The entire scam calls for a thorough investigation, and there can be no excuse for the UPA Government's defence of the Rail Minister.

The UPA Government's deep involvement in corruption is again indicated by the undeniable evidence of blatant meddling by the Government in the CBI's probe into a coal scam charge against the Government, specifically, the amendments in the CBI's status report on coal block allocations. The CBI's affidavit to the Supreme Court has contradicted the Government's claim (made by the Additional Solicitor General to the Supreme Court) that the status report was not shared with anyone. The CBI affidavit states on record that several crucial amendments and deletions were made in the report, at the behest of the Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, representatives of the Coal Ministry and the PMO. The amendments and deletions are all clearly intended to protect the image of the Government.  

The UPA Government's shameless defence of Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar is unacceptable. These Ministers must resign immediately. The Prime Minister too cannot shrug off responsibility for the blatant interference in the CBI's status report. With every passing day, the UPA Government is proving its corrupt and anti-people character, and is surviving only due to the fact that the main Opposition, BJP, is itself dogged by corruption scandals.          

Sajjan Kumar Acquittal:

Massacre of Justice

The acquittal of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar by a sessions court in the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre case is a shocking miscarriage of justice. The acquittal flies in the face of the CBI's own allegation of a 'terrible conspiracy' between Sajjan Kumar and the police, and the evidence of eyewitnesses who have testified to Sajjan Kumar having incited mobs to attack Sikhs.

The evidence of these eyewitnesses has resulted in the conviction of five others, but their credibility has been discounted when it came to Sajjan Kumar.  

The anti-Sikh pogrom in India's capital city in 1984, following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was a state-sponsored massacre in which the highest echelons of Congress leadership – including Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, HKL Bhagat, and Kamal Nath - were implicated. Shamefully, none of them has been punished, in spite of the evidence against them.

The acquittal of Sajjan Kumar is a judicial massacre to compound the massacre of 1984. The anger of the 1984 survivors and witnesses has unleashed a fresh wave of struggles for justice. However, parties like the BJP and the Akali Dal that are trying to cash in on the 1984 issue need to be reminded that BJP which is in the dock for the Gujarat 2002 massacre and its allies including the Akali Dal have no moral right to speak of justice for 1984.

The democratic forces will continue the struggle for justice for 1984, 2002 and every single communal pogrom.   

AICCTU-affiliated ECREU Polls 10% Votes in Railway Union Elections in ECR, Finishes on Top in Samastipur Division

In the recently concluded union elections in the railways, AICCTU-affiliated ECREU (East Central Rail Employees' Union) finished fourth in the East Central Zone. The union polled nearly 10% of total polled votes (nearly 6,000 out of total polled votes of about 61,000) in the zone. The ECREU emerged on top in the Samastipur division, securing more than 2500 votes out of about 8,500 polled votes. It also polled respectable votes in Dhanbad and Sonepur divisions, but the performance was poor in Danapur and Mughalsarai divisions. The ECREU was the only Left union in the fray in ECR zone. In two other zones (Eastern and North-Eastern zones), AICCTU-affiliated unions could not contest the elections because they did not fulfil the condition of a minimum post-registration period of two years. The election results have indicated the potential of independent Left-led unions in the railways. Incidentally, TMC-led unions have fared poorly in the two West Bengal based zones – Eastern Railway and S-E Railway.

Protest March at Delhi demanding Release of KKM activists

More than a hundred cultural activists, painters, litterateurs, filmmakers, theatre artists, singers, journalists, students and intellectuals took out a Protest March from Sriram Centre-Mandi House to Maharashtra Sadan demanding the immediate release of 'Kabir Kala Manch' activists and withdrawal of all false cases and fabricated charges levied against them. The Protest March was called by the theatre group 'Sangwari', web journal 'Sangathan' and a film group 'The Group', all affiliated to 'Jan Sanskriti Manch' as well as 'All India Students' Association' (AISA). The protest march reached Maharashtra Sadan where a mass meeting was held. A 5 member delegation comprising the renowned painter Ashok Bhowmick, film-maker Sanjay Kak, poet Neelabh, literary critic Ashutosh Kumar and Dr. Uma Gupta from Delhi University met the Resident Commissioner of Maharashtra government and handed over a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra demanding unconditional and immediate release of Sheetal Sathe , Sachin Mali (artists belonging to Kabir kala Manch) and Sudhir Dhawale, editor of a Marathi journal (all arrested on Bogus charges).

Demands also included withdrawal of false cases against them and strict action against police officers involved in framing the concerned cultural activists. The memorandum also stated that the practice of silencing intellectuals and cultural activists by the state government, dubbing them as 'terrorists' or 'Maoists' and framing them under draconian laws on trumped up charges must stop at once and the livelihood and social security of their family members must be ensured. The cultural activists and student protestors declared that a petition to Chief Justice of India shall be submitted with signatures from all over the country asking the apex court to intervene in the matter and to prevail upon the governments who are engaged in blatant violation of the fundamental 'right to expression'. After handing over the Memorandum to the Resident Commissioner film-maker Sanjay Kak addressed the protestors and said that the government had better not be under the illusion that curbing the right to expression would silence the artists. Just a day ago only the people of Pune and Maharashtra knew about Kabir kala Manch, but today their voices are reaching across the entire country. He asserted that the repressive measures of the state will not scare cultural activists and that they will continue to fight for the freedom of expression. This fight will involve more and more people.

As is well known, repression has continued unabated on cultural activists of Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) over the past two years in the state of Maharashtra. The members of KKM who were arrested in May, 2011 on charges of being 'Maoists' under UAPA got bail recently. However, almost immediately following that two other artists of KKM- Sheetal Sathe and Sachin Mali were arrested on April 2, 2013 on the same charges. Both have denied all charges against them and said that they are followers of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Bhagat Singh.

The protest March started with a recital of the song 'Bhagat Singh tum zinda ho' by artists from 'Paltan'. This song, sung in the voice of Sheetal Sathe, has gained a lot of popularity. During the march which culminated in a mass protest meeting at Maharashtra Sadan, artists from 'Asmita', 'Sangwari' and IPTA expressed their protest through revolutionary songs. Protestors marched with placards and raised slogans all through the kilometer long stretch in scorching summer heat, till the police stopped them at Maharashtra Sadan, where they started a protest mass meeting. Addressing the meeting, noted Hindi-Urdu writer, Noor Zaheer said that governments alienated from the masses are unleashing repression on artists who are standing in solidarity with the peoples' struggles. Poet Neelabh said that repression is unleashed on all sections of the toiling people and that we must protest against it at each and every instance. Rekha Awashthi from 'Janwadi Lekhak Sangh' expressed support for the protest. Ashok Bhowmick from 'Jan Sanskriti Manch' said that the current situation in the country calls for a bigger role of writers, artists and intellectuals in favour of the fighting masses and that would entail continuous confrontation with the oppressive system. National Secretary of 'All India Progressive Women's Association' Kavita Krishnan said that Maharashtra government never stops the voices of those ministers who ridicule the miseries of the people every now and then but finds it necessary to silence the voice of Sheetal Sathe. People love the voices of KKM artists, but anti-people state machinery considers such voices dangerous. Therefore, it is all the more important to raise such voices even more loudly. Sandeep Singh, National Secretary of AISA and theatre artist Lokesh Jain also addressed the meeting. Prof. Chaman Lal & Parnal Chirmuley from JNU, Radhika Menon from D.U., theatre personality Arvind Gaud, literary critics Gopal Pradhan & Vaibhav Singh, film maker Ajay Bhardwaj, cultural activists Raviprakash from 'Sangathan', Asit Das from 'Sanhati', Kapil Sharma from 'Sangwari', Sanjay Joshi from 'The Group', journalits Anjani & Shivdas were among those who joined the protest march and mass meeting. Awadhesh, Sanjay Joshi and Sudhir Suman convened the entire proceedings.  

                                   May Day 2013

The May Day 2013 was celebrated by All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) with the pledge of taking forward the spirit generated in the 20-21 February unprecedented all India general strike and continue the fight for the reversal of neoliberal policies in the country.

Below are some of the reports of May Day celebrations across the country.

The 28th May Day this year was observed in Assam as a day opposing the heinous murder of comrade Gangaram Koul in Borgong, Sonitpur, Guwahati, Jorhat Silchar, Nagoan, Dibrugarh and other places. In Tinsukia, braving a  heavy downpour, about 1000 workers from tea gardens took part enthusiastically in the procession covering about 4 kilometres and passing through the main thoroughfare of the town shouting slogans demanding the arrest the killers of Com. Gangaram Koul, time bound CBI probe to be completed in 6 months, against price rice and rampant corruption, increase of the tea workers' daily wage to Rs. 200, calculate bonus on the total sum of daily wage plus subsidised cost of ration and fuel as per clause 22(2) of the Bonus Act, 1965.

In Tamil Nadu, May Day was celebrated with flag hoisting in 150 centers with a participation of more than 2000 workers. In Coimbatore, it was a dream come true for Pricol workers when they hoisted their union flag in the factory gate in the morning with hundreds of workers raising slogans for workers' unity. Comrade S.Kumarasami hoisted the flag and in the evening a public meeting was held in which 700 workers from Pricol, Shanthi Gears, Lakshmi Motor Works (LMW) participated. AICCTU in TN has taken up a solidarity campaign for Maruti workers which includes a solidarity fund for the Maruti workers. AICCTU has released 6000 pamphlets with the 'Letter From Jail' of Maruti workers and called for the workers of TN to rise in solidarity for them. 'Letter From Jail' is also published in Orumaipadu (Tamil Solidarity) which has a circulation of 5000 copies. Co-optex Employees Union also participated. A solidarity fund was collected to help Maruti workers. In the May Day a public meeting held in Coimbatore Rs.24000 was collected from among the participants.

In Punjab, May Day was celebrated in Punjab at Batala, Chandigarh, Mansa, Himmatpura (Moga) and Tapa (Barnala). In Batala, a march of nearly 700 workers was taken out in main market of Batala, in the leadership of Com Gurmeet Bakhtpura, Com Sukhdev, and Com Guljar. In the march, brick-kiln workers, who are on strike for their demands, participated in large numbers. In Chandigarh, a program was organized by AICCTU and CPI(ML). Revolutionary songs and a play on women's rights by a theatre team of Chandigarh were also performed.

In Odisha, May Day was observed at Nagbhushan Bhavan in Bhubaneswar where 150 workers from different unions came together. A public meeting was conducted at Nagbhushan Bhavan where Comrade Khitish Biswal, secretary of CPI (ML) Liberation and AICCTU state secretary Mahendra Parida addressed the gathering. May Day was also observed in Sambalpur where 2000 construction workers participated in a big rally.

In Delhi-NCR, Central TUs held a procession jointly from Ramlila Grounds, and workers observed May Day in several areas. AICCTU held May Day processions and public meetings at Wazirpur and at NOIDA. At NOIDA, May Day 2013 had a special significance, since it was held in the wake of the wholesale arrest of workers and TU activists, defying the attempts of police to intimidate the workers. A leaflet against state repression, calling for May Day, had been widely distributed in the area in the preceding days. AICCTU and CPIML activists from NOIDA and Delhi held a march from the AICCTU office. In spite of the forbidding presence of the armed police, a public meeting was held following the march, which was addressed by many CPI(ML) and AICCTU leaders.

In Jharkhand, flags were hoisted in the entire coal belt and mass meetings took place against the ongoing loot and scams and privatization of coal industry. In Bokaro Steel Plant, the flag was hoisted and a public meeting was held. Rallies of unorganized workers and women workers working on an honorarium in various government schemes were held throughout the state including the capital Ranchi. 

In Bihar, May Day rallies, demonstrations and flag hoisting progammes were held in most of the districts including Patna with the participation of thousands of unorganized workers. In Patna a joint rally was held.

In UP and Uttarakhand all affiliated unions in different districts with participation of unorganized workers held progammes. AICCTU-affiliated unions held a procession in Allahabad and submitted a memorandum to the Collector. In Uttarakhand, joint rally of workers was held in Rudrapur, an Auto Hub. In most of the districts including Haldwani and Pithoragarh joint programmes were held.

At Gujarat, a rally was held by AICCTU in Himmat Nagar with participation of hundreds of unorganized workers. In Mumbai, a joint mass meeting of trade unions was held at Azad Maidan. In Bhilai a workers' meeting was held in Bhilai Steel Plant and also a meeting of municipal contract sanitation workers.

Solidarity For Maruti Workers

TN AICCTU has taken up a solidarity campaign for Maruti workers which includes a solidarity fund for the Maruti workers. AICCTU has released 6000 pamphlets with the 'Letter From Jail' of Maruti workers and called for the workers of TN to rise in solidarity for them. 'Letter From Jail' is also published in Orumaipadu (Tamil Solidarity) which has a circulation of 5000 copies.

Cooptex Employees Union which organized its 49th GB distributed the pamphlets and read out the letter among the 300 delegates. The delegates contributed a fund of Rs.8000 immediately.

In the May Day public meeting held in Coimbatore Rs.24000 was collected from among the participants.

In the May Day public meeting held in Chennai a signature campaign was launched.

TN AICCTU delegation will meet the jailed Maruti workers and visit their union office and hand over the solidarity fund in the first week of June.

AIALA Holds Militant Procession to Bihar CM Demanding Land Rights and Wages 

AIALA held a massive procession and mass meeting in Patna, in which thousands of agricultural labourers and sharecroppers expressed their anger at the Nitish Government's betrayal of its promises to the poor.

The protestors marched to the CM's home, protesting the cuts in MNREGA wages, and the broken promises of 3 dismil homestead land, 1 acre of land for the landless, and sharecroppers' legal rights. The March was led by AIALA National President Rameshwar Prasad, AIALA National General Secretary Dhirendra Jha, AIALA State Secretary Virendra Gupta, and former MLA Satyadev Ram. The massive gathering was addressed by AIALA leaders as well as CPI(ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya.

Comrade Dipankar said that Nitish had made a show of raising the issue of special state status for Bihar in March in Delhi; and in April, had himself meted out 'special' treatment to Bihar by cutting back on his Government's contribution of Rs 30 to the MNREGA wage, which are the lowest in Bihar. In Bihar, the Government talks much of empowering 'mahadalits' – but the reality is that more than 1 crore MNREGA workers  - mostly from the most oppressed castes –  get only 10 days work on average instead of the promised 100, and moreover are not paid the proper wages for this work!

In Bihar, land is being looted by landlords, corporates and families of political leaders from the ruling combine, and the poor are evicted from this land. The Government is evading the sharecroppers' demand for identity card and registration, in order to appease the landlords' lobby. Mocking the slogan of justice, the Ranveer Sena men guilty of massacring the dalit landless poor, are being acquitted in case after case.   

Comrade Dipankar called upon Bihar's poor to teach Nitish a lesson in the elections for his betrayal of his 

promises of justice. In the past 8 years, he said, the Government elected with the votes of the poor worked in service of the feudal and criminal forces. He called for a determined movement to free Bihar from the clutches of these forces, and exhorted people to show black flags to Nitish in every yatra.

ML Update 19 / 2013

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol. 16, No. 19, 30 APRIL – 06 MAY 2013

Working Class Struggles: Defying Assassination and Repression

 

May Day commemorates the historic struggles for workers' rights and the legacy of the Haymarket Martyrs of 1886. In May 2013, the legacy of the Haymarket Martyrs continues to be most relevant and alive with meaning – as India's workers fight courageous battles defying repression and assassination in different parts of the country. To commemorate May Day 2013, we begin by revisiting the memory of the Haymarket Martyrs. We also pay tribute to Com. Gangaram Koal, AICCTU tea garden leader martyred in Assam on 25 March 2013, and bring you updates on workers' struggles in the Delhi-NCR region, especially the NOIDA workers who have been arrested during the All-India Strike and have since been in jail.

 

May Day and the Haymarket Martyrs

W.T. Whitney, Jr.

 

The following account was written for and distributed at a May Day event in Maine, USA. The translations from the Spanish are by W.T. Whitney, Jr. Courtesy http://www.laborstandard.org/Vol1No3/MayDay.htm

 

On May 1, 1886, Albert Parsons, head of the Chicago Knights of Labor in the USA, led 80,000 people through the city's streets in support of the eight-hour day. In the next few days they were joined nationwide by 350,000 workers who went on strike at 1,200 factories, including 70,000 in Chicago.

 

On May 3, August Spies, editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung (Workers Newspaper), spoke at a meeting of 6,000 workers, and afterwards many of them moved down the street to harass scabs (strike-breakers) at the McCormick plant. The police arrived, opened fire, and killed four people, wounding many more.

 

On May 4, Spies, Parsons, and Samuel Fielden were speaking at a rally of 2,500 people held to protest the police massacre when 180 police officers arrived, led by the Chicago police chief. While he was calling for the meeting to disperse a bomb exploded, killing one policeman. The police retaliated, killing seven of their own in the crossfire, plus four others; almost two hundred were wounded. The identity of the bomb thrower remains unknown.

 

On June 21, 1886, eight labor leaders, including Spies, Fielden, and Parsons went on trial, charged with responsibility for the bombing. The trial was rife with lies and contradictions, and the state prosecutor appealed to the jury: "convict these men, make an example of them, hang them, and you save our institutions."

 

Even though only two were present at the time of the bombing (Parsons had gone to a nearby tavern), seven were sentenced to die, one to fifteen years imprisonment. The Chicago bar condemned the trial, and several years later Governor John P. Altgeld pardoned all eight, releasing the three survivors (two of them had had their sentences reduced from hanging to life imprisonment).

 

On November 11, 1886, four anarchist leaders were hanged; Louis Lingg had committed suicide hours before. Two hundred thousand people took part in the funeral procession, either lining the streets or marching behind the hearses.

 

Unfortunately, the events surrounding the execution of the Haymarket martyrs fueled the stereotype of radical activists as alien and violent, thereby contributing to ongoing repression.

 

Over the years the remains of many deceased or martyred radicals, among them Emma Goldman, Bill Hayward, and Joe Hill, were deposited at the Haymarket Monument in Chicago, where seven of the eight men on trial lie buried. Ever since that time, in almost every country except one (ironically, the USA) May 1 has been honored as International Workers Day.

 

The internationalization of the Haymarket legacy was apparent two days after the hangings when José Martí, leader of Cuba's struggle for independence from Spain, who was then living in exile in New York, wrote a detailed, emotion-filled report of the events leading up to the executions. Full of analysis, his article entitled "A Terrible Drama" appeared on January 1, 1888, in the Argentine paper La Nación, published in Buenos Aires. Early on in his piece he notes:

 

"Frightened by the growing power of the plain people, by the sudden coming together of the working masses (previously held back by the rivalries of their leaders), by the demarcation of two classes within the population — the privileged and the discontented (the latter a thorn in the side of European high society) — the republic determined to defend itself with a tacit covenant, a complicity whereby criminal action is triggered by the authorities' misdeeds as much as by the fanaticism of the accused, in order to use their example to terrify — not by means of pain directly visited upon the rabble, but by the fearsome revival of the hangman's hood."

 

At the end of his long article José Martí quoted from the Arbeiter-Zeitung issued on the day of the executions:

 

"We have lost a battle, unhappy friends, but we will see in the end an ordered world that conforms to justice: we will be wise like the serpent and quiet like the dove."

 

In our own time the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano has commented on "A Terrible Drama" (in his Memories of Fire, vol. II):

 

"The scaffold awaited them. They were five, but Lingg got up early for death, exploding a dynamite cap between his teeth. Fischer was seen unhurriedly humming the 'Marseillaise.' Parsons, the agitator who used the word like a whip or a knife, grasps the hands of his comrades before the guards tie his own behind his back. Engel, famous for his sharp wit, asks for port wine and then makes them all laugh with a joke. Spies, who so often wrote about anarchism as the entrance into life, prepares himself in silence to enter into death.

 

"The spectators in the orchestra of the theater fix their view on the scaffold — a sign, a noise, the trap door gives way, now they die, in a horrible dance, twisting in the air. [Here he quotes Martí.]

 

"José Martí wrote the story of the execution of the anarchists in Chicago. The working class of the world will bring them back to life every first of May. That was still unknown, but Martí always writes as if he is listening for the cry of a newborn where it is least expected."

Repression on Workers Continues in NOIDA

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"We might as well commit suicide – we cannot be assured of a daily meal since my husband was jailed" – Shakeel's wife says in a distressed phone call to CPI(ML) activists in Delhi. She and her children have been surviving with the help of funds collected from other workers' families by the AICCTU and CPI(ML).

 

Shakeel, a member of Delhi Street Vendors' Union affiliated to the AICCTU, lives in Mayur Vihar Phase-1 Delhi. He is a migrant worker from Bihar. On the morning of 21st of February, he had gone to the AICCTU's Sector 10 office to help the NOIDA comrades prepare for a small procession on the second day of the Strike. In his pocket, he had Rs 40,000 that he had taken from someone for his daughter's marriage. That morning, a large posse of police officers had descended on the office, accompanied by the media; had arrested all those in the office, and had announced to the media that they had nabbed the culprits responsible for arson and looting in NOIDA Sector 20 (Phase-II) the previous day.

 

Another worker arrested that morning was Gauri Shankar Pal, also a migrant worker from Bihar, who is a street vendor selling boiled eggs in Khora Colony, Ghaziabad, just 1 Km. away from the AICCTU's Delhi-NCR office branch in Sector 10, NOIDA. Gauri Shankar is the only earning member of his family, and his family is in great hardship ever since he has been in jail.

 

Ajoy Kumar Singh works in a factory far from NOIDA Phase-II. He has two small children (aged 1 and a half and 6 yrs.) Since he has been jailed, there no one to support his family. His wife, Poonam, is now taken up a job as a domestic worker to survive, leaving her two kids behind while at work.

 

CPI(ML)'s Delhi State Committee member Shyam Kishore Yadav was also arrested on that day. Shyam Kishore is just recovering from a serious accident in which his hip bones were fractured; even now, he has trouble walking. His brother Hareram, also a CPI(ML) activist, is also in jail. Hareram suffers from TB; with the TB treatment being interrupted in jail, his health has deteriorated.

 

Workers in NOIDA are being punished for the remarkable success of the all-India Strike, with their democratic rights under an all-out assault by the police and administration, under pressure from the industrialists' lobby. In NOIDA, workers were picked up by police from trade union offices, homes, streets. Trade Union members all over NOIDA were targeted, while innocent workers were also picked up at random. The arrested workers have remained in jail ever since. They were denied bail in the Sessions Court, in spite of the fact that the FIRs against them are blatantly, obviously false.

 

In the FIR that named Shyamkishor Yadav, the SHO of Sector 20 police station stated that she and her team were on a raid when they received information that a group of people were gathering to protest. On reaching the spot, they found 34 people, whom they instantly recognised as the ones responsible for the arson and looting carried out the previous day. She further stated that they arrested all of them, and that their families would be duly informed of their arrest. She took care to add that the guidelines laid down by the honourable Supreme Court were followed to ensure that there were no human rights violations, and those arrested had no complaints against the police! The Sessions Judge asked the police how they could claim to recognize so many people: she quizzed them on whether the men's faces were towards them all the time during the violence on February 20th? The police claimed they had a video clipping of the violence that took place on February 20th. The counsel for the AICCTU members asked to see the video footage with the Judge, and also provided photographs of the AICCTU members to match with the faces of people in the video. We did this, knowing full well that there was no way any of these men were anywhere near the spot where the violence took place on the 20th February. However, the video was not shown to us – it was seen by the Judge in her Chambers, accompanied by the police. Subsequently, the Additional Sessions Judge passed an order denying bail. That order states that the accused causes crores of rupees of property to be destroyed in 200 factories; that they set fire to vehicles and factories; and that the police arrested the workers having recognised them in the video clipping! The bail rejection order states that "the accused have indulged in anti-people activity and have caused damage to public property." In a blatantly biased and illegal way, the bail rejection order deems the accused to be guilty even before the trial has been held – on the basis of a video clipping which would in fact go to prove the innocence of these workers!

 

As we go to press (22 April), just a couple of the arrested workers have got bail. There is a virtual emergency in place in NOIDA in the working class localities, and there is palpable fear in working class settlements. On 20 April, some students from Delhi and the CPI(ML)'s Delhi State Secretary went to NOIDA to campaign for a Convention to be held in Delhi on the 23rd April and for a March to the NOIDA DM's office on the 25th April. When they reached the AICCTU office in Sector 10, they were told that the SHO of the Sector 20 Police Station herself had come with her team and sat near the office for a long time, warning workers that there would be more arrests if they distributed any leaflets or campaigned in any way! I made a call to the NOIDA SSP to ask him about this intimidation by the police. 'Why are people being prevented from distributing leaflets,' I asked. He replied, "What is the content of the leaflet? Is there anything against police or factory owners?" It has, then, become the job of the police to enforce a gag order on any criticism of factory owners or police by workers and trade unions!

 

In Uttar Pradesh with Akhilesh Yadav as CM, it is interesting to reflect on the role of the police. The police does not so much as lift a baton against the Samajwadi Party-backed mobs of the dominant community who have repeatedly assaulted the Dalits of Ramgarh village in Dadri (Greater NOIDA). Likewise, they watch benignly as communal mobs repeatedly attack minorities. But when a 10-year old Dalit girl complains of gang-rape by Rajput criminals, the police in Bulandshahr was quick to confine her over night in the police lock-up, separated from her mother! In Aligarh, the police refused to register an FIR when a little girl went missing. When her raped and murdered body was found the next day, her parents protested – and the police was caught on camera brutally hitting the grieving family and knocking one old lady to the ground. And in NOIDA, the police has arrested workers wholesale, without bothering to investigate the events of February 20. So, the police that won't raise a finger against perpetrators of dalit atrocities, communal violence or rape, is quick to beat up protestors and arrest innocent workers.

 

The NOIDA police's motto is 'Always Alert and Serving People'. Given the way it is arresting innocent workers and terrorizing unions, it should be 'Always Anti-People, Serving Corporations'.

April 25: March to Noida

 

Hundreds of workers, youths, students, women, trade union activists and CPI(ML) members marched in Noida and held a protest demonstration at the Noida DM's office shouting slogans decrying the terror witch-hunt against the workers and trade union leaders after the successful two-day national general strike of 20-21 February, 2013, demanding immediate and unconditional release of all the jailed workers, and strict action against all the officials who have led this blatant and unlawful mass arrest of workers and trade union leaders aimed at threatening the working class of NCR region against any form of protest against capitalist exploitation, at the behest of industrialist lobby.

 

Ever since the national general strike in February, the Noida administration has been persistently going after workers to subdue and suppress any grievance the working class has against its intense exploitation and utterly terrible working and living conditions. There has been a really palpable sense of fear among the workers in Noida and the April 25 call to protest right at the DM's office was meant to clear the atmosphere of terror and arouse confidence amongst the workers, which the programme certainly did. After the protest demonstration a memorandum was also handed over.

 

The march was led by Party's Delhi State Secretary Comrade Sanjay Sharma and AICCTU leaders apart from youth and student leaders. Several leaders made speeches at the protest venue calling upon working class solidarity to defend workers' rights and livelihood and resist and repel every form of repression being carried out by capital and a complicit government and administration.

 

Nationwide Protest Programmes by AIPWA against Rapes and Assaults on Women

 

The All-India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) held protest programmes at several places across the Country on 22^nd April to condemn spiralling incidents of rapes and assaults on women and to demand concrete action for urgently saving children and women from becoming brutal victims of these crimes being committed with greater impunity.

 

At the time of going to press, reports of programmes have come only from few places; rest will be published in the next issue. In Vijaywada a human chain was formed that blockaded traffic for an hour and an effigy was burnt. Similar programmes with effigy burning were held at several districts in Andhra Pradesh including Vissanapeta of Krishna district, Ananthpur town, and Kakinada, Prathipadu, Yeleswaram in East Godavari district. AIPWA leaders led and addressed the protest demonstrartions.

 

As Unions Around the World Prepared to Commemorate The International May Day, Hundreds of Bangladeshi Garment workers Died in Factory Collapse

As Many as 1,000 Workers May Have Been Killed

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There are fears as many as 1,000 people may have died in a building collapse that is now Bangladesh's worst ever industrial accident. At least 377 people, mainly female workers, are confirmed to have died, and more than 1,000 were injured, when the Rana Plaza factory building in Savar, that housed several garment units with over 3000 workers, collapsed on Wednesday, 24 April. Hundreds of people are still missing. Rescuers are still crawling through the rubble, hoping to find anyone who has managed to survive so long, but nearly all the people being carried out now are dead.

 

The disaster sparked a mass rally by garment workers, who clashed with police. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the angry crowds as the workers, some armed with bamboo sticks, blockaded roads and attacked factories in the textile hub of Gazipur. Rescuers said at least half of those still inside the collapsed building were women and children, and the building also housed a crèche on its 7th floor.

 

Survivors said the building developed visible cracks on Tuesday evening, but factory bosses had demanded staff return to the production lines despite a police evacuation order. "We were working inside the building when it collapsed," one survivor said. "I was still working, I could not understand what happened, my co-worker told me why are you sitting here? Run run. Before I could reach the exit the building collapsed." The collapse of the multi-storey building is the worst industrial accident in the country's history and the latest in a spate of tragedies in the "Made in Bangladesh" clothing sector.

 

During the long search, the owner Rana was missing. Local media reported he left his basement office in Rana Plaza just before the collapse, drove away and dropped from sight. He was arrested Sunday as he tried to cross the border into India. For years, though, Rana had sat at the nexus of party politics and the powerful $20 billion garment industry that drives the economy of this deeply impoverished nation.

 

While Rana is currently a leader of the youth group of the ruling Awami League, he has also worked for that party's archrival, the Bangladesh National Party. This intersection of politics and business, combined with a minimum wage of $9.50 a week that has made Bangladesh the go-to nation for many of the world's largest clothing brands, has made dangerous factory conditions almost normal.

 

Labour activists had called for improved safety standards after a November 2012 garment factory fire in the same suburb, when locked emergency exits trapped hundreds of workers inside and 112 people died. But almost nothing has changed.

 

The largest factory in the stricken complex, New Wave Style, lists international retailers such as Benetton among its clients. British low-cost fashion line Primark and Spanish giant Mango have so far acknowledged having products made in the collapsed factory bloc, while a host of brands including Wal-Mart and France's Carrefour are investigating.

 

Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi workers walked out of their factories in solidarity with their dead colleagues on Thursday as flags flew at half mast and a national day of mourning was held.

 

The National Garment Workers' Federation called on major international buyers to be held to account. "This negligence must stop. The deaths of these workers could have been avoided if multinational corporations, governments and factory owners took workers' protection seriously," NGWF president Amirul Haque Amin said in a statement.

Around 4,500 Bangladeshi factories produce clothes for many of the world's major brands, employing 4 million workers and generating 80 per cent of Bangladesh's $US24 billion annual exports, making it the world's second-largest apparel exporter behind China with wages as low as $37 a month for some workers toiling for 10 to 15 hours a day, in unsanitary and unsafe working conditions.

 

Edited, published and printed by S. Bhattacharya for CPI(ML) Liberation from U-90, Shakarpur, Delhi-92; printed at Bol Publication, R-18/2, Ramesh Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi-92; Phone:22521067; fax: 22442790, e-mail: mlupdate@cpiml.org, website: www.cpiml.org