NEW DEMOCRACY Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)

The country is facing deepening economic crisis with growing agrarian

CPI(ML)- New Democracy Call on 2019 Lok industrial crisis at its root. The overwhelming majority of the people are facing
Sabha Elections increasing hardships. Policies pursued by the rulers over the years have led
to declining conditions of the peasant masses, increasing destitution of workers
particularly the overwhelming majority of them employed in unorganized sectors,
increasing unemployment and basic services like health and education going
Rall
allyy Ag ainst Hindutv
Against aF
Hindutva ascist
Fascist further out of the reach of the common people. People are groaning under the
Of
Offfensive of RSS-BJP
ensiv increasing burden of the rule of big capitalists and big landlords while
exploitation by foreign companies has further intensified. On the other hand,
wealth of a select few is growing at enormous speed, India has seen the rise
Str ug
Strug
ugggle a
aggainst Ag
Agrrarian Distr ess and
Distress of the highest number of billionaires and inequality has arisen sharply.

Industrial Stagnation, Unemployment Intensifying Fascist Offensive

and Privatization of Health & Deepening crisis of the system along with their drive to increase loot and
Education plunder of the people, and rising disaffection leading to growing struggles of
the people are making the ruling classes of the country increasingly rally
behind the fascist alternative to the present truncated parliamentary rule. They
Rise in str ug
strug
ugggle a
aggainst attac
attac ks on
ttacks are increasingly supporting Hindutva fascist forces, RSS-BJP, to continue
and strengthen their rule. While fascist repression on people’s struggles,
Wor ker
ork s, P
ers easants
easants,, Tribals
Peasants ribals,, Dalits
Dalits,, particularly those led by communist revolutionary organizations, has been
Muslims and Women quite frequent, RSS-BJP represent the drive for destruction of even hitherto
existing democratic rights and imposition of fascist dictatorship over the
country. They are disrupting unity of the people by deepening communal
Oppose attacks on Communist divisions, they are mobilizing upper castes for their fascist offensive by
intensifying caste oppression and atrocities, they are targeting tribals for
Revolutionaries and Str ug
Strug
ugggling For
For ces;
orces; dispossessing them from land for the plunder of mineral resources by foreign
and domestic corporate, they are imposing Manuwadi code for women. In the
Fight for Democratic Rights of the name of safeguarding ‘bahu beti izzat’, opposing cow slaughter and cattle
People trade and acting as moral police, RSS-BJP are increasing the strength of their
fascist gangs which they also utilize to crush the democratic struggles of
different sections. These fascist gangs have been used to target and even kill
Vote ffor
or and suppor
supportt candida tes of
candidates democratic rights' activists, rationalists and progressive individuals in society.
RSS-BJP led Central Govt. and their state govts. have embarked on teaching
CPI(ML)-New Democracy and other distorted history to the students and on promoting obscurantism and
Comm unist R
Communist Reevolutionar
olutionaryy discouraging scientific thinking. They have packed all the statutory bodies
relating to history, art and culture and even institutions of scientific research
Or
Orgganizations
anizations with those who follow RSS's communal ideology.

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 NEW DEMOCRACY
In order to hide their failures in addressing the real issues before the people
and in particular their failure in fulfilling the promises made by them before the
last elections, RSS-BJP, with the help of corporate media, are trying to unleash
communal jingoist hysteria targeted against Pakistan. They are trying to project
the issue of ‘national security’ to brush under the carpet issues of concern to
the people. They are distorting the issues in Kashmir for advancing their agenda.
It was with the intention of launching an orchestrated campaign linking Kashmir
with Muslims and Pakistan that BJP dissolved its alliance with PDP in the
middle of last year and dissolved the state assembly when regional parties -
PDP and NC - joined hands to form a coalition Govt. in J&K as that would
have limited the ability of the Central Govt. controlled by them to utilize situation
in Kashmir for their jingoist propaganda in furtherance of their fascist offensive.
In the face of RSS-BJP fascist offensive and their design to replace the
form of governance, contradictions among the ruling class groups have
intensified. However, the opposition sections of ruling classes are adopting
the agenda of fascist forces in order to win over sections of ruling classes
from RSS-BJP. The main opposition party, Congress, has moulded its secular
plank to counter-posing advocacy of Hinduism to the Hindutva of BJP-RSS.
Alongwith, the Congress Govt. which recently came to power in Madhya
Pradesh has used NSA against those accused of cattle trade. State Govts.
of Congress in the three states which came to power in December 2018 have
not annulled the anti-worker changes in the labour laws which were made by
earlier BJP Govts. of those states. Nor have they released Dalits arrested
during the Bandh against Supreme Court judgment on Prevention of Atrocities
(SCs & STs) Act. All the ruling class parties are opposing the democratic
struggles of the people of Kashmir. Govt. repression is still against the
communist revolutionary movement and people’s struggles and the opposition
ruling class parties are still not the target of state repression. These parties
talk of opposing Hindutva, even talk of its fascist character, but have not
been mobilizing the people against the fascist offensive of the RSS-BJP and
are not serious in opposing Hindutva fascist offensive. In brief, in this period
though fascist offensive has intensified, this issue is not before the people in
a straightforward manner in these elections.
All the forces which are facing fascist repression and all the sections
which are targets of Hindutva fascists must unite to build a powerful movement
against this fascist offensive and we place before the people a programme of
resisting this offensive including attacks against minorities, Dalits, tribals,
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
women and other oppressed sections. It should be borne in mind that Indian
criminal laws were enacted by British colonial rulers to suppress the Indian
people. Ruling classes that have been in power since 1947 have kept these
legal provisions and unlimited powers of police intact. Further there are
enactment of more draconian laws like NSA, ESMA, PD Act, UAPA etc. to
deny democratic rights to the people. Legal framework of denial of democratic
rights comes handy for unleashing fascist repression over the people. The
ruling class parties including the revisionist parties are not basically opposed
to these fascist laws, have used them when in power and have not opposed
use of these black laws against the communist revolutionaries, democratic
right activists and struggling forces.
Undemocratic Electoral System
While there are serious doubts about the large scale manipulations through
use of EVMs, the very electoral system in the country is designed to perpetuate
the rule of elite sections. The democratic right of the people to vote, is heavily
compromised by the use of money, muscle and media power to marginalize
the concerns of the people. The mainstream media with its increasing reach
sensationalizes incidents, trivializes the people’s concerns and marginalizes
the people’s issues. While fake news mainly caters to the existing prejudices
and is wielded by the interested groups linked to ruling class parties, it is the
mainstream media which is mainly responsible for ignoring and distorting
people’s issues. It is the mainstream corporate controlled media which creates
the atmosphere in which fake news prospers.
The elections in India are ‘capital intensive’. Even the officially sanctioned
expenditure is much beyond the scope of the common people and forces
depending on them. And this officially sanctioned expenditure is only a
miniscule part of the actual expenditure incurred by the candidates. More
than Rs. 60 thousand crores are expected to be spent in the coming elections
making it the costliest electoral exercise in the world. The Election Commission
has curtailed use of inexpensive means of propaganda, further increasing the
stranglehold of big money over the election exercise.
The electoral system in India is designed to give cover to anti-people rule
over every five years. There is no legal compulsion before the ruling class
parties for honouring their election promises, the only remedy is another
exercise after five years by which time a whole new gamut of issues are
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 NEW DEMOCRACY
thrown before the people. The dishonouring of election promises should be
unfair electoral practice for which the concerned Party should be disqualified.
Moreover, there should be right to recall a representative by the people if he/
she does not fulfill promises made or loses confidence of the people. The
seats allotted to various political parties should be proportionate to the votes
polled by them so that no party can gain larger share of seats with relatively
smaller share of votes and claim to represent the will of the people even with
such a distorted exercise.
Issues Before the People: Growing Peasant Distress, Attacks on
Workers and Increasing Unemployment
The most burning issue before the people is the worsening lot of the peasant
masses including agricultural labourers which is due to deepening agrarian
crisis. Nearly half of the country’s work force is directly engaged in agriculture
and more than two thirds living in the rural areas are dependent on it. But
agriculture has been neglected by successive govts. Though the ruling class
parties talk of addressing this crisis and make empty promises of raising the
income of peasants like the promise made by RSS-BJP in the last elections
of doubling peasant income, they are not willing to address the causes of this
crisis. Ruling classes have refused to carry out meaningful land reforms and
now even the talk of land reforms has disappeared from the agenda. On the
other hand, Govts. are busy displacing peasants including tribals from the
land already under cultivation and handing over the land marked for distribution
among the landless to the corporate thus even reversing the gains made by
them in getting land, that too mostly through struggles. Question of ownership
of land and means of livelihood remains a very important issue for the vast
multitude of the people and remains a continuing factor for the agrarian crisis.
In the backdrop of the food crisis, ruling classes undertook the imperialist
dominated model of increase in the production of cereals through use of high
yielding variety of seeds which needed more water, chemical fertilizers and
pesticides. The areas where such ‘development’ was carried out suffered
from depleting water table and contamination of soil and even water with
excessive use of chemicals as fertilizers and pesticide. While income of the
peasants has stagnated and even declined, this contamination has become a
menace to the health of the people.
One of the basic reasons of the declining conditions of the peasantry is
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
adverse terms of trade in relation to industry. While the cost of inputs has
risen, prices of produce have not kept pace, resulting in increase in
indebtedness of the peasantry. Ruling parties have not accepted and
implemented the recommendation of Swaminathan Committee of fixing the
MSP @ of 150% of the cost of production with the latter being taken as C2.
Besides, MSP should be declared for all the crops and adequate arrangements
made for purchase of agricultural produce at MSPs. While agriculture remains
backward, rainfed and labour intensive in the major part of the country, there
are no other means of gainful employment in the rural areas. Rural areas are
victimes of neglect, backwardness, high levels of poverty and gross
unemployment and underemployment. Govt. policies are designed to maintain
the stranglehold of landlords, moneylenders, contractors and Mafia over the
vast masses of the people living in these areas. While main parties of ruling
classes are forced to offer some sops in the form of partial and ham-handed
loan waivers, they are not willing to address the basic cause of agrarian crisis
and rural distress.
Public Distribution System which is being systematically dismantled should
be strengthened and all basic necessities should be made available to the
people at affordable prices.
Govt. policies have intensified attacks on the working class. There is
increasing informalization and contractualization of industrial work force. The
number of workers in the organized sector has declined. RSS-BJP Govt. has
moved to do away with labour laws which were enacted due to long struggles
of workers. A large number of traditional sectors like jute, coal, textile etc.
and traditional employments have suffered due to govt. failure to protect them,
while new sectors are also facing stagnation due to imports. But the most
important factor for the industrial stagnation is the stagnant or declining
purchasing power of the people leading to demand deficit. This is due to very
low standard of living for the vast majority of the people of the country. The
foreign capital driven export led model of growth pursued by ruling class parties
is deeply crisis ridden.
The ruling classes try to attract FDI and increase corporate profits by
reducing wages and other compensations of workers by making their jobs
more insecure and taking away their right to organize. This is the direction of
the policy of the successive govts. resulting in violation of basic legal rights
of the workers.
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 NEW DEMOCRACY
Urban housing for the workers continues to be neglected while attempts
are made to demolish their dwellings. Struggle for in situ development is an
important struggle.
In their drive for maximizing profits of foreign and domestic corporate,
Govts. are deliberately disregarding the issues of protection of environment
which is creating serious health crisis at several places besides laying waste
large tracts of land. People at several places have struggled against the
degradation of their environment.
A very important issue before the people is growing unemployment. Not to
admit the sharp growth in unemployment, Govt. has stopped publication of
the NSSO report which showed that unemployment is at highest level over
last 45 years @6.1% while some studies showed it to be 7.4%. In addition,
there is vast underemployment particularly in rural areas plaguing the country.
RSS-BJP Govt. has further aggravated the unemployment situation in the
country. Its pro-corporate measures like demonetization and GST have taken
away large number of jobs particularly in the informal sector. More than two
crores jobs were lost due to these. Youth have no hope of productive
employment and despondency among them is increasing. Every person should
be guaranteed productive employment and should be guaranteed minimum
income in accordance with living wage through unemployment allowance and
pensions for the elderly and dependents.
The basic cause of growing unemployment is lack of industrial development
and agricultural stagnation which are conditioned by domination of foreign
capital and continuing landlord domination in the villages. The high degree of
technological development at present, makes it necessary that for full
employment the shackles of profiteering be broken.
Basic rights like Education and Health should be guaranteed to the people.
Govt. has been on a spree to rename the existing schemes without any
substantial change in the outlay for these essential services. Expenditure on
these sectors continues to be very low and India ranks much lower even
among underdeveloped countries. There is decline in expenditure on higher
education and scientific research which keeps India perpetually dependent on
foreign knowhow. Govt. is following privatization model for health care which
helps profit making by private players while not taking into account the needs
of vast population which demand better public health care system. GDP spent
on Health and Education should be increased and Govt. must ensure free,
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
uniform, scientific and quality education to all while ensuring health services
for every citizen though public health system.
Issues of Different Sections
As the crisis of the system deepens and ruling classes’ drive to increase
the exploitation of the work force and plunder of natural resources intensifies,
the ruling class parties, particularly RSS-BJP, are increasing attacks on the
oppressed sections to divide them and to tighten the stranglehold of dominant
social sections. The attacks on minorities, Dalits, tribals, women and other
oppressed sections have been intensified.
Muslims have been a special target of attack under different slogans and
pretexts. They are subjected to communal attacks on their lives and property,
their women are violated and youth incarcerated. Increasing communalization
of police and administrative machinery have been useful for communal forces
to target minorities, particularly the largest religious minority. The police,
administration and elected representatives should be made accountable for
maintaining communal peace in their areas. They should be charged with
criminal offences in cases of attacks on lives and property of the minorities.
There should be special measures for educational, social and economic
development of minorities besides safeguarding their places of worship.
Under RSS-BJP, attacks and atrocities on Dalits have increased while
caste oppression continues to be a menace in India. The roots of caste
oppression lie in oppressed castes not having control over means of production
namely land in the vast rural areas while strict caste segregation is enforced
with religious sanction through endogamy and other social practices. Struggle
of Dalits and other oppressed castes for control over means of production,
primarily land, is vital for democratic transformation of society in India.
Besides, reservation should be implemented fully and should be extended
to private sector. Lack of reservation in the private sector is due to Govt.
design as private sector is totally dependent on public money. No dilution of
the provisions against atrocities on SCs and STs should be permitted and
strict action should be taken in cases of attacks and atrocities against Dalits.
Land, livelihood and dwellings of Tribals are being subjected to severe
attacks. Their mineral rich land is being handed over to corporate while their
conditions continue to be most dismal. These natural conservers of forests
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 NEW DEMOCRACY
are being attacked in the name of forest conservation. The Acts recognizing
their rights like Forest Rights Act are not implemented properly, changes are
being surreptitiously made in the Rules to deprive them of their rights. There
is a plan to give even more power to forest officials to harass and suppress
the tribals. Rights of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers over the
cultivable forest land and forest produce must be ensured. Their oppression
by forest officials, police and security forces must be stopped. While they
should be expeditiously granted pattas, police and forest cases against them
should be withdrawn. Expenditure on social services in tribal areas should be
increased. Health centres and educational institutions in tribal areas should
be improved.
Women continue to be treated as an inferior gender. They are being
subjected to attacks and control by patriarchal forces. They are being
discriminated against in the name of religious practices. Under RSS-BJP rule,
patriarchy is being glorified and enforced. They are being denied the right to
make choices about their life and work.
Oppression and suppression of people of J&K and North East continues
and their democratic aspirations and right to self-determination denied. They
are being subjected to tortures and denied basic democratic rights through
use of AFSPA and other draconian laws. RSS-BJP has been communalizing
the situation in these regions. While communal propaganda against struggles
of Kashmiris is being unleashed throughout India, in Eastern India, Muslims
are being targeted in the name of ‘Bangladeshis’. Draft National Register of
Citizens in Assam has left out more than four million people. RSS-BJP want
to treat new migrants to Eastern states on communal lines and had brought
Citizenship Amendment Bill for that purpose. Though it was not passed in the
last Lok Sabha and has since lapsed, RSS-BJP have reiterated their intention
to make it a law if voted back to power.
Suppression of Communist Revolutionary Movement and People’s
Struggles
Successive Govts. have increased repression and suppression of people’s
struggles and movement led by Communist Revolutionary Organizations have
been their special targets. RSS-BJP Govt. has further intensified this
suppression. Struggling people and their leaders are being arrested under
UAPA and PD Act and false cases are being foisted on them. Areas of Central
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
and Eastern India continue to be under paramilitary forces while police forces
continue to harass and suppress those struggling for the landless poor
peasants. Workers’ movements are also being subjected to crude repression
and even right to organize is being denied to workers particularly in the MNCs.
Democratic rights' activists are being targeted in the name of Urban Naxals.
Call to the People
In the light of the attacks on different sections, we place a programme of
struggle before the people. During these elections these issues of the struggle
should be popularized and people should be mobilized for struggle.
The basic issues which are affecting the lives of the people are not the
issues during these elections. Hence no change of direction of policy can be
expected from the results of these elections. Only communist revolutionary
organizations stand for different policy orientation. Hence these forces should
be strengthened. Only revolutionary movement can bring about pro-people
transformation and election time should be used for campaign on these issues.
So the campaign during elections should take the issues of the revolutionary
movement to the people.
Intensifying fascist offensive must be resisted and its threat to existing
democratic rights should be exposed. Unity of revolutionary and struggling
forces should be forged for furthering struggle against Hindutva fascist
offensive.
Struggle should be intensified against social oppression and attacks on
minorities, Dalits, tribals, women and oppressed nationalities.
(Issued by the Central Committee of CPI(ML)-New
Democracy on March 30, 2019)
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 NEW DEMOCRACY
Indian Science Congress 2019:
Vulg ar Outb
ulgar ur
Outbur st of Pseudo
urst
Science
Mrigank
The recently concluded Indian Science Congress has once again
exposed the way science is being fashioned in India. Ever since the RSS
backed government has taken over, the process of projecting pseudo-
science as science has been intensified manifold. All scientific institutions
are forced to make pseudo-science a part of their routine. The Council of
Scientific and Industrial Development (CSIR) made a high-powered
committee to study panchgavya, IITs were asked to research on the genetic
code of the Bull. Organizing different meetings in IITs, universities etc. to
propagate and promote Pseudo-Science is part of this game. Books of
Vigyan Bharti (VIBHA, an RSS outfit) were introduced in Institutes of
excellence. For the first time, a Non CSIR Scientist has been selected to
head CSIR. Apart from his scientific credentials, he is vice president of
VIBHA, which is probably the most significant of his qualifications to get
the post of Director General CSIR.
Indian Science Congress 2019: Two Claims
The claims made by two ‘scientists’ in Indian Science Congress this
year are part of the same and a continuation of the tall but false claims
made in Indian Science Congress 2015. A session on “Ancient Sciences
through Sanskrit “was kept in that. This time, though there was no such
session per se, two presenters made their belief in pseudo-science very
brazen. On January 5th, Andhra University Vice-Chancellor, G Nageswara
Rao, became an overnight ‘celebrity’ when he claimed that Kauravas were
test tube babies. As the legend goes, they were born to Gandhari as a
result of a boon granted to her by Vyasa. After two years of pregnancy,
she delivered a lump of flesh. This was cut into a hundred pieces by Vyasa
and kept in 100 pitchers filled with ghee. After another two years, the jars
were opened and thus the Kaurvas were born. This Mr. Rao claimed is an
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
evidence of test tube babies at that time, without even understanding what
it means. Test tube babies are only fertilized outside (in vitro) and they do
need a womb to grow. He also claimed that Ravana had a fleet of 24 aircraft
and there existed airports at that time in Sri Lanka. He further challenged
Darwin's Theory and said that the theory of evolution is echoed in
dashavataras of Lord Vishnu. It is a different matter that the Genesis, the
first book of Bible also has a somewhat similar and more direct description.
But can they be called theories? Again, he is confused between the theory
of evolution (there exist many) and concept of evolution. Interestingly his
audience comprised mainly school kids.
The other gentleman was more vulgar. Dr. KJ Krishnan from Tamilnadu
proclaimed that Newton’s Theory of gravitation was wrong and his own
theory of gravitational phenomenon gives an apt understanding of
gravitational phenomenon. He too chose schools kids as his
‘subjects’(audience). He stated that bigger things are heavier (he has no
idea about density). He made an assertion that the Sun is 333000 times
bigger than the earth, so which is heavier? Answer obviously is Sun as per
his theory! Little does he realise that this figure of 333000 is about the
mass of the sun and not its size. The diameter of the sun is about 109
times bigger than that of earth and thus it can fit more than 1 million earths
in it. Then he said that if we travel in space where sun and earth are there,
which is heavier sun, earth or space? Children replied space as it is bigger.
Encouraged by this he went on to say that a 1 Kg feather will be heavier
than a Kg of iron. And now he proposes that it is the pressure of heavier
and ‘self-compressive’ space which is responsible for motion of planets.
Newton had little idea about gravity and physics. Krishnan poses a question
that if there is gravity, why does water go up in fountains- pressure is the
answer! (it is a different matter that people conversant with elementary
mechanics can answer this question). Krishnan further said that Einstein
misled the world. He wants gravitational waves to be renamed as ‘Modi
Waves’ and gravitational lens as ‘Harsh Vardhan effect’ as he is a better
scientist than APJ Abdul Kalam.
Despite being utterly non-scientific, and dragging in the names of ruling
government’s PM and minister, no one from the Government or ruling party
made any statement. Not just obscurantism, not just pseudo- science but
now utter sycophancy will be science.
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Pseudo-Science
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that are
claimed to be both scientific and factual, but are incompatible with the
scientific method. It is prevalent in many aspects of our lives. There has
been design to spread this. Let us see some examples in daily life
What is Pseudo-Science in general?
There are many examples. There was a propaganda via social media
and certain TV channels of an eschatological faith that the world will come
to an end by December 21st, 2012. Well, we are still here. Concepts like
alternate medicine, detoxification, some positive and negative energies,
vastu, ancient astronauts who once invaded the Earth, different variants of
astrology, magnetic healing, etc. are some of the examples. The list is
very large and it will be difficult to enumerate all here.
They are prevalent everywhere in our lives. But the dangerous trend is
that they are being mouthed by the people in positions of power and through
institutions of Science. It has increased in the last few years. Some glaring
examples are discussed below.
Pseudo-Science in Science in last 4 years
Right from the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to many of his Ministers,
Ministers of different states, and other powerful people, all have been very
vocal on this front. PM stated that putting of an elephant’s head on a
human body is an example of plastic surgery in ancient times. Again, he
did not realize that if this were true, it is much more advanced than plastic
surgery. It is transplant and that too inter species transplant! Similarly
birth of Karna is projected as some advancement in genetic science.
Minister of Science and technology Mr. Harshvardhan, on the death of
Stephan Hawking claimed that even Stephan Hawking recognized the
superiority of Vedas over current scientific knowledge. Refusing to give a
reference he told journalists to hunt it themselves. Some of them did so
and found a claim on a website of a registered charitable trust – Institute of
Scientific Research on Vedas (I-SERVE) which is claimed to be recognized
by DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research). It had a
Facebook post not by Hawking but some self-styled fan of his, who is
using a fake profile. The office of Hawking denied this claim.
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
A Minister under Raje Government of Rajasthan, Vasudev Devnani
claimed that cows exhale oxygen. Another one claimed that peahens get
pregnant by tears of peacocks and this is a sage like bird (Brhamchari). A
Minister of Haryana who apparently has done M.Phil. in Chemistry challenged
the theory of evolution of Darwin on the ground that none of our ancestors
have seen a monkey turning into man, again, without understanding either
the theory of Darwin or the phenomenon of Evolution. The scale of Evolution
is much larger in time span than he imagines. And secondly Darwin did not
say that monkeys have transformed into humans. All he proposed was
that there were common ancestors. Chief minister of Uttarakhand Ramesh
Pokhryal claimed astrology is the biggest science. Minister of Health of
Assam, Himanta Biswas, believes that cancer is divine punishment of sins
committed in previous lives.
Examples are many. But dangerous is its infiltration into Indian Science
Congress, asking Institutes to do research (actually not research, but asking
scientists to validate the pre-decided claims or beliefs), constituting of a
high-profile committee including former DG of CSIR RA Mashelakar, then
DG Girish Sahni, directors of IITs to validate magical properties of
panchgavya. Lalit Kala Academy organized an exhibition titled “Cultural
Continuity from Rigveda to Robotics” in September 2015, about the same
time that a seminar on Vedic chronology was organized.
There are a few features than can be deduced. One is that all the
landmark discoveries in mathematics, medicine and other disciplines of
science are claimed to be ‘as already discovered’ in ancient India. Like
Pythagoras theorem, surgery, algebra, calculus, energy matter duality etc.
It is true that many of the things were indeed discovered in India, but not in
Vedic period. Aryabhata, Bhaskar Acharya, Madhav Acharya, Sridhar
Acharya etc. made some amazing contributions in the field of mathematics
and astronomy, there was some development in surgery though primitive
and very limited- a sort of plastic surgery which is referred to as ‘Hindu
Rhinoplasty”. And for the rest they are just claiming by inventing similarities.
By doing this, instead of glorifying and correcting some part of the history
of science, they are discrediting even what was there with their ridiculously
false claims.
This is true that the history of science is written by Western scholars
and they have conveniently forgotten the part of history in the east. Ancient
14 March,, 2019
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science or knowledge is referred to as Greek Science and developments in
India and China do not find any mention in it. But that does not mean we go
beyond facts in order to correct that.
By this the Central and State Ministers are also trying to blur the line
between myths and history. Like relating some claim of miracles with some
present-day concept. For instance, description of Pushpaka Vimana to
aviation technology, birth of Kauravas to stem cell etc. etc. by doing so,
they will gradually authenticate myths as history.
There is an attempt to prove that all was known in ancient times & is
recorded in Sanskrit texts and is just being rediscovered now by modern
science. So, we must be proud of the same, if not so we are anti national.
Little does this dwell on as to why suddenly all was lost? Why do we not
read these texts and predict scientific developments rather than relating to
it when a new thing is discovered.
Similarly, attempts are also on to legitimize well known pseudo-sciences
like astrology, numerology, Vaastu etc. by putting forward arguments to
assert it is really scientific.
Political Implications
There is a pattern and design in all this. These are not some statements
of some perverts which we just ridicule and laugh over and forget. There
are several serious implications. Such statements are coming from those
who are in power including the Prime Minister himself. It has implication
for the science policy that is going to be perused.
Their idea is not at all to correct the history. They are not interested in
the correction of history and actually have no sense of history at all. It is a
different matter that they try to use some historical evidence and add them
to their figments of imagination to justify falsified history. There can always
be errors in history writing, but that can be corrected by facts and new
evidences. But they want to prove or want people to believe that they are
first in everything and nothing great has ever come from outside India. The
theory of racial/religious superiority is thus established to support their
chauvinistic designs. It is not just the madness of a few but building of
narrative of ‘scientific ancient India’ and thereby establishing that ancient
scriptures are absolutely right. By creating this myth, they also build a a
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
narrative to submerge people in the ‘awe of our greatness’. A myth of
superiority- culturally and scientifically, and a feeling of “since we were
great once, we shall great be once again” is percolated. And they think this
will happen simply by praising the past and not attempting to do anything
concrete now! We shall come to the current situation a little later.
Let us see some points that historians of science have generally agreed
on. Modern science has taken birth after the advent of capitalism and has
materialism (though mostly mechanistic) as its philosophical basis. It has
been thought that mathematics is the language of nature and all things can
be described and quantified in terms of mathematical formulations and
theories of different types. The correct ideas are developed by method of
inquiry which includes cause and effect, rationality, evidence-based
deduction, generalization by analysis and synthesis, and predicting new
and all this is reproducible. This type of thinking was not there earlier in
any civilizations, be it Graeco-Roman, Judeo-Christian, Babylonian or any
other. Indian and Chinese were no exceptions. It has been very appropriately
said that ancient and modern science of knowledge practically lived in
different worlds. We can interpret this as they were in different socio-
economic systems and will have philosophical basis commensurate with
the same. Thus, connecting the two, or seeking sense of either continuity
or even saying that the earlier was greater is not just incorrect and
unwarranted, it is counterproductive. It will hold back actual progress, will
deter critical thinking and scientific temper and thereby any further progress.
The worldview of Vedic era cannot be applicable today and vice versa. It
will only be hindering and pushing knowledge backwards. Such fabrication
of heritage has only helped and will only help orthodoxy and obscurantism.
This will result in not only ‘not developing’ science and knowledge further
but also will ‘undevelop’ the developments so far. As one will seek solutions
in knowledge of the past, many of modern things will have to be undone.
For instance, explanation of certain diseases will be changed and thus
their treatment. Cow dung and urine will be pious. Aeronautics will be
replaced by non-scientific Vimana Shastra and so on. Worse is that the
methodology of arriving at truth is under attack. Rationality, cause and
effect will no more be the basis of gaining new knowledge. In fact, there
won’t be any new or need to find new, as all was known earlier.
Thus, Hindutva forces are trying to strengthen the theory of their brigade
16 March,, 2019
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that all that was good was here and nothing good can and has come from Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Anusandhan.
outside. This is the reason they are so much opposed to the theory of
Aryan migration. Their stand gives them a basis of ethnic and religious In the current Budget, Piyush Goyal has announces Rs. 12396 crores
superiority and also justifes their chauvinistic stand and stand against for Science which is slightly higher than last year’s Budget allocation of
minorities and Dalits. Rs.12332 crore. With correction of inflation it is not significant at all. And
a large chunk of it will go to programmes like digital villages, artificial
A second thing which also is not much talked about, is that this helps intelligence, etc. which are designed to be run by MNCs. These programmes
to subvert the interest of the country to imperialist powers. They are not are not Science per se but the result of application of it has a semblance of
opposed to dominance of foreign capital in any field. In fact, they are not Science particularly for common people. At the same time there is diversion
just welcoming it but spreading red carpets and trying to remove all the of funds to pseudo-science. Projects like research in panchgavya, finding
hurdles to its plunder. of Sanjeevani Booti, AYUSH, genetic code of cow etc. are getting huge
funds which further reduces the allocations to Scientific Research needed
Imperialism is quite comfortable with this. In fact, more than happy, as for India. This abets the conditions of WTO/WB of doing away with basic
it helps it to dominate in the field of knowledge, science, learning as well science in India. Whatever little budget was there, a large chunk will be
as technology. While we will remain awed with the so-called glory of our diverted to pseudo-science.
past, our dependence on imperialist powers will increase. Not just currently,
but in future too, as the very methodology of developing and evolving In a nutshell it can be seen that promotion of pseudo-science is not
knowledge will be mired with false pride of being Vishwa Guru. It provides simply an idea of some silly sounding people, but has a well-conceived
a very good cover to facilitate imperialist dominance. design which is to fulfil the RSS ‘Hindutva’ agenda on the one hand and
abet unbridled imperialist dominance on the other. The real science and
Science budget this real development of both Science, Research and that of researchers
has taken a back seat. This calls upon scientists and people who stand for
Let us have a quick glance at funding. The effective budget for Science
Science to raise a powerful voice against this Hindutva project. The silver
and Technology has been constantly decreasing. Research funds are being
lining is that unlike 2015, this time scientists and academicians have spoken
slashed, even the so-called Institutions of eminence are facing a crunch.
and protested. There were protests in Bangalore and other cities by
Budgetary allocation has been static at about 0.7% of GDP, although
scientists, INSA has come out with a resolution. There have been many
Department of Science and Technology (DST) claimed that the amount
discussions, meetings on Pseudo-Science in various universities. This
has almost doubled. But a professor of BHU disagrees with the claims. He
needs to be intensified.
argues that since salaries of faculty members and fellowships of research
scholars have gone up, this has taken away most of the increase. The
fund crunch problem is real, says a Geneticist, an INSA Fellow and chair
of Biology at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune.
“Irrespective of how much funds are provisioned in the budget, somewhere
in the pipeline, there are blockages,” he told Nature India. Even a year
after grants are approved, scientists don’t receive the money, which affects
not only the progress of research but also the long-term career prospects
of their students, he says. IITs, CSIR labs etc. have been asked to generate
half of their funds of their own. It means subservience to MNCs. This is the
actual truth of new slogan by PM at Indian Science Congress 2019 – Jai

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Hindu Uphea
Upheav val and 19th Centur
Centuryy
Intellectual Tradition in Beng al
Bengal
Nilesh Roy
1.
Today India is witnessing a massive upsurge of Hindu communal forces
in different parts of its territory. They are very fond of saying that Hindu is
a nation since Rig Vedic period, Hindu is the oldest religion, Varna-caste
system is justified, Aryans are not invaders, and Muslims, Christians are
alien to this country etc. All this stupid stuff is being propagated by the
Hindu nationalist forces. BJP, the official representative of Hindu
nationalism, along with its many communal associates have partially gained
some success in influencing the common people to think communally and
to polarize them vertically on the basis of religion. Thus communal fascism
is coming up. The present paper will try to understand the root of Hindu
nationalism in the intellectual tradition of 19th century Bengal.
2.
The term Hindu had never carried any religious flavour, neither in ancient
nor in medieval period in India. It only referred to a territory (see Jha.
2017; Chaudhury.2018; Mukherjee, BN. 1976). The word Hindu appeared
as a religion in the first half of 19th century. Both orientalism and reformism
together created this Hindu religion. One may call it a gift of the colonial
rule. So, it would not be incorrect to call it the newest one among the world
religions. (Viswanathan. 2003: 36-37). If the first half of the 19th century is
marked by the making of 'Hindu' as a religious term, the second half should
be depicted as the period of Hindu upheaval.
3.
Rammohun Roy used the term Hinduism in a religious sense in 1816,
though it was a pejorative word to him. In Hinduism, one of his targets was
to criticize “idol-worship- the source of prejudice and superstition and of
the total destruction of moral principle” (Roy. 1906: 21). Before Roy, the
word Hindu associated with religious flavor was used by the Christian
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
missionaries to oppose the non-Muslim religious cults, sects, beliefs and
practices as they were reflected in the rituals and rites of the indigenous
people. The Orientalists and the Christian missionaries tried their best to
understand the non-Muslim belief system of Indian people, but at primary
stage they failed. Hence, they took help of the Brahmins who had monopoly
over education and religious leadership. In fact, what Europeans learnt
from the Brahmins was nothing but the brahmanical religion. They brought
this hierarchical concept to their own country and afterwards converted it
into a religion and returned it to the hands of the Indians. The word Hindu
was appropriated in late 18th and early 19 th century by western colonizers,
particularly British scholars and civil servants, “whose writings helped the
imperial administration to formulate and create the notion of Hinduism in
the sense in which we understand it today. The British borrowed the word
“Hindu” from India, gave it a new meaning and significance, reimported it
into India as a reified phenomenon called Hinduism and used it in censuses
and gazetteers as a category as their classification of the Indian people,
paving the way for the global Hindu religious identity…” (Jha. 2017: 16-17).
4.
Hindu upheaval took place in the second half of 19th century on the
basis of the colonial construction of Hinduism. Rajnarayan Basu (1826- 99)
was the pioneer of the Hindu upheaval. He was the maternal grand-father
of Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950). In 1867 Rajnarayan Basu wrote a book
Prospectus of a society for the national feeling among the educated
natives of Bengal. The title of the book tells a lot about to whom and for
which purpose it was written. Another point can be derived from here that
though the term ‘national’ was used here, indeed, it was a Hindu propagation.
Nationalism in modern sense was not formed with clarity till then.
In this book Basu mentioned some activities of “National Promotion
Society” (henceforth NPS) which are given below:
1. NPS would establish gymnasiums and will try to make physical
exercise popular among the youths.
2. NPS would try to establish model schools for cultivation of ancient
Hindu music and medical science.
3. The society would publish the research works of the European scholars
on ancient Indian traditions. Besides, it would provide all kinds of help to
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the cultivation of Sanskrit language.
4. It would give emphasis on education through mother language.
Moreover it would be obligatory for the members of the society to educate
their children in their mother tongue before English language.
5. No reform could be accepted, if it had not emerged out of the nation.
Society would help to develop the social reform movement through spreading
national feelings, though would not take part directly in the reform movement.
Rajnarayan Basu and Nabagopal Mitra (1840?- '94) contributed greatly
to the Hindu upheaval movement. In order to spread their idea they started
a fair in 1867, Hindu Mela or Chaitra Mela. Nabagopal Mitra was the key
figure of the fair. Some prominent members of the famous Tagore family
of Jorasanko, viz., Jotindranath Tagore, Dijendranath Tagore,
Ganendranath Tagore and others came forward to help Basu and Mitra.
Apart from organizing the fair, Mitra also published a journal called ‘National
Paper’ and established a ‘National Gymnasium’, a ‘National School’ and a
‘National Society’. In order to arouse national chauvinism and pride among
the common people, the organizers of the Mitra Mela used to arrange a
yearly conference in the month of Chaitra (March- April). Here is a point to
note that though the name of the organization is Hindu Mela, its executive
committee was called National Society. Organizers did not think that it
was an expression of inconsistency. They said: “We do not understand
why our correspondent takes exception to the Hindoos who certainly form
a nation by themselves, and as much a society established by them can
very properly be called a National Society." (cited by Dutta, Amar. 2007:
12). Therefore according to them Hindu is a nation. And it was taken for
granted by them that Muslims are not included here. In his journal, Mitra
emphasized the making of Hindu as a nation. To him, “…the basis of national
unity in India is the Hindu religion. Hindu nationality embraces all the Hindus
of India irrespective of their locality and language.” Citing his statement
RC Majumdar, a well known rightist Hindu historian, arrived at the truth
that “Nabha Gopal forestalled Jinnah’s theory of two nations by more than
half a century.” (Majumdar, R.C. 1961:18).
The organizers of Hindu Mela including Nabhagopal Mitra and his close
associates, out rightly rejected foreign interference in social reform or social
service because they believed that alien, particularly yavan (Muslim) or
non-Hindu contact is responsible for the decline of Hindu nation. In the
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
first half of the 19th century, Radha Kanta Deb, Bhawani Charan and other
conservatives contributed a lot in shaping of Hindu religion. The same path
was followed by the organizers of Hindu Mela and they converted this
Hinduani (Hinduness) from a poisonous tree into an ugly demon. Brahma
Marriage Act was enacted in 1872. According to the Act, marriage before
14 for the girls and 18 for the boys was prohibited. Nabha Gopal Mitra
vehemently opposed the Marriage Act and organized a protest seminar on
the superiority of Hinduism, in which Rajnarayan Basu was one of the
important speakers. In his speech he opined that embryonic Brahma Society
(Aadi Brahma Samaj) is identical with Hindu Religion. For him, Brahmajani
consider idol worship as a lower stage of oblation of god and realization of
brahma. This unique synthesis between monotheism and idol worship
consecrates the greatness of Hindu religion – he asserted. Not only that,
he also mentioned that the Brahma religion, a higher form of Hindu religion,
has been transformed and developed since the time of Rigveda. (Dutta,
Amar. 2007: 13).
In 1889 Rajnarayan Basu wrote “Old Hindu’s Hope”. In this book he
noted that except Islam and Christianity the followers of all other religions
belonged to Hindu Religion. Considering Sikhs, Jains, Bauddhs, Brahmas
as Hindu he proposed to form an organization ‘Maha Hindu Samity’. (Basu,
R. 2013). He also helped to found ‘Bharat Dharmamahamandal’. (Islam.
2015a: 155). This organization was the precursor of Hindu Mahasabha, a
dangerous Hindu communal organization. He believed that through this
organization Hindus would be able to establish an Aryan nation in India. He
conceived a powerful Hindu nation that would dominate India and the whole
world. (Islam. 2015b: 155).
Rajnarayan Basu speaks of the superiority of Hindu religion: There is no
such good admonition regarding religion which is absent in our religious
scriptures; there is no such positive ritual which was not being practiced in
ancient India. At present it is our task to propagate these Hindu ideas and
practice. (Basu,R. 2008: 60). He did not stop here. He proceeds much
ahead. In his imagination Hindu religion can establish its hegemony, not
only in India but also over the world. He writes: “… the noble and puissant
Hindu nation rousing herself after sleep and rushing headlong towards
progress with divine prowess. I see this rejuvenated nation again illumining
the world by her knowledge, spirituality and culture, and the glory of Hindu
nation again spreading over the whole world.” (cited by Islam.2015:155).
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Here he spoke of the superiority of Hindu religion, but at another place
he asserted the superiority of Bengali nation. (Basu, R. 2008: 71). Many a
contradiction can be found in his thought process. Firstly, he used terms
Hindu religion, Hindu nation and Bengali nation simultaneously, but said
nothing about whether these terms are identical or different. Consequently
it is very difficult to understand what he meant by those terms. Secondly,
perhaps, there was no difference between nation and religion to him and
that undoubtedly pushed him to the blind end of a Hindu upheaval. Though
he spoke of the supremacy of Bengali nation and Hindu nation, but said
nothing about their relationship and did not give any clear notion.
In “Old Hindu’s Hope” he categorically mentioned the importance of
varna-caste system for the unity of the Hindus. Varna-caste system of
Hinduism is a hierarchical system in which Brahmins occupy the highest
status. They are at the apex of the system and considered as ‘gods on
earth’. Essentially Hindu religion is brahmanical religion. So, in order to
follow Hindu religion, it is obligatory for the people to follow Brahmanism.
According to Brahmabaivarta Puran and the interpretation of Smarta
Raghunandan, there are only two varnas in the age of Kali (Kaliyug) in
Bengal, brahmana and shudra. Ironically, Rajnarayan Basu too fell in the
shudra varna. Right away Basu received the result of supporting the varna-
caste system in an incident. It was the sacred thread ceremony of
Rabindranath Tagore. On that occasion Basu received a bitter result of
varna-caste system. On that day when he arrived at the Tagore house at
Jorasanko, he received highly humiliating and insulting treatment from the
members of the Tagore family because shudras are forbidden from being
present in the sacred thread ceremony. He was asked to leave the place.
It is noteworthy that Rajnarayan Basu was the then president of the Aadi
Brahma Samaj of Debendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath Tagore.
(Murshid, Gulam.1981: 32). This is the painful and tragic consequence of
supporting the varna-caste system.
5.
After Basu and Mitra, the Hindu upheaval was expressed in Bengali
literature, particularly in the works of Rangalal Bandapadhyaya (1827-87)
and Nabinchandra Sen (1847-1909). In 1858 Rangalal wrote “Padmini
Upakhyan” on the basis of the story written by Todd. At that time Todd’s
work was considered as historical, though it was proved to be wrong.
Rangalal, in his work, portrayed Alauddin Khilji as an evil doer, extremely
March,, 2019 23
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
communal, perverted and a Hindu hater. And in this way he propagated the
anti-Muslim idea among the common people. At the same time he glorified
the Hindu characters and praised their bravery, sacrifice and ‘jahar brato’
(a rite practised by Rajput women by burning themselves alive on funeral
pyres to escape shame and insult). Keeping the idea of Hindu upheaval in
mind, another poet Nabinchandra Sen championed the doctrine of nishkam
karma (not actuated by any desire or gainful motive) through his three
books of verse – “Raivatak (1886), “Kuruskhetra” and “Prabhas”.
Shashadhar Tarkachuramoni (1851-1928), a prominent leader of Hindu
upheaval, was a contemporary of Nabinchandra Sen. He founded an
organization called “Arya Dharma Pracaroni Shabha” (Association for the
Propagation of Aryan Religion) in Munger of Bihar. He went to Calcutta and
started giving the scientific explanation of the Hindu rituals, customs and
even the superstitions. In order to propagate his conservative and
reactionary ideas he published a journal called “Vedavayas”. Besides, he
also took initiative to establishe Hari Sabhas ( an association centering
around the cult of Vishnu, a brahmanical god) in several cities and villages
for propagating the glory and superiority of Hindu religion. Many a person
started calling him the second Sankaracharya due to his interpretation of
Hindu religion. (Dutta, Amar.2007:37). Under his influence Chandranath
Basu (1844-1910) became a staunch supporter of Hindu upheaval. In his
book “Hindutva” he tried his utmost to establish Hindu hegemony.
6.
Bankimchandra Chattopadhya (1838-'94) should be depicted as the most
important figure in the Hindu upheaval movement. He brought high tide into
the movement through his powerful novels. Aurobindo Ghosh wrote, “Of
the new spirit which is leading the nation to resurgence and independence,
he [Bankim] is the inspirer and political guru.” (cited by Islam:156). The
new literary spirit of Bankim led to the upheaval of Hindutva in late 19th
century. In his writings, religion and politics is one, and due to his writings,
the slogan of Hindu India became the mantra of high caste Hindu gentry.
Let us take a look at the works of Bankimchandra. Out of his 14 novels
“Durgeshnandini” (1863) is the first and the last one is “Sitaram”(1884). A
brief survey of his works can help us to understand how he defined self
and other, Hindu and Muslim. With some exceptions most of the Muslim
characters he portrayed in his novels (drama as well) are cruel, perverted,
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torturers, power mongerers, heartless, unkind, dishonest, infant-killers and
conservative. Some of his famous works are Mrinalini (1869),
Chandrashekhar (1875), Rajsingha (1893), Sitaram (1894). It is hard to
believe that any one would become a Muslim-lover after going through his
works. Contrary to the Muslim characters he made his Hindu characters
liberal, honest, brave, men of dignity and personality.
In ‘Mrinalini’ (1869) Bankim described Baktier Khilji as a dishonest,
cruel, liar, cheater and having double standards. The activities of his army
are narrated in the novel: “When they [Muslims] came across some
unfortunate shelter-less persons in the streets [of the city], they pierced
them with their pikes and attacked all the closed doors of houses. Breaking
the doors or crossing the parapets they entered the house and killed the
householders having nabbed them. After that they cut off the heads of
men and women, old and boys. But they did not follow the same rule in
case of young ladies [they spared their lives for sexual pleasure]." (Bankim.
1993: 172).
In the same novel, Bankim profusely praised two Hindu characters like
Hemchandra (hero) and Mrinalini (heroine) for their honestly, bravery,
conviction and commitment to love.
Here he glorified an evil ritual which was prohibited by law in 1829, the
widow burning ritual or ‘Sati Pratha’. After the death of Pashupati, his wife
Monorama prepared to burn herself with the corpse of her husband. In
Bankim’s words: “During the rite, wearing a new dress and garlands around
her (Monorama) neck, she circumambulated in a clockwise manner around
the Chita [funeral pyre] and mounted it. And with a smiling face she sat on
the pyre and died away like a flower bud.” (Bankim.1993: 183). Incidentally
he was not only a supporter of Sati system but also dead against widow
marriage. Consequently, regarding the question of widow marriage he
reproached Iswarchandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891) without any hesitation.
He expressed his rebuke through one of the characters of his novel ‘Visha
Briksha’ (1873). That character was Suryamukhi. Educated Suryamukhi
wrote in her letter: “[Let me tell you] an amusing thing. There is a scholar in
Kolikata (Calcutta) called Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, who has published a
book on widow marriage. The person who prescribes widow marriage, if he
be a scholar, then whom do we call illiterate?” (Bankim.1993: 200).
In ‘Chandrashekhar’ (1875), one of his popular novels, Bankim depicted
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Mir Kasim as a spineless ruler. It was also portrayed that the Muslim army
is nothing but a bunch of cowardly and worthless persons. Side by side,
the ‘Hindu’ characters, like Pratap and Chandrashekhar have been glorified
by Bankim. He attributed to them bravery, courage and intelligence.
Simultaneously he tried his utmost to belittle the character of Mir Kasim.
In the same way in ‘Rajsingha’ (1882/93) and ‘Sitaram’ (1884) Bankim
asserted the generosity and sovereignty of Hindus, and on the other hand
expressed his hatred of Muslims. In fact his depiction of Aurangzeb is
identical to the British description. For Bankim, the Mughal head's home is
nothing but a hell like place. ‘Sitaram’ is a novel which evinces Bankim’s
animosity to the Muslim community more clearly. Sitaram Roy’s wife Roma
asks her maid servant, “Do Muslims kill boys?” The maid servant answers,
“Whom do they not kill? They eat beef, perform namaj. What do they do
other than killing the boys?” (ibid: 740).
Bankim’s famous (probably the most popular) work is ‘Anandamath’
(1882) which is best known among his works. The concept of Hindutvadi
state first appeared in this novel, though in an indistinct manner. Hindutvadis
of both centuries (19 th and 20 th) and of today consider ‘Anandamath’ as
sacred as the Bible. This is the same novel in which Bankim presented the
song ‘Vande Mataram’ that equated nationalism to mother-worship.
Let us take a look at the main story of ‘Anandamath’. It is basically the
story of the Hindu Sanyasis' (ascetics) rebellion who fought against the (so
called) Muslim rule in the late eighteenth century Bengal (north). These
rebels called themselves ‘Santans’ (children) - ‘Anandamath’ was written
about 25 years after the suppression of the Great War of Independence of
1857 when even the ceremonial authority of Muslim rulers had gone. It
should be noted here that the British colonial masters held that the Muslim
community was mainly responsible for the uprising of 1857 and the British
power mercilessly tortured the Muslims.
The first edition of ‘Anandamath’ is not identical with the later editions.
Bankim made some significant changes in the novel. He changed the phrase
‘Kill British’ of the first edition. Instead of ‘Kill British’ he used ‘Kill nere’
(Muslims) in the later editions. In the same way he replaced ‘British’ with
‘nere’ (Muslims). The entire novel is full of the glory of Hindus and Muslim-
hatred. Once he suggested to not take the novel as a historical novel, but
to consider it simply as a novel. (Bankim.1993: 799). But this suggestion
26 March,, 2019
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does not conceal his real intention.
The novel aims to prove that the conflict between Hindus and Muslims
is not an abnormal phenomenon; it is quite natural and inevitable. Another
aim of the novel is to inculcate in the mind of Hindus that the story is
historical in a true sense. But history does not support it. As was mentioned
earlier, the context of the story is late eighteenth century Bengal when (so
called) Muslim rule was completely wiped away by the British East India
Company. So there was no existence of ‘Muslim rule’ in Bengal. East India
Company in 1765, by and large took over the economic and political control
of Bengal. Common masses were not satisfied with British rule. A section
of people particularly Fakirs (Muslim ascetics) and Sanyasis (Hindu
ascetics) together started fighting against the British power during the period
of 1763 to 1800. It was a great united struggle of ‘Hindus’ and ‘Muslims’.
(See Roy, S. 1966; Dasgupta. 1992).
Bankim Chandra wanted to establish that Hindu is a nation. Hindu religion
is the most important shelter for the mundane interest of the Hindus. In
order to protect the religious interest of the Hindus, British rule is inevitable.
In the last part of the novel, Bankim writes:
“English [power] should rule the country of the Sanatan religion [traditional
religion]. Therefore we shall make English king. In the English education
indigenous people after having the external theories, they will be able to
understand the internal theories. In that time there will be no hindrance to
propagate Sanatan religion. Then the true religion will be spontaneously
revived. English rule will prevail until Hindus would again be knowledgeable,
powerful and competent”. (Bankim. 1993: 641).
In fact Sanayasi and Fakirs carried on their fight for 38 years (1763-
1800) against the East Indian Company’s misrule and exploitation. The
glorious battle turned into a communal conflict in Bankim’s novel. In the
book, a rebel leader Sayananda explains the objective of the ‘Santans’ :
“We do not want a kingdom, we want only to destroy Mussalmans because
they are hostile to the god.” One more desire of the Sanayasis is to erect
the temple of Radhamadhav on the ruins of a Masjid. Bankim’s dream has
been partly realized with the destruction of Babri Mosque on 6 December
1992 by the RSS-BJP-VHP.
In order to narrate the nature of the uprising, Bankim writes:
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
“Later they started sending the spies to village after village. After going
to the villages and finding out the Hindus there, the spies asked them,
‘brothers, would you worship the Lord Vishnu?’ They gathered 20/25 persons
by these means, they came down to the Muslim villages and torched their
houses. The Muslims were worried for safety of their lives and the Santan
robbed them of everything and distributed the booty amongst the new
devotes of the Lord Vishnu. Obtaining a share of the booty, the rural people
were satisfied, they were brought down to the Vishnu temple and converted
to the virtues of Santans after touching the feet of the idol. The people
found that Santanism paid instant dividends.... They organized themselves
in groups and went out to subdue the Muslims. They brought home money
by way of looting wherever they found it. Wherever they got the Muslim
villages, they reduced them to ashes by arson.” In the last chapter of the
first volume of ‘Anandamath’, Bhabananda told Mahendra "Religion, caste,
status, class etc. have been lost [due to Muslim rule], now we are going to
lose our right to life. So, in order to keep Hinduness, we have to throw out
these drag addicted nere [Mussalmans]." (Bankim.1993: 589). To him to
protect Hinduness the solution is to kill the Mussalmans. (ibid: 639).
‘Anandamath’ is the product of a combination of distorted history and
the concept of newly emerged Hindu religion. It is absurd to think that
sanayasis or fakirs of 18th century Bengal had modern nationalism,
because by the mid-19th century, nationalism was widely recognized as a
political doctrine or movement. (Heywood. 2014: 168). Sanyasis and fakirs
fought against the torture and exploitation of the East India Company. They
did not have any sectarian religious objective. They fought together and
died together. Historian Jadunath Sarkar comments, “Sanyasis did not have
anything like freeing the motherland or suppressing the evils or looking
after the good in their mind. This movement (of Santans) was the product
of the imagination of [Bankimchandra] Chattopadhyaya.” (cited in
Mukhopadhyaya, S. 2003: 51).
Bankim theorized his Hindu nation building in an article ‘Bharat Kalanka’
(Indian-infamy). The language and way of expression of the article are
sources of inspiration of present day Hindu communalists. Bankim wrote:
“I am a Hindu, you are a Hindu, Jadu is a Hindu, moreover there are
millions of Hindus. The well-being of these millions of Hindus is my well-
being. What is not welfare for them, that must not be welfare for me. So, it
28 March,, 2019
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is my duty to do that which is good for them. My duty is not to do anything
what is harmful for the Hindus. This is my duty as well as your duty and the
duty of all Hindus. If it is so, then it is the duty of all Hindus to think and
work and assemble together. This is the first part of the making of nation."
"Apart from the Hindu nation there are other nations in the world. Well-
being of them does not mark the well-being of us. Sometimes their well-
being is harmful for us. Where there is a loss of us due to their benefit, we
will try to hinder their well-being. If it is required to torture them, we would
do that. We would damage others for the sake of our interest. This is the
second part of nation making process.” (BRS. 1973: 1: 301).
If we read his novels and articles together, it would not be difficult to
understand the orientation of his works. First he tried to build up a Hindu
self-identity and then to mark the enemy of the Hindus, i.e. the concept of
Other, more precisely the Muslim community. Moreover, his entire work
rejects the tradition of Hindu-Muslim unity, syncretism and the Indian
plurality. By and large he has excommunicated Rama Kaivartya and Hashem
Sheikh in his novels. It creates a self-contradiction. When Bankim is a
Bengali nationalist, he speaks of Hasem Sheikh and Rama Kaivartya. And
when he is a Hindu nationalist he wants a breach between them. He was
never able to escape from this self contradiction.
7.
After Bankim, the person who provided the solid Hindu foundation to
‘Indian nation’, was Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902). Vivekananda, by
providing a sense of spiritual supremacy to Hinduism, called upon Hindus
to be proud of the religion of their ancestors. Nivedita, one of his disciples
wrote: “What Hinduism needed, amidst the general disintegration of the
modern era, was a nook where she could lie at anchor, an authoritative
utterance in which she might recognize herself. And this was given to her,
in these words and writings of Swami Vivekananda.” (Vivekananda. 2012: 1:
IX).
Vivekananda was immensely influenced by the words of Bankimchandra.
Vivekananda developed, spread and strengthened the concept of Hindu
nationalism. After returning from the West, he wanted to prove that his
Hindu campaign was fully successful in the West and now the time had
come to wake up India. (Basu, Paramathanath. 2012: 2: 108). In a
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
facilitation letter of Ramnad, he was described as a crier of Hindu
sovereignty. (ibid: III). Gamvirananda, a biographer of Swami Vivekananda,
mentioned that except Islam, all the Indian religions have got space in the
domain of Hindu religion and this religion is superior to the other religions
because Hindus step up from the lower truth to higher truth. (ibid. 2012: 2:
39). His comment on Ramkrishna and Vivekananda is also interesting:
“That was a glorious fortunate period (19th century) of Hindus. Hindus again
learnt to awake normally and to deserve to be revived. During that period,
Bengali youths appeared in Daksniswara as future propagators, due to their
attraction." (ibid. 2012: 1: 10). For Gambhirananda, in late 19th century
Hindus reawaked as a result of the propitiation of Ramakrishna’s sayings
and messages and later on Vivekananda spread it everywhere. So, the
devotees and disciples of Vivekananda like to depict him as a Hindu
revivalist.
In 1898 Vivekananda was asked a question in an interview: “.... What
do you consider to be the function of your movement as regards India?”
Vivekananda answered, “To find the common basis of Hinduism and awaken
the national consciousness to them.” (Vivekananda. A.A. 2012: 5: 226).
For him religion is the backbone of Indian national life. There is no doubt
the term religion refers to Hindu religion. Since this religion is superior to
all, its teaching should be taught to the world. (Vivekananda (Beng.). 2012: 5:
30 31). In order to make Hindus conscious Vivekananda repeatedly called
on Hindus that "If religion is given up, the backbone of Hindu nation would
be broken. The great national monument was built up on that foundation
which would be broken down; consequently all would be destroyed.”
(Vivekananda (Beng.). 2012: 5: 34).
In his discussion, ‘Hindu religion’ and ‘Hindu nation’ are identical. He
added to this Indianness (Bharatiatva). So when he speaks of India that
refers to only Hindu-India. Therefore, to him, awaking of India means
awaking of Hindus. According to him Hindus are in crisis. So, the solution
is badly needed. He said that Hindus were in deep crisis on account of
their destiny. There is only one way to escape from the crisis and that is to
go to the West for the propagation of Hindu religion (Vivekananda (Beng.).
2012: 6: 25).
History shows that the notion of national superiority gives birth to
aggressive and perverted nationalism. “Pan-Germanism was an
30 March,, 2019
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expansionist and aggressive form of nationalism that envisaged the
creation of a German-dominated Europe. German Chauvinism found its
highest expression in the racialist and anti-Semitic doctrines developed by
the Nazis.” (Heywood. 2014: 189). Nazi leader Hitler claimed Germans are
Aryans and Aryans are a superior race. So Germans are the greatest of all
races. And it is the sacred duty of the Germans to spread German
civilization all over the world and to bring the lower civilizations under its
realm. The same voice can be heard from an Indian monk, 40 years before
Hitler: “....Let me take this opportunity, my countrymen, of telling you that
in comparing the different races and nations of the world I have been among,
I have come to the conclusion that our people are on the whole the most
normal and the most godly, and our institutions are, in their plan and purpose,
best suited to make mankind happy. I do not, therefore, want any
reformation. My ideal is growth, expansion, development on national lines.
As I look back upon the history of my country, I do not find in the whole
world another country which has done quite so much for the improvement
of the human mind. (Vivekananda. A.A. 2012: 3: 195)
In the same lecture he focused on some important points—
1. “The ideal man of our ancestors was the Brahmin. In all our books
stands out prominently this ideal of the Brahmin.” (ibid: 196).
2. “....... We read in the Satya Yuga there was only one caste, and that
was the Brahmin. We read in the Mahabharata that the whole world was in
the beginning peopled with Brahmins, and that as they began to degenerate,
they became divided into different castes, and that when the cycle turns
round, they will all go back to that Brahminical origin.” (ibid: 198).
3. “Therefore our solution of the caste question is not degrading those
who are already high up, is not running amuck through food and drink, is
not jumping out of our own limits in order to have more enjoyment, but it
comes by every one of us fulfilling the dictates of our Vedantic religion, by
our attaining spirituality, and by our becoming the ideal Brahmin. There is
a law laid on each one of you in this land by your ancestors, whether you
are Aryans or non-Aryans, Rishis or Brahmins, or the very lowest outcasts.
The command is the same to you all, that you must make progress without
stopping, and that from the highest man to the lowest Pariah, everyone in
this country has to try and become the ideal of Brahmin.” (ibid).
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
He wrote Parivrajak in 1899 in which he spoke of the upheaval of
cobblers, sweepers and workers. But it was a whimsical statement. His
other works do not evince the same thing. He went away far from this idea
in ‘Prachya Prachatya’ (East and West.1900). Here he dreamt of worldwide
Hindu domination:
“Here [India] is the selfsame old Shiva seated as before, the bloody
Mother Kali worshipped with the selfsame paraphernalia, the pastoral
Shepherd of Love, Shri Krishna, playing on his flute. Once this Old Shiva,
riding on His bull and labouring on this Damaru travelled from India, on the
one side, to Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Australia, as far as the shores of
America, and on the other side, this Old Shiva battened His bull in Tibet,
China, Japan, and as far up as Siberia, and is still doing the same. The
Mother Kali is still exacting Her worship even in China and Japan. It is she
whom the Christians metamorphosed into the Virgin Mary, and worship as
the mother of Jesus the Christ.” (Vivekananda. 2012: 5: 445).
Moreover he wanted to see India as a country of Hindus exclusively.
Precisely he uttered that if a person wants to live in India either he has to
be a Hindu or has to accept Hindu domination. If he does not accept this
suggestion he has to leave India. So, to him there is no option for taking a
middle position. Till today the tradition of this notion flows in Indian
territories.
He also said:
“Here in India will ever be the old Shiva labouring on his Damaru, the
Mother Kali worshipped with animal sacrifice, and the lovable Shri Krishna
playing on his flute.
..... If you cannot bear them – avaunt! For a handful of you shall a
whole nation be wearied out of all patience and bored to death? Why don’t
you make your way somewhere else where you may find field to graze
upon freely – the wide world is open to you! (Vivekananda 2012: 5: 445).
In his words one may find some mild fun and venial style, but the
central idea is dangerous. It negates the tradition of syncretic culture and
plurality. To him there is only one tradition in India and that is the tradition
of Hinduism. People who are not ready to accept the Hindu deities and
culture; have no place in India. They should go away anywhere they like
32 March,, 2019
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“the wide world is open to” them. The same voice can be heard in Golwalkar’s
book:
“.... the foreign races [non-Hindus) in Hindustan must either adopt the
Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence
Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the
Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate
existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly
subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges,
far less any preferential treatment not even citizen’s rights.” (Golwalkar.
2015: 183-184).
Vivekananda not only developed the idea of Hindu identity, Hindu tradition
and the hegemony of Hindus, but also constructed the ‘other’ excellently.
Like Bankim he kept himself aside from opposing British power and depicted
Muslims as the enemy of Hindus. To him Muslims are always invaders
and destroyers. He wrote:
“Waves after waves had flooded the land, breaking and crushing
everything for hundreds of years. The sword had flashed, and “Victory unto
Allah” had rent the skies of India; but these floods subsided, leaving the
national ideals unchanged.” (Vivekananda. 2019: 4: 159).
Vivekananda uttered too “They [Muslims] brought the sword, slaughter
and religious persecution, till then unknown in India.” (Basu & Ghosh. 1969:
295/ The Hindu Patriot. 28.12.1896).
The readers of Vivekananda would hardly miss that he was a strong
supporters of Sati system (Vivekananda. 2012 (Beng): 5: 321) and caste
system. According to him caste system is good, natural and omnipresent.
In his words:
“Caste is a natural order.... Caste is good. That is the only national way
of solving life. Men must form themselves into groups, and you cannot get
rid of that. Wherever you go, there will be caste.” (Vivekananda 2012: 3: 245).
At another place he writes:
“The solution of the caste problem in India, therefore, assumes this
form, not degrade the higher castes, not to crush out the Brahmin. The
Brahminhood is the ideal of humanity in India, as wonderfully put forward
by Sankaracharya at the beginning of his commentary on the Gita, where
March,, 2019 33
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
he speaks about the reason for Krishna’s coming as a preacher for the
preservation of Brahminhood, of Brahminness. .....This Brahmin, the man
of God, he who has known Brahman, the ideal man, the perfect man, must
remain; he must not go.” (2012: 3: 293-94).
That’s not all. Besides, he opposed widow marriage and glorified
widowhood. (Vivekananda. 2012. (Beng): 5: 314, 308).
Hindu upheaval turned into Hindu nationalism in the first decade of 20th
century, particularly after 1905. This Hindu nationalism took a concrete
shape when the concept of religious upheaval amalgamated with political
interest. In the beginning of this new phase Aurobindo Ghose played a
very significant role. He linked up properly between Hindu upheaval and
Hindu nationalism.
Aurobindo wrote:
“Our movement for the national resurgence is not political, it is spiritual
and religious. Our nationalism is not mere politics; it is an article of faith, it
is worship. Sanatana Dharma is our nationalism. Hindu Rashtra was born
along with Sanatana Dharma. The two are indivisible: their direction and
development are identical. When Sanatana Dharma declines, the nation
also declines. If there is any possibility of Sanatana Dharma ever dying,
Hindu Rashtra will also die with it. Let me reiterate this openly: Sanatana
Dharma is our nationhood. This is the mantra God has given me.” (cited by
Islam 2015: 163).
In this way Aurobindo constructed Hindu nationalism by connecting the
Sanatana Dharma or Hindu dharma with the concept of state. This is the
synopsis of the story of transformation from Hindu upheaval to Hindu
nationalism. Though a number of important aspects are untouched here,
the present paper may help to understand that the main stream of thought
appeared centering around the concept of nationalism expressed in Bengali
intellectual tradition in 19th century.
Bibliography
Bankim. 1993. Upanyas Samagra. Kolkata: Reflect Publication.
Basu, Rajnarayan. 2008. Sekal ar Ekal. Kolkata: Chirayata Prakashan
Private Limited. Edited: Swapan Basu.
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Basu, Rajnarayan. 2013. Aatmancharit. Kolkata: Chirayata Prakashan
Private Limited. Edited: Arun Kumar Mukhopadhay.
Basu, Sankari Prasad & Ghosh, Sunil Bihari. 1969. Vivekananda in Indian
Newspapers. (1898- 1902). Calcutta: D. Basu & B. Bhattacharya and Co.
(Pvt.) Ltd.
B. R. S. (Bankim Rachana Samagra). 1973. Pratham o Dwitiya Khanda.
Kolkata: Sakhyarata Prakashan. Pradhan Sampadak: Shree Gopal Halder.
Chaudhury, Kanishka. 2018. Bharat Etihash Charcha o Sampradayik
Bikritee. Maheshtala: Damama Patrika.
Dasgupta, Atis K. 1992. The Fakir and Sanyasi Uprising. Calcutta: KP
Bagchi & Company.
Dutta, Amar. 2007. Unish Sataker Seshardhe Bangladeshe Hindu
Jatiyotabad. Kolkata: Progressive Publishers.
Golwalkar. 2015. We or Our Nationhood Defined. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press.
Heywood, Andrew. 2014. Political Ideologies- An Introduction. Hampshire:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Islam, Shamsul. 2015a. Hindu Nationalism and Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangha. Delhi: Media House.
Islam, Shamsul. 2015b. Hindu Nationalism and Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangha. New Delhi: Paros Media.
Majumdar, R. C. 1961. Three Phases of India’s Struggle for Freedom.
Bombay: Popular Prakashan.
Murshid, Gulam. 1981. Rabindra Biswe Purbobanga: Purbobange Rabindra
Charcha. Dhaka: Bangla Academy.
Jha, D. N. 2017. Looking for a Hindu Identity. New Delhi: People’s Publishing
House (P) Ltd.
Ray, Suprakash. 1966. Bharater Krishak Bidroho o Ganatantrik Sangram
(Pratham Khanda). Kolkata: D. N. B. A. Brothers.
Viswanathan, Gouri. 2003. “Colonialism and The Construction of Hinduism.”
Published in Flood, G. (ed.). 2003.
Vivekananda, Swami. 2012. Bani o Rachana. Kolkata: Udbodhan Karyalaya.
Vivekananda, Swami. A.A.2012. The Complete Works. Kolkata: Advaita
Ashrama.
March,, 2019 35
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
It is Time To Form The Party
(All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries set
up by the revolutionary communists under the leadership of the
Naxalbari comrades decided to form the Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist). The resolution adopted in the AICCCR meeting on
April 19-20, 1969 was issued as a communique on April 22, 1969.
Before that in the AICCCR meeting held on February 8, 1969 a
reosolution was adopted which is being published here.
This is the full text of the resolution adopted unanimously by the All
India Co-ordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries of
February 8, 1969)
From Liberation, Vol II. No. 5 (March 1969)
A little over 18 months have passed since the revolutionary peasant
struggle was launched in Naxalbari under the all-conquering banner of the
thought of Mao Tse-tung. And it is more than a year ago that the All India
Co-ordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries was formed under
the inspiring leadership of the Naxalbari comrades.
During this period, though brief, the Co-ordination Committee has, no
doubt, made significant achievements in dealing powerful blows at all
reactionary ideology, including revisionism and neo-revisionism, and in
spreading the flames of agrarian revolution. This period has witnessed the
victorious march of Chairman Mao’s thought, the acme of Marxism-Leninism
in the present era, which is winning new adherents every day. It is during
this period that the flames of agrarian revolution have spread out from
Naxalbari to Srikakulam in the south and to Mushahari and Lakhimpur Kheri
in the north. It has been the period when the peasant revolutionaries of
Kerala have staged a heroic revolt that has shaken the whole of India. It
has also been the period of the bursting forth of the revolutionary liberation
struggle of the Adibasi people in Chotanagpur and its uninterrupted advance.
It is also in this period that the national liberation struggles of the Nagas,
the Mizos and the Kukis have entered a new phase. The reactionary Indian
36 March,, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
Government has become a stooge of U.S. and Soviet imperialism and a
dead-weight on the Indian people. And so the resistance of the Indian people
both in the countryside and in the cities – among the working class and the
petty bourgeois masses – is growing fast and is creating a new upsurge in
the agrarian revolution which is the main content of the Democratic
Revolution in India to-day. The revolutionary struggle of the Indian people
to achieve emancipation from the yoke of imperialism, Soviet revisionism,
feudalism and comprador-bureaucrat capital has now reached a new height.
In this excellent revolutionary situation when the people of India have
finally embarked on the road of revolution, all the parties of the ruling classes,
including the various revisionist parties, are feverishly trying to strengthen
the parliamentary illusions. The call of “Boycott Election” issued by the
Co-ordination Committee has exposed the hollowness of parliamentarism
and the counter-revolutionary character of the revisionist and neo-revisionist
parties.
It is a heartening fact that within the last one year revolutionaries from
Assam to Maharashtra have united under the banner of the All India Co-
ordination Committee and all the centres of revolutionary peasant struggles
are linked with one another through this committee. The reactionary ruling
classes and their counter-revolutionary agents, including the revisionists,
who pinned their hope on the disunity within the revolutionary ranks, have
been sorely disappointed. The growing unity within the ranks of the
revolutionaries despite the obstacles created by the reactionaries of all
sorts proves that we have overcome the main impediment to the formation
of a revolutionary party in India. The Co-ordination Committee has thus
served as the first indispensable link in the chain – the process of forming
a Marxist-Leninist Party in India.
However, the experiences of the last one year have also made it amply
clear that the political and organizational needs of the fast developing
revolutionary struggles can no longer be adequately met by the Co-ordination
Committee. These struggles have to be led and co-ordinated in an effective
manner. The entire revolutionary forces have to be fully roused and
organized to consolidate and extend the existing areas of struggle. The
rich experiences of these struggles have to be analyzed and assessed,
generalizations have to be made and lessons drawn in order to lead these
struggles along the correct line. These struggles cannot develop to a higher
stage and a revolutionary authority cannot grow if we depend merely on
March,, 2019 37
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
local initiatives. Without a revolutionary party there can be no revolutionary
discipline and without revolutionary discipline the struggle cannot be raised
to a higher level.Only a revolutionary party can infuse revolutionary
discipline, the spirit of self-sacrifice and death-defying abandon. So, for
taking these struggles forward it is essential to form an all-India Party and
a centre recognized by all revolutionaries. The all India Co-ordination
Committee was setup to help this process of forming a revolutionary party
and this was set down in the very first Declaration. In the absence of such
a Party comrades in the areas of struggle have come to look upon the Co-
ordination Committees as Party committees and expect them to function
Communique of The All India Co-ordination
Committee of Communist Revolutionaries
Issued on 22 nd April 1969
The All India Co-ordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries,
which met in a plenary session from 19 th to 20th April 1969, announces
the formation of the revolutionary party, Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist), based on the Thought of Mao Tse-tung on 22nd April
1969, the one-hundredth birthday of Great Lenin – a task it set itself
eighteen months ago, in November 1967 – and also announces its own
dissolution after setting up a Central Organizing Committee to hold
Congress at an appropriate time.
in the same manner. But the Co-ordination Committees cannot fulfill the
complex political and organizational tasks arising out of the present stage
of revolutionary struggles. At a time when Communist revolutionaries all
over the country have given priority to the task of building revolutionary
bases in the rural area, at a time when the slogan of revolutionary class
struggle is rending the sky, it is our immediate duty to form a revolutionary
party without which the advance of revolution is sure to be impeded. Chairman
Mao teaches us; “If there is to be revolution, there must be a revolutionary
party. Without a revolutionary party, without a party built on the Marxist-
Leninist revolutionary theory and in the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary style,
it is impossible to lead the working class and the broad masses of the
people in defeating imperialism and its running dogs.”
38 March,, 2019
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Idealist deviation on the question of party building arises as a result of
the refusal to recognize the struggle that must be waged within the Party.
The idea that the Party should be formed only after all opportunist tendencies,
alien trends and undesirable elements have been purged through class
struggles is nothing but subjective idealism. To conceive of a Party without
contradictions, without the struggle between the opposites, i.e., to think of
a pure and faultless party is indulging in mere idealist fantasy. Chairman
Mao has taught us : “Opposition and struggle between ideas of different
kinds constantly occur within the Party; this is a reflection within the Party
of contradiction between classes and between the new and the old in
society. It there were no contradictions in the Party and no ideological
struggles to resolve them, the Party’s life would come to an end.”
Revisionism is bourgeois, counter-revolutionary ideology. The inner-
party struggle between revolutionary ideology and counter-revolutionary
From the Basic Lessons of the History of CPI(ML)
The formation of the A.I.C.C.C.R. – the All India Co-ordination of
Communist Revolutionaries in November 1967, and the formation of
the CPI (M-L) on April 1969, are two golden chapters in the annals of
the history of the Communist movement in the country. These two events
signify the final break of the Communist Revolutionaries ideologically,
politically and organizationally with revisionism and neo-revisionism and
finally embarked on the part of people's war, never to go back.
ideology will continue so long as classes exist. It is through an
uncompromising struggle against revisionism and other alien trends that
the Party shall grow and develop.
Fortunately for us, we are living in an era when the thought of Mao Tse-
tung is winning victory after victory, when the great proletarian cultural
revolution, personally initiated and led by Chairman Mao, has gained historic
victory in China and has immensely enriched the treasure-house of Marxism-
Leninism, when Chairman Mao is still living and leading the world proletarian
forces in the final struggle for complete victory of Socialism all the world
over.We are confident that with the active cooperation of all the
revolutionaries of our country we shall succeed in building a Party in the
March,, 2019 39
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
revolutionary style capable of leading the Indian revolution through to
complete victory.
It should be borne in mind that ours is a new great era of world revolution
and that the responsibility of the Communist revolutionaries of India, a
contingent of the world communist movement, is tremendous. All the
imperialist powers of the world headed by the U.S. imperialists and the
Soviet social-fascists are trying to win a fresh lease of life by exploiting
the 500 million people of India. They are also trying to use the Indian people
as cannon-fodder in a war to destroy Socialist China, the base of the world
revolution. By carrying the Indian revolution to victory we shall not only
end the brutal exploitation of the vast masses of our country but also hasten
the collapse of world imperialism and revisionism and thus help in building
a radiant future for ourselves and for all mankind. We must unite with our
class brethren who are waging heroic struggles in Vietnam, Burma, Thailand,
Malaya, Indonesia and various other countries of the world and forge that
great bond of internationalism – that internationalism which has been given
noble expression by Chairman Mao in the Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution.
A stage has now been reached when the formation of the Communist
Party brooks no further delay. The party should immediately be formed
with those revolutionaries as the core who are building up and conducting
revolutionary class struggles. This Party composed of revolutionary cadres,
steeled and tempered in the fire of class struggle, shall play its historic
role in leading India’s People’s Democratic Revolution to victory, in carrying
it forward to the completion of the Socialist Revolution and in helping to
bring about the total collapse of world imperialism and revisionism.
The Economic Scenario and the
Fascist Of
Offfensive
ensiv
On Fifty years of the formation of CPI(ML), Central
Committee of CPI(ML)-New Democracy is holding a meeting
on April 22, 1969 in Kolkata.
40 March,, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
(One of the topics in the All India Convention Against Fascist Offensive
was the Economic Scenario and the Fascist Offensive. Well known
Journalist N. Venugopal made a presentation on the issue. We are
publishing here his write-up which is based on the presentation he had
made in the Convention. - Editor)
There has been a debate for the last several decades on whether it is
appropriate to term the offensive of Indian ruling classes against Indian
masses as fascism, given its Italian and German connotations. There are
certainly undeniable differences between the inter-war context of fascism
and the present, but I would like to argue that the essential conditions
which gave rise to fascism in Italy, Germany and elsewhere are similar to
Indian economy and society today and the ruling class response is also
similar.
Fascism is essentially a ruling class response to the imminent or
ongoing crisis in any society. The crisis may occur fundamentally in
economy and get reflected in society, politics, culture and governance.
Gradually the symptoms of crisis become apparent in all walks of life as
the crisis becomes all pervasive. As the crisis deepens and gets more and
more visible, the state and ruling classes cannot but indulge in fascist
policies to address and attempt to crush the crisis. They will not be able to
resolve the crisis and hence indulge in fascist methods to divert the people
from the crisis, and use violence to silence all the dissenters. Beginning
with Italy in 1920s to India of 2010s, the ruling class response to crisis has
always been fascism. Of course, there are some differences as well as
some similarities between the fascist rulers, depending on time, space
and the personal traits of the fascist leaders.
There have been a number of studies on fascism as it appeared in the
20th century as well as in the present day. Here we do not have sufficient
time to make a comparative study between various types of fascism and I
would like to restrict myself to three issues: the economic scenario of
crisis that is spreading, the fascist offensive as a result of the economic
and social crisis and the tasks of progressive and revolutionary forces in
the face of the growing fascist offensive.
While the existence of class society itself is a crisis, a number of
March,, 2019 41
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
developments on the way exacerbate the crisis. We do not have time to go
far into the past history but the crisis of Indian society since the colonial
times is very well documented. As the colonialists transferred power to a
section of the feudal, big bourgeois and comprador ruling classes in 1947
the crisis entered a new phase. The collusion between imperialism and
feudalism gave rise to a continuing crisis, which can be termed in political
economy terms as semifeudal and semicolonial society, which is crisis-
ridden. This society could not complete the tasks of a bourgeois democratic
revolution to fulfill the genuine anti-feudal aspirations of the people and
stagnated in its semifeudal stage. The old colonial rule of one imperialist
power was replaced by neo colonial plunder by several imperialist powers
thus making it a semicolony. From a land ruled by one power on which the
sun never sets, India was turned into a land ruled by MNCs on whom the
sun never sets. This actually is the real crisis and to hoodwink people from
this real crisis and prevent them from a search for real solutions, the Indian
ruling classes needed fascism. As the people’s discontent grew in both
quantitative and qualitative terms, state began using fascist offensive,
roughly from the late 1960s. Simultaneously, as a response to the crisis
and also on the directions of the international financial agencies, Indian
ruling classes began following Liberalization – Privatization - Globalization
policies from the early-1980s which became the order of the day in 1991.
Thus by the time Sangh Parivar took the reins of power in 2014, India was
already neck deep in experiencing crisis and the ruling class responses in
the form of fascist suppression and integration with globalizing forces.
The following five years of Sangh Parivar rule has witnessed further
aggravation of the economic crisis, which can be seen in various sectors
such as agriculture, industry and services. The government’s attempts to
ostensibly address the situation in fact led to further exacerbation of the
crisis, as each of the attempts was aimed at protecting the interests of
both feudal and imperialist forces and their compradors.
The fact that Indian agriculture is going through a severe crisis does
not need any elaboration as it is quite palpable. The ever increasing number
of peasants’ suicides, growing input costs, stagnation in real price farmers
get for their output, agriculture becoming unremunerative for small and
middle peasants, more and more land being diverted to non agrarian sector,
particularly real estate, new legislations and policies to snatch land away
from the real farmers and giving it away to corporate firms, unemployment
42 March,, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
and underemployment are a few symptoms of the larger agrarian crisis.
The so-called palliative measures announced by the governments like
Minimum Support Price and Fasal Bima Yojana are either insufficient or
beneficial to the vested interests but not to the real farmers. If the agrarian
sector in a country where 70 per cent people depend on it is experiencing
such a severe crisis, that actually means that the entire country is in crisis.
This large crisis in base naturally spills over to superstructure sectors and
that’s why we are witnessing crises in society, politics, culture, governance,
education, religion, arts and literature.
Then if we look at the industrial sector, it also shows up several
symptoms of severe crisis like stagnation in manufacturing sector, meagre
share of formal sector, more and more dominance of MNCs, more
penetration of FDI and FPI, growing share of footloose capital and stringent
labour laws. Service sector, though demonstrating double digit growth and
bandied in high decibel propaganda, its benefits to MNCs, its nature of
volatility, its jobless growth and unreliable jobs and uselessness of a larger
part of the services to the real needs of people show its unsustainable
nature.
Put together, these three elements of Indian economy are giving us a
picture of an all-pervasive crisis and the most visible aspect of this crisis
is unemployment. The government under Narendra Modi has implemented
demonetization and GST in this scenario and involved itself in various
corrupt practices including banking scams and Rafale deal. Each of these
policies and practices have directly or indirectly impacted the employment
scene in the country by not creating new employment opportunities and
throwing existing employees out of jobs. Thus a significant portion of India’s
working population is without work and as the proverb goes, “their hands
are empty to work or to hold guns”. The ruling classes that cannot provide
work and afraid of them taking guns, are trying to stuff their minds with fear
and hatred, thus leading to fascism. In any country there has been a direct
correlation between the rise of unemployment and the rise of fascism. India
exactly fits into that unemployment-fascism model.
This all pervasive crisis is so widespread that even the government
statistics of growth rates, averages, GDP and per capita, FDI inflows,
balance of trade, investment-GDP ratio, wealth generation, growing number
of billionaires are unable to cover the actual crisis that is ready to explode
March,, 2019 43
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
anytime.
Thus the obtaining reality of Indian economy or society is that of crisis,
getting manifested in inequality, poverty, regional imbalances,
unemployment leading to discontent, unrest and rebellion. In classical sense
a crisis is defined as a situation where old is dying and new is yet to take
birth. This interregnum gives out morbid symptoms like fascism. Classical
analysts equated fascism that emerged in Italy and Germany with growing
corporatism and spread of an environment of hatred and fear. As people
suffer from everyday problems in social and individual life, they are
prevented from going to the root causes of the problems, but forced to
identify or accuse some 'problem makers’ and to hate and annihilate them.
Fascists try to use this kind of volatile, explosive situation with two
strategies: One, trying to fool people with attractive slogans, false prejudices
as well as creating scapegoats. Two, using violent methods to silence
dissenters. The fascist rulers in India just copied these strategies from the
fascist textbook and adhered to same strategies. Narendra Modi in particular
and all Sangh Parivar leaders in general expressed attractive slogans like
Achchedin, Sab ka sath sab ka vikas, Make in India, Stand up India, Start
up India, Minimum government and maximum governance and
pronouncements against corruption (Na khaaungaa, na khaane deoonga)
and at the same time created several scapegoats and enemies like Muslims,
Dalits, Adivasis, women and Urban Naxals. After creating such enemies,
the next logical step is using violence against them. In Italy and Germany
also, “problem makers” were identified as Jews, workers, socialists and
communists and in India they are Muslims, Dalits, Adivassi, women and
Urban Naxals. In other words all those who think and are critical towards
the ruling class policies and practices are termed as anti nationals or
enemies.
In fact, in this respect the present Indian brand of fascism is similar to
both Italian and German types of fascism. In Italy under Benitto Mussolini
also dissent and criticism are treated equivalent to treason. Mussolini in
1934 categorically asked to “end intellectualizing” and said “intellectuals
are a threat to nation”. Italian state infamously wanted “to stop the brain (of
Antonio Gramsci) functioning”. In Germany, Adolf Hitler also gave
importance to “heart, faith and inner voice” rather than intelligence. In present
day India, thinkers and public intellectuals are either killed, like Govind
Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar, M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh or
44 March,, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
imprisoned, like in the case of G N Saibaba and others in Gadchiroli case, to demonstrations to fights on streets to counter offensive.
Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen, Varavara Rao, Surendra Gadling, Sudhir
Dhawle, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and Mahesh Raut in Bhima I would like to remind you that in similar times, Gramsci said “to tell the
Koregaon violence case. Muslims like Aqlak and Dalits like Una victims truth is revolutionary” and now is the time to be revolutionary. I would also
and Adivasis of central Indian forests and women all over India are being like to remind you of Brecht who said Hitler’s lies forced him to write poetry
subjected to the fascist offensive. It is no coincidence that all these targets and he wrote about dark times. Friends, we are indeed listening to the
of fascism in India are actually the targets of Brahminical Hindutva. The blatant lies of Adolf Mody and all his followers day in and day out and it is
new term, originally coined by the failed film maker and Sanghi Vivek our duty to expose those lies. We are really living in dark times and it is our
Agnihotri, has become the buzzword for Indian fascists. imperative task to speak and write denouncing the dark times and become
a part of any decisive act to overthrow the dark times. Thank you.
Since fascism is associated with a higher stage of capitalism, there are
some scholars who hesitate to treat Indian brand as fascism per se. But I Afghanistan : Talibaan Again to
think some of the essential characteristic of capitalism and Brahminical
Hindutva resemble each other and with the collusion of finance capital and the Centre Stage
feudalism in India, globalised corporatism and Hindutva under Modi, it
becomes easier for this mixture turning venomous and violent. The similarity US State Department’s admonishing National Security Advisor to the
is in capitalism’s insistence on the invisible hand of the market and Govt. of Afghanistan for asserting that US Admn. is negotiating terms of
Hindutva’s invisible, omnipresent hand of god. The fatalism and immutability
preached by capitalism and fatalism of karma and rebirth preached by
Hindutva are similar. Capitalism divides people and breeds hierarchy and
Hindutva is also known not only for its division and regimented hierarchy of
caste but brutal discrimination and oppression. The greed for expansion is
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also similar in capitalism and Hindutva. Thus Brahminical Hindutva can
easily and comfortably breed fascism developed on capitalist corporatism
elsewhere. The collusion of feudalism and imperialism in its finance capital
CPI(ML) Or
Orgg ans
stage in India is a fertile ground for the growth of fascism in its ugliest New Democracy English
forms and that’s what we are seeing under Modi’s regime.
Pratirodh Ka Swar Hindi
Beginning from Georgi Dimitrov’s days, a lot has been said about the
Voice of New Democracy Telugu
only option before the progressive sections of society, that is setting up a
broad anti-fascist united front and during the World War II that experiment (Telengana)
was successfully undertaken. I think in Indian context at the present, we New Democracy Bulletin Telugu
have again entered such a phase and we should use all our resources to (Andhra Pradesh)
build such an anti-fascist united front as broadly as possible, postponing
all our minor differences to a later date. To my mind, a broad anti-feudal Biplabi Ganaline Bengali
and anti-imperialist perspective alone should guide us in this mobilization. Inquilabi Sada Rah Punjabi
To mobilize and strengthen this front, I think we can use as many forums
as possible from our personal one-to-one conversations to drawing room Sangrami Ekta Odia
discussions to expressions of art and literature to seminars and meetings

March,, 2019 45 46 March,, 2019

 NEW DEMOCRACY
its surrender before Talibaan in the talks in Doha, is one more demonstration
that US imperialism is losing its war in Afghanistan. It has been the longest
war waged by US imperialism, continuing for over 17 years. According to a
UN report nearly half of the country is under the control or influence of
Talibaan who had control over most of Afghanistan at the time when US
led forces invaded that country. Not for nothing is that country called the
historical graveyard of empires, particularly empires that run amok. Since
millennia, it has held a fatal attraction for imperial powers who fancied
themselves as world hegemons, who saw their control over the region both
a symbol of world domination and recipe for continuing the same. Its
importance relative to the long historical period has somewhat declined
due to rise of maritime routes for the transit of trade and military forces.
Its strategic location is at the centre of Asia and the Eurasian land
mass at large with China to the East, India to the South, Iran and Arabs to
the West and Russia and Central Asia to the North. It was at the juncture
of the lands under the great Asian empires and on the strategic routes.
Asia had been the Centre of world population, prosperity and production for
a very long period of history i.e. from the beginning of the rise of State and
till the West European ascendency from the middle of 19th Century. Asia is
still home to the overwhelming population of the world, nearly two third and
largest productive land mass and hence Afghanistan retains its strategic
importance. But it lures imperialist countries presently for other reasons
as well. There are big deposits of mineral ores in the region, with estimates
of such wealth running into huge sums.
Two recent developments encapsulate the present situation in
Afghanistan and both these processes involve the dominant political force
in Afghanistan, the Talibaan. Russia with China has held several meetings
in Moscow to which the representatives of Talibaan have been invited.
Though initially Afghanistan Govt. chose not to participate but later sent
its ‘unofficial’ representative to the meetings. Other important participants
in the process include Pakistan and Iran along with Central Asian neighbours
of Afghanistan. India too, having initially rejected participation in this
process, later participated through unofficial representative. As a follow up
of these meetings, other forces and organizations representing people of
Afghanistantoo have been invited and several representatives have
participated in the Moscow meeting.
Another process has been initiated by US imperialist rulers.
March,, 2019 47
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Representative of US Admn. Khalilzad has held several rounds of meetings
in Doha (Qatar) with representatives of Talibaan.Talibaan too has sent a
senior leader, Barader, to guide theTalibaan delegation in the negotiations.
In fact it was in the later Obama years that Talibaan had been allowed to
open a liaison office in Doha. This was after the failure of Bush attempt to
bring Afghanistan totally under the military control of US imperialism and
further after the failure of earlier Obama years at escalating this ‘necessary
war’ and later failure of attempts at differentiating moderate and hard line
Talibaans. However, not much progress was registered in this Doha
processbut the battle field reality coupled with geopolitical changes in the
region forced US imperialist rulers to take their Doha initiative further. US
led war ran into rough weather and US trained Afghan puppet troops suffered
several defeats and often ran away from the battle field. Along with emerged
the new situation in the region with strengthening of Russia-China strategic
relationship and their closer relations with Pakistan and also China’s Belt
and Road initiative in which this region emerged as an important area both
due to its proximity to Gwadar-Sinkiang route as well as China’s forays
into Central Asian republics. Russia and China started advocating Talibaan
as partners in settling the situation in Afghanistan ostensibly also to forestall
the emergence of Islamic State and other ‘Islamic extremists’.
Not much progress was initially made between US Admn. and Talibaan
due to insistence of US Admn. on participation of Afghanistan Govt. in the
negotiation under the caption of ‘Afghan led peace process’ but Talibaan
continuously ruled out any discussion with Govt. in Kabul installed and
sustained by US military forces. Secondly, Talibaan also ruled out any
cease-fire with this Afghanistan Govt. Faced with fast developing situation,
US Admn. had to give up both these conditions and now some progress is
made in Doha negotiations. US state dept. too has acknowledged progress
in Doha talks. Recently US State Dept. summoned Afghanistan Govt.’s
National Security Advisor who is on visit to USA and has openly declared
that US Admn. is negotiating surrender with Talibaan. His assertion betrays
the unease in Afghanistan Govt. over the Doha negotiations.
US Admn’s plans to reduce their troops in Afghanistan while retaining
some influence in that country, has brought role of Pakistan, particularly
its powerful military, into sharp focus. Trump Admn. has been putting
pressure on Pakistan for ensuring presence of Talibaan leaders in the
negotiations and Trump Admn. has appreciated the role of Pakistan Govt.
inensuring that. Trump himself has acknowledged improvement in the
48 March,, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
relations between US and Pakistan in recent past and US compulsions in
Afghanistan have played an important part in this improvement. With
Afghanistan emerging as a hotbed of inter-imperialist rivalry and Pakistan
emerging as key facilitator having influence over Talibaan, Pakistan
importance has grown for them. Added to this is the role of Pakistan military
in supporting rulers of Gulf monarchies, particularly Saudi Arabia and UAE,
against their own people i.e. for maintaining internal control. Given the
importance of these monarchies for maintenance of US influence in the
Middle-East, importance of Pakistan for US imperialism can easily be
understood.
In fact US imperialism has since long been seeing South Asia as an
extension of its Middle-East policy. Two pillars of its influence in Middle-
East, namely Israel and Saudi Arabia, have been utilized for larger US
influence in the region. While Saudi Arabia has been maintaining close ties
with Pakistani rulers, Israel has been spreading its influence in the ruling
circles in India. During the RSS-BJP rule, this influence has increased
sharply due to close affinity between Zionist and Hindutva opposition to
Muslims. Activities of notorious Israeli intelligence agency, MOSSAD, have
reportedly grown manifold in India. Not only did Indian Govt. use Israeli
missiles to hit Balakote in Pakistan but also used Israeli vocabulary to
explain this attack.
Currently the Doha talks are centred on future administrative set-up for
Afghanistan as Talibaan have refused to recognize the present Govt. of
Ashraf Ghani who was a US citizen till some time before becoming
Afghanistan’s President. The time line of withdrawal of foreign troops i.e.
troops of US and its allies has been worked out. It is also reportedly agreed
that Talibaan will not allow Afghanistan soil to be used for attacks against
US imperialism. It is worthwhile to recall that in its eagerness to invade
Afghanistan, US Admn. had declined an offer of the then TalibaanGovt, for
trial of Osama bin Laden and others in any neutral country. Talibaan had
not accepted that soil of Afghanistan was in any way used to plan attacks
in USA. So what US Admn. is showing as its success is its acceptance of
the old position of Talibaan.
Present and evolving situation in Afghanistan has several important
aspects.Firstly it shows that howsoever powerful an imperialist power may
be, it is surely to be defeated by a people who struggle against their national
March,, 2019 49
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
subjugation. Afghans are again living upto their historically earned
reputation. Secondly, the emerging scenario shows the importance of
Pakistan to the rival imperialist camps- one led by USA and the other by
China-Russia. This may have important bearing for the situation in South
Asia where belligerence of the neighbours- India and Pakistan- will not be
allowed to escalate beyond manageable limits. It is worth noting that it was
US President who had tweeted not only that India was likely to take action
against Pakistan but also that situation will de-escalate between South
Asian neighbours even before Imran Khan had announced release of Indian
Air Force pilot. Trump obviously gave the credit of this de-escalation to the
officials of his Administration who he claimed had worked with the two
Governments.
Indian Govt. has itself to blame for its increasing marginalization in
Afghanistan. Indian Govt. during the two terms of NDA and UPA each, had
supported the US military occupation of Afghanistan. In the process Indian
Govt. did not stand against foreign military occupation of a country. Talibaan
are obviously socially reactionary, but foreign imperialist occupation cannot
be justified on that ground. Had Govt. of India not supported the US led
occupation it would have earned at least some good will among the people
of Afghanistan who share long and deep cultural relations with India. But
Indian Govt. has been kowtowing to imperialist designs in the region rather
than pursuing the policy of unity of the people of the region. Govt. of India’s
claims to have invested in the development of Afghanistan were scoffed at
by none other than the US president himself. Having long opposed US
plans of scaling down its military presence in Afghanistan while supporting
US installed govt. there, Indian Govt. is slowly waking up to the reality of
the new situation. Chief of Indian Army recently advocated joining the efforts
on Afghanistan likening it to jumping on the bandwagon.
It is the imperialist powers who are behind the growing conflict in the
world including South Asia. Subservience of Indian rulers towards
imperialism is preventing India from playing a role for peace in the region.
On 100 Years of Formation of Comintern : From the First Congress
Lenin's Speech at the Opening Session of the
Congress
50 March,, 2019
 NEW DEMOCRACY
March 2
On behalf of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party I
declare the First Congress of the Communist International open. First I
would ask all present to rise in tribute to the finest representatives of the
Third International: Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg . ( All rise .)
Comrades, our gathering has great historic significance. It testifies to
the collapse of all the illusions cherished by bourgeois democrats. Not
only in Russia, but in the most developed capitalist countries of Europe, in
Germany for example, civil war is a fact.
The bourgeois are terror-stricken at the growing workers’ revolutionary
movement. This is understandable if we take into account that the
development of events since the imperialist war inevitably favors the
workers’ revolutionary movement, and that the world revolution is beginning
and growing in intensity everywhere.
The people are aware of the greatness and significance of the struggle
now going on. All that is needed is to find the practical form to enable the
proletariat to establish its rule. Such a form is the Soviet system with the
dictatorship of the proletariat. Dictatorship of the proletariat—until now these
words were Latin to the masses. Thanks to the spread of the Soviets
throughout the world this Latin has been translated into all modern
languages; a practical form of dictatorship has been found by the working
people. The mass of workers now understand it thanks to Soviet power in
Russia, thanks to the Spartacus League in Germany and to similar
organizations in other countries, such as, for example, the Shop Stewards
Committees in Britain . All this shows that a revolutionary form of the
dictatorship of the proletariat has been found, that the proletariat is now
able to exercise its rule.
Comrades, I think that after the events in Russia and the January
struggle in Germany, it is especially important to note that in other countries,
too, the latest form of the workers’ movement is asserting itself and getting
the upper hand. Today, for example, I read in an anti-socialist newspaper a
report to the effect that the British government had received a deputation
from the Birmingham Workers’ Counsel and had expressed its readiness
to recognize the Councils as economic bodies. [A] The Soviet system has
triumphed not only in backward Russia, but also in the most developed
March,, 2019 51
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
country of Europe—in Germany, and in Britain, the oldest capitalist country.
Even though the bourgeoisie are still raging, even though they may kill
thousands more workers, victory will be ours, the victory of the worldwide
Communist revolution is assured.
Comrades, I extend hearty greetings to you on behalf of the Central
Committee of the Russian Communist Party. I move that we elect a
presidium. Let us have nominations.
Lenin's Speech at the Closing Session
March 6
That we have been able to gather, despite all the persecution and all
the difficulties created by the police, that we have been able without any
serious differences and in a brief space of time, reach important decisions
on all the vitally urgent questions of the contemporary revolutionary epoch,
we owe to the fact that the proletarian masses of the whole world, by their
action, have brought up these questions in practice and begun to tackle
them.
All we have had to do here has been to record the gains already won by
the people in the process of their revolutionary struggle.
Not only in the East European but also in the West European countries,
not only in the vanquished but also in the victor countries, for example in
Britain, the movement in favor of Soviets is spreading farther and farther,
and this movement is, most assuredly, a movement pursuing the aim of
establishing the new, proletarian democracy. It is the most significant step
towards the dictatorship of the proletariat to, towards the complete victory
of communism.
No matter how the bourgeoisie of the whole world rage, how much they
deport or jail or even kill Spartacists and Bolsheviks—all this will no longer
help. It will only serve to enlighten the masses, help rid them of the old
bourgeois-democratic prejudices and steel them in the struggle. The victory
of the proletarian revolution on a world scale is assured. The founding of
an international Soviet republic is on the way. ( Stormy Applause. )
52 March,, 2019