• The Issue is to Block the Anti-people Agenda of the Bourgeoisie through Mass Street Actions

• Taking it to the People in Tamil Nadu

• Communists in Mumbai Unite to Oppose the Second Wave of Liberalisation and Privatisation

• Kashmiris Express their Alienation from Indian Union through Successful Poll Boycott

• Thousands Participate in Ghadari Mela-99 in Toronto, Canada

• 150,000 Puerto Ricans Demonstrate to Demand Unconditional Release of Political Prisoners

• No to Stepped Up Military Spending
  Peace in South Asia is the Condition for Social Progress!  

• What the Indian People have Paid for the Kargil Conflict

The real agenda of the big bourgeoisie is as follows. The Indian big bourgeoisie wants a free hand, a five year mandate to launch more sweeping attacks on the livelihood and rights of people through a second round of liberalisation and privatisation, extending further into the states and to new spheres of the economy. This is the accepted agenda of the two main fronts of the bourgeoisie, the BJP led National Democratic Alliance and the Congress led "secular" alliance. Each of them is promising to the bourgeoisie that it will implement this program better and more efficiently if it is given the chance to rule for 5 years. And each of them is talking about everything else under the sun during the elections in order to keep the people diverted and unprepared for what is in store after the elections.   

From every state and region in our vast country, people are voicing their utter disgust with the two fronts of the bourgeoisie. They do not believe that their conditions will improve if either of these fronts comes to power, either at the Centre or in the states. Workers and peasants, women and youth, tribal people, religious and other minorities, the oppressed nationalities, the oppressed castes, all are expressing in various ways their lack of faith, not only in these two fronts but in the political system and political process as a whole. There are many peoples' organisations that are working to boycott the elections. There are forces who are putting up candidates or supporting candidates who stand for the people's well being in these elections. There are organisations that are working to establish mechanisms and organs of people's power at the base of society, to change this situation. And there are numerous other forces striving to develop the alternative to the anti-people political system and political process dominated by the BJP and Congress fronts.   

How should we channelise the huge wave of opposition of the diverse sections of the toiling and oppressed people into a powerful force that will put a brake on the second wave of liberalisation and privatisation, on the attacks on livelihood and rights, on the further militarisation of the economy and stepped up state terrorism, on the further criminalisation and communalisation of the polity? This is the burning question facing the fighting forces.   

Our Party is of the view that the time is here and now to hoist the banner of united opposition of the working class and toiling masses to the plans of the bourgeoisie and its two fronts. We must not allow the bourgeoisie any space to unfold its plans unchallenged. The progressive forces and all the toiling masses must utilise this period when the bourgeoisie is sorting out who should rule on its behalf, to prepare their strength through mass political action to launch a counter offensive.   

Workers, peasants, women, youth and all the oppressed must come out onto the streets in powerful protest against the liberalisation and privatisation and globalisation offensive, and against militarisation and state terrorism. They must demand an all-out war against poverty, as well as the reorientation of the economy and renewal of the political process in order to place power in the hands of the people and ensure livelihood and prosperity for all. They must demand that all those political forces who claim to fight for the rights of workers and peasants - the communist parties, the trade unions, the peasant, youth and women's organisations - take a bold stand against the course of the bourgeoisie and its two main fronts. United mass protests and other forms of united actions are the order of the day. Let the whole of India and the world know that India's workers and peasants, women and youth are not going to accept the bourgeoisie's attacks lying down.   

The Communist Ghadar Party of India calls on all fighting forces in India to hoist the banner of united mass actions against the bourgeoisie's anti-people agenda. We must awaken people to the dangers and unite them around the people's agenda for democratic renewal of India.   

Hum hai iske malik, hum hai Hindustan!
Mazdoor, kisan, aurat aur jawan!

Four public meetings were held to popularise and discuss the LRS manifesto in Kanyakumari district at Kaliyal, Arumanai, Kalingarajapuram and Pallivilai junctions. The manifesto was widely welcomed by rubber plantation, construction, coir and headload workers and among fishermen.   

In the public meetings Com. T.Wilson, CGPI, Com. P.R.William, Kanyakumari District Plantation Workers Union, Com. R.John, Kanyakumari District General Labour Union, and Com. P.Ravisekaran, Construction Worker Panchayat Union, spoke on behalf of their organisations.   

Com Wilson pointed out that from 1947 up to the current 13th Lok Sabha elections, we have seen various plans and manifestos of a plethora of political parties. None of them have addressed the issue of livelihood and decent living conditions for the workers and toilers. The Tatas, Birlas, Goenkas and TVS have amassed huge profits, modernised their factories, thrown out workers, increased their work load in the name of efficiency and sent away many workers using the VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) route. If most of the people in India do not have food, clothing and shelter, and prices are skyrocketing, these bloodsuckers are the cause, he said. Before every election they come to us with a winning smile asking us for our votes. After the elections they trample us down like insects. Whenever workers, peasants and farm workers come out on the streets, the state of the big bourgeoisie lets loose the police and suppresses the struggles with lathis and bullets.   

Com. William said that we have to evolve forms to select the candidates ourselves instead of the existing system in which they are selected by political parties. We should also win the right to recall the elected candidates. Moreover, candidates should be selected not on the basis of the present constituencies, but from the villages, factories, educational institutions, residential colonies, and so on. Also, we should demand our right to appoint public officials, judges and others. Only then will people have genuine representatives. Today's situation is such that mainly wealthy moneybags, rapists, criminals and the corrupt get elected. He further said that in the name of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation and new policies, the Indian economy has been oriented to serve only the big capitalists and foreign multinationals. The ruling class is planning to further disinvest in the public sector and bring even more catastrophes to the workers.   

Com. Ravisekaran described the plight of construction workers and their long-pending demands which none of the big parties have addressed. He called for united actions of workers belonging to all sectors to force the government to take action on their demands.   

Com. John called on the people to reject both the DMK-BJP led front and the Congress-AIADMK front and fight for genuine democratic renewal. He described how the distribution of ration cards is used by the political parties and the administration to force the people to go down on their knees for what are their just rights. Just a few days back the police brutally attacked the workers of Manjolai tea estate and drowned many of them in the Tamaraparani river. The anti-people activities of the DMK and AIADMK, which have ruled Tamil Nadu for so many years, are endless. There seems to be some illusion about the third front led by Moopanar. We cannot forget that Moopanar is a big landlord and was involved in the Kilvenmani messacre in which 44 Harijan agricultural labourers were burnt alive by the landlords' goondas when they asked that their share of paddy should be increased by just 200 gms.   

The general message given through these public meetings was that the people should unite in joint actions and expose all the 3 fronts that are now contesting the elections. At the same time they should also have a long-term strategy of taking power in their own hands.   

His reverie is interrupted by a roar in the distance. It gets louder and louder. Suddenly he sees a multitude of red flags proudly waving in the breeze, and within a short while the people in the demonstration loom into view. Over a hundred and fifty people march down the streets shouting slogans militantly that rise above the din of familiar slogans of electioneering. The slogans become discernible. "Yeh election jhooti hai; desh ki janata bhooki hai!" "Roti, kapda aur makaan, maang raha hai Hindustan!" "Vishwa Vyapikaran ka virodh karo! Nijikaran ka virodh karo!" "Sarkar badalne se nahi chalega; yeh zulmi raj badalna hoga!" Funny-that's just what he was thinking! Who are these people who are voicing his thoughts? Which party do they belong to? They have red flags, so they must be communists. But they do not have any banners. Oh, one of them is going to give a speech. Let me move nearer and hear what he says.   

"Comrade workers, greetings to you from all the organisations that are taking part in today's demonstration-the Communist Ghadar Party of India (CGPI), the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), the All India Federation of Trade Unions (AIFTU), the Kashtakari Yuvak Sanghatana, the Ladaku Garment Kamgar Union, the Lok Raj Sangathan, Awhaan, Lok Awhaan, Jagrit Kamgar Manch and Elgaar.   

"Today we are faced with a very serious situation in our country. We have faced the disastrous effects of the New Economic Policy initiated by Narasimha Rao's government in 1991. The maaliks, however, are not content with the pace of reforms that have immensely benefited them. They want to usher in a new wave of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation. At the same time, they want to rapidly militarise the economy. They have organised this fraud of elections to lend legitimacy to the program which they have already decided to implement. It does not matter to them which front comes to power-that led by the Congress or that led by the BJP, for their agenda is the same-the agenda set by the maaliks. They say that our problems can be solved by having a stable government. But this is an outright lie. Have we not had many stable governments earlier? Has our conditon not deteriorated under them? No, they want stability to be able to better implement their program of robbing us and to crush us all the better if we raise our voice. Both the BJP front and the Congress front, which the maaliks are supporting, are equally criminal and anti-worker. We have nothing to gain and everything to lose by tailing them.   

What we need is stability and security in our lives. What we need is an independent program of the working class for political renewal and for the reorientation of the economy. We should insist that the government spends money in satisfying the needs of the people, rather than repaying loans which have never benefitted the people and on the military which is mainly used against our own people.   

"Comrade workers, the time has come to build a powerful movement of workers and toilers for the renewal of our country. Hum hai iske maalik! hum hai Hindustan! Mazdoor, kisan, aurat, naujawan! Inqilab zindabad!"   

Ratanlal, along with many other onlookers, joined in the prolonged slogan shouting which concluded the speech and eagerly reached out for the leaflet which was jointly brought out by the organisations. He read it under the street light and then carefully folded it in his pocket to show to his fellow workers. When he went home he was thoughtful; his step was lighter, his eyes were bright. Suraj, the garment worker is a veteran of many struggles. When he learnt that many communist, worker and other organisations had decided to hold a series of demonstrations in Mumbai to inspire workers to build and strengthen their revolutionary united front, he was very excited. He quickly spread the word around his unit and came to the demonstration with several other workers. What a spirit there was in the gathering! Such a feeling of unity and oneness among workers belonging to different organisations and parties. This was in no small measure due to the various leaders, who decided to march only under the red flag, without their own banners, to stress that the communist movement is one; who behaved in a large-hearted and gracious way with the comrades from other organisations, without any petty one-upmanship, without any attempt to corner the spotlight or the glory. Most important, it was due to what was explained by one of the leaders right at the outset: the communists, if united, are a powerful force and perfectly capable of leading the country to revolution. But for that, they have to lead the movement, not tail behind various bourgeois parties under the plea that one is not as fascist or communal as the other; they have to set a new vision before the workers, develop an independent program that will capture the imagination of the crores of working people in our country. The series of demonstrations were a step in this direction. Who would not be inspired when they knew that they were helping to create history?

Srinagar town observed a complete General Strike on September 5, the day Srinagar was scheduled to go to the polls. The strike call and call for election boycott was issued by the All Party Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella organisation of fighting forces in the Kashmir valley. Even according to the inflated official figures, the final voting percentage in the Srinagar Lok Sabha Constituency was barely 12%. Even this figure was achieved as a result of massive rigging by the ruling National Conference in collusion with the security forces and the police. The Congress Party and the People's Democratic Party, which were the other parties in the election fray, have alleged massive organised rigging by the security forces who forced people in various areas to come to vote at gun point.   

Describing the elections in Srinagar, the Asian Age reports: "Kashmir's summer capital looked like a ghost town on Sunday. BSF personnel in Rambo-style black bandanas roamed the city's deserted streets in armored vehicles throughout the day. ... Occasionally bullet-proof cars carrying government officials or mainstream politicians with police and paramilitary commandos in escort 'Gypsies' would break the monotony." The Asian Age reports further that in four polling booths in central Srinagar, not a single vote was cast in the first four hours of elections.   

According to The Hindu, Habbakadal Assembly segment recorded the lowest polling percentage of 0.5%. Dr Farooq Abdullah's constituency recorded 4.5% polling. In the polling booths of downtown Srinagar, no votes were cast throughout the day. "Maisuma locality in Srinagar witnessed day-long clashes between police and anti-election demonstrators. Police resorted to tear gas and lathi charge to disperse the demonstrators. In Jama Masjid locality also people pelted stones at the police."   

The voting percentage was between 0% and 7% in most of the Assembly segments, except Charar-e-Sharif which registered 40% as a result of massive rigging and forced voting at gun point.   

The Times of India reports: "The RR (Rashtriya Rifles) at several polling booths told the correspondent: 'We have simply persuaded the villagers to vote as it was their right'."   

According to the Indian Express: "The Indian Express was witness to numerous instances of Kashmiri voters prodded to the ballot box by AK rifle-wielding jawans. In the evening these "voters" would be made to show their fingers to the security forces as testimony of having renewed their membership of democracy. They call it the nail parade. A burly counter-insurgent working with the armed forces burst into 55 year old Zoona's hovel in Kruhama spilling the milk she had on boil. She was dragged out for a date with democracy. ... Her neighbor Sarah, 40, bore the brunt of rifle butts when she refused to leave the bakery shop.... If the SOG/CRPF team utilised the services of a counter-insurgent, Mustafa in Kruhama and Bursoo, it was the Rashtriya Rifles resorting to an innovative tactic in nearby Yar Muqam, Manigam.   

"Yesterday the RR took away our ID cards. We were told that when we show the ink on our fingers in the evening, only then will the ID cards be returned to us", said the aged Yar Mohaamed."   

According to the Indian Express, people were herded out like cattle by the 97th BSF. People protested before the BSF officers in Zadibal, Nowshera. "These candidates standing for election will not be our real representatives", said Ghulam Hassan as he turned around to the BSF personnel standing nearby and asked, "If you were in my place and had no choice, would you vote or not? It is my right to cast a vote or boycott."   

Justifying the need to use force, "a BSF officer said that the voters needed an alibi of being forced out by the security forces to escape the wrath of the militants enforcing the poll boycott", reports the Indian Express.   

APHC leaders, led by chairman Syed Ali Geelani, expressed satisfaction over the response to the Hurriyat's boycott call. Geelani said elections were no substitute for the right to self-determination. Addressing a press conference, he said: "It is evident from today's response that there were no takers for official claims in Kashmir".   

The people of Indian origin living in Toronto, Canada added a new page to their long patriotic and progressive history by holding the first Mela in the closing days of the 20th century to honor the ghadar movement that has come to define their history of settlement. Three organization of the people-the East Indian Workers Association, the East Indian Defence Committee and Punjabi Kalman Da Kaphala-joined hands to organize the mela which they plan to turn into an annual event in Toronto. "This is a celebration of our life here in Canada and also our life in India, it is to remember what has been our history and also to remind what remains to be done", said one of the organizers.   

This year's Mela consisted of a cultural show featuring songs, dances, drama and poetry reading, besides a photo exhibit. Comrade Chain Singh Chain of Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall in Jalandhar was invited to be the chief guest at the Mela. Mr. T.S.Sankaran, President of Lok Raj Sangathan, was also on hand to greet the participants and organisers of the Mela. A few thousand people, including many families, youth and Canadians at large participated in the festive Mela and visited the photo exhibit that brought to life the personalities and events of the last hundred years.   

Three generations of artists, some less than five years old and some in their sixties and seventies, brought to life through their performances the patriotic and progressive ethos of the people of Punjab and India. Women and men, boys and girls, danced to patriotic tunes and sang revolutionary songs, some of which had been written specifically for the occasion. A skit titled Azadi Da Jahaj recreated the scenes of immigrants from India arriving in Canada and taking up the cause of India's independence in the early part of this century. The cultural show was interspersed with messages, speeches and other interventions. Mr. Onkarpreet Singh, Mr. Nahar Aujla, Mr. Gurdev Singh and Mr. Iqbal Singh detailed the struggles and aspirations of the people of Indian origin in this century. They brought to life the organic connection between their struggle against racism in Canada and their commitment to the cause of liberation of India, first from the British rule and after formal independence, from social and economic oppression. Gurmit Kaur of Toronto spoke about the history of the Hindustani Ghadar Party and about the continuation of that tradition in the present work of the Communist Ghadar Party of India. Speakers from other parts of Canada and the US also spoke about the unfinished struggles in India and Canada. A representative of the People's Front of Canada applauded the Mela as a contribution towards developing the language and culture of the national minorities who make up Canada and as a step towards negation of the racist two nation theory that the official circles perpetuate, and called on all Canadians to "take a bold step together in defence of the rights of all".   

The three day program concluded with a banquet on September 6th 1999, where Mr. Chain Singh Chain spoke passionately about the contribution of the patriots of Indian origin living in Canada and elsewhere and about the vision that the Hindustani Ghadar Party nurtured for an India free from oppression and exploitation. A representative of the Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups also applauded the Mela and highlighted the need for taking up the cause of the Ghadari babas to fight racism in Canada and support the struggle against the remnants of colonialism in India under today's conditions, when both these struggles have merged in the demand for a new political process. The Mela concluded with the distribution of prizes to the participants by the chief guest and a gala dinner and entertainment.   

The rally took place in the midst of an international conference being held at the Sacred Heart University in San Juan to deliberate on political prisoners and human rights. The conference was attended by people from all walks of life in Puerto Rico as well as representatives from other Caribbean countries, from South America, from the US, Canada and Mexico, from the British Isles and Ireland, as well as from India among others. Professors and students, lawyers and elected officials, former political prisoners, working people, women and youth organizers, Church leaders as well as family members of political prisoners participated in the conference, workshops and cultural events besides the demonstration and the rally.

Just two weeks before the conference was to be held, President Clinton offered conditional amnesty to the prisoners in response to the petition by the Committee to free the political prisoners which had signatories including one of the former Presidents of the US, Mr. Carter among others. During the conference, speakers explained that the conditions that the US president had attached to the clemency were humiliating and a negation of the very principle for which these prisoners are being held. Mr. Luis Neives Falcon, who coordinates the work of the Committee explained that the 15 were captured in the early 1980's for their political activities against the colonial occupation of Puerto Rico by the US since 1898 and they were tried under a law that had not been used since the civil war years in the US (i. e. from 1860's). During the trial, the prisoners demanded that they be tried under international law as prisoners of war and not under US laws. The judge and the prosecutors tried them unilaterally, without any defense and still could not even bring any charges that they had committed criminal acts, bombings, killings etc., convicting them for the charge of sedition and possession and transport of weapons (hundreds of thousands of cases in the US every year are on such weapons possession charge for which the maximum penalty is a few years in prison). The sentences were completely disproportionate to the crime, in one case adding to 105 years in maximum security prisons and in solitary confinement. The president's clemency offer acknowledges that none of the prisoners have been accused of any violent acts and the time served is more than adequate for what they were convicted of. However, the offer amounts to the prisoners accepting the verdict and the jurisdiction of the US Parole Board besides other conditions amounting to severe restrictions on future political activity and political contact with other past, present and future political prisoners. In one case, it would mean that two sister of one family could not meet after coming out of prison, even during a visit to their mother, without violating the conditions of parole. Mr. Falcon emphasized that while the decision to accept or reject the conditional amnesty will be solely that of the individual prisoners, they must be able to make an informed decision based on full legal and political consultation with the lawyers and family members. He declared that the people and nation of Puerto Rico will fully respect those decisions whatever they may be. On September 7, 1999, news agencies reported that 12 of the prisoners had decided to accept the conditional clemency and the lawyers of the prisoners announced that they will form a network around the US and Puerto Rico to ensure that the FBI and parole officers do not throw them back in jail on fabricated charges of parole violation.   

Besides the plenary sessions, the conference included eight different workshops to explore various aspects related to the issue of political prisoners. In one of the workshops, Prof. Francis Boyle, an authority on international law and a prosecuting attorney in a landmark case before the UN tribunal of justice which, in 1992, handed down guilty verdict against the US on all eight counts of violation of international law with respect to Puerto Rico including forcible colonial occupation and acts of genocide against her people, explained the scope of the violation of international law that the US government has been convicted of both by the World Court and by the international tribunals. He highlighted that as far as judicial matters go, the judgement by either of these bodies have equal legal validity but neither the Court nor the Tribunal have enforcement capabilities and thus the US flaunts these judgements. He pointed out that until now, no third country in the world has been willing to file a case against another country for violation of international law and the de facto(unilateral declaration of statehood) and de jure( the de facto state being accepted by a majority of the countries internationally) recognition of the right to self determination have been used by peoples like the Palestinians to be independent without anyone granting them independence. In view of the fact that a de facto state of Puerto Rico existed before 1898 which was then occupied by the US military leaves open the possibility for the Puerto Rican people to consider the option of de jure recognition as a means to end US colonial domination.   

There were many presentations and interventions on topics such as human rights and economic dependence, human rights and right to self determination, political prisoners and disinformation, political imprisonment and dignity etc. There were presentations on struggles of the Irish people, Punjabi people and Canadian people. A play and a documentary depicting aspects of lives of the political prisoners and their families were staged in two of the evenings and a third evening featured a reception, banquet and cultural program featuring artists from Puerto Rico and Argentina. On the last day of the conference, a resolution was adopted to step up the work for immediate and unconditional release of the political prisoners. The participants adopted a resolution to hold solidarity actions around the world against the US on October 30th to mobilize public opinion for release of political prisoners and to draw attention to the hypocrisy of the US and other states as defender of human rights.   

A delegation of the Lok Raj Sanganthan(LRS) participated in the conference and the rally and represented India in the demonstration as part of the international contingent of over 30 countries. A representative of the LRS spoke to the media at the joint press conference at the conclusion of the program. He presented the organizing committee with a copy of the resolution adopted by the LRS executive on June 25, 1999 in Pune on Puerto Rico along with a partial list of signatures of prominent personalities from India asking for unconditional release of Puerto Rican prisoners. The LRS representative also extended the invitation to the representatives of the organizing committee to visit India in near future and share experiences of each other's struggle against state terrorism and violation of rights.   

The People's Voice considers these developments as very important especially because of the disinformation being carried out both inside India and internationally about the struggles of the peoples for rights. The political actions and political unity of the Puerto Rican people are a source of inspiration for all the peoples fighting for rights and the news media deliberately suppress such news concerning independent initiatives of the peoples. Direct participation and first hand experience about struggles of the peoples are integral parts of the work to deepen the legitimacy crisis of the US and Indian governments about the nature of their rule and their democracy which they defend by naked force.