JAN SANGHARSH KA

The Clarion Call

VOLUME: 1 ISSUE NO.: 2-3. MARCH-JUNE 2011

EVENT

MAY DAY CELEBRATIONS

MARCHING TOWARDS A PARADIGM SHIFT

1st of May is celebrated every year as the International Workers' Day to remember the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, when the police fired on workers during a general strike for the eight hour workday, killing several demonstrators. Though the International Workers' Day has got associated with the demand of eight hours working day, the significance of the May Day is far beyond that demand. The real significance of the May Day lies in the class nature of the movement that united the workers of the world. We are now 125 years ahead from that day. Even the revolutionary takeover of the state power by the Russian working class in 1917 and the success of long march of the Chinese peasants and workers alliance in 1949, overthrow of the imperialist backed Government of Batista in Cuba in 1959 and the successful campaign of the Vietnamese Communist Party in early 70's are things of past. The working people are once again chained by the neo-colonial forces. In the era of Globalization, environment and the working people at large are perhaps facing the most ruthless and unethical exploitation by the Global capital. Criminalization, Communalization and Corruption are the key words of Governance today the world over. The leaders are busy marketing their false images and selling masks! Corrupt is fighting corruption to derail the real struggles. The common man ofcourse is the worst victim.
Hundreds of NSM, JSM, GFTU and GMS activists marching through the Ashram Road in Ahmedabad

CRANTI performing street play Bhrashtachar ko Roko at the event

In the wake of these onslaughts, working class will have to adapt new strategies. The front to struggle against the home grown bourgeoisies and that of the Trans and Multinational corporations, patronized by all the so called democratic governments, will have to broaden. The toiling masses from all walks of life be it a peasant whose land has been appropriated by the Government in the name of development and industrialization, underpaid/underemployed IT or Engineering graduate or the students who are victim of profiteering by the mushrooming self financed institutions. The struggle has to be taken to another phase of militancy as petition and protest doesn't seem to work anymore.
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JAN SANGHARSH KA

The Clarion Call

E D I T O R I A L
March-June 2011

What is so unusual for a communist to be red? It is after all the color that history has assigned for the advanced vanguard party of the proletariat. So why is Buddhadev shy of his red face?? He absented himself from the politburo meeting of CPM at Delhi and a senior leader had to be sent to Kolkata to pacify him. As a good communist he should have known that you cannot run a capitalist shop under a red flag for too long. True, the results of election declared on 13th May was indeed embarrassing by any count. Left Front got just 62 as compared to 226 seats won by Trinamul+. Even the weak Congress got more seats than CPM. Trinamul's Ma, Mati and Mamata were of course far ahead.. After a considerable period of sulking,

THE RED FACED COMMUNIST

Buddhadev did show up in a public meeting on 31st May, 2011 at Kolkata. The first thing he said was that CPM will be keeping a watch over her Government! Marxism teaches us that it is the class that keeps a tab on Governance of its representative political party. Mr. Bhattacharjee appears to have usurped the role of the capitalist class to keep a tab on Trinamul! His party has apparently completely forgotten that it had chosen the parliamentary path to usher in Socialism and not to supervise the status-quo of the bourgeois parliamentary system. The long stint in the Government has changed the party which wanted to change the system. The Ambanis and Adanis have another option now. The republican-democrat pair. Maa-Mati-Manoosh-Marxists

E D I T O R I A L
If Anna can do it, Baba Ramdev can do it better. The question ofcourse is doing what better? Do they want to lead the fight against the corruption or convert the fight into a farce? When a crorepati baba alights from a Chartered Jet to be received by four swooning Ministers of the Central Government, even the intention of the declared goal is a suspect. Add to this the prompt support announced by the well fed Gadkari, the fat BJP president to the one day hunger strike by Baba, makes the entire exercise appear as a well rehearsed drama to scuttle the fight against the black money. When over 30 crores of our country-men go hungry every day, our leaders have made a virtue out of this national misery to exemplify their great sacrifice for the nation. The one day fast undertaken by the Baba on 4th June 2011 along with his thousands of followers at Ramlila maidan however crosses all limits of hypocrisy. Over five thousand fans and air-coolers were pressed into service to keep the satyaghrahis cool under the vast tent that covered the maidan. Crores were spent to keep a few thousand followers comfortably hungry for a day! Anna is of Black money or the wealth earned by corruption is an integral part of the capitalist wealth, being that part of the surplus which is accumulated by a private person without the sanction of law. Generation and accumulation of Black money can never be stopped without eliminating corrupt practices within the society both in the public and private sector. From the top most Industrialists to the smallest constable, millions of people are generating black money every minute of the day. In fact most of the land dealings, building and estate business run on black money. It is a parallel economy of the country and it may be easy to overthrow the rule of capitalism but impossible to liquidate the rule of black money within the existing system. May be Anna or Ramdev should go on amaran bhuk hartaal demanding the nonpayment of minimum wages under the law for the eight and half hours working day to be made into a cognizable offence punishable by five years jail term. They will then find out the bitter truth about the menace they have declared to shadow fight.

BABA BLACK SHEEP

course waiting for 30th June, 2011 to do his bit by going hungry. If these two leaders keep going on with their competitive hungerstrikes, we may end up solving the foodproblem rather than eliminate corruption.

The Clarion Call

March-June 2011

JAN SANGHARSH KA

A R T I C L E

WHY I DO NOT CHEER WITH ANNA

TO FIGHT CORRUPTION EFFECTIVELY, WE NEED TO EMPOWER THE LOK (PEOPLE) AND NOT THE LOKPAL
Pravin Mishra Corruption in India is more common than common cold. Chances are that you will face it more often than you sneeze. The massive spontaneous support extended to Anna Hazare's call to fight corruption reflects the pentup anger of people. Thus, the objective of the bill should be to empower people to fight corruption rather than create a statutory 'superman' to knock out corruption. Despite the good intentions of the protagonists of the Jan Lokpal Bill, the proposed law fails to address the main purpose for which the law has been drafted. The most fundamental weakness of the bill is that it has joined two issues together; public grievance and corruption by the public servant. Section 8 of the Lokpal Bill says that the Lokpal shall be responsible for receiving complaints of omission or commission, misconduct by a government servant, people's grievances, complaints from whistle-blowers and also complaints against the staff of Lokpal. The over-centralised Jan Lokpal Bill is most likely to end up like any other non effectively implemented law meant to redress the grievances of the people since within a short duration, millions of application would be filed under this law, making it impossible for the Lokpal institution sitting in Delhi to handle even a few. Another contradiction of the proposed law is that, while it promises to send a corrupt person to jail, it fails to propose corrective machinery to try the corrupt and punish the guilty. Let's understand that any action against a criminal offence, widespread judicial mechanism and also the existing police personnel to create country-wide network. The focus is to enhance the chance of conviction by keeping check and balance at every step. The Lokpal law can generate a few crore cases in a very short time, chocking all the functions of the institution. I am afraid, if even a small fraction of our population decides to pen down their grievances once in a month, it will consume hundreds of tons of paper every month. Considering one tone of office paper uses 24 trees, this may eat up a good chunk of country's green cover. But the prime concern remains, what are the infrastructural requirements to run the Lokpal institute? And can it handle so many grievances? A minimum estimate points out the requirement of about 12,000 'honest' man-power. Now, that's a task! We don't find 500 honest persons to run our much celebrated democracy, I wonder by what kind of process we'll unearth these thousands of highly educated and honest people? Every year, their salaries and perks will consume half the total money spent in the CWG. I fail to estimate the astronomical amounts required for the physical infrastructure. Now that makes me think, how smart it is to sell the house to catch a thief ? With so many unanswered questions and unclear circumstances, I wonder if the cheerleaders of the Anna carnival may have to practice to dance to the song Ismein bill ka kya kasoor! Soon after the bill is passed.

ANNA CARNIVAL AT JANTAR MANTAR including corruption, has four parts complaint to initiate action, investigation machinery to frame charge sheet, prosecution that prosecutes guilty and trial court that punishes guilty. The Jan Lokpal has bypassed the last part and has borrowed the entire judicial machinery from the Prevention of Corruption Act. It is pertinent to remember that the Jan Lokpal Bill was proposed primarily because the machinery of the existing laws has failed to book the corrupt. On behalf of Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), a paper was presented during a discussion organized by India against Corruption seminar in Ahmedabad. The paper suggested the appropriate amendments to the existing Prevention of Corruption Act to make it a complete code itself. In case such amendments are made, no super law like Jan Lokpal will be required. On the contrary, through this amendment, an ordinary citizen can initiate action against anybody, including prime minister, and expect a reasonable chance of putting the guilty behind the bars. The central theme of the law suggested by JSM is to empower the common man rather than creating a superman called Lokpal. It suggests the formation of anticorruption investigation bureau in every state under the supervision of the chief justices of the respective states and create a mechanism of keeping a check on the special judge who tries the case. The proposal uses the

JAN SANGHARSH KA

The Clarion Call

D O C U M E N T
March-June 2011

Amendments to Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 proposed by Jan Sangharsh Manch

Section - 2 Existing Provision 2. Definitions: In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, Suggested Amendment Add: Section 2(a)(a)- (ACIB) Anti Corruption Investigation Bureau The investigation agency to be constituted by Centre/State Government under section 17. Section - 2C Existing Provision "Public Servant" means: Suggested Amendment Add: 2C(xiii): Chairman, MD, members of board, executive director, manager of any company registered under the Company's Act including a banking company and any registered public trust or society which receives foreign fund under FCRA. Section - 3 Existing Provision 3(1) The Central Government or the State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint as many Special Judges as may be necessary for such area or Suggested Amendment Amend Section 3(1) - The Central Government or the State Government may on the recommendation of the High Court of the State Section - 3 Existing Provision 3(1)(a) Any offence punishable under this Act; and.. Suggested Amendment Add 3(1)C - Offences as defined u/s 410 to 424 of IPC and offence u/s 22 of the Minimum Wage Act, 1948 Section - 3 Existing Provision (2) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a special Judge under this Act unless he is or has been a Sessions Judge or an Additional Session Judge or an Assistant Session Judge under the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 (2 of 1974). Suggested Amendment Add: 3(3): No special Judge shall be transferred without the permission of the High Court. Add 3(4) In case there is any complaint regarding the integrity of the Special Judge or for any other reasons stipulated in section 407 of Cr.P.C. that would disqualify the Judge from trying any case under this Act, any person can file an application under section 407 of the Cr.P.C. before the High Court for transferring the case to be tried by any other Special Judge in the State or file an application u/s 406 before the Supreme Court for the case being transferred to another Special Judge in any other State. Section - 4(4) Existing Provision 4(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, a special Judge shall, as far as practicable, hold the trial of an offence on day-to-day basis. Suggested Amendment Amend Section 4(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, a special Judge shall, as far as practicable, hold the trial of an offence on day-to-day basis and complete the trial within a period of one year. Section - 5(1) Existing Provision 5. Procedure and powers of special Judge. (1) A special Judge may take cognizance of offences without the accused being committed to him for trial and, in trying the accused persons, shall follow the procedure prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, for the trial of warrant cases by Magistrates. Suggested Amendment Delete original section 5(1) and substitute by two new sections 5(1)(a) and 5(1) (b): 5(1)(a) A special Judge may take cognizance of any offence under this Act on the basis of any complaint that may be filed by any person and shall take any of the following steps: (i) Order to ACIB to conduct an investigation into the complaint and file a report within 3 months of the passing of the said order. (ii) May defer the passing of an order for investigation by ACIB u/s (i)and conduct preliminary investigation to ascertain a prima facie case in one months time. In case the court is satisfied that prima facie case has been made out, court shall order ACIB to conduct the investigation as above. (iii) Reject the complaint if no prima facie case is made out. (iv) A special shall follow the procedure prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, for the trial of warrant cases by Magistrates. 5(1) (b) (i) The ACIB, while conducting investigation u/s 5(a)(i) shall have the same powers and follow the same procedure as provided in Chapter XII of the Cr.P.C. 1973 and shall take into consideration all information and/or evidence that may be furnished by the complainant during the course of investigation. (ii) The ACIB shall submit its report to special Judge within 3 months and the provisions of section 169, 170 to 173 of Cr.P.C. shall apply to such reports and further investigation if any, under Section 173(8) or Cr.P.C. (iii) The case shall be presented by a Special prosecutor to be appointed by the High Court of the State . (iv) The complainant shall be treated as party to the proceedings before the special Judge and shall be permitted to assist the Special public prosecutor of the trial. Section - 5 Existing Provision 5. Procedure and powers of special Judge Suggested Amendment Add New Section 5(7) - In addition to powers conferred under the Chapter VII of the Cr.P.C., the special judge shall have the power at any stage of the proceeding, to seize and confiscate any amount and/or any property that is disclosed to and have been created by any act or omission which is an offence under the Act irrespective of whether such amounts/property is in the custody of any person who is not an accused. Section - 7 Existing Provision 7. Public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act. Suggested Amendment Minimum punishment to be enhanced to two years and maximum punishment to be enhanced to ten years. Section - 8 Existing Provision 8. Taking gratification, in order, by corrupt or illegal means, to influence public servant. Whoever accepts, or obtains, or agrees to accept, or attempts to obtain, front any person, for himself or for any other person, any gratification whatever as a motive or reward for inducing, by corrupt or illegal means, any public servant, whether named or otherwise, to do or to forbear to do any official act, or in the exercise of the official functions of such public servant to show favour or disfavour to any person, or to render or such public servant to show favor or disfavor to any person, or to render or attempt to render any service or disservice to any person with the Central Government or any State Government or Parliament or the Legislature of any State or with any local authority, corporation or Government company referred to in Clause (c) of Section 2, or with any public servant, whether named or otherwise, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall be not less than six months but which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine. Suggested Amendment Renumber old (8) as 8(1). Add New 8(2) and 8(3): 8(2) Whosoever, irrespective of whether he/she is a public servant offers illegal gratification to any public servant or induces a public servant to commit any offence as defined in section 7, 8 or 9 by offering any illegal gratification or does any act that abets or influences the public servant is committing the offence u/s 7,8 and 9, shall be punishable in the same manner as the public servant for committing the offence u/s 7,8 and 9. 8(3) Whosoever, irrespective of whether he/she is a public servant or not commits any of the offenses as defined u/s 410 to 424 of IPC in relation to any public property to cause loss to the nation shall be punishable with imprisonment with of two years imprisonment and up to a term of 10 years 8(4) Whosoever, irrespective of whether he/she is a public servant or not commits any offence u/s 22 of the Minimum Wage Act, 1948 shall be punished with a minimum sentence of one year which may be extended to five years in case of the second offence. Section - 11 Existing Provision 11. Public servant obtaining valuable thing, without consideration from person concerned in proceeding or business transacted by such public servant. Suggested Amendment Amend Section 11 to enhance Minimum punishment to two years and maximum punishment to be enhanced to ten years. Section - 13 Existing Provision 13(2) Any public servant who commits criminal misconduct shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall be not less than one year but which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine. Suggested Amendment Add New Section 13 (3) : 13(3) In addition to the punishment under section 13(2) of this Act, the special judge may order the removal of the public servant from the post/position held by him/her after giving due opportunity of hearing Section - 17 Existing Provision 17. Persons authorized to investigate. Suggested Amendment Original section 17 to be deleted and substituted by Section 17(1) to Section 17(4): 17 (1) The State Government or the Central Government as the case may be shall constitute a Special investigation Cell for every State/ Union Territory to be called the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau (ACIB) to be headed by a Police Officer of the rank of DGP/Add. DGP and shall have such number of subordinate officers of the rank of IGP, DIG, SP, IP and PSI that may be prescribed under the rules to be framed by the Chief Justice of the High Courts of respective states. 17(2) The appointments shall be by way of deputation from outside the respective State Police/ Union Territory cadre and every member of ACIB shall be appointed with the previous approval of the respective Chief Justice of the High Court 17(3) No officer of the ACIB shall be transferred or removed or suspended except with the prior approval of the Chief Justice. 17(4) Any person can file complaint against the Investigation officer or the Supervising Officer of the ACIB of the case whenever the officers fail to preserve the integrity of the investigation in any manner and such a complaint can be made directly to the Chief Justice of HC in the administrative side by the complainant. The CJ on receiving such complaint shall expediously decide such complaint after giving due notice to the concerned officer. 17(5) After hearing the complaint the CJ can either remove the concerned officer as the investigating /supervising officer of the case or shall pass any order repatriating the officer to its original post and further order appropriate disciplinary action for any misconduct committed by the officer in connection with the investigation of the case. Section - 19(1) and 19(2) Existing Provision 19. Previous sanction necessary for prosecution. (1) No court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under Sections 7, 10, 11, 13 and 15 alleged to have been committed by a public servant, except with the previous sanction, (a) In the case of a person who is employed in connection with the affairs of the Union and is not removable from his office save by or with the sanction of the Central Government, of that Government; (b) In the case of a person who is employed in connection with the affairs of a State and is not removable from his office save by or with the sanction of the State Government, of that Government; (c) In the case of any other person, of the authority competent to remove him from his office. (2) Where for any reason whatsoever any doubt arises as to whether the previous sanction as required under sub-section (1) should be given by the Central Government or the State Government or any other authority, such sanction shall be given by that Government or authority which would have been competent to remove the public servant from his office at the time when the offence was alleged to have been committed. Suggested Amendment Original Section 19(1) and (2) to be deleted and substituted by the new section 19(1) and 19(2): 19(1) The special court shall not take any cognizance of any complaint under the Act against any judicial officer below the rank of the High Court judge without the previous sanction of Chief Justice of the respective High Court. It will be open to the complainant and/or ACIB to make the application for the sanction for prosecution of the accused to the CJ of the HC and in case the application is not decided within 3 months time, the sanction would be deemed to have been granted. 19(2) The Special Court shall not take cognizance of any complaint under the Act against the judge of the High Court or Supreme Court without the prior sanction of the Chief Justice of India. It will be open to the complainant and/or ACIB to make the application for the sanction for prosecution of the accused to the CJ of the SC and in case the application is not decided within 3 months time, the sanction would be deemed to have been granted.

The Clarion Call

March-June 2011

JAN SANGHARSH KA

A R T I C L E

DEATH OF A COMMUNIST
Mukul Sinha
Mustafa Bin Kasem was a simple but very popular man in Swarupnagar, a small town in the north 24 Paraganas of West Bengal. For two decades since 1991, Kasem was the CPM MLA from that area and he was one of the very few CPM leaders who had braved the Trinamul hurricane in 2011. He had won from the North Basirhat constituency as his Swarupnagar seat was declared as a reserved seat this time. The same man jumped to his death on 29th May, 2011. His mangled body was found on the terrace of the canteen of the MLA hostel in Kolkata. Reportedly, he had jumped from the fifth floor of the hostel where he had his room. A suicide note was found from his room which had just two lines written: Farewell to the world. Both my kidneys have failed. There is no hope of recovery. I am therefore leaving. Kasem was 74 when he died. On 25th May, Kasem had even attended the oath taking ceremony of the West Bengal assembly. His brother said that Kasem had realized that he could no longer work for the people and therefore he chose this tragic end A veteran communist and a long term member of CPM choosing the path of suicide after decades of devoted work for the promised revolution, tells the story of the terminal ailment that has gripped CPM. The party was born in nineteen sixties by adopting the militant revolutionary line after fiercely denouncing of the Khrushchevite line of peaceful coexistence, is indeed in death throes The parliamentary path to socialism as touted by

THE AILING CPM

A veteran communist and a long term member of CPM choosing the path of suicide after decades of devoted work for the promised revolution, tells the story of the terminal ailment that has gripped CPM
Bengal CPM said that the party had to decide on candidates on the basis of their chances of winning and therefore Kasem was directed to contest! Basu however stated that he did not know about the serious illness of Kasem The State President of West Bengal CPM may not have known about the illness of Kasem before pushing him to contest in the bourgeois assembly, but as the President of the State party, did he know about the decease CPM had contracted while participating in the same bourgeois system for 34 long years? Perhaps the decline had set in even earlier. When Naxalbari erupted in 1969, CPM took no lessons from the historical event. Dubbing it as an ultra-left deviation, the left-front Government stamped it out of West Bengal using their brute state power. That was the real historical blunder (not the decision to deny the PM's post to Joytibabu which saved them from further ridicule!). Charu Mazumdar and his comrades were advocating the

revolutionary takeover of the land by the land-less on the basis of his semi-feudal, semi-colonial thesis. If they were wrong, it was necessary to defeat their line politically and ideologically rather than force it to go underground. The consequences are there for all to see. The Maoist, a far more virulent mutant has come back to haunt CPM. Trinamul Congress got all the support from them to decimate CPM. On the land question, CPM believed it had done a great job in distributing the land to the tillers as per the extant laws. True, the peasantry was empowered but only in a bourgeois sense. They became the vested interests in the rural Bengal without having any progressive political ideology. Having no independent program for industrial development, CPM adopted the global capitalist mechanism to develop the industry in West Bengal. Thus when the CPM Government started acquiring land for handing over the same to the big industrial houses, the anti-CPM forces led by Mamta Banerjee fully exploited this action as the anti-peasant line of CPM. The rural base collapsed like a house of cards. Singur, Nandigram and lalgarh spoke thru the ballot. So much for the parliamentary road to socialism. If we count from 1969, it is 42 years since Naxalbari. The age when humans start wearing reading glasses in ordinary course. The left leaders of all hues desperately need the reading glasses to read what is written on the wall. Masses won't tolerate arrogance and deceptions anymore. Let good people like Kasem come together and rebuild the movement rather than jump off the horizon.

Mustafa Bin Kasem

Khrushchev, the then leader of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU) was stoutly opposed by a group of leaders of the erstwhile CPI in the mid-sixties that split the party in two factions. The new faction led by Namboodripad and Jyoti Basu, two young militant Marxists, gave hopes to the struggling masses for a revolutionary alternative. The enthusiasm of the people is reflected in the massive support CPM received in throwing out the rotten Congress regime in West Bengal in 1977. 34 years later, Mustafa Bin Kasem, one of their diehard members, couldn't bear the dictates' of the party any longer and chose to die instead of allowing his personal popularity to float an otherwise sinking party. In another note found from his room, the names of four important CPM members of 24 Paraganas were scribbled. One of them was Twarit Topedar. He said that Kasem had seriously objected to contesting the election this time as he was very ill. Biman Basu, the President of the West

JAN SANGHARSH KA

The Clarion Call

P H O T O F E A T U R E
March-June 2011

THE BROKEN LIFELINE OF GUJARAT

Valthera

Roopgarh Road

Narmada irrigation system was claimed to be most advanced water management system reaching waters to remotest Gujarat. In reality, all minor, sub-minor and dhoriya canals have collapsed in the Talukas of Bavla, Sanad and Dholka which falls under the command areas of Narmada! Team ELAAN traveled to many villages in these talukas. This is what they saw...

Gangad-Begwa chokdi

Gangad-Begwa chokdi

Keshargarh

Gangad

Roopgarh Road

Kothpetashakha

Gangad-Begwa chokdi
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Kothpetashakha

Bhavanpura

The Clarion Call

March-June 2011

JAN SANGHARSH KA

F E A T U R E

THE BROKEN LIFELINE OF GUJARAT

Jignesh Mevani
The farmers of Gujarat are waiting for last four decades for their dream to be realized. Amidst the loud drum beats of `Swarnim Gujarat', they are waiting for the waters of Narmada to reach their fields through canals worth Rs.29 crores. Many of the existing canals are either buried or damaged without even receiving a drop of water. When Narmada Project was conceived before four decades, it was regarded as the `Lifeline of Gujarat'. It was farmers dream for last four decades to receive Narmada water in their agriculture fields of course with reasonable charge. What do they see today? Narmada water is being sold to industrial houses just at Rs.10 for ten thousand liters. Over and above, the condition of existing canals is very much dilapidated. The breaches on side walls at many places have forced the water to cross the borders. In the year 2002, the canals were broken at eight places. Two large breaches were formed in 2003. 18 villages were submerged due to breaking of side walls of branch canal in 2004. The breach at Sujatpur canal created havoc in 2008. Several minor canals in Dholka, Bavla and Sanand towns are existing merely as skeletons. While the agriculture suffers for the want of water, pushing the farmers into the jaws of debts, the land mafias prompted by industrial houses having signed MOUs at Vibrant Summits, are waiting for the opportunity to grab the poor farmers land. It is indeed a conspiracy to force the farmers to give up their land to industries. The target of the government is to acquire one lac hectares of land by the end of 2020 for the benefit of various industrial projects. Obviously, the State would resort to all sorts of tactics to force the farmers to surrender their land. Nobody knows where Rs.29 thousand crores earmarked for Narmada canals maintenance have gone. Now the State has allocated further amount of Rs.40 thousand crores for Narmada project. Time has come for the farmers to hold the government accountable for Rs.29 thousand crores already spent and demand proper maintenance of the canals.

O P I N I O N
Even with his Yogic powers, Ramdev could not have guessed that the Government which had sent its four senior Ministers to woo him just a few days before, would be sending a huge contingent of police in the wee hours of 5th June to throw him out of Delhi. A very shaken and disheveled Baba tried to escape the police in lady's clothes but couldn't. He was picked up and flown out of Delhi and deposited in his own lair; the Patanjali Ashram at Haridwar. Congress however is known for such flip-flops. Bhidranwale was first pampered and then shot. Rajiv opened the doors of the disputed Ramjambhoomi-Babri Masjid premises to appease the Babas and then fought them for the rest of his life. History keeps repeating. The second time it is said it repeats as a tragedy; does it repeat the third time as a parody?! Ramdev held a press conference at Hardirwar on 6th June in his Ashram where he made several provocative allegations: He alleged that the Government had conspired to kill him. That three

THE PARODY OF ERRORS

Mukul Sinha

Digvijay Singh

Midnight swoop at Ramlila Maidan

Kapil Sibal

media in mid-November of 2010 that indicted the telecom Minister Raja squarely for indulging in favoritism and costing the government Rs. 1.76 lakh crores by giving away 2G Spectrum in 2008 at bargain basement prices to inexperienced new players. Raja was forced to resign and that set the opposition ship sailing. BJP blocked the Loksabha for the entire session with the demand for JPC but gained very little outside. The enormity of the fraud committed by the UPA telecom minister would have been sufficient to bring a Government down but there was a snag. The minister belonged to an independent coalition partner DMK and the opposition could not dig out any direct material to link the Congress Prime Minister with the scam. Under the natural laws of gravity, the benefits of the uncovering of the DMK scam trickled down to AIDMK which won the Tamilnadu elections. There was perhaps yet another issue that was irking the BJP for quite some time. The Congress
...contd. page 8 7

attempts were made to burn down the tent at the Ramleela maidan. That tear gas shells were deliberately exploded inside the tent to asphyxiate the satyagrahis. Women were mercilessly beaten and manhandled. That except for the Congress, all other spiritual, social and political parties were supporting him. Whatever be the merit of his allegations, the police action against the unarmed protesters was disgusting and condemnable. The Babas utterances are however becoming more political by the day and sharply anti-Congress. The entire sangh parivar which were waiting in the wings till 4th June,

2011, came out in full contingent to protest against the barbaric attack of the UPA Government and Lalkrishna Advani compared the police action with the Jalianwala attack. Gadakari declared a 24 hours protest dharna at Rajghat with Advani spending the night under the sky! The events that unfolded from the morning of 4th June onwards, apparently followed the script that the think tanks of the opposition forces may have scripted when they had caught Raja cheating in the 2G scam. Earlier, the CWG scam had already set the agenda for the opposition. And then came the 2G scam. The CAG report was leaked to the

JAN SANGHARSH KA

The Clarion Call

O P I N I O N
March-June 2011
letter. On April 5, 2011, Anna sat on an indefinite fast; nearly 500 people sat with him. On 8th April, Government agreed to form a joint committee to draft the Bill and with the full help of the media, the Anna's movement became a national movement. The campaign against corruption was dangerously assuming the color and character of a genuine people's movement against graft. The calculation of the opposition had gone wrong on three counts. Firstly, somewhere down the line, Baba Ramdev was dropped and Anna became the sole leader of the movement. Secondly, Anna had no politics. He in fact hit the Modi Government on the rebound after having praised it earlier. Thirdly, the people had started debating on the Jan Lokpal bill rather than on the corrupt practices of the UPA Government. The entire exercise of the opposition to steal the thunder from NAC had not only failed but boomeranged. The entry of Ramdev had therefore become inevitable. If the CWG and the 2G scams could not destabilize the Government, nothing could. The peoples' anger against corruption was meant to be lasered against the UPA. It was not meant to become the focus of framing a new law against graft. Ram temple and Hindutva slogans had long stopped giving political dividends and the opposition was counting on the movement led by India Against Corruption to kill two birds with one stone. To make NAC ineffective and discredit the UPA Government. Instead, they had almost scored a self goal with Anna's wayward shooting; Sibbal and Co. have given them another chance. Will the opposition now achieve their goal or the country will have a genuine anti-corruption law? The opposition would be hoping that there new slogan of Jai Shri Ramdev would yield better dividends than their original Jai Shri Ram. We have to wait and watch.

THE PARODY OF ERRORS

...contd from page 7

party had successfully collected the leaders of several NGOs and constituted the National Advisory Committee under the direct leadership of Sonia Gandhi. The NAC was made the vehicle to draft and deliver the apparently propeople statutes and legal redressals to the people at large and make such populist laws and policies the hallmark of the Congress rule. The Right of Information Act perhaps is their most successful plunge. This piece of law not only received the applause from all quarters of the society but it also gave rise to a new breed of activists- the RTI activists. Apart from the NGO activists who were already with the Congress, thousands of groups have mushroomed under the RTI banner in the free space of the 'civil society'. The Congress party diligently cultivates such groups to form a network to counter the sangh parivar network. It may be

mentioned in the pass, that it has already given birth to several Magsaysay award winners which in has become the Nobel prize of the 'civil society'. It is rumored that when the CWG scam and the 2G scam-storm broke over the UPA Government, the redrafting of the Lokayukt Bill pending since long years was mooted by Congress as a damage control measure to deflect the criticism emanating from the 2G scam. The old bill was put under the scalpels of the NAC for appropriate surgery. This effort obviously unnerved the opposition as they realized that the Congress would run away with the moral

platform if they could come out with a popular law against corruption. BJP itself had very few credible leaders that could attract the masses and give voice to the rising anger of the people against corruption. The solution came from a different quarter. On November 14th, 2010 nearly 10,000 people assembled at the Parliament Street Police Station for registering a complaint regarding corruption in the Commonwealth Games led by certain celebrities. Those eminent personalities who were present included Swami Ramdev, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal, Swami Agnivesh, Anna Hazare etc. BJP and its think tank including people like Govindacharya then recognized the potential of the non-congress sections in the civil society. The ' India Against Corruption' corruption was born. On December 1st, 2010, a Press Conference was held in New Delhi, in which a comprehensive Anticorruption Bill, Jan Lokpal Bill, was released. A memorandum signed by ShriShri Ravishankar, Mallika Sarabhai, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal, Swami Agnivesh, Sunita Godara, Arch Bishop Vincent M Concessao, Devindra Sharma, Maulana Mufti Shamoom Kashmi,Pradeep Gupta, Kamalkant Jasawal, BB Lal, Gopal K Aggarwal and SK Tijarawala on behalf of Swami Ramdev on the letterhead of India Against Corruption was sent to the Prime Minister. Interestingly, Anna Hazare was not one of the signatories. On February 26, Anna wrote to the PM for setting up a joint drafting committee. He mentioned about going on an indefinite fast in that

L E F T

A L I G N M E N T
Ill get Corruption!

Ill get Black Money!

I have got both !!!

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