Letters
Maoist Movement
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wo points need to be added to the very informative articles published under ‘Maoist Movement in India’ (July 22, 2006).
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Maoist Movement
Maoist Movement
Letters The first is that it would have been easier to make a revolution soon after independence in 1947 if the strategy had been correct. The army then was just one hundred thousand with obsolete weaponry. The small police force in the provinces had got depleted by migration to Pakistan of Muslim staff. Now the army is more than a million strong, armed to the teeth with every type of armament. There are over half a million paramilitary forces of several varieties and many cloak-and-dagger outfits. In the states, the augmented police force is supported by armed constabulary, and village and home guards, which together exceed five million. More than that, a middle class committed to the status quo, non-existent at that time is now tens of millions strong. An attitude of unconcern towards meaningful social and moral issues is being deliberately cultivated. In order to make the idea of change and hope irrelevant, the people are fed through the press, TV and the cinema with drivel and flimflam. There is deliberate promotion of hire-purchase happiness, all the time making these classes forget that the poor and the famished swarm in this country. The Hindutva fascist militia RSS, decimated after Gandhi’s assassination, is now hundreds of thousands strong, with tens of thousands of whole-timers financed by Hindu NRI and US foundations under the influence of the CIA. Just imagine what would have happened to the Nepal Maoists if the king could pit half a million highly armed soldiers against them, as is the case in Kashmir. During the heyday of RAW-engineered terrorism in Punjab, three-fourths of the army was there, apart from several thousands of armed constabulary from other states, specially trained at a dozen places. Just think what would have happened if three districts of Tamil insurgency in north Sri Lanka could be flooded with a million Sri Lankan armed men. The second point is that if under the existing matrix of Indian social polity, the democratic modus operandi has to be necessarily utilised for the emancipation of the Indian people, how can the stifling shortcomings of our highly fractured and defective democratic system be lessened. The form of representative democracy we have negates democracy and makes any free and fair elections very difficult. Now it is being realised that most of the general elections in Punjab and Kashmir since independence have not been fair. ‘AM’ has in his Calcutta Diary recorded in EPW how elections were held in West Bengal after the dismissal of the communist government there. When B N Rao, constitutional adviser, placed the draft Constitution before the constituent assembly (CA), speaker after speaker denounced it as a mere rehash of the Government of India Act of 1935, with some anti-democratic colonial provisions made more stringent. Rajendra Prasad, the president of CA, described it as a grafted monstrosity. The constituent assembly appointed a seven-member committee to scrutinise the draft and suggest changes. Of the (Continued on p 4624) In the article ‘Choosing War, Confronting Defeat’ (October 7, 2006), two paragraphs on p 4234 and p 4235 should have read as: According to the April 2006 National Intelligence Estimates, “jihadists are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion. If this trend continues, threats to US interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide. New jihadist networks and cells, with anti-American agendas, are increasingly likely to emerge.” “The Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives. The Iraq conflict has become the cause célébre for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement.” Inland (Rs) Six One Two Three months year years years Institutions – 1250 2300 3300 Individuals 500 935 1750 2500 Concessional Rates Teachers/Researchers – 685 – 1800 Students – 450 – – Concessional rates are available only in India. To avail of concessional rates, certificate from relevant institution is essential. Remittance by money order/bank draft preferred. Please add Rs 35 to outstation cheques towards bank collection charges. Institutions – 1500 – 4150 Individuals – 1250 – 3500 (US $) Air Mail Surface Mail Institutions 1yr 2yrs 3yrs 1yr 2yrs 3yrs Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh 80 150 200 65 120 175 Other countries 150 275 375 90 170 240 Individuals Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh 50 90 125 30 50 75 Other countries 100 175 240 65 120 170 All remittances to: Economic and Political Weekly Hitkari House, 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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Director : S L Shetty Economic and Political Weekly November 4, 2006 seven members, one died and was not replaced. One was in America and the place was not filled up and another was too busy in other state matters to take interest in this committee. Two were far away and for reasons of health or otherwise could not participate in this work. Ultimately, B R Ambedkar was left who had by that time made known his desire to quit the Nehru cabinet, as he was unhappy with inconsequential law portfolio. The draft provided for a centralised parliamentary democracy with the states at the mercy of the centre. Nehru used all his influence to get it enacted, dismissing even demands for some form of proportional representation. He knew what was right for him. In the first general election, when his popularity was at its acme, his Congress Party won an overwhelming majority in Parliament with less than 50 per cent votes cast and about 30 per cent endorsement of the total electorate. India does not need a new constituent assembly, as do the people of Nepal. Our Constitution is flexible enough to permit the needed reform. While taking the best advantage of the existing parliamentary system, the left should strive to build consensus on parliamentary reform, particularly on some form of proportional representation, for which the Congress Party might not now be unwilling in view of its dwindling position in many states. The communist and left parties should show some creativity and help in evolving an exceptional new system of parliamentary democracy that conforms to the unique situation in this country. While striving for the goodwill of the middle class, the communist parties should not eschew their focus on the have-nots. They should not forget that any parliamentary or revolutionary struggle for the betterment of India’s poor, would be resisted by the Indian elite with all the instruments of oppression they have mustered over years. Such a movement can have any chance of success only when those who spearhead it cultivate unprecedented heroic valour and the highest level of moral excellence. Without that any struggle for social change, whether peaceful or armed will have little chance of making progress, much less of success. SHAMSHER SINGH NARULA New Delhi Here are some guidelines fortake up to six to eight months from the address, day-time phone numbers andauthors who wish to make date of acceptance to appear in the email address. submissions to the journal. EPW. Every effort will, however, be made (The email address of writers in the Special to ensure early publication. Papers with Article, Commentary and Discussion immediate relevance for policy would be sections will be published at the end ofEPW welcomes original research papers considered for early publication. Please the article.) in any of the social sciences. note that this is a matter of editorial * Authors are requested to prepare their * Articles must be no more than 8,000 judgment. soft copy versions in text formats. PDF versions are not accepted by the EPW. Authors are encouraged to use UK Englishprocessed. EPW invites short contributions to the spellings (Writers using MS Word or this along with the submitted paper. poses challenges in processing. Readers of EPW are encouraged to send comments and suggestions (300-400 words) * Graphs and charts prepared in MS * All submissions will be acknowledged Office (Word/Excel) or equivalent software immediately on receipt with a reference on published articles to the Letters column. number. Quoting the reference numberare preferable to material prepared in All letters should have the writer’s full name in inquiries will help. jpeg or other formats. and postal address. * EPW posts all published articles on its web site and may reproduce them on CDs. * Every effort is taken to complete early processing of the papers we receive. Since we receive more than 35 articles Address for communication: EPW encourages researchers to comment every week and adequate time has to be Economic and Political Weekly, on Special Articles. Submissions should be provided for internal reading and external Hitkari House, 1,000 to 2,000 words. refereeing. It can take up to four 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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