International Human Rights Day is being observed in India this year in the midst of a hot debate over the gross violation of human rights by parties in power, whether Congress or BJP or CPI(M). At the centre of this debate is the very definition of human rights, what they are and what they imply about the duties of a State in modern times.

This debate reflects the struggle between the Old and the New. On one side stands the old world of exploitation of the majority by a minority, with rights enjoyed by a privileged few while the rest have only duties. On the other side stands the new world that is struggling to emerge, on the basis of recognizing that human beings are born to society and have rights by virtue of being human.

During the period of the Cold War between the two superpowers, the very conception of rights was completely debased. The US imperialist promoted a conception of rights according to which individuals, collectives and even countries that opposed US imperialism were branded as agents of Soviet Union to be deprived of all rights. The Soviet social-imperialists likewise condemned those who opposed or criticized them as imperialist agents and on that basis denied them their rights.

Within India today, the forces of the status quo are opposed to the modern definition of human rights – which is that human beings have rights by virtue of being human, and that it is the duty of the State to ensure that these rights are fulfilled and never violated under any pretext.

The bourgeoisie uses the imperialist concept of rights to justify their widespread violation in the country. The Constitution lists various nice sounding policy objectives in its Directive Principles. These are just a wish list of what the state should ensure. These are not rights which the state is duty bound to enforce. They are not justiciable. The government cannot be hauled up in court for disregarding them.

The Indian state violates the rights of people at will in the interest of the big capitalists who rule the country. The right to life and livelihood, the right to lead a decent life, the right of nations to self-determination, and other economic, social and political rights are violated in India on a daily basis.

Communists.are duty bound to champion the modern definition of human rights and to fight to establish that kind of state and society wherein human rights are realized in practice. Human rights include the right to conscience, right to life, to work and earn a secure livelihood, right to a dignified standard of living befitting the modern age, among other things. Human rights belong to all human beings by virtue of being human. It is the duty of the state to guarantee these rights by providing enabling legislation and mechanisms for their realization.

There cannot be any ideological or other justification for the violation of these rights. It does not matter whether it is the Congress, the BJP or the CPI(M) that tries to advance ideological and political justification for trampling on human rights.Those who trample on human rights, and try to advance justifications for doing so, are part of the old world. There can be no justification whatsoever for the violation of human rights in modern times.