• Elections in Bihar and the key issues facing communists

• All India Convention to deliberate on the next step in our struggle for human, democratic and national rights

• The guilty must be punished

TOILERS & TILLERS

• Brutal State Repression cannot crush the just struggle of the Rajasthan peasants and youth

POLITICS

• Manmohan Singh meets Hurriyat leaders
  Support the demand for an immediate end to State violence in Kashmir!

WORLD

• Machinations against Iran’s plans to develop nuclear energy

LETTER TO EDIROE

• Anachronistic Political Systems

Elections in Bihar and the key issues facing communists

Bihar goes to the polls to elect a state assembly once again. This follows the hung assembly that emerged after the last elections and the inability of any combination to establish a majority in the house.

A four phase election is being organised in Bihar, stretching over a month. The reason cited by the Election Commission for these 4 phases is that the ‘law and order’ machinery will otherwise be over stretched, as rigging is likely in most of the constituencies. Over 1 million voters have been deleted from the voters’ list allegedly because they are bogus voters. Apart form creating illusions about ‘free and fair elections’, the hidden agenda of the bourgeoisie is to manipulate the elections in the different phases to manufacture a majority for one or another coalition that would serve its interests.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal headed by Lalloo Prasad Yadav has aligned with the Congress Party, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in a ‘secular front’. The Janata Dal (United) headed by Nitish Kumar has aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party under the banner of ending criminalisation and corruption, and ensuring ‘good governance’. The Communist Party of India and the Lok Janashakti Party headed by Ram Vilas Paswan, together with the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc, have aligned on a plank of opposing the other two alliances, promising both ‘secularism’ and ‘good governance’. The Communist Party of India Marxist-Leninist (Liberation) has an alliance with the CPI, RSP and FB, and is asking the LJP to break with the Congress Party. The LJP of Paswan has a tacit understanding not to contest against Congress Party candidates in the few constituencies where the Congress will be fielding its candidates. Other political forces, including the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, are yet to reveal their tactics.

It would appear from the plethora of parties that exist in Bihar and their relative strengths that the petty-bourgeois parties and communists have a major say in Bihar, while the parties of the big bourgeoisie, the Congress and the BJP, are minor players. However, the reality is that the agenda of the big bourgeoisie is dominating the Bihar elections. The interests of the Congress party in ensuring stability of the UPA regime at the center, and the interests of the BJP in ensuring the opposite, are dominant factors determining electoral fortunes in Bihar. The rivalry between the Congress Party and the BJP is being fought out as a proxy battle between rival regional parties in Bihar.

In this context, the positions and tactics of different parties within the communist movement need to be looked at from the standpoint of whether they serve to bring to the centre-stage the concerns of the workers and peasants, who constitute the vast majority of the population of Bihar. Or do they compromise with the agenda to stabilise the UPA government at the center, thereby stabilising the rule of the bourgeoisie and paving the way for more intense capitalist and imperialist plunder of Bihar?

What does Bihar need today?

The people of Bihar want an end to the domnination of politics by the big bourgeois parties and the loot of the state treasury by all the bourgeois politicians. They want an end to the state terror and the constant and growing insecurity in their lives. They desire a life of dignity, prosperity and security, in which their basic human rights, including the right to food, clothing, shelter, health, education, livelihood and the right to life itself are guaranteed by the state and not continuously violated.

Bihar is one of the most under-developed states of India in the capitalist sense, with one of the highest proportions of the population living in rural areas . The fertile land does not ensure livelihood for the peasantry. Landlessness is rampant, and so are barbaric methods of oppressing and robbing of poor peasants. There is virtually no industry, especially after Jharkhand became a separate state. There is a massive migration of the rural poor as well as the youth and students to other parts of the country in search of livelihood. Like the rest of India, Bihar is crying out for a social revolution, a radical change in the relations of social production and of political power.

Once the cradle of Indian civilisation, the people of this ancient land have borne the brunt of British colonial enslavement and plunder. Many areas of the state remain bastions of feudal oppression, and even the partial land reforms enacted in other states have been blocked for decades by the big landlords in Bihar, allied with the big capitalists of India. Traditionally, the oppressive feudal forces have been represented by the Congress Party, and in more recent times by the BJP and various Senas, like the Ranbir Sena.

Communists have historically been in the forefront of organising the oppressed and exploited peasantry of Bihar. Many heroic struggles have been waged and many have been martyred in these struggles. More recently, especially over the past two decades, various petty bourgeois parties with populist slogans have emerged, basing themselves on the intermediate strata of society and appealing to various caste groups for installing a government that would slightly redistribute privileges in favour of propertied families of intermediate strata.

What is the task facing the communists?

The task of the communists is to forge the worker-peasant alliance for political power. Political power needs to be wrested from the hands of the big bourgeoisie and placed in the hands of the workers and peasants, so that they can release the productive forces of Bihar in the interest of raising the standard of living of the masses.

The peasantry of Bihar has revolutionary traditions of opposing colonialism and imperialism, of caste oppression and landlordism. Communists must use all opportunities, including the arena of elections, to popularise the necessity to establish worker-peasant rule. They must work united for the establishment of a workers’ and peasants’ government in Bihar, as part of the struggle for worker-peasant rule in India.

Communists must put forth the program for the renewal of democracy, to replace the rule of the bourgeoisie by the rule of the workers and peasants. They must put forward a program to reorient the economy, consisting of stopping payments to money lending institutions, collecting taxes from exploiters, investing in the human resources and regulating trade so as to ensure secure livelihood for the workers and peasants. It is by putting forth the independent program of the working class that communists can contribute to the awakening of the oppressed and exploited masses and expose the opportunism of the petty-bourgeois parties.

Communists must sternly criticise those within the movement who are following tactics that serve the big bourgeoisie and not the workers and peasants of Bihar. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has declared that the defence of secularism is its pre-eminent objective as far as the elections in Bihar are concerned. What does this mean? It means that assisting the Congress Party to advance in its rivalry with the BJP at the all-India level is more important than the kind of government the people of Bihar need. This position of the CPI(M) smacks of chauvinism, insulting to the intelligence of the people of Bihar, no different in quality from the position of the Congress Party and the BJP.

Communists must not conciliate with, but be unscathingly critical of the ‘good governance’ plank of imperialism and the bourgeoisie. The program of ‘good governance’ is not aimed at rooting out corruption, as it is made out in the bourgeois propaganda. It is a program aimed at preserving the existing system of democracy and state structure, with supreme power concentrated in the hands of political elite who are not accountable to those who elected them. It is aimed at prettifying this political process which defends the rule of the bourgeoisie and the ‘market orientation’ of the economy, which means the orientation of maximum plunder in the interests of maximum private profit in the hands of a shrinking minority.

The coming elections provide an excellent opportunity for communists to pursue the immediate aim of ushering in a workers’ and peasants’ government in Bihar. This will help to isolate the parties of the big bourgeoisie, discredit their liberalisation and privatisation program, and thereby induce a growing section of the peasantry and other intermediate strata to break away from the bourgeoisie altogether and firmly unite with the working class.

All India Convention to deliberate on the next step in our struggle for human, democratic and national rights

People’s Voice has received an invitation from the Central Executive Committee of the Lok Raj Sangathan to participate in an All India Convention that is slated to deliberate on “the next step in the struggle for human, democratic, and national rights”.

The Convention is being organised around the following themes:

1. On the economic offensive against rights
2. On the political offensive against rights
3. Against imperialism and war, in defence of peace
4. Program for political empowerment of the people
5. Conclusions and next steps.

As pointed out in the invitation of the Lok Raj Sangathan to the Convention, these are times when “ people from all walks of life have together mounted a determined and visible struggle to enshrine the right to life as an inalienable and justiciable right. Right to life includes all that goes to ensure the right to live with human dignity. It is this right to live with human dignity that is being violated on a monstrous scale all over the country. It is both the cause as well as the consequence of the disempowerment of the people. The affirmation of human rights has become integral to the struggle for the empowerment of the people of India. The people have declared that employment cannot be left to chance but needs a constitutional guarantee. They have declared that they have a right to a secure roof over their head. They have staked their bold claim on the country’s exchequer proclaiming that an economy as energetic and young as ours—whose potential nobody can dare deny—can and must provide for all without exception.”

Further on, the Invitation says “What used to be isolated angry protests are now coalescing into one mass movement... They have started to fight for the right to govern themselves.... there are widespread demands being raised for far reaching changes in the political process. The recognition is growing that it is not a matter of tinkering with the existing system at the margin. What is required is a major overhaul of the entire political system and political process.”

The call for the convention cloncludes as follows: “If the claims of the masses of people have to be met, if their desire to live with security and dignity has to be met, then the people have to become politically empowered. The voices of those who are unheard today must be actually represented in the decision making process. It is this recognition that is motivating Lok Raj Sangathan to dedicate the 2005 Convention to the task of defining the path ahead for the empowerment of the people, so as to guarantee human, democratic and national rights. It is envisaged as an occasion for all activists to share experiences and together decide on the next steps.”

Mazdoor Ekta Lehar/Peoples Voice considers that the issues being raised by the Lok Raj Sangathan are extremely timely for the communist and workers movement of India.

The movement needs to focus on some key issues that can open the way to progress.

Fighting for Constitutional Guarantee for Human, Democratic and National Rights and for the renewal of democracy to ensure power in the hands of the people is an immediate challenge for all the fighting forces of India. Integral to this struggle is to take the struggle to Punish the Guilty forward. It is time the lessons of the struggle to punish the guilty of 1984, 1992-93, and 2002 are summed up and the next step taken in the struggle to ensure that those in power cannot violate with impunity the human rights of people, organise genocides, and get away with them.

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The guilty must be punished

All across the country, people are demanding that those guilty of committing crimes against the people must be punished, irrespective of the positions of authority they may occupy.

The demand that the guilty must be punished has been repeatedly raised in the case of three of the most horrific communal massacres organised in recent Indian history – in November 1984 following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, in 1992-93 following the destruction of Babri Masjid, and in 2002 following the Godhra episode in Gujarat. In each of these cases, major political parties represented in Parliament were involved in spreading communal poison and organising massacres of innocent people. The bureaucracy, police and armed forces acted on the orders of the parties that committed the crimes. In spite of the fact that the BJP and the Congress Party have been identified as the guilty parties in the eyes of the people, both have got away scot-free. Not one of the leaders of the guilty parties or among the senior officers who obeyed their orders have even been arrested, let alone tried and punished.

That the guilty have not been punished in any of these cases shows that a privileged minority in India is above the law. Members of the ruling class can get away with any crime they wish to commit, however monstrous and massive in scale, while any ordinary member of society can be jailed, tortured and even killed merely on suspicion. This shows that the legal system of Indian democracy does not defend equally the rights of all members of society. It defends the dictatorship of a very small minority that enjoys full freedom to violate the rights of all others.

The ‘rule of law’ that exists in India is a hangover from British colonial times, as is the entire political system and institutions of power. The majority of laws in the statute books actually date back to the 19 th century or early 20 th century. The political content of this ‘rule of law’ was and continues to be one of extreme arbitrariness. In colonial times, defending and promoting the economic and political interests of the British bourgeoisie was the overriding principle. Anyone who protested against the colonial rule and plunder of our land and labour were suppressed in the name of maintaining law and order. Today, it is the economic and political interests of the Indian bourgeoisie, headed by the big monopoly houses and the imperialists they do business with, that is paramount. Anyone who protests against the economic ‘reform’ program of the ruling class or against the political crimes committed by bourgeois parties to overcome the people’s opposition to this course, are suppressed in the name of law and order. The bourgeois parties enjoy virtual impunity.

The demand to punish the guilty has been raised not only by the victims of communal violence but also by the victims of other kinds of disasters. Victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, for instance, have also raised this demand. They have been demanding punishment not only for the senior management of the American company Union Carbide, but also for those in power at that time, for being responsible for the thousands of deaths and permanent disabilities caused by the gas leak. Victims of army terror in the Northeast and in Kashmir have been demanding that those responsible for the killing and rape of innocent people, such as Manorama Devi in Manipur, must be punished.

People are persisting in their efforts to ensure that the guilty are punished, in spite of all the efforts of the ruling class and the major parties in Parliament to whitewash and cover up their crimes.

The victims of November 1984, for instance, are refusing to be pacified by the so-called apology and 20-year late compensation offered by the Prime Minister, or by the resignation of one of the ministers who have been named by the Nanavati Commission. Victims of unbridled terror of the armed forces in Kashmir and Manipur are not satisfied by the so-called concessions and “partial withdrawal” of armed forces from certain areas.. Victims of fascist laws like Armed Forces (Special Powers Act), POTA and TADA are fighting for the complete repeal of all black laws and opposing the smuggling in of new fascist laws like the UAPA. Victims of the Bhopal gas leak have not given up their demand for justice in spite of more than 20 years of legal obstructions.

The persistence of the demand to punish the guilty is a reflection of the deep rooted belief among the peoples of this subcontinent, from ancient times, that it is the duty of the Raja, or the State, to ensure prosperity and protection to the praja, the people. And protection includes, first and foremost, protecting the inviolable right to life. When the rulers themselves deprive people of their lives and threaten their security, instead of protecting them, public opinion cannot accept any justification for such conduct.

People of India cannot accept the justification that Sikhs can be deprived of their rights because those who shot and killed Indira Gandhi belonged to this faith. They cannot accept the justification that Muslims can be massacred because those who allegedly set fire to the railway carriage at Godhra were of the Muslim faith. We cannot accept the justification that the armed forces must enjoy impunity from being punished for rape and murder allegedly because punishing them would lower the soldiers’ morale. We cannot accept that ‘reasonable limits’ can be imposed on the fundamental rights of human beings, including the right to life itself.

There is an irreconcilable clash between the ‘rule of law’ that is defended by the official institutions of authority in India, and the fundamental values cherished by the people of this country, including their conception of rights and duties within society. In order to resolve this contradiction, it is necessary for the people to establish afresh the fundamental law of the land.

The arbitrary and unlimited authority enjoyed by those in power is at present justified and legitimised through a judicial system based on an alien definition of law, and a political process that is dominated by parties of vested interests and which excludes the broad masses of people. Such parties in power wield the state apparatus to do what they want and what the big bourgeoisie wants, however criminal it is, and also appoint the judges to head official commissions to ‘enquire’ into the crimes they have committed.

The struggle to ensure the punishment of the guilty must be waged with the perspective of establishing a modern democracy that defends the rights of all, in place of the colonial style institutions and laws that exist today in defence of bourgeois dictatorship. A modern democracy must provide the people with mechanisms to rule themselves. It must be a system where political parties work to keep the majority of people in power, instead of the people being reduced to vote banks for bringing parties to power. It must ensure that human rights are not violated on any pretext, and forbid any exception or ‘reasonable limits’ to this rule. With such an exciting perspective, the working class and people of India must step up their struggle for justice, insisting that the guilty must be punished without fail.

In the immediate aftermath of the communal massacres, people were pre-occupied with the question as to who is the guilty. The electoral gains reaped on the back of communal violence, along with numerous facts unearthed by non-official people’s commissions of enquiry, answered this question in the minds of the people. Once the guilty was identified, the demand was raised to punish the guilty. The experience of many long years of persisting with this demand has shown that it is necessary but not enough to call on the existing authorities to punish the guilty. People have to take steps of their own to ensure that the guilty are punished.

Hence the slogan for today is that the guilty must be punished. We not only demand that this must be done immediately, but also take steps of our own to ensure that it will be done. We must organise on a non-partisan basis, to build new mechanisms to defend our rights and enforce justice. We must put forward new laws and demand changes in the political process to ensure that political parties cannot violate the fundamental rights of the people, officers of the state cannot hide behind the excuse that they were following orders, and those guilty of such crimes are promptly arrested, tried and punished.

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Brutal State Repression cannot crush the just struggle of the Rajasthan peasants and youth

For over three months, ever since the mahapadavs at Bikaner and Nohar in the middle of June, a powerful peasant movement has swept accross the length and breadth of Rajasthan. What began as the struggle of the peasants of Phase-I of the Indira Gandhi Canal and the peasants of Nohar and Bhadra of the Bhakra link canals has, despite the divisive attempts of the state government and the savage repression unleashed, marched forward powerfully.

On September 5, a massive mahapadav was organised in Nohar town in which thousands of peasants and youth participated under the banner of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti. This mahapadav followed several weeks of padavs and other forms of struggle to demand implementation of long standing agreements with the government which have been repeatedly violated by the authorities soon after the agitations have been withdrawn. The main demands were first expressed in a powerful and unified manner in the peasant rally organised on September 19, 2003 in Nohar under the banner of the Lok Raj Sangathan. The demands relate to the government ensuring that the water due to Rajasthan is actually provided, to prevent stealing of water upstream by the collusion of the authorities with the upstream farmers, the cleaning of silt in the feeder canals, the unconditional release of arrested peasants elsewhere in Rajasthan and the dropping of all charges against agitating farmers and students.

In tune with the Rajasthan governments plans to supress the struggle through repression, the police launched a massive assualt on the demonstrators, who included over 200 women and girls, accusing the people of breaking the barricades. Dozens of people including women and old people were grieviously injured, in a manner akin to the brutal police terror in Gurgaon, Haryana in late June and the killing of peasants in Tonk District in Rajasthan in early June. Later, 37 leaders were picked up from their homes, arrested, and false cases hoisted against them. They were lodged in Ajmer jail over three hundred kilometers from their homes.

However, the peasants of Nohar and Bhadra have refused to be cowed down. In Ajmer jail, Com Madan Beniwal and other comrades began an indefinite fast demanding that the demands of the peasants be fulfilled. On September 14, a massive mahapadav was organised outside the DM’s office in Nohar. Thousands of peasants and students marched under the banner of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti from the Kisan Garh, Anaj Mandi through the main bazaar of Nohar denouncing the Rajasthan government’s fascist atacks on the peasants and its callous disregard for the livelihood and rights of peasants, students, and other sections. Leaders and activists of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, Communist Party of India, Lok Raj Sangathan, Students Federation of India, the local MLA, former MLA’s, local leaders of the Congress Party and others all marched in the rally under the banner of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti. Hundreds of student activists militantly raised slogans. The march culminated in a public rally addressed by dozens of leaders and activists. the MLA’s were asked to either raise the issue of the peasants of the area in the State Assembly or quit. The newly formed Kisan Sangharsh Samiti in Bhadra announced that on the next day, a mahapadav would be organised in Bhadra town to press the same demands.

On September 15, the authorities agreed to the demands of the farmers and said they would release the arrested farmers. However, when reports last came in, the government went back on its word once again and has released only 27 of those arrested. Ten leaders are now lodged in Nohar jail and charges have not been dropped against them, and the government has opposed their release on bail. Seeing the vindctive attitude of the state, the farmers and students of Nohar and Bhadra are enraged and are planning to step up their struggle. They are confident that in the face of the unity of the farmers and students and their resolve to fight for justice, the state adminstration will ultimately have to back down.

Manmohan Singh meets Hurriyat leaders

Support the demand for an immediate end to State violence in Kashmir!

On September 5, Manmohan Singh met leaders of the Hurriyat Conference in New Delhi. This was the first time that a Prime Minister had invited leaders of a Kashmiri organisation routinely branded as “separatist”, for talks. A second meeting is expected to take place some time in October, at which the Hurriyat Conference is expected to present their proposal for a step-by-step solution to the problem in Kashmir.

According to news reports, the Hurriyat leaders raised the issue of serious violations of the rights of the people in Kashmir, who are subjected every day to harassment and torture at the hands of the armed forces. They asked for the release of the thousands of persons who have been arbitrarily detained under the most flimsy pretexts. They sought repeal of some of the most draconian laws, including the Public Safety Act and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, under which human rights abuses are carrried out, . Another demand of the Hurriyat is an end to the deployment of armed forces in villages and towns. In response, Manmohan Singh is supposed to have expressed his understanding that the problem in Kashmir is a human problem, involving the immense suffering of ordinary people. But, while saying that all cases of prisoners under POTA and PSA would be “reviewed”, he said that troop reduction could only be considered after cessation of “cross-border terrorism” and infiltration.

This response of Manmohan Singh is characteristic of the stand of the Government of India that the problem in Kashmir is essentially one of Pakistan, and that as long as Pakistan continues its interference, the people of Kashmir have to pay the price. However the truth, which is well known by now, is that the current phase of the problem in Kashmir, characterised by a sharp escalation in the overall violence in the Valley, is a direct result of the Centre’s denial of the political rights of the Kashmiri people and its cynical manipulation of Kashmiri politics, coupled with the unleashing of brutal violence by the Army and paramilitary forces in the State which by now have reached more than 700,000 in number. Under the Public Safety Act, anyone can be jailed on any pretext for up to one year, while the Armed Forces Special Powers Act permit the armed forces to carry out all manner of atrocities, including arrest without warrant and shoot-to-kill, under the excuse that the whole State is a “disturbed” area. Much of the brutalisation of the people by the armed forces that goes on in the State, such as rape and torture and mysterious “disappearances” of detained persons is, of course, beyond the scope of any law whatsoever, but since the armed forces can act with complete impunity, there is little the people can do about it. All this has completely alienated the masses of people in the villages and towns of Kashmir. The repeated references to “cross-border terrorism” by the government are essentially a ploy to disown its own responsibility for the sharp deterioration of the situation in Kashmir.

Over the years, the Centre has done its best to discredit and isolate the struggle of the Kashmiri people. It has portrayed this struggle as the work of some “fanatics”, “terrorists” and “foreign elements”. Those who have sought to speak up on their behalf have been dubbed as “anti-national” and been subjected to harassment. But the struggle of the people of Kashmir against the monstrous violence to which they have been subjected by the authorities and armed forces is absolutely just. The working class and democratic people of India must break the isolation imposed on the people of Kashmir by openly supporting the demand for an end to such violence which is being raised by the people and their leaders. Let our people right away raise their voices in support of these demands: Release all political prisoners in Jammu & Kashmir forthwith! Repeal the Public Safety Act and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Jammu & Kashmir! End the deployment of the armed forces in the villages and towns! The fulfillment of these demands will result in the decline of the culture of the gun in the State, and increase the space for political activity of the masses of people of Kashmir, for the voice of the Kashmiri people as a whole to be heard. This is absolutely necessary for a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem.

Anachronistic Political Systems

The Editor,

Sir,

There have been widespread reports in the media of the ‘stalemate’ in the German elections. It has been pointed out that the fight has been over reforms of the economy, with the party of the current Chancellor Mr. Gerhard Schroeder gaining unpopularity due to its tough measures on the economy, and with the party of the hopeful Mrs. Angela Merkel advocating even greater toughness in the economic sphere. The events show that the fight is really a mock fight, with the big German bourgeoisie united in its commitment to austerity measures and belt-tightening. While Mr. Schroeder gained much good will amongst the German masses due to his strident opposition to the US led aggression and war or Iraq, he was later on record saying that one must leave the past behind and see how best one could help out with the ‘rebuilding’ of Iraq. In this manner, he has also displayed the basic problem of all bourgeois parties world over, which is that they really cannot and do not stick to any principles. Mrs. Merkel, on the other hand, is said to favour much closer ties with the US.

What cannot, however, be disputed is that neither of the main political parties nor any of their possible coalition allies are in any position to offer any solutions to the problems faced by the German people. While it is highlighted that the German economy is the third largest in the world, the country has also seen persistent and serious levels of high unemployment. Most of the ups and downs of the economy are not accompanied by job creation. No matter which party leads the new Government, this situation is not going to change. Thus the iron laws of capitalist development manifest themselves in this unassailable form. Furthermore, the election itself has shown that party-led bourgeois democracy is now an anachronomism and its crises manifest itself in electoral deadlock in many cases, indeed as was seen the dead-heat and photo-finishes of the last two US Presidential elections.

Matters are not much better in what is considered the world’s second largest economy, viz., in Japan. The recent elections were called after the Prime Minister Mr. Koizumi failed to push through parliament a bill to privatize the postal system. The elections, however, have brought him back to power with an increased majority and he will undoubtedly be able to carry forth ‘reform’ of the kind favoured by the most rapacious capitalists world over, viz., that of privatization and liberalization. Such mantras are going to compound the woes of working people world over. All progressive individuals must devote their energies to elaborate on solutions to free the peoples of the world of their helplessness and slavery to anachronistic political systems.

Sincerely,
G. Khanna, Leicester

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Machinations against Iran’s plans to develop nuclear energy

In recent months, considerable pressure has been brought to bear on Iran to make it abandon research related to nuclear fuel production. Countries like China and India have been cautioned by the US not to pursue energy ties with Iran. Iran has made it clear that it is willing to discuss matters but would not yield to pressure.

In the wake of the horrific devastation caused by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US in 1945, people all over the world have voiced their stern opposition to nuclear weapons and have demanded their complete prohibition. Sixty years after the first use of nuclear weapons in warfare the big powers, led by US imperialism, have used their monopoly of these weapons as a form of blackmail against other countries and the world’s people, to get them to do their bidding. They have also used the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to preserve this monopoly rather than bringing about an actual ban on nuclear weapons and their testing.

It has been recently revealed that Britain secretly supplied the 20 tons of heavy water to Israel nearly half a century ago which enabled it to make nuclear weapons in the first place. However, the deal was structured as a resale to Norway, which then traded the consignment on to Israel, so that the British could evade responsibility for imposing any safeguards on Israel. Since that time, Israel’s nuclear capability has been a severe threat to the Arab and other peoples of the region, and Israel has consistently refused to join the CTBT. The Anglo – American imperialists have thus been responsible for the proliferation of nuclear weapons among those powers that they favour and vitiate peace and security. The entire history of the 20th century has shown that the manoeuvrings and armed might of the imperialists are responsible for insecurity and war. In order to bring about prohibition of nuclear weapons, it is necessary to stand up to the hegemonic designs of Anglo – American imperialism in the first place.

It is the sovereign right of countries to develop the sources of energy required for the use of their people and for the economic development. However, the imperialists do not wish that countries which do not toe their line should enjoy energy security. Hence these imperialists have again been restricting countries which do not toe their line from pursuing nuclear energy programs, using the bogey that nuclear weapons could also be developed. In doing so, the imperialists are also retaining their hold on energy sources and strategic reserves. While they seek to restrict countries like Iran and North Korea, India has been ‘recognized’ by the Anglo – American imperialists as a “responsible member” of the nuclear ‘club’. However, Iran has asserted that it has the sovereign right to develop nuclear power as an alternative energy source to meet booming electricity demand and preserve its oil and gas reserves for export. Readers would recall that Iran has offered natural gas for export to India via Pakistan, and the US imperialists have been trying might and main to prevent Pakistan and India from building the gas pipeline which would make this export possible.

Since the overthrow of the trusted ally of US imperialism, the Shah, in the revolution of 1979, Iran has been a thorn in the flesh of the Anglo – American imperialists. The people of Iran have a proud history of consistently opposing imperialism. No wonder the US imperialists have been threatening Iran for years now, labeling it as a member of an “axis of evil”. The American and European imperialists have succeeded in getting the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) to refer Iran to the Security Council of the UN, so that sanctions could be imposed on Iran for refusing to give up its nuclear energy program. In this dastardly move, they have been shamefully assisted by the Indian government. The government of Iran has boldly asserted that it is not afraid, and while warning against such a referral, has made it clear that they are not going to be bullied. They have the support of the people of India as well as all the anti-imperialist forces of the whole world.

Condemn the Indian government’s shameful collaboration with US and EU against Iran!

People’s Voice condemns the Indian government’s vote against Iran on the International Atomic Energy Agency resolution referring Iran to the UN Security Council for sanctions.

It is significant that Venezuela voted against the resolution. It is also significant that 12 other countries—Russia, China, Algeria, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Vietnam and Yemen — refused to endorse the US backed agenda of stepping up confrontation with Iran.

The vote against Iran is obviously part of the India’s contribution to the developing “strategic alliance” with the US. It is a message to the people of India, Asia and the whole world, that in its desperation to become a world class imperialist power, it is willing to collaborate with the most bloodthirsty war mongering imperialist power known to mankind, US imperialism, against all peoples and nations. It is a message to all the peoples of the world that the Indian ruling class is willing to play the US and European game of dividing the Asian peoples.

It was clear during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s trip to Washington that the US game plan was to set India and Pakistan against each other and to pump up India into becoming a Trojan horse amongst Asian countries. The US had made no secrets of its total opposition to the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project and was desperate to break Indo-Iran relations. The Manmohan Singh government has obliged the US on all counts.

The Indian people, as well as various political forces in India have condemned the Government of India’s vote against Iran. The foreign office satraps are busy desperately trying to justify the unjustifiable. The issue arises once again, how come our political system permits a coterie in the executive to decide issues affecting the fate and future of India without even a debate in parliament, let alone a public debate. The working class and people of India should not let this move of Manmohan Singh government to pass unchallenged. We must recognize that this is a move that at one stroke indicates that India is a major factor of destabilization in this region.

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