Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Marxist Adoption of AMBEDKAR Ideology, Mayawati factor against DOLLAR Imperialism, Entrepreneurial GREED and POILA BAISHAKH
Marxist Adoption of AMBEDKAR Ideology, Mayawati factor against DOLLAR Imperialism, Entrepreneurial GREED and POILA BAISHAKH
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 204
Palash Biswas
Chennai, Apr 14 Various polical leaders including AIADMK General Secretary Jayalalithaa and BJP Tamil Nadu Unit President L Ganesan garlanded the statue of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar on the occasion of his 118th birth anniversary here today.
CPI(M) State Secretary N Varadarajan and Dravidar Kazhagam leader Ke Veeramani garlanded the statue at the Nehru Indoor Stadium, a release here said. - Agencies
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Published on: 1/16/2008 Last Visited: 1/24/2008
Why should we have an Identity Card after sixty years, asks Marxist Dalit Minister Anil Sarkar
Why should we have an Identity Card after sixty years, asks Marxist Dalit Minister Anil Sarkar
...
Sarkar is a disciplined Party Official.He always talks agressive beyond party line unlike the Marxist leaders from West Bengal and Kerala. he had been criticised for writing Poetry in priase of Dalit Queen Mayawati. but Anil sarkar never knows to change his stance either in Literature or in Politics.
Tripura goes ahead with imminent Assembelly elections. anil sarkar is Sure that the ruling Left Front wil romp home once agin with thumping majority!We discussed a lot on Tripura and North East.He has been the architect of CPIM`s dalit agenda in Hyderabad conference along with West bengal CPIM secretary Biman Bose!He is also involved with dalit mobilisation nationwide. he played key role to organise dalit Bengali refugee Convention In new delhi last year and subsiding the Mulnivasi bamcef impact on dalit Bengali refugee politics antionwide.Brinda Karat is working hard in Bengali Refugee bases outside Bengal.
...
We discussed on these points and Anil Sarkar kept justifying the party stance very modestly while he need not!
...
Anil Sarkar has focused on dalit movement.He is leading Ambedkar Missions in North east and east india. he is behind the Dalit Co Ordination Committe in West Bengal. he leads the dalit sahitya movement.He arranges book Fairs and folk festivals.He practices Politics with cultural recipe!Last year he organised Grand Baul Mela in ADC tribal area of Tripura.He prescribes Vaishnav Love to deal with insurgency and extremism!
...
Anil Sarkar holds Information and Culture, Tourism and SC welfare portfolios in the Cabinet. banking on these low profile portfolios Anil sarkar in his indigenous spectacular mannerism and folk based political rehtorics is well capable to interact on the on hand with all states and nationalities in North eats and on the other hand demolish Extrism in Tripura.Thus, the chief Minister manik sarkar is unable to get an alternative of Anil Sarkar who has been successful to use language, dilects, folk, music, dance,literature , dalit movement, Ambedkar, tagore, mayawati, refugees and nationalities as political tools in favour of the ruling Left front!
...
Anil Sarkar reversed the trend and now Charulbachhai happens to be a strong base for CPIM in Tripura.
...
Anil Sarkar, Hon'ble Minister of ICAT, Shri D.K. Chakraborty, Commissioner & Secretary, ICAT were present.
BBC News
It’sa three-way contest: Karat
Support to Cong not ruled out to keep BJP at bay: Buddhadeb
Times of India - 15 hours ago
And such a realignment is inevitable, feels West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee ahead of the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. ...
Confusion regarding Left’s integrity rises Little About
Nirupam bats for Third Front Times of India
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Poila Boisakh in poll colours
Times of India - 16 hours ago
It is mainly due to his initiative that the Bhasha Shahid Divas is observed at Petrapole-Benapole borders by West Bengal and Bangladesh on February 21. ...
Food over fashion for Poila Baisakh Calcutta Telegraph
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It’s tough battle for CPM in Bengal, admits Karat
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... voting in the country, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat on Tuesday made an admission that his party will have to face a tough battle in West Bengal. ...
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DV theory on “caste killing casteists” gets support
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: In our Editorial of Feb.16, 2009 on the forthcoming parliament election we made an important prediction that “caste identity” will kill all national parties. The Deccan Herald (March 8, 2009) Delhi bureau made a survey fully and supported our point when it says:
For the first time, no party is talking of coming to power on its own majority... This alone is a clear indication that the era of coalition govts. has come to stay at the national level. It is rather the order of the day.
Power of caste: Deccan Herald, unlike Marwadi bigger dailies with multiple editions and all-India circulation, can afford to speak out the truth though when it comes to Karnataka it maintains a pro-BJP (read pro-Brahminical) tilt. Journalists being mostly from the upper castes have their sympathy for their jati party. All the more, the survey is fairly good though it has over-looked the power of caste.
To the upper caste journalists, who are casteists to the core, caste is a hated subject. That is why they hide the caste. But with all the best efforts to hide it, caste continues to show its ugly head. The coming election will show how the caste identity is killing all national (read upper caste) parties.
BJP & CPM go weak: Yet another important development is the country’s two notorious castiest parties — Brahmana Jati Party and the manuwadi marxist — are losing favour. Good development.
The financial melt-down, which is the mantra in the mouth of every upper caste today, is not a subject of interest to the poor voters (who alone vote) because they know nothing of it. The urban upper caste manipulators alone talk about it — which further confirms that India is a country of village-dwelling producers and not of parasitic urban consumers.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/april2009/reports.htm
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Young & powerful
When it marks its 25th birthday on Tuesday, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - one of India's youngest political parties - will have plenty to celebrate. In a country where parties decades old are in struggle mode due to growing fragmentation of the Indian vote, the BSP has mastered the art of winning elections and scripting history.
Mayawati challenges against foreign bank deposits allegation
And, with an aggressive Dalit leader Mayawati leading it, the BSP is now in overwhelming command of Uttar Pradesh, having captured power in the country's most populous and politically crucial state on its own in 2007, stunning its supporters and foes alike.
The unpredictable Mayawati, determined to win the maximum of the state's 80 Lok Sabha seats, has set her eyes on the prime minister's post although incumbent Manmohan Singh has ridiculed the ambition.
Text: IANS
Image: BSP leader and Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati during election rally in Mumbai on Wednesday. (Copyright PTI. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.)
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Pohela Boishakh
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Bengali New Year celebration in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Bengali New Year (Bengali: নববর্ষ Nôbobôrsho) or Pohela Boishakh (পহেলা বৈশাখ Pôhela Boishakh or পয়লা বৈশাখ Pôela Boishakh or Poila Boishakh) is the first day of the Bengali calendar, celebrated in both Bangladesh and West Bengal, and in Bengali communities in Assam and Tripura. Pohela Boishakh connects all ethnic Bengalis irrespective of religious and regional differences. It falls on April 14 or April 15 of the Gregorian calendar depending on the use of the new amended or the old Bengali calendar respectively. In Bangladesh, it is celebrated on April 14 according to the official amended calendar designed by the Bangla Academy. In Bangladesh, Pohela Boishakh is a national holiday and in West Bengal and Assam it is a public (state) holiday and is publicly celebrated on April 15 every year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pohela_Baishakh
Who is RSS slave? Sonia corners Advani again
Bangalore (IANS): Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday stepped up her attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party and L.K. Advani for calling Manmohan Singh a weak prime minister, saying every one knows who are "slaves" of the Rashtriya ... More
Lalu assails Nitish govt. for naxal attack, Modi blasts Centre Cash distribution; Azmi's brother summoned by police Sanjay supporter Khushwant Singh finds fault with son Varun Ghaziabad election no cakewalk for Rajnath Domestic air traffic falls by 12 per cent Puthiya Tamizhagam-MMK form 'Social Democratic Alliance' Advani a slave of RSS, says Sonia Orissa goes to polls tomorrow Chidambaram takes dig at BJP on economic growth Congress responsible for Bihar's plight: Lalu N.D. Tiwari, defence personnel to vote through postal ballots No official info about Kasab's mother visiting India: Pranab Congress pledges subsidy on food, fertilizer SC judge recuses himself from hearing contempt case Congress fields dissident RJD candidate against Lalu Rustic charm in all its splendour in Saran Lok Sabha battle Burden of legacy a challenge for Shastri's grandson Sanjay Dutt to campaign in Delhi for SP Nine-time winner Kharge eyeing his maiden win in LS Polls Polling for first phase of Lok Sabha elections tomorrow Sanjay Dutt booked for making communal remarks Want vote? Write your promises down Poll-related programmes: EC puts onus on TV channels No one can stop us from coming to power at Centre: Maya http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002hdline.htm
Unparrallel legacy: Dr Ambedkar « Atrocity News
Unparrallel legacy: Dr Ambedkar. 07May07. Shashi Tharoor who was Indian nominee for Secretary General post in UN writes exceptionally well on Dr Ambedkar in ...
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THE BLACKS OF THE EAST BENGAL: A NATIVE'S PERSPECTIVE
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Millions of Indians due to vote
BBC News - 1 hour ago
Millions of Indians are due to vote in the first round of the country's 15th general elections on Thursday. Voters in 124 constituencies will be taking part in Thursday's vote.
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It is POILA Baishakh in West Bengal whereas the other part of Bangla Nationality, Bangladesh celebrated Poila Baishakh last day! Vedic rituals overtake the Nationality across the border. The Marxists Electioneering Campaign inserted Poila Baishakh with surgical Precision as the Comrades adopted AMBEDKARITE Philosophy to sustain the VEDIC Brahaminical Marxist Hegemony! On the other hand, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on Tuesday became a new issue for a war of words between the BJP and the Congress with L.K. Advani alleging that “justice” was not done by Jawaharlal Nehru to the architect of the Constitution, a charge rejected by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Leaders of both the Congress and the BJP are going all guns blazing to attract netizens ahead of the forthcoming general elections. They are using not only social networking sites but also advertising heavily in the virtual world. Cyberspace is manipulated by Desi ILLUMINITI shaping in! High caste Vote mobilisation is the agenda, launched by Baba ramdev and Shankaracharyas, FDI fed Toilet Media heads, Intelligentsia and Corporate India Incorporations. India Votes, Votes matter, Jago re, India Elections, Vote matters are the some of teh sites! TV AD Campaign is in full swing!
Not to be left behind, Mayawati too has put her might online. The party's advertisements are quite visible on websites these days.
The advertisement shows the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief sitting on a big chair with a question 'will she be the first Dalit prime minister of India?
Only time will tell.
Nation pays tribute to Ambedkar on his 118th birth anniversary!
Oil prices dropped on Wednesday as investors digested a fresh stack of gloomy financial reports that showed a dip in industrial production while crude stockpiles swelled with the biggest surplus in 19 years!
Govt oil cos to hike jet fuel prices by 6.7%
State-run oil marketing companies will raise jet fuel prices for domestic carriers by 6.7% from Thursday, in line with the rise in international fuel prices, two companies said on Wednesday.
An Indian Oil Corp spokeswoman said the prices would rise to 32,855 rupees ($662) per kilolitre in Mumbai from 30,784.81 rupees as at April 1.
A spokesman for Bharat Petroleum Corp said the increase would be effective for the fortnight April 16-30.
US crude , which started March at just above $40 a barrel, was nearly $50.5 on Wednesday. The government oil marketing companies usually review local jet fuel prices every two weeks
The nation on Tuesday paid rich tribute to Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar on his 118th birth anniversary.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate L K Advani came together at a function and paid homage to Ambedkar.
Several functions are being organised in different parts of the country to mark the occasion.
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, scholar, Bahujan political leader and a Buddhist revivalist.
Ambedkar spent his life fighting untouchability and the Indian caste system!
Many friends scattered countrywide browsed my BLOGS just to confirm the AMBEDKAR HOLY DAY status! Most of them have got JOBs and livelihood by the VIRTUE of RESERVATION and QUOTA. Most of them do not go back to their ROOTS and RELATIONS. They, specially in Bengal, have become the IN LAWS of the RULING Hegemony and never to RETURN anything or Pay Back to the Society!
I would have been rather very happy provided they were INTERESTED a little bit in LIBERATION o f the BLACK UNTOUCHABLES worldwide.
No, they have neither the VISION nor the PURPOSE!
They just want a AMBEDKAR HOLY DAY. They have made AMBEDKAR an IDLE GOD, DISABLED to INVOKE a REVOLUTION whatsoever.
What a SHAME!
At the same time, Dr. Singh, who has been accused by Mr. Advani of being a “weak” Prime Minister, refused to say anything about the Leader of the Opposition, saying he did not want to “get into personalised politics.”
Mr. Advani, utilising the occasion of 118th birthday of Dr. Ambedkar, charged that the Congress under Nehru “did not do justice” to the Dalit icon and ignored him while nominating the members for the Constituent Assembly.
Rejecting the charge, the Prime Minister said: “How can anyone say our party did not recognise his [Dr. Ambedkar’s] contributions?”
Dr. Singh, while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the civil investiture ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here, said Dr. Ambedkar was “a path-finder and an architect of the Constitution of India.”
My cousin BEENA and her husband Niranjan Will be with us next week beginning tomorrow. They live in New Delhi. They will reach us tomorrow from New Jalpaigudi!
So, we had to go to the markets last day and today.
My God !It is MADNESS UNFOLDED. You may not move an INCH anywhere. It is shopping overwhelming. Any amount is being paid for anything!
Where from the Money comes? Is this Slump down or recession?
I wonder whether the society has suddenly changed magically as perhaps we have no Problem at all!
This Chaitra Sale and Business Oriented Poila baishakh as well as URGA PUJA festivals are the integral part of Bangla nationality!
Our people, the Indigenous, Aboriginal Minority communities may not have the Purchasing capacity to enter in the market neither they need or afford so much the durable consumer Items, rather they may be unemployed and face stiff FOOD INSECURITY and STARVE, but they have to enter the market as it is RITUALLY Mandatory for any Bengali!
My only son Steve is MAD for gadgets and always does all the drama to update COMPUTER or Internet Link! I may not convince him as he is flocked in between as SOCIETY so overwhelmingly Capitalist turned though boasting PROGRESS and secularism!
My wife SABITA never loves a SUBALTERN Leader and hates MAYWATI most despite my attempt to convince her all the time. Since I am DEMOCRAT enough, I never try to dominate her.She is a BELIEVER and longs for RAM KRISHANA Mission and DAKSHINESHWAR. Though she supports my social activism and is proud of the Family liability to defend our people , the partition Victims! Belinoging to Bijnore, and being the adopted daughter of a Muslim Family, the Zaidies of razia zaidi fame, she is more SECULAR tham me. But Bengali Brahamionical Culture has HINDUIZED her to such an EXTENTION that some times it is very hard to communicate her!
How may we blame our people who has no way to have job and sustain Home, Nationality, Citizenship, Family Security, Citizenship, Reservation, BPL card, Land and Property, Social Status, CITIZENSHIP, Voter I card, ration card or BPL card. Just imagine the Dalit status in North India against a HIGH CASTE and OBC combination! If the OBC were not against the Brahaminical system, evn in UP, the SC communities though demographically stronger 21 percent would never assert themselves. In Bihar, the SC communities do suffer more from OBC Land Lord atrocities in particularly Central bihar KURMI Land!
In our homes, it is the general scenario. Vedic rituals have become our SUPERSTITIONS so much so that we have lost our Indigenous Aboriginal identity and suffer from acute DEMENTIA as well as PERSONALITY Dis Order even to the level of Hysteria!
And the HEGEMONY has so many magical WANDS of Brain Washing and Mind control! The Indigenous History is wiped out and the legacy is CAPTURED.
They used Gandhi, Netaji and Vivekanand. They captured Shivaji, PHULE, Harichand and Guruchand Thakur, Ambedkar and TAGORE and Kazi Nazrul Islam. They may change the color in any ENVIRONMENT and we may fail to IDENTIFY their real face!
Latest HIGH CASTE Piracy in West bengal is all about the Ambedkar Ideology!
Marxists in India never recognised Ambedkarite or Lohiaite analysis of Indian society and Production system.
They sought REVOLUTION via CLASS STRUGGLE.
Neither the Marxist politicians nor the COMMITTED Intelligentsia Marxist ever dealt with the CURSE of Caste system.
Even a Writer like Manik Bandopaddhyay or the great IPT Clan or Mahashweta Devi never tried to address the problems of Social Justice, Inequality, Untouchability or overwhelming Manusmriti Apartheid Rule and culture.
Thus, celebrating AMBEDKAR Jayanti Officially having all party units to follow suit, the Marxist Top guns also CELEBRATED POILA BAISAKH as the focus of electioneering.
The Brahaminical Resistance, though skipped DR Ambedkar, but celebrated Poila Baishakh in an Open Event organised in Netaji Indoor Stadium and inaugurated by no one else than Mahashweta Devi. Presented Dignitaries included the Fire brand Opposition leader Ms Mamata Bannerjee also!
Meanwhile, the Marxists have made up their mind to amend the Historical Blunder of pulling down the Kayastha Comrade Jyoti Basu!
This time the MALYALI as well as Bengali Brahmins leading the Marxist movement in India do not fail to Project a BRAHAMIN MARXIST Prime Minister face as the GREAT BUDDHA GENOCIDE GESTAPO Capitalist Bran of MARICHJHANPI, SINGUR, NANDIGRAM and Lalgarh.
The Message is quite clear for the Almighty DESI ILLUMINITI that it should also consider BUDDHA as Third front Prime Minister as India INC has only three options hitherto, DR Manmohan Singh, Narendra Modi and LK Adwani! It is a good ploy to pacify the DESI ILLUMINITI trying its best to stop Potential danger of MAYAWATI along with J Jailalita!
We all know the Bengali sports ICON Jyotirmayee SIKDAR. She is a NAMOSHUDRA girl from DEVGRAM, Nadia district, the land of CHATANY Mahaprabhu, where the SCHEDULED CASTE population Concentrates. NABADWEEP (now RANAGHAT ) is reserved for SC. But the SC VOTE BANK is strong enough to decide the general seat RESULT. CPIM or the mainstream parties seldom chose any SC candidate for a GENERAL SEAT.
But Jyotirmayee, the SC girl married to a SIKH ATHLETE was chosen, She romped home defeating the BJP heavyweight, a NDA Central Minister SATYA BRATA Mukherjee, JULU Babu! JYOTIRMAYEE did nothing for her CONSTITUENCY nor visited her people all these five years.
She stayed in Salt Lake, Kolkata with her HUSBAND and the COUPLE was involved in a ROCKING SCANDAL of running a BAR in Residential area. The Marxist minister Subhash Chakrabarti bailed them out.
But JYOTIRMAYEE is fielded again despite her RECORD as SC VOTE Bank remains DECISIVE to sustain the MARXIST BRAHAMINICAL Hegemony not only in KRISHNANAGEAR or Nadia , but all over Bengal.
I must admit that the SC stalwarts like RAM CHANDRA DOM, ASHIM Bala and Basudev Burman also did NOTHING As other SC, ST, OBC and Minority MPS have to oblige the Party whip only!
POONA PACT did create this CREAMY LAYER based on political Reservation with DENIAL to Separate sovereign ELECTORATE!
Anti labour Laws,SEZ act, PCPIR, INDO US DEAL, Anti Labour Acts, Twin Terror Acts, AFPSA, Citizenship Amendment Act, Disinvestment, Privatisation, retail Chain, GM seeds, FDI, Bailout, EXEMPTIONS and WAIVERS for the Ruling class- every Legislation killing Aboriginal Indigenous Minority communities, justifying Genocide Culture, Defending Brahaminical Zionist US interests and SUSTAINING MANUSMRITI APARTHEID Rule - does have the MUTED SUPPORT of SC, OBC and Minority MPs!
I am sorry to mention some names irrlevant. The Whole Lot is INCOMPETENT and has nothing to do with the Liberation of Black Untouchables! rather they have proved themselves as the BEST Weapons of the RULING CLASS in VARNA Yuddha to sustain the Age Old enslavement and the BONDAGE!
SINCE the Forty Two percent OBC communities remain faithful to the Marxist BRAHAMINICAL hegemony making VEDI Brahaminical CULTURE RULING and Mandatory, it has been always easy for the HEGEMONY to OBLIGE the SC, ST and Minorities.
For me, I may not claim that I would have behaved otherwise if were adjusted properly in the Hegemony. I got up only after I was DUMPED and destroyed professionally!
I have roots outside Bengal and have not to care for my EXISTENCE! Have I been rooted in Bengal, may be I would have SUBORDINATED to the HEGEMONY as others have done!
More over, only for my Father, the refugee leader, Pulin Babu, i have to bear with a FAMILY Liability to defend my people , almst FIVE CORORE partion Victims countrywide. Circumstances made me LIABLE to mobilise the Black Untouchables for Liberation.
circumstances made my people forming CREAMY Layer to be DETACHED to hold on Personal and family STATUS!
We may not Blame the HELP Less Lot until we invent some ways of EMPOWERMENT!
We have to do that!
For this , fundamental task begins with the EXPOSURE of Zionist Brahaminical Marxist Hegemony and its ways of REPRESSION and its MIND CONTROL and BRAIN Washing Game!
Not only the SC, St or Minority communities, the OBC comprising forty two percent and the SHUDRA KAYASTHA are also DEPRIVED and BETRAYED in bengal and never do realise the Truth!
Lalgargh Insurrection and SACHHAR COMMITTEE Report have isolated SCHEDULED TRIBES and the MUSLIM Vote Bank. Hence, the BENGALI Marxists have no OPTION as SURVIVAL STRATEGY to woo all out the SC VOTE Bank!
Thus, BIMAN BOSE, Subhash Chakrabarti and ANIL SARKAR do all the GIMMICS to uphold the cause of DALIT Liberation while CPIM never did care to IMPLEMENT the HYDERABAD Party Congress passed DALIT AGENDA all these years.
All these years, the Marxist TRIO have been crying very LOUD on EVERY Possible FORUM that CASTE SYSTEM and MANUSMRITI are the Worst CURSE against HUMANITY in India as Comrade NAMBOODARIPAD always glorified the VARNA SYSTEM as the best CONTRIBUTION of the ARYANS!
This MARXIST CASTEOLOGY never had been OFFICIAL. It was only a STRATEGIC GIMMIC paying HIGH DIVIDENTS!
But the Adoption of AMBEDKAR IDEOLOGY by the MARXISTS are quite OFFICIAL while they have PUSHED FORWARD a BRAHMIN MARXIST FACE to stop DALIT REVOLUTION in New DELHI in the line of PATNA and Lucknow!
DESI ILLUMINITI , the INDIA INC would be very glad to have the THIRD OPTION of a THIRD Front led by A MARXIST BRAHAMIN PRIME MINISTER FACE as it PREEMPTS the MAYAWATI COUP so WELL. This is the UNDERLYING TRUTH of the Post Moderm MARXIST CASTEOLOGY to SUSTAIN Manusmriti Rule as well as DOLLAR IMPERIALISM with Fascist Ways!
The Got Up WWF Power POLITICS of UPA NDA and the left is ironically transparent enough to understand as every alignment keeps the POST ELECTION EQUATIONS quite open. The Options do look very wild as for Example CONG BJP Alliance as well as a NATIONAL Government. The central theme is woven around BLIND Nationalism to feed the ENTREPRENEURIAL GREED and the KILLER Money Machine as well as DOLLAR IMPERIALISM so closely associated with Zionism and corporate Imperialism!
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared to be keeping Congress options open for a tie up with the Left parties and other allies fighting his party in the post-poll scenario, saying he has had a good experience working with all of them. However, he expressed confidence that the Congress would be able to form the government with its allies. At an interaction with the members of the Editors Guild of India here, he was asked whether Congress would take support of the Left parties in forming the next government.
"We will cross the bridge when we come to it. As of now I am confident that the Congress would be able to form the government (with allies). I have dealt with the Left parties, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sharad Pawar.
"I have dealt with Jayalalithaa, DMK and PMK. I have also negotiated with Mufti Saheb (PDP leader). I have enough experience in dealing with diverse forces," he said.
Asked whether he would like doing business with the Left, Singh said "well, I think circumstances will decide. But I was quite happy when as government we were dealing with the Left."
The Prime Minister said the Left parties had strong views on the nuclear issue and they had to leave. "But it was a matter of great privilege (working with them)."
When asked whether the Congress would support the Left in forming the government as CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat had said the Communists will not support a Congress government, he said "we will deal with this question after the election results are out.But the fact is the present arrangement has worked well."
A scribe reminded him about his statement in November 2007 that if the nuclear deal did not go through he would live with the disappointment and his recent statement that he would have resigned in such a case and asked him what made him put his government to risk.
The government had negotiated the deal with the US for three years. It was also an issue that was being negotiated with countries like Russia, China and seeking the support of all 45 members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, he said adding "we had resolved all issues to India's satisfaction."
"If after all this I go and tell them 'no, thank you' we as a government would have looked foolish. People would have got an impression that it was a waste of time (of doing business with India). India's honour was at stake. It would have been disastrous. I thought this must be avoided.
Asked about his experience with the dual power system in which he was Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi was UPA chairperson, Singh said it was satisfying.
"The Prime Minister under this could concentrate on managing successfully the problems of the country while she was handling the political problems. This division of labour is conducive and has led to greater efficiency to the advantage of the people," he said.
Asked about his statement that Rahul Gandhi had all the qualifications to become Prime Minister, Singh said "in my view he has all the qualities to become Prime Minister. I stand by it. To a question why the allies have left the Congress and fighting the elections against it if the UPA government was a success, the Prime Minister said the Congress party was working towards building its base in UP, Bihar and other states where it was week.”
"As far as regional parties are concerned, the emergence of regional parties is a fact of life and we will have to show sufficient flexibility in dealing with them. New norms should be evolved to ensure incorporation of regional parties in governance so that there is no harmful effects," he said.
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People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XXIX
No. 17
April 24, 2005
Integrate Struggles Against Class Exploitation
With Struggles Against Social Oppression
(Extracts from presentations made at Ambedkar Jayanti observations organised by the Left Front governments of West Bengal and Tripura on April 14, 2005 [Kolkata] and April 20, 2005 [Agartala] respectively)
Sitaram Yechury
ONE of the important (amongst many) things that Ambedkar has said is the necessity of transforming the political independence achieved in 1947 into economic and social independence. This he said is imperative for the betterment of the conditions of the dalits in the country. To quote him, “On the 26th of January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics, we will be recognising the principle of one man-one vote and one vote-one value. In our social and economic life, we shall by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man-one value.
“How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life?
“If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly has laboriously built up”. (From Dr B R Ambedkar’s speech in the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949) This is also one of the things that the communists are repeatedly telling the people of our country. It is this basic fact that makes Ambedkar relevant even today.
On another occasion, speaking of social reform, Dr Ambedkar had to say: “There is nothing fixed, nothing eternal, nothing sanatan; that everything is changing, that change is the law of life for individuals as well as for society…
“Stability is wanted but not at the cost of change when the change is imperative. Adjustment is wanted but not at the sacrifice of social justice…
“The path of social reform like the path to heaven at any rate in India, is strewn with many difficulties…Caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this monster.”
Yet today even after more than 55 years of independence, the plight of dalits and the backward castes, for all practical purposes, has not universally improved. There may be individual cases, but on the whole, the statistical evidence suggests that in achieving the task of converting political independence into real, social and economic independence for the most oppressed sections of our society we still have a long way to go.
It is relevant to recollect a quotation from the poet, P B Shelley, which Ambedkar used in one of his writings to describe the plight of the dalits and the oppressed saying that they are:
“pale for weariness of climbing heaven, and gazing on earth, wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth”
RESERVATIONS AND DALITS
Addressing himself to the task of eradicating such a plight of the dalits, Ambedkar had spoken of constitutional safeguards such as reservations. The country had adopted the policy of reservations for the SC and ST initially for a period of 10 years which had to be extended till date. It needs to be extended further as the improvement in their lot has not matched either expectation or requirement. While constitutional safeguards such as reservations are important, experience has shown that unless the economic status of the oppressed is drastically improved such safeguards by themselves will not radically change the situation. This is a factor that Ambedkar not only accepted but also underlined. In the absence of any meaningful change in agrarian relations, such concessions must be supported. But no illusions must be entertained that this is the only solution.
In the very nature of things, these palliatives will neither solve the problem of poverty and unemployment nor change the condition of untouchables and other downtrodden castes. They will certainly offer some relief to individuals from these communities, enhance their confidence in their advance, but not change their status. For the ruling classes these concessions play an important role. In the first place, in the general competition for jobs etc, they pit one section of toilers against another. Secondly, they create an impression among some sections that the government is their real friend and they should confine the struggle within the framework of the bourgeois system. It is thus a challenge to the present socio-economic system from the most downtrodden sections is prevented.
Another phenomenon, which was taking place simultaneously, will also have to be noted. A parallel development that was taking place during the days of the freedom struggle and particularly after the independence was the process of emergence of a modern state in India. The vast multinational character of our country ensured that different sections – caste, religions, ethnic, regional – began to rightfully demand equality of status and opportunity in the new independent polity. But, however, as the economic crisis deepened in the post-independent decades, far from the expectations of these different sections being met, the disparities started growing. This led and continues to lead to a scramble for a share of the cake. As the size of the cake shrinks, this scramble takes the form of a conflict between various groups. Hence, the demand for reservations from new sections and the opposition to reservations from other sections becomes a common practice.
NATURE OF PRESENT CASTE ASSERTION
It is in this background of deepening crisis in our country, that one must understand the nature of the present caste assertion. There are two aspects to this. On the one hand, as a result of whatever limited development has taken place since independence and in the background of the deepening crisis, there is a growing consciousness amongst the oppressed castes to rebel against their conditions of social oppression. This is a positive aspect. Without such a growing consciousness the struggle against oppression and exploitation cannot be carried out decisively. This is a consciousness that needs to be nurtured and strengthened with an effort to integrate this consciousness with the struggles against the present socio-economic system. It is only through such an integration of the struggle against social oppression and the struggle against modern day class exploitation that the struggle for an agrarian revolution can be strengthened and carried forward to its logical culmination.
There is, however another aspect to the present day caste assertion. This is the attempt to try and confine this growing consciousness within the parameters of the concerned caste. This is resorted to by some of the leadership of the present day movements. While appealing only to the caste consciousness and ignoring, if not evading, the basic issue of the struggle against the existing agrarian order, these leaders are once again appealing for a change in the superstructure without affecting the base. In doing so, they treat this growing consciousness amongst the dalits and the backward castes as separate compartments, as vote banks for their political fortunes, rather than addressing themselves for a genuine solution of the problem.
During the recent years, caste mobilisation has become an important factor in shaping Indian politics. For any scientific analysis, it is not only necessary to assess this growing role of caste assertion in Indian political life but also to map out the manner in which the unity of the toilers is strengthened in order to achieve the peoples’ democratic revolution. Unless we tackle with clarity this important phenomenon, we will not be able to overcome the potentially disruptive role that caste mobilisation can have on toilers unity. It is for these reasons that this issue needs to be addressed with all seriousness.
At the outset, it is necessary to debunk a common fallacy that attempts to pit caste versus class. Vested interests often advise communists that since they believe in class divisions in society, caste ought not to engage their attention. Such a mechanical distinction between caste and class is not only vulgar simplification but divorced from the present day Indian reality. The caste stratification of our society is something that has come down to us from centuries. Despite all the refinements and changes within castes and between castes, that have taken place over the years, the basic structure, in so far as the oppression of the dalits or the backward castes is concerned, remains. It is within this social stratification that the class formation in India is taking place. Capitalism is still developing in India and the process of the development of society divided into modern capitalist classes, is taking place constantly within the existing caste stratification. The question, therefore, is not one of class versus caste. It is the formation of classes under modern capitalism within the inherited caste structure. To a large extent, the most exploited classes in our society constitute the most socially oppressed castes. And, to that extent, the struggle against class exploitation and the struggle against social oppression complement each other. These sections, as it were, are subject to dual oppression. It is this complementarity that not only needs to be recognised but on the basis of that recognition, it must follow that an important task before the communist movement in our country today is the integration of the struggle against class exploitation with the struggle against social oppression. It is only through such an integration that the firm unity of the toilers can be forged and strengthened in order to advance towards peoples’ democracy.
ROOTS OF CASTE OPPRESSION
There is a vast amount of literature on the evolution and sustenance of the caste system in India. The large numbers of such works are only matched by the divergence of their conclusions. Some scholars have also linked it with a discussion of Marx’s Asiatic Mode of Production. Without any disrespect or devaluation of such work, it would suffice for our discussion to base ourselves on the fact (agreed upon by most) that the caste system, in Marxist terms, is the superstructure of an economic base which is pre-capitalist. In that sense, any attempt to overthrow this sinful heritage and obnoxious caste oppression will have to target the elimination of the vestiges of pre-capitalist economic formations. This, in our present case, is the elimination of the vestiges of feudalism and semi-feudalism.
This does not mean that such elimination, through a comprehensive agrarian revolution, however complex and difficult it may be, will automatically eliminate the caste system and the entire range of social consciousness associated with it. As Engels, in a letter to Bloch says, Marx and he had meant that the economic factor is decisive in the final analysis. Even after a change in the economic base the superstructure and associated social consciousness may persist and would require an intense ideological struggle to eliminate it. But without the attempt to change the pre-capitalist agrarian order, mere appeals for a change of heart or behaviour cannot and will not eliminate this obnoxious social oppression. There was an opportunity to effect a sweeping agrarian revolution along with the anti-colonial freedom struggle. But this was not to be due to the compromising character of the leadership of our national movement.
The main reason for this persistence of social oppression based on caste stratification is the inadequacy of the ruling classes, during the freedom struggle, in addressing themselves to this issue. The overcoming of caste differentiation was sought through proper social behaviour between individuals and castes without going into the social roots of this phenomenon. The sinful heritage of caste oppression was something that the national anti-colonial struggle could not repudiate because the leadership of the freedom struggle was not interested in going to the root of the problem and uprooting it. Even if it had a correct understanding of the social roots of the problem, it did not have the courage to seize it by the roots. By refusing to sweep away the feudal and semi-feudal agrarian relations, which were the bedrock for the continuation and persistence of caste exploitation, the leadership of freedom struggle not only permitted but in later years perpetuated the caste exploitation.
TWO TRENDS IN FREEDOM STRUGGLE
Within the freedom movement there were two main trends that contributed to the persistence of the caste institutions. One was the revivalist ideology which gripped a number of leaders of the freedom movement. Coming from upper caste Hindu background, these leaders in the struggle against the British drew sustenance from India’s so called past and, in the process, defended the social institutions of that past. Tilak was a classic example of such a tendency. The other tendency during the freedom struggle, which prevented the liquidation of the old order, was the vacillation of the Congress towards landlords and feudal interests. Thus, the Congress’ efforts to achieve independence were divorced from the agrarian revolution. In fact instead of carrying on a sweeping overthrow of the old feudal order, the Congress compromised with the landlords by sharing power with them in post-independent India. It was only the Communist Party of India which linked the struggle against British imperialism with a comprehensive agrarian revolution. Right from the Platform of Action of 1930 to the memorandum submitted to the National Integration Council by the CPI(M) in 1968, the communist movement constantly underlined that caste exploitation and social emancipation could be possible only through sweeping changes in agrarian relations. However, in the absence of a powerful agrarian movement, this task has remained unfulfilled to date.
Another current also needs to be properly analysed in order to understand the persistence of the caste stratification to date, i.e. the social reform movement. There have taken place powerful anti-caste movements in the country and they wielded significant political influence at their time. Among the giants who stand out in such movements was Jotiba Phule. Ideologically, Jotiba’s movement was an uncompromising attack on the ancient and feudal superstructure. However, this uncompromising attack did not go beyond to attack the basic agrarian structure based on feudal land relations which was the basis on which this superstructure existed.
Similar has been the experience of Ambedkar. This most outstanding and tireless fighter, who on behalf of the dalits exposed the upper caste hypocrisies and lambasted the Congress and its policies, had to finally ask his followers to embrace Buddhism to escape the injustices of the Hindu society. But the grim social reality based on unequal land relations did not change because of conversion to Buddhism. Unfortunately, smashing the present socio-economic system as the decisive step for elimination of caste exploitation, was replaced by formal declarations of equality, reservation of seats, jobs etc. It was once again shown that despite a leader of Ambedkar’s stature, and despite the strength of the movement, the objective could not be achieved because it failed to target the basic source of this exploitation, i.e. feudal and semi-feudal land relations. Similar also has been the experience of the Dravidian movement led by Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker. Thus we find that the social reform movement, despite the glorious uncompromising role of its leaders, could not achieve the stated objective as it ignored or bypassed the tasks of the agrarian revolution.
OUR TASK
It is our task today to integrate the struggle against social oppression and against class exploitation in one, overall wider class struggle to change the existing socio-economic system and unleash an agrarian revolution. This is the challenge of our times. We should be as active in mobilising the people in the struggles against the new economic policies, against communalism, as in mobilising the oppressed in the struggles against social oppression. It is precisely because the communists seek and strive for such an integration that various caste leaders pour venomous attacks on the communists. For, when such an integration takes place, there is no room for sordid political bargaining and manoeuvring that is done by some leaders in the name of exploited castes.
Therefore, while supporting reservations for the dalits and the backward castes, we should unhesitatingly emphasise that this is not the final solution. While all caste leaders mouth the necessity of radical economic reforms to improve the lot of the oppressed, it is by now clear that unless the struggle for a sweeping agrarian revolution takes place, no meaningful emancipation of these sections can be achieved.
BSP appeals to upper castes for support 15 Apr 2009, 0248 hrs IST, TNN
LUCKNOW: In a bid to keep Brahmins within its fold, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has released an appeal for upper castes, particularly Brahmins,
claiming that it has not only given adequate share to every caste in power but also kept their "maan and samman" intact.
Entitled `BSP Ka Dawa: Desh Me Upper Caste Ka hitt BSP Ki Sarkar Mei Hee Surakshit Hai', the appeal in the form of booklet blames previous Congress and BJP governments for backwardness of the country and promises reservation for upper castes on economic grounds if voted to power. Claiming her party always keeps promises, Mayawati has said in the appeal that she has not only provided "opportunities" to upper castes but also given tickets in large number in elections.
Citing example of BSP's Brahmin face and her right hand man S C Mishra, Mayawati has also said that her party has given due share to upper castes in power. "I made S C Mishra advocate general in 2002, sent him to Rajya Sabha and now he is BSP's national general secretary and chairman, state advisory board. I have also posted upper caste officers in key posts," she has said in the appeal, which also details about welfare schemes implemented by her government for `Sarvsamaj'. In return, Mayawati has asked upper castes to support BSP with "tan, man, dhan".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lucknow/BSP-appeals-to-upper-castes-for-support/articleshow/4402258.cms
Karat turns down PM’s tie-up proposition
Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh kept open the options for a post-poll tie-up with them, the Left parties made it clear that they would in no case support a Congress-led government at the Centre after Lok Sabha elections.
"There is no question of our supporting a Congress-led government at the Centre," CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said when asked to comment about indications that the Prime Minister was holding out an olive branch for them.
The Left parties "have problems with the Prime Minister and his government on policy issues", CPI leader D Raja said.
He said "the Prime Minister is speaking different things in different places on different occasions. Just a couple of days ago, he was in Kerala where he accused the Left of always being on the wrong side of history. Now, he says a different thing."
Reacting sharply to Singh's remark that the Left had often been on the wrong side of history, Karat said the Prime Minister's judgment may have been "clouded" as he was on the "right side" of the US.
Referring to Indo-US agreement
“UPA aided expansion of U.S. imperialism”
http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/15/stories/2009041561121200.htm
KOLKATA: CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said here on Tuesday that expansion of U.S. imperialism in India, which was initiated during the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance’s rule, continued during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s rule because of its leniency towards the U.S. and its policies.
Addressing a seminar on ‘Anti Imperialist Movement, Ensuing Election and Our Task,’ organised by the Shaheed Yadgar Samity on the occasion of the Jalianwala Bagh Day, Mr. Karat said both the UPA and the NDA governments had abandoned the independent foreign policy advocated by Jawaharlal Nehru post-Independence and had adopted a pro-U.S. foreign policy. “The intrusion of U.S. imperialism is evident in all spheres — social, economic and cultural — due to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government’s pro-U.S. attitude,” he said.
“While the U.S. and Israel unleashed atrocities in several West Asian countries to take control over their petroleum reserves, the UPA government has established close military and strategic ties with them.”
He added India was directly helping the Israeli government in continuing its acts of violence against the Palestinians by launching spy satellites from the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Underscoring the fact that both the Congress and the BJP had similar neo-liberal economic policy, Mr. Karat said this policy would destroy the country. “The Congress leaders do not say a word in their election campaigns about more than 10 lakh people getting laid-off in several sectors following the onset of the global recession. All they boast about is about Gross Domestic Product growth rate, which has resulted in making rich people richer and poor people poorer.”
Chidambaram plucks holes in BJP's 'discovery' of Ambedkar
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday criticised BJP's sudden "discovery" of B R Ambedkar citing Arun Shourie's controversial book 'Worshipping False Gods,' which he claims has "outrageous views" of the saffron party on the late Dalit leader. "Suddenly BJP has discovered Baba Saheb Ambedkar. BJP's outrageous views on Babasaheb Ambedkar are contained in this book 'Worshipping false Gods' by Arun Shourie. Not one reference has a good word for Dr Ambedkar," the Home Minister said while talking to reporters in Mumbai.
Noting that Shourie was "friend, philosopher and guide" of BJP, Chidambaram said, "Shourie's advise is being sought on matters, which required an IQ of more than 60."
He expressed hope that after discovering Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and B R Ambedkar, BJP would soon discover the virtues of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
On the occasion of B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary on Tuesday, BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani had said Congress did not do justice to Dalit icon and ignored the late leader while nominating members for the Constituent Assembly.
Rahul blames Orissa government for communal violence
BHUBANESWAR: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday blamed the chief minister Naveen Patnaik's government for the communal violence in Orissa last year.
"Clashes took place in the name of religion in Kandhamal and elsewhere and the state government was responsible for spreading disharmony and hatred," Gandhi told an election rally in Kendrapada town, about 100 km from here.
Campaigning for the Congress' Lok Sabha candidate Ranjib Biswal, Gandhi said Orissa was an isle of peace when the Congress was in power in the state.
Alleging that the state government had failed to ease the troubles of tribals, farmers and downtrodden, he said: "I have travelled many states but Orissa happens to be the poorest of all."
"Dalits and tribals are the worst hit in this poverty stricken state," he said, as he criticized the state government for giving away mines to some industrialists at throwaway prices, ignoring the interests of the poor.
Terming the Congress as a "friend of Dalit, poor and tribals", he also highlighted several steps the central government has taken for their welfare.
He said the UPA government pumped in huge funds but the state government could not utilise them properly.
Gehlot appeals people to imbibe Ambedkar's principles
15 Apr 2009, 0506 hrs IST, TNN
On the occasion of birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, chief minister Ashok Gehlot paid a rich tribute to the chief architect of Indian
Constitution. Garlanding the statue of the Dalit leader at Ambedkar Circle here on Tuesday, Gehlot appealed people to imbibe Ambedkar's principles. He also stressed that if Ambedkar's idea of education is followed in true spirit, not a single child in the villages would remain illiterate.
New NREGS timings: With mercury rising, the state government has directed the officials to change the timings of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) programmes. The new timings would be from 7.00 am to 4.00 pm, which would be interspersed with an lunch break.
Dr Malti Gupta awarded fellowship: Dr Malti Gupta, former professor and head of the department of plastic surgery of SMS Medical College, has been awarded honorary fellowship of the International College of Surgeons. The fellowship is awarded to a surgeon for outstanding work in the field of speciality and for contributions towards fulfilling the aims and cause of International College of Surgeons.
Meet on chronic diseases held: The state-level roundtable dialogue on chronic diseases in the state, organised by IILM Academy of Higher Learning on Tuesday at the Institute of Health Management and Research (IHMR) here, urged for urgent action in this direction.
Target-25' campaign launched: Sharda Sharma, state convenor of women empowerment wing of Congress, kick-started the Target-25' campaign for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls in the state by offering prayers at a city Ganesh temple on Tuesday.
Nanhi Chaan counter opened: The Nanhi Chaan Foundation, promoted by Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital was set up to address the issues related to girl child. The foundation seeks to make a positive impact for protecting the girl child and for preserving trees through the positive power of faith both socially and spiritually. The foundation considers both little girls and saplings as nature's greatest gifts. In order to encourage this value, a Nanhi Chaan counter was inaugurated by Harpal Singh, chairman of the foundation.
BHU observes birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar 14 Apr 2009, 2137 hrs IST, TNN
VARANASI: To mark the birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, a function was organised at the Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), on
Tuesday.
Addressing the function, the director of Gandhi Adhyayan Peeth, Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth (MGKV), Prof RP Dwivedi highlighted the personality and works of Ambedkar."Dr Ambedkar firmly believed that a good system was not possible without bringing positive changes in social and political systems," he said and added that Ambedkar had been a source of inspiration for the people. Speaking on the occasion, the convener MP Ahirwar said that Ambedkar had delivered a lecture at BHU on November 21, 1956. The function was also attended by the BHU rector Prof BD Singh, Prof PK Pandey and others.
BHU professor awarded: Prof VK Srivastava of the department of mechanical engineering, Institute of Technology, BHU, has been awarded by the European Community, Belgium, with Erasmus Scholar Award for 2008-2010.
According to BHU spokesperson, Prof Srivastava will expertise the students and staff of the Technical University of Humburg, Denmark University and Portugal University in the area of advanced composite materials. He is actively involved in the development of high temperature ceramic composites.
Poila Baishakh, ushering a new beginning
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Posted: Apr 15, 2008 at 0350 hrs IST
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Kolkata, April 14 The mood was of celebration and the view colourful. It was Poila Baishakh — the first day of the Bengali New Year — and everyone from old to young and rich to poor wanted it to be special. On Monday, people wearing new dresses either visited their friends or relatives or went to multi-plexes or temples. While some preferred home-cooked food with loved ones, others preferred to go out to enjoy the vast range of meals offered by different hotels. “We are having a family lunch on Poila Baishakh. It is one holiday when all of us get together to spend some quality time with each other,” said Indrakshi Sengupta, a bank officer.
The day had become all the more special this time due to Ram Navami, which was celebrated on the same day.
Two places in the city saw the biggest rush — the temples and eateries. People thronged to temples in huge numbers as they wanted the blessing of the Almighty before kicking-off the new year. Kalighat had a footfall of almost nine lakh today.
“The number of devotees is much higher this year, especially because Ram Navami is also being celebrated today. Special security arrangements have been made to pre-empt any untoward incident,” said Ajoy Banerjee, a senior panda (priest).
For the entire month, preceding Poila Baishakh, there is “chaitra sale” or year-end sale in the markets. The sale usually ends on the day preceding the New Year.
For Bengali shopkeepers, the ‘haal khaata,’ (new book of accounts) for the new financial year is opened on this day and they worship Lakshmi and Ganesh for good luck and prosperity. Patrons of the store are usually invited for a treat. They also purchase things as it is believed to bring good luck to the storekeeper.
Vendors also make a lot of profit on this day as the vegetables and fruits are overpriced.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Poila-Baishakh-ushering-a-new-beginning/297003/
Woman from outcast community to run for India's PM post
By Channel NewsAsia's Damanjeet Kohli | Posted: 14 April 2009 0027 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) President and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh state, Mayawati Kumari.
Video
Woman from outcast community in running to be India's next PM
NEW DELHI: A woman from a community, traditionally regarded as outcasts, is in the running to be India's next prime minister. Mayawati is chief minister of India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh.
Riding high on a popularity wave, she's already erected several statues of herself across the capital, Lucknow.
Born into a poor family in northern India, Mayawati's rise to the top has been quick and rocky.
Today, she's pays the highest tax among Indian politicians.
Mayawati belongs to the Dalit community, once considered untouchables and lowly-ranked in the Hindu caste system.
Although laws exist to protect their rights, members of the Dalit community still face discrimination.
Political analyst, Pankaj Vohra, said: "It is only Mayawati's party that can win votes in states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. And if not win, her party can definitely dent the vote share in states like Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan. So Mayawati is aiming at an all-India presence. She will fight the maximum number of seats in order to project her party as a national party like the Congress and the BJP."
As India prepares to go to the polls next month, political watchers said Mayawati is among the strongest contenders for the post of prime minister. That's because no party in India has ever won a majority since 1984.
Mayawati holds many trump cards in this era of coalitions.
She has no issues teaming up with extreme left or right wing political parties.
The only area she will not compromise is her fight to improve the treatment of the Dalit community.
H D Kumaraswamy, former chief minister, Karnataka State, said: "If Mayawati is selected as prime minister candidate from other parties, our party is still going to support her."
Currently, the two largest parties are the Congress party led jointly by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Italian born Sonia Gandhi. The other is the Bharatiya Janata Party led by L.K. Advani.
However, at this point, the numbers seem bleak for both these parties and a coalition of regional parties seem poised to grab power in New Delhi.
Many feel that Mayawati lacks a pan Indian appeal and this might be a major hurdle in her becoming prime minister. But in coalition politics, all kinds of permutations and combinations will come into play and what will work in her favour is that she represents a socially oppressed community. - CNA/vm
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/422085/1/.html
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www.indiasnews.net/story/371184 - [Cached Version]
Published on: 6/15/2008 Last Visited: 6/15/2008
Tripura Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Anil Sarkar was conferred a literary award Sunday for his outstanding contribution to the state's literature and culture.
www.blogs.sify.com/blogs_preview.php?blogid=2434&articl - [Cached Version]
Published on: 8/11/2008 Last Visited: 8/22/2008
Today, in the first hours of Morning I called our philosopher poet friend, the Marxist Minister Anil Sarkar in Agartala and asked if any way is out there to stop NDA and UPA to sustain the Ruling Hegemony crushing and annihilating Indigenous communities!Anilda spoke,` Mayawati happens the only option and we must rally behind her to stop RSS as well as UPA!'
www.nenanews.com/ANE%20Oct%201-15,%2007/NewsbriefC.htm - [Cached Version]
Published on: 4/20/2000 Last Visited: 10/19/2007
Tripura Information and Culture Minister Anil Sarkar felicitated her on behalf of the State Government.
...
Sarkar presented her a cheque of Rs 1 lakh and gifts.
www.indiasnews.net/story/329681 - [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/21/2008 Last Visited: 2/21/2008
'Our campaign with the versatile cultural performance has largely impacted the minds of the people and we have succeeded in winning the hearts of voters by using cultural presentation,' said state Information and Cultural Minister Anil Sarkar.
Sarkar, who is also a renowned poet and writer, is seeking re-election to the assembly as CPI(M) nominee from the Pratapgarh constituency in west Tripura for a record eighth time.
He has himself composed several folk songs in a bid to connect with the people.
All the party booth offices of Congress here and other parts of the state are echoing with Bankim Chandra's 'Vande Mataram' song.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5
SWR remembers Ambedkar 14 Apr 2009, 2216 hrs IST, TNN
HUBLI: The South Western Railway (SWR) celebrated 118th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar here on Tuesday.
SWR general manager Kuldeep Chaturvedi, speaking after inaugurating the function, said Ambedkar a multifaceted personality being a legal genius, social reformer and a person who was bold enough to have a different perspective of the society during the freedom struggle.
"Such functions help us remember him and his principles for which he stood for. The present generation are unaware of the oppressive hierarchical system that prevailed during pre-Independence period. His thoughts, writings and speeches will add the much-needed value to the present-day society," he said.
He called upon people to inculcate values propagated by Ambedkar. "It's time for some serious thinking on whether the Indian society is free from the economic and social disparity, which Ambedkar strived to eliminate, even after 60 years of Independence," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Hubli/SWR-remembers-Ambedkar/articleshow/4401570.cms
Lalu blames Cong for Bihar's sorry plight
Patna The Lalu-Sonia rift widened further when the RJD supremo hit back at the UPA Chairperson for criticising his tenure as Chief Minister in Bihar, saying Congress is to be blamed for the state's plight.
"There has been Congress governments after Independence. They were in power for most of the time. What did they do?" Lalu said.
Gandhi had on Saturday targeted both the present NDA government in Bihar and its predecessor RJD regime at an election rally in Jamui in Bihar, saying "what happened to Bihar in the last 10-15 years is no secret."
Lalu Prasad said Gandhi's criticism was unfounded.
On his alliance with LJP and Samajwadi Party, Prasad said the front will sweep elections in Bihar. "There is a wave in our favour. We will sweep the elections…some people are worried because of our alliance," Prasad told a TV channel.
Asked whether Nitish Kumar-led government has been able to take Bihar on the road of development, the RJD chief said the real situation has not changed. "Nitish has failed in every front. People are fed up."
Replying to a question on why the Fourth Front parties failed to arrive at seat adjustments with Congress, Prasad said "the Congress is eyeing 2014 elections and wanted to build the organisation (in Bihar and UP)."
He, however, reiterated that the Fourth front is with the UPA. "Our front is part of the UPA."
Commenting on the Third Front, he said "there is no problem in our relationship with... especially the CPI (M)... But we do not have any links with the so called Third Front."
Prasad said the SP, LJP and RJD will remain united after the polls and there was no question of going to the NDA. He said the door with Left is still open.
Asked whether he is also a Prime Ministerial candidate, Prasad said he would like to become Prime Minister one day but not now.
"Now our main aim is to defeat the communal forces. They are again raising the issue of building the (Ram) temple, bringing back POTA," he said.
'Godfather' Dawood supporting al-Qaeda: US lawmaker
Washington Identifying Dawood Ibrahim as the "godfather" of India's organised crime, an influential US lawmaker has said the underworld don's D-company, which also supports al-Qaeda, is heavily involved in Bollywood and linked to piracy in a big way.
"If you think about it, the godfather of godfathers, as he's called, of Indian organised crime, Dawood Ibrahim, is linked to piracy in a big way," Congressman Ed Royce said during a field hearing on piracy organised by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in Los Angles.
"Frankly he is a big supporter of al-Qaeda, and in the past, also the LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba)," Royce said and held him responsible for the series of Mumbai blasts in 1993. The Republican lawmaker said at the hearing last week that "D-Company is the operation" run by Dawood now.
"It's (D-Company) now integrated into every part of the Indian filmmaking industry, from distribution to loan-sharking, and I guess a special irony here, for those of you who saw 'Slumdog Millionaire' is the fact that a lot was made of organised crime there and the way in which corruption has that insidious effect," he said.
"Think, for a minute: the very people portrayed, the very organised crime syndicate, are involved today in pirating and undermining Bollywood, and undermining Hollywood," he said during the hearing, according to a transcript made available to PTI.
"If they weren't tied to terrorists that were engaged in this kind of activity we'd have enough to worry about; but this should really focus our attention, I'm afraid. The high profit margins in this kind of crime make it little wonder why gangsters and terrorists have turned to piracy," Royce said.
In his opening remarks, Congressman Howard Berman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said India needs to seriously address the issue of Intellectual Property Rights protection and prevent piracy of movies, which is resulting in huge loss to the entertainment industry both in Hollywood and Bollywood.
"Its own homegrown entertainment industry, Bollywood, is subject to many of the same concerns that plague Hollywood. We need to do better at protecting Bollywood films when pirated copies are sold in mom and pop shops here in the US," the Democrat said.
"As evident with the crossover success and number of pirated copies of 'Slumdog Millionaire' viewed in India, India needs to enforce adequate protections for multinational innovation as well," he said.
US accounts for nearly 12 million illegal immigrants
NEW YORK: An estimated 11.9 million illegal immigrants are residing in the US, out of which 11% hails from the Asian countries, a study has said.
The total number of unauthorized labour immigrants is 8.3 million, which forms the part of America's 154 million strong labour force. The 5.4% illegal immigrant share of the labour force in 2008 rose rapidly from 4.3% in 2003, and has levelled off since 2007, the study by Pew Research Center, based on the data collected by the US Census Bureau till March 2008, has revealed.
The study says the immigrants living in the US are more geographically dispersed than in the past and a growing share of the children of unauthorized immigrant parents that constitutes of 73%, were born in America and are its citizens.
The illegal immigrants form 4% of the nation's population and 5.4% of its workforce. Their children make up 6.8% of the students enrolled in the nation's elementary and secondary schools.
About three quarters (76 per cent) of the nation's unauthorised immigrant population are Hispanics, 59% from Mexico numbering 7 million, 11 per cent from Asia and Central America, 7% from South America, 4 per cent from Caribbean and less than 2% from Middle East, the study said.
With 2.7 million illegal immigrants, California has their largest population.
Pohela Boishakh
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Bengali New Year celebration in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Bengali New Year (Bengali: নববর্ষ Nôbobôrsho) or Pohela Boishakh (পহেলা বৈশাখ Pôhela Boishakh or পয়লা বৈশাখ Pôela Boishakh or Poila Boishakh) is the first day of the Bengali calendar, celebrated in both Bangladesh and West Bengal, and in Bengali communities in Assam and Tripura. Pohela Boishakh connects all ethnic Bengalis irrespective of religious and regional differences. It falls on April 14 or April 15 of the Gregorian calendar depending on the use of the new amended or the old Bengali calendar respectively. In Bangladesh, it is celebrated on April 14 according to the official amended calendar designed by the Bangla Academy. In Bangladesh, Pohela Boishakh is a national holiday and in West Bengal and Assam it is a public (state) holiday and is publicly celebrated on April 15 every year.
Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 In Kolkata
3 In Dhaka
4 In Chittagong Hill Tracts
5 Celebration in other countries
6 See also
7 External links
[edit] History
The Hindu solar calendar based on the Surya Siddhanta commences in mid-April of the Gregorian year. The first day of this calendar is celebrated as the traditional New Year in various parts of South Asia, including Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Manipur, Nepal, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Tripura. It is also celebrated as the traditional New Year across Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand (see Songkran).
Under the Mughals, agricultural taxes were collected according to the Hijri calendar. However, as the Hijri calendar is a purely lunar calendar, it does not coincide with the harvest. As a result, farmers were hard-pressed to pay taxes out of season. In order to streamline tax collection, the Mughal Emperor Akbar ordered a reform of the calendar. Accordingly, Fatehullah Shirazi, a renowned scholar and astronomer, formulated the Bengali year on the basis of the Hijri lunar and solar Hindu solar calendars. The new Fasli San (agricultural year) was introduced on 10/11 March 1584, but was dated from Akbar's ascension to the throne in 1556. The new year subsequently became known as Bônggabdo or Bengali year.
Celebrations of Pohela Boishakh started from Akbar's reign. It was customary to clear up all dues on the last day of Choitro. On the next day, or the first day of the new year, landlords would entertain their tenants with sweets. On this occasion there used to be fairs and other festivities. In due course the occasion became part of domestic and social life, and turned into a day of merriment. The main event of the day was to open a halkhata or new book of accounts. This was wholly a financial affair. In villages, towns and cities, traders and businessmen closed their old account books and opened new ones. They used to invite their customers to share sweets and renew their business relationship with them. This tradition is still practised, especially by jewellers.
[edit] In Kolkata
In Kolkata, Pohela Boishakh (and indeed the entire month of Boishakh) is considered to be an auspicious time for marriages. This day people wear new clothes and go about socialising. Choitro, the last month of the previous year, is the month of hectic activities and frantic purchases. Garment traders organize a Choitro sale and sell the garments with heavy discounts.
Pohela Boishakh is the day for cultural programmes. Prayers are offered for the well-being and prosperity of the family. Young ladies clad in white saris with red borders and men clad in dhuti and kurta take part in the Probhat Pheri processions early in the morning to welcome the first day of the year.
This day being auspicious, new businesses and new ventures are started. The Mahurat is performed, marking the beginning of new ventures.
Pohela Boishakh is the beginning of all business activities in Bengal. The traders purchase new accounting books called halkhata. The accounting in the halkhata begins only after offering puja. Mantras are chanted and স্বস্তিক shostik ("Hindu swastika") are drawn on the accounting book by the priests. Long queues of devotees are seen in front of the Kalighat temple from late night. Devotees offer puja to receive the blessings of the almighty.
On Pohela Boishakh various fairs are held in West Bengal. The most famous of these is Bangla Sangit Mela, held at Nandan-Rabindra Sadan ground. This fair is conducted by the Government of West Bengal.
[edit] In Dhaka
Colorful celebration of Pohela Boishakh in Dhaka.
New Year's festivities are closely linked with rural life in Bengal. Usually on Pohela Boishakh, the home is thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned; people bathe early in the morning and dress in fine clothes. They spend much of the day visiting relatives, friends, and neighbours. Special foods are prepared to entertain guests. This is one rural festival that has become enormously big in the cities, especially in Dhaka.
Boishakhi fairs are arranged in many parts of the country. Various agricultural products, traditional handicrafts, toys, cosmetics, as well as various kinds of food and sweets are sold at these fairs. The fairs also provide entertainment, with singers and dancers staging jatra (traditional plays), pala gan, kobigan, jarigan, gambhira gan, gazir gan and alkap gan. They present folk songs as well as baul, marfati, murshidi and bhatiali songs. Narrative plays like Laila-Majnu, Yusuf-Zulekha and Radha-Krishna are staged. Among other attractions of these fairs are puppet shows and merry-go-rounds.
Many old festivals connected with New Year's Day have disappeared, while new festivals have been added. With the abolition of the zamindari system, the punya connected with the closing of land revenue accounts has disappeared. Kite flying in Dhaka and bull racing in Munshiganj used to be very colourful events. Other popular village games and sports were horse races, bullfights, cockfights, flying pigeons, and boat racing. Some festivals, however, continue to be observed; for example, bali (wrestling) in Chittagong and gambhira in Rajshahi are still popular events.
Observance of Pohela Boishakh has become popular in the cities. Early in the morning, people gather under a big tree or on the bank of a lake to witness the sunrise. Artists present songs to usher in the new year. People from all walks of life wear traditional Bengali attire: young women wear white saris with red borders, and adorn themselves with churi bangles, ful flowers, and tip (bindis). Men wear white paejama (pants) or lungi(dhoti/dhuti) (long skirt) and kurta (tunic). Many townspeople start the day with the traditional breakfast of panta bhat (rice soaked in water), green chillies, onion, and fried hilsa fish.
Panta Ilish - a tradtional platter of leftover rice soaked in water with fried Hilsa, supplemented with dried fish (Shutki), pickles (Achar), lentils (dal), green chillies and onion - a popular dish for the Pohela Boishakh festival.
The most colourful new year's day festival takes place in Dhaka. Large numbers of people gather early in the morning under the banyan tree at Ramna Park where Chhayanat artists open the day with Rabindranath Tagore's famous song, এসো, হে বৈশাখ, এসো এসো Esho, he Boishakh, Esho Esho (Come, O Boishakh, Come, Come). A similar ceremony welcoming the new year is also held at the Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka. Students and teachers of the institute take out a colourful procession and parade round the campus. Social and cultural organisations celebrate the day with cultural programmes. Newspapers bring out special supplements. There are also special programmes on radio and television.
The historical importance of Pohela Boishakh in the Bangladeshi context may be dated from the observance of the day by Chhayanat in 1965. In an attempt to suppress Bengali culture, the Pakistani Government had banned poems written by Rabindranath Tagore, the most famous poet and writer in Bengali literature. Protesting this move, Chhayanat opened their Pohela Boishakh celebrations at Ramna Park with Tagore's song welcoming the month. The day continued to be celebrated in East Pakistan as a symbol of Bengali culture. After 1972 it became a national festival, a symbol of the Bangladesh nationalist movement and an integral part of the people's cultural heritage. Later, in the mid- 1980s the Institute of Fine Arts added colour to the day by initiating the Boishakhi parade, which is much like a carnival parade.
[edit] In Chittagong Hill Tracts
The punya or rajpunya is now observed only in the three figurative tribal kingdoms in Bangladesh - Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachori. In Rangamati, the principal town of Chittagong Hill Tracts and the seat for the Hill Administrative Council, three different ethnic minority groups have come together to merge their observance of Pohela Baishakh. Boisuk of Tripura people, Sangrai of Marma people and Biju of Chakma people have come together as BoiSaBi, a day of a wide variety of festivities. One of the more colorful activities of the day in the hills is the water festival of the Marma people.
[edit] Celebration in other countries
Main article: Baishakhi Mela
The Bengali community in the United Kingdom celebrate the Bengali new year with a street festival in London. It is the largest Asian festival in Europe and the largest Bengali festival outside of Bangladesh and India.
Main article: Vaisakhi
The Hindu communities in India, where the holiday is called Vaisakhi, also celebrate the beginning of Spring and the end of the harvest season on Pôhela Boishakh. The Sikh communities celebrate 'Vaisakhi because it is the birth of the Sikh order of the Khalsa. Vaisakhi is also called Rongali Bihu in Assam, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu and Pooram Vishu in Kerala.
Main article: Vesak
In Buddhist communities, the month of Boishakh is associated with Vesak, known as Visakah Puja or Buddha Purnima in India, Visakha Bucha in Thailand, Waisak in Indonesia and Wesak in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. It commemorates the birth, Enlightenment and passing of Gautama Buddha on the one historical day, the first full moon day in May, except in a leap year when the festival is held in June. Although this festival is not held on the same day as Pohela Boishakh, the holidays typically fall in the same month (Boishakh) of the Bengali, Hindu, and Theravada Buddhist calendars, and are related historically through the spread of Hinduism and Buddhism in Southeast Asia.
Pohela Boishakh does, however, coincide with the New Years in many other calendars, including those of South India (Kerala, Tamil Nadu), Sri Lanka, Nepal, Eastern India (Assam, Manipur, Orissa), and Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand).
In Australia, the Bengali new year is celebrated in various cities such as Melbourne and Canberra through Boi Shakhi Melas (fairs) where people gather to celebrate the culture of Bangladesh through dances, fashion shows, stalls of art, music, clothing, food and etc. However the largest celebration for the Bengali new year in Australia is the Sydney Boi Shakhi Mela which was traditionally held at the Burwood Girls High School but from 2006 has been held at the Homebush Stadium. It attracts large crowds and is a very anticipated event on the Australian Bengali community's calendar.
[edit] See also
Festivals of West Bengal
Panjika
Thai New Year
[edit] External links
Banglapedia Entry on Pohela Boishakh
Bangla New Year Day or Pohela Boishakh
[show] v • d • eFestivals in the Hindu calendar
Major festivals Sankranthi (Pongal) · Holi · Rama Navami · Krishna Janmashtami · Ganesh Chaturthi (Gowri Habba) · Navratri (Dasara - Durga Puja - Vijayadashami) · Diwali (Bhau-Beej) · Chhath
Regional New Year Gudi Padwa (Marathi) / Ugadi (Kannada)
Cheti Chand (Sindhi)
Vaisakhi(Punjabi) / Pohela Boishakh (Bengali)/ Puthandu (Tamil) / Vishu (Malayali)
Holy days Karwa Chauth · Thaipusam · Maha Shivaratri · Ekadasi · Mahalakshmi Vrata · Raksha Bandhan
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The Credit Crisis
Is the International Role of the Dollar at Stake?
Ramaa Vasudevan
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Ramaa Vasudevan teaches economics at Colorado State University. She is a member of the Union for Radical Political Economics and the Dollars and Sense collective.
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As the first tremors of the looming financial crisis ripped through Wall Street, with the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market in the summer of 2007, the dollar plunged sharply. Perversely however, even as some financial pundits were foretelling its collapse, the deepening of the crisis following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 actually saw the dollar gain ground sharply (for the first time since the steady decline that began in 2002; see chart 1).1
Chart 1. Nominal major currencies dollar index
Source: Federal Reserve, "Nominal Major Currencies Dollar Index."
For any other country a financial crisis of this magnitude would have sparked a full-scale currency crisis. Why then has the deepening of a crisis centered in the United States actually seen the reverse, the strengthening of the dollar? The answer lies in the continuing role of the dollar as international money.
In “Finance, Imperialism, and the Hegemony of the Dollar,” in the April 2008 issue of Monthly Review, I argued that the privileged role of the dollar as international money has been critical to U.S. imperialist hegemony. The explosion of private financial flows globally helped the United States preserve and establish its pivotal place at the center of the international financial markets and impose a “dollar standard.” However, this process also created the conditions for its own unraveling. The present crisis, an outcome of this unfettered growth and rising dominance of finance, lays bare the contradictions of the mechanisms of the dollar standard.
Two developments summarize the process so far: (1) When panic hit, the U.S. dollar’s status as “international money” asserted itself, and the dollar rose against all currencies other than the yen. (2) The implosion of the financial system, however, has threatened the foundation of dollar hegemony—its central role in the proliferating web of global private capital flows. The current crisis is thus also potentially a crisis of dollar hegemony.
Dollar Hegemony
The Bretton Woods negotiations at the end of the Second World War paved the way for establishing the dominance of the dollar as international money. This role was sustained by the confidence that the United States with its vast reserves of gold would honor the commitment to provide gold to foreign central banks in exchange for dollars at a fixed rate of $35 per ounce. By the end of the sixties, the growing trade deficit and the burdens of its military interventions in Vietnam created a huge dollar overhang abroad. In the face of increased demands for gold in exchange for dollars the United States unilaterally abandoned gold convertibility. This, however, did not lead to the dismantling of dollar hegemony. Instead, the refashioning of the international monetary system into a “floating dollar standard” in the post–Bretton Woods period was associated with the aggressive pursuit of liberalized financial markets in order to encourage private international capital flows denominated in dollars.
In the 1970s the Eurodollar markets served as the principal means of recycling oil surpluses from the oil exporters to developing economies, particularly in Latin America. This process became a tool of resurgent U.S. political dominance. The 1970s military dictatorships in Chile, Indonesia, and Argentina, and the “Chicago School” free market regimes that followed, were bolstered by repression and supported by the readily available loans from U.S. banks flush with oil funds. Once this cheap bonanza of credit came to an end with the debt crisis in 1982, a new wave of neoliberal reforms and financial liberalization was imposed through the IMF–World Bank rescue packages. The crisis was deployed to further entrench the dominance of the dollar and U.S. imperialist agenda. In country after country the IMF and World Bank imposed “structural adjustment” policies during the crisis phase that destroyed all attempts at independent economic development while engulfing their financial systems in the ambit of dollar hegemony.2 This set in motion another surge of dollar denominated private capital flows to emerging markets and a fresh round of crisis in the 1990s when capital flowed back to the United States.
Chart 2: Private capital flows to the United States and to emerging markets (billions of dollars)
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Global Development Finance.
From 1973, up until about 2003 (the run-up to the present crisis) the periods when flows to emerging markets surged were also periods with a net efflux from the United States. As the surge comes to an end in the wake of capital flight and crisis, as in the Latin American debt crisis in 1982–83 and the Asian crisis in 1997–98, private capital flows are sucked back into the United States (see chart 2).3
The privileged role of the dollar provided the United States with an international line of credit that helped fuel a consumption binge. Cheap imports allowed consumption to be sustained despite stagnant or declining real wages. The export-led economies of Asia (first Japan, later East Asia and China) in turn depended on mass consumption in the United States to drive their economies. But the dependence on cheap imports precipitated growing trade deficits. Unlike other deficit countries the United States could, because of the dollar’s role as international money, finance its growing deficits by issuing its own debt in the form of the holding of reserves and U.S. Treasury bills (T-bills) by the creditor countries.
The United States has played the role of the banker to the world, drawing in surpluses from Asia and the oil exporting countries, and recycling these in the form of private capital flows to emerging markets in the periphery. The countercyclical pattern of the private flows to emerging markets, noted above, was critical to the mechanism by which the dollar’s role was preserved. These private capital flows served as a safety-valve mechanism, enabling the export of crisis to the debtor-periphery. While the United States has not been immune to episodes of financial fragility in this period — such as the 1987 stock market crash, the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s and early ’90s, the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management in 1998, or the dot-com bust at the turn of the century — the corresponding financial crises were far greater in the periphery. By 2007 however, this mechanism had begun to lose some traction.
This Time it Is Different
By 2007 the United States absorbed 65 percent of global capital imports compared to 34 percent in 1995, a culmination of more than a decade of worsening global imbalances. This was accompanied by a growing stockpiling of foreign reserves by emerging markets. The emerging economies turned from being current account deficit countries through the ’80s and ’90s to acquiring increasing surpluses since 2002. By 2006 developing countries were financing more than 70 percent of U.S. current account deficits (see chart 3). At the same time, after the experience of the Asian crisis, emerging markets perceived the need to increase precautionary holdings of foreign reserves in order to insulate their economies from the impact of capital flight. Reserve holdings by developing countries rose to about $2.7 trillion in 2006 of which about 60 percent are held as dollars. Thus the periphery was not vulnerable to capital flight and foreign exchange fluctuations in the same way as it had been in the previous decades.
Chart 3: Current account balances of the United States and developing countries (billions of dollars)
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Global Development Finance.
Another difference is that the countercyclical pattern of flows that characterized the period from 1973 is no longer in evidence after 2002 (see chart 2). After the collapse of the dot-com boom in 2002, instead of launching a new credit bubble in the emerging markets, the policies followed by Alan Greenspan helped stoke a bubble in the U.S. housing market. Buyers across the globe began investing in U.S. mortgage-backed assets, and over a trillion dollars of funds from around the globe were swallowed up by the U.S. subprime markets. This helped finance the purchase of homes all over the country, and enabled the growth of debt financed consumption. The financial bubble in the United States led to the emergence of a new pattern of dollar recycling that channeled capital flows from the surplus countries in the periphery towards U.S. markets.4 The exploding of the bubble with the collapse of the subprime mortgage market was associated with a reversal of the recycling mechanisms that exported fragility to the periphery through the ’80s and ’90s. The unraveling of the shadow banking system in 2007 was followed by a panic pull-out of foreign private capital from U.S. assets. This further exacerbated the crisis. Private capital inflows to the United States dropped significantly in 2007. This is when the dollar went into a sharp decline, which was, however, soon reversed.
In the initial stages of the subprime crisis the impact was largely contained within the North Atlantic capitalist core of the United States and Europe (particularly the United Kingdom). Emerging markets were relatively less exposed to the market for mortgage-backed securities. Capital flows to emerging markets continued to rise and flows to developing countries surged in 2007 by about 40 percent from its 2006 level. Commodity exporters, in particular, were thriving on the basis of the boom in prices as investors went scrambling for returns to the commodity futures markets.5
A Safe Haven in a Global Crisis
However the events in the first two weeks of September — the rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the fire sale of Merrill Lynch, and the rescue of AIG — heralded the complete freezing of credit markets. Financial institutions hoarded cash and demanded ever widening premiums before lending to one another. The contagion effects of the credit crisis in the United States now spread globally, leading to capital flight from Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia. At a time of world crisis when markets do not have any confidence in the ability of debtors to honor their debts, and have frozen lending, T-bills—in other words international money—became the safest bet.
The dollar began to rise against a host of currencies (excluding the yen) as U.S. investors repatriated funds, speculators turned increasingly averse to risk amid the growing turmoil, and market operators sought dollars to meet their lenders’ demands. Investors and banks also began to withdraw their money from investment banks and hedge funds. The result was the fire sale of assets; “deleveraging” created a sudden desperate need for cash in the form of dollars.
Even as the credit machinery remained jammed and the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve (hereafter referred to as the Fed) were floundering through the different incarnations of the Troubled Assets Relief Plan, the global demand for T-bills grew. Though the Fed had cut short-term interest rates, the intense demand for Treasuries from financial institutions pushed the yield even lower, briefly below zero on December 8, 2008. Panicked institutional investors were more than willing to lose a little for fear of losing a lot, and dollars in the form of T-bills seemed the safest port in the storm.
Marx had argued that capitalism’s propensity to financial crisis arises “where the ever-lengthening chain of payments, and an artificial system of settling them, has been fully developed.”6 The growth of finance which developed as a powerful force shaping dollar hegemony over the past three decades has bred such an artificial chain of payments internationally.7 In Marx’s analysis a credit crisis manifests the breakdown of “the chain of payments” that constitutes the financial system. This breakdown creates a frenzied clamor for “money” as the safest and most liquid, riskless asset. This collapse of the credit mechanism to its monetary roots — manifested in the resurgent demand for T-bills — is a classic sign of monetary crisis in the history of capitalism.8
The Crisis Hits the Periphery
Writing a year ago in Monthly Review, before the credit crunch had taken hold of the global financial system, I had suggested that the surge of capital flows to emerging markets through 2007 might create the conditions leading to a fresh wave of financial crises in the periphery and the revival of flows back into the United States. By the time the full force of the panic hit in September 2008 capital had begun flowing back to the United States, and outflows from emerging market bond and equity funds reached $29.5 billion between June and September 2008 (the highest level since at least 1995). The commodity bubble in developing countries also collapsed, as investors fled from all forms of risk, and export demand fell with the impact of recessionary forces in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe. The accumulating surpluses and reserves in emerging markets began to erode. Stock markets crashed in Asia and Latin America as investors began pulling out and seeking the safety of the dollar.
Capital flight from the emerging markets has precipitated a fall in some emerging market currencies of as much as 50 percent, fueling currency crises in Iceland, Hungary, and Ukraine. Eastern Europe has been particularly vulnerable.9 With current account deficits approaching 7 percent of GDP and private capital inflows amounting to 11 percent of GDP in 2007 — a level that exceeds that of developing countries in Asia and Latin America — it is not surprising that a severe financial crisis erupted in Eastern Europe. But where the crises of 1982–83 and 1997–98 in Latin America and East Asia were effectively deployed to further U.S. hegemony, the current economic collapse of the “shock therapy” neocapitalist regimes in Eastern Europe is a challenge to U.S. imperialism, not an opportunity.
Although the emerging markets are besieged by capital flight and confront the contradictions of their export-led development strategies, the unraveling in the periphery has not, in the much more serious world crisis of today, resulted in a renewal of the financial system at the center. The inflows to the United States are largely in the markets for U.S. Treasuries rather than into the battered private financial system. The European Union is denied similar recourse since there is no comparable market for sovereign debt at the level of the European Union. As a result, paradoxically liquidity in the U.S. markets remains at all-time highs. The real problem is that despite all this liquidity the credit machinery has refused to restart as banks and financial institutions remain wary of lending, and are simply stockpiling excess reserves. In other words the supply of money is way up but its velocity is even further down, keeping deflationary forces strong. Consequently, the international financial system shows no signs of revival.
Signs of Strain
The Fed lies at the heart of the international financial system. It has to juggle the conflicting claims of maintaining U.S. imperial interests and domestic imperatives.10 The response of the Fed and the U.S. Treasury to the current crisis is shaped by these twin domestic and international imperatives.
The Fed normally regulates the volume of credit in the economy by calibrating the Federal Funds rate (the rate at which banks lend surplus funds to one another) to expand or contract credit flows. But the implosion of the financial system undermined the efficacy of traditional policy tools. While the Fed has reduced its target interest rates to near zero, there has been virtually no impact on kick-starting lending.
In these circumstances the strategy that the Fed has adopted to arrest the downward spiral of asset prices is to foment inflation by expanding the money supply.11 The Fed is injecting short-term liquidity into the financial system by buying T-bills (in exchange for newly created cash reserves) and holding them on the central bank’s balance sheet.12 This policy of inflating your way out of a crisis of falling asset prices is called “quantitative easing.” Moreover, the Fed’s policy under Bernanke is not restricted to the purchase of government securities but also involves “qualitative easing” or “credit easing” — taking onto its balance sheet a wide range of financial assets of lower quality than short-term Treasury obligations. One implication of this policy is that the Fed’s balance sheet is set to expand almost without limit. Its balance sheet rose from $874 billion in August 2007 to $900 billion before the fall of Lehman Brothers. Over the few months since, it has surged to about $2 trillion. During the last quarter of 2008 the share of Treasuries on the asset side of this ballooning balance sheet declined from 90 percent to 21 percent as the Fed acquired riskier assets, including mortgage-backed securities and commercial paper.13
One reason why this massive injection of funds is not translating into reflation is because financial institutions are hoarding money in the form of excess reserves kept at the Fed. From normal levels of around $7 billion, these reserves are currently pushing $1 trillion and are still rising. The problem is again that this credit crisis has resulted in a collapse of the paper edifice of the bloated financial system, forcing it back on its monetary base.14
By reassuring investors that it will hold overnight lending rates at near zero for the foreseeable future, the Fed has essentially given traders a cost-free way to borrow overnight and invest the proceeds in higher yielding assets. The implicit hope is that the increased borrowing will be used to purchase higher-risk financial assets and revive the securities markets and financial flows into the United States. In other words foster another bubble! The financial press is already warning of the possibilities of a Treasuries bubble.15
The danger is that this policy would propel a flight of currency from dollar markets. The announcement of the zero-interest-rate policy and quantitative easing halted the rapid rise of the dollar after four months in which the U.S. currency recorded its biggest gains since 2002.16 While the U.S. Treasury bill continues to remain a globally sought safe haven, that status is unlikely to remain unscathed. The market for Treasuries is likely to face a glut of T-bills in search of buyers, as the Fed balance sheet expands and so does the government’s need for finance. The increasing debt overhang may undermine confidence in U.S. Treasuries.
It is quite clear that the U.S. imperial agenda of refashioning the post-crisis world in a way that preserves dollar hegemony depends critically on China, which has finally outpaced Japan as the biggest holder of U.S. Treasuries. China has in a sense been locked into dollar holdings because selling off its mountain of Treasuries would precipitate a crash of the dollar and a collapse of its (dollar) asset base. This “balance of financial terror” underlay the arrangement where China stockpiled dollar reserves in order to pursue its strategy of export-led growth.17 Even though China cannot sell off its mountain, it may not be able to continue to add to its pile at the same rate either. The slowdown in Chinese exports, which began to decline sharply in the last quarter of 2008, would mean a flagging demand for U.S. Treasuries at precisely the point when issuance is skyrocketing.
The twin challenges for the U.S. imperial agenda are the restortion of the domestic economy and the refashioning of the battered global financial architecture to preserve the hegemony of the dollar. Despite all the talk of the renewal of financial regulation, Main Street prevailing over Wall Street, the reality is quite different. The slew of policies the Fed is adopting, and the ones that it has not adopted, suggest that they want a recovery of the domestic economy without constraining finance. This was quite apparent in the very distinct trajectories of the fiscal stimulus and the Wall Street rescue packages through Congress. However, internationally, the global recessionary forces that have been let loose with the credit crisis have also sparked a greater clamor for protection of domestic labor and industry, and for greater regulation and supervision of international capital flows. If this is sustained by a return to economically progressive agendas across the globe, and the strengthening of “South-South” mutual support networks — independent of the control of the United States — it would erode the dominance of finance, and would further weaken the privileged position of the United States at the heart of the international financial system.
Notes
See W. Munchau, “The Dollars Last Lap as the Only Anchor Currency,” Financial Times, November 27, 2007. Go back
In 1998, what Business Week termed “the SWAT team” of U.S. Treasury officials—Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, and David Lipton—used the opportunity of the Asian credit crisis to dictate conditions to the South Korean government that forced the opening their financial system. “The Asian Swat Team from Washington,” Business Week, February 23, 1998. As a result the Korean stock market became a gambling casino for foreign investors. Go back
Ramaa Vasudevan, “Dollar Hegemony, Financialization, and Imperialism,” Monthly Review 59, no. 11 (April, 2008). Go back
Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart, “Is The US Sub-Prime Market Crisis So Different?” American Economic Review 98, no. 2 (2008), 339-44. Go back
The speculative actions of arbitragers, manipulators, hedgers, speculators, and index investors promoted the commodity bubble at a time when speculators were seeking profitable investments as the market for collateralized debt obligations crashed. Randall Wray, “The Commodity Bubble: Money Manager Capitalism and The Financialization of Commodities,” Public Policy Brief 96 (Levy Economic Institute, Bard College, 2008). Go back
Karl Marx, Capital, vol. 1 (New York: Vintage Books, 1977), 235. Go back
Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin, “Finance and the American Empire,” The Socialist Register 2005 (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2005), discuss the integral role of the process of disciplining labor to the rising dominance of finance. More recently they argue that the scale of the current crisis cannot be understood apart from how the defeat of U.S. trade unionism played out by the first years of the twenty-first century. See “The Current Crisis: A Socialist Perspective” The Bullet (September 30, 2008). Go back
Marx has a remarkably prescient analysis of monetary crisis: “Whenever there is a general and extensive disturbance of this mechanism, no matter what its cause, money becomes suddenly and immediately transformed, from its merely ideal shape of money of account, into hard cash....On the eve of the crisis, the bourgeois, with the self-sufficiency that springs from intoxicating prosperity, declares money to be a vain imagination. Commodities alone are money. But now the cry is everywhere: money alone is a commodity!...Hence, in such events, the form under which money appears is of no importance. The money famine continues, whether payments have to be made in gold or in credit money such as bank-notes.” Karl Marx, Capital, vol. 1 (New York: Vintage Books, 1977), 235–36. This analysis foreshadows Keynes’s discussion of the liquidity trap where investor confidence has been severely battered and the preference for liquidity is absolute. Go back
International Monetary Fund, Global Financial Stability Report (Washington D.C., 2008). Go back
J. Lawrence Broz, The International Origins of the Federal Reserve System (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997). Go back
This was the policy that Irving Fisher urged on FDR during the Great Depression. Jan Kregel, “Krugman on the Liquidity Trap: Why Inflation Won’t Bring Recovery in Japan,” Working Paper No. 298 (Levy Economics Institute, Bard College, 2000). It was also the basis of the decision to devalue the dollar by raising the price of gold. Bernanke, who cut his professional teeth studying the Great Depression, argued that “The devaluation and the rapid increase in money supply it permitted ended the U.S. deflation remarkably quickly.” Ben S. Bernanke, “Deflation: Making Sure ‘It’ Doesn’t Happen Here” (remarks before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002). Go back
FT Alphaville (Financial Times blog, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/) carried some of the earliest and most cogent chronicling of this strategy of quantitative easing. Go back
“Fed Assets Fall to 1.9 Trillion as Foreign Currency Swaps Drop,” Bloomberg.com, March 5, 2009. The Fed’s balance sheet appears likely to reach $3 trillion following their announcement of March 18, 2009. Go back
In other words, the monetarists have got the wrong end of the stick—money supply responds to the demand for money not vice versa. This argument, which goes back to Marx and Keynes, is integral to the analysis of the endogenous money school including post-Keynesian economists who see the financial system as one based on credit money. See L. Randall Wray, Understanding Money (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 1998) and Makoto Itoh and Costas Lapavistas, The Political Economy of Money and Finance (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999). Also see Steve Keen, “The roving cavaliers of credit,” Debtwatch, February 31, 2009, http://www.debtdeflation.com/. Go back
John Kemp, “Fed Unleashes Greatest Bubble of All,” Reuters, December 17, 2008. Go back
John Kemp “Fed Cut Sparks Dollar Dive,” Reuters, December 18, 2008. Go back
Luo Ping, a director general at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, while speaking at the Global Association of Risk Management’s 10th Annual Risk Management Convention, said: “‘Except for US Treasuries, what can you hold?’ he asked. ‘Gold? You don’t hold Japanese government bonds or UK bonds. US Treasuries are the safe haven. For everyone, including China, it is the only option.’ Mr Luo, whose English tends toward the colloquial, added: ‘We hate you guys. Once you start issuing $1 trillion–$2 trillion [$1,000bn–$2,000bn]...we know the dollar is going to depreciate, so we hate you guys but there is nothing much we can do.’” Henny Sender, “China to Stick with US Bonds,” Financial Times, February 11, 2009. Go back
http://www.monthlyreview.org/090413-vasudevan.php
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People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XXX
No. 38
September 17, 2006
Election Commission: Debate Reforms, Not Accuse The CPI(M)
Prakash Karat
THE CPI(M)’s critique of the functioning of the Election Commission and presenting a case for its reform has been met with a volley of criticism from a section of the media and the BJP. Two national newspapers have published editorials calling upon the Party to desist from weakening the Commission. The BJP has been expectedly more strident with Arun Jaitley calling the CPI(M) document a “complete charter for rigging”. None of them have refuted the main arguments set out in the document.
The Hindustan Times editorial is singular for its frivolousness and anti-Communist bias. It makes the absurd suggestion that the attack on the EC has been launched because the office of profit issue is before the EC for consideration. The problem with the EC’s attitude to West Bengal elections began much before. It was manifest during the Lok Sabha polls in 2004 and emerged with a vengeance in the run up to and announcement of the assembly elections. The other ridiculous suggestion in the editorial is that the attack on the EC stems from the necessity to “keep some of the CPI(M)’s renegade cadre-level leaders in West Bengal happy without chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya having to cook up a new role for them”. It is doubtful whether the editorial writer himself understands what is meant by such an assertion.
QUESTION OF STATE’S POWERS
The critics of the CPI(M) have not responded to the main points in the Party’s document.
1. Is it right or wrong to completely exclude the state police from manning the polling booths on polling day and handing over this job exclusively to the central paramilitary forces? Is this not a violation of the Constitutional arrangement and the state’s powers regarding law and order?
If the critics contend it is right for the EC to exclude the state police completely, then will they accept that this should then apply to all states? Will Arun Jaitley agree to the state police in Gujarat being excluded completely from the poll process, given its proven communal bias? The CPI(M) does not accept the exclusion of the state police in any state from deployment in the polling booths. What it can accept is the joint stationing of state and central forces.
2. Can the Election Commission impugn the integrity of state government employees just because they are unionised? What is the difference between state government employees association in West Bengal and in Tamilnadu, or for that matter Gujarat? Surely the EC cannot decide what type of trade union affiliations are acceptable or not. The EC will be treading dangerous ground it if it considers the affinity of the employees to Left ideology as inimical to free and fair polls but overlooks the links with RSS of sections of employees in BJP-ruled states.
3. The West Bengal polls have brought the role of central observers into sharp focus. Can the EC brief them to conduct activities assuming executive powers riding roughshod over the state administration? Can they entertain false complaints from opponents and order raids on CPI(M) party offices, houses of CPI(M) supporters and brand voters as Bangladeshi citizens and get them arrested?
4. Can the EC take steps to curb inexpensive political campaigning like wall writing and postering? What law provides for depriving a citizen from hoisting a party flag in his or her own house? Such an illegal step was enforced in West Bengal. Matters went to such a ridiculous extent that observers ordered the hauling down of Red flags from trade union offices. The Red flag with hammer and sickle is not the copyright of the CPI(M) or any other party. It is a sui generis symbol adopted by all working class organisations.
What sense is there in the EC’s decision to allow crores of rupees to be spent on advertising and the use of helicopters by parties like the BJP and the Congress while the CPI(M) is barred from deploying its cadres to write its political message on the walls of houses of citizens whose permission has been obtained.
Can the EC’s claim that states will be treated differently on the stages of polling, the type of campaigning allowed, restrictions on political activists, activities of central observers etc be accepted without critical scrutiny. The fact that West Bengal had a five-phase polling, more than the four-phase polling in terrorist violence affected Jammu & Kashmir in 2002 surely needs an explanation. Can the EC explain why Tamilnadu required only a one-day poll while Kerala needed a three-day poll?
The CPI(M) is advised to give up its critique of EC functioning by citing the big victory of the Left Front in the assembly elections. The huge victory is proof that the EC has done a good job – so lay off the EC, so goes the refrain. In fact, the Left Front registered such a big victory despite the EC’s efforts to thwart such a result. If there had been only a two-phase poll, as in the past; if 9 lakh voters had not been arbitrarily removed after the finalisation of the voters’ list and if the CPI(M) had been allowed to conduct an extensive political campaign through its traditional methods, the results would have been better.
The problem is that the EC had decided well in advance that elections in West Bengal are not held in a free and fair manner. It may be recalled that during the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 the EC had proposed to bring 50 per cent of the polling staff from outside the state. In a circular to the chief secretaries of neighbouring states like Assam and Orissa, the Commission had asked for government employees to be drafted for poll duty in the state. The interference by central observers was seen in that election too. What was planned for the assembly elections was nothing less than a full scale “Operation” in the name of creating a “level playing field” for the opposition. The resort to dubious extraordinary measures cannot be justified under the powers vested with the Commission under Article 324 of the Constitution.
ANTI-COMMUNIST PREJUDICE
The Indian Express editorial poses the question whether “the Left’s anger against the EC” is a reflection “that it hasn’t quite come to terms with the concept of checks and balances”. This is an important issue which has been posed wrongly. A quick look at political history would show that the Constitutional set-up has been misused time and again against the Left. There was intolerance of the Communist party right from the time it decided to enter parliamentary politics. In 1959, its first elected ministry was dismissed. Article 356 was not so blatantly misused till then. It was later utilised repeatedly in West Bengal. It is by fighting against the arbitrary use of the Article 356, in which the CPI(M) played a major role, that some “checks and balances” were brought in later through the Bommai judgement on the use of this power to dismiss elected state governments.
It is the consistent concern of the CPI(M) that the rights of states should not be eroded and the federal structure strengthened. The EC's recent actions have encroached on some of these powers. There has to be some “checks and balances” to ensure that the EC does not act on the unstated premise that virtual president’s rule should be imposed on a state where elections are being held.
The CPI(M)’s overall record, we can claim, has been to expand democratic rights and to strengthen parliamentary democracy, not weaken it. The EC is a vital institution in this regard. But the EC presided over by bureaucrats cannot be allowed to restrict political campaigning and attenuate people’s participation. It is a typical bureaucratic response to view with suspicion high polling in West Bengal and Kerala. They fail to comprehend that it is the Left politics which has deepened political participation in these states. If there is 90 per cent polling in a booth, the EC orders a special enquiry, while it should be seen as a triumph of popular participation.
It is this same outlook which directed the EC to take the illegal and extraordinary step of prohibiting a citizen from putting up a flag, poster or banner in support of the candidate he or she supports in their own house. This single act itself vitiated the basic right of a citizen. Can this be tolerated in any democratic system? Is there any recourse for thousands of citizens whose names were deleted from the voters list and who could not vote on polling day? Is there any recourse for a citizen who was ordered to be arrested by a central election observer on the false charge of being a Bangladeshi?
PARTISAN, WHO?
Coming back to Arun Jaitley, he accuses the CPI(M) of having lost its moral authority by supporting the appointment of a “partisan person” to the EC. The BJP has established a new precedent by taking to the streets to remove an election commissioner. One would like to know how Jaitley defines a “partisan person”? When the BJP-led government was in office, they appointed a commissioner, N Gopalaswami, who is now the CEC. Gopalaswami was the home secretary under L K Advani. Earlier being from the Gujarat cadre he served under the Narendra Modi government before being brought to the centre by Advani. By Jaitely’s standards would this be considered a partisan appointment?
The CPI(M) has not focused on any individual in the Commission. What it has raised are the grey areas in the Commission’s functioning and the clear evidence of bias.
DR AMBEDKAR ON ROLE OF EC
The Election Commission has to be made accountable. This, according to Arun Jaitely, is because the CPI(M) wants “the subjugation of the Election Commission to a monitoring body” and he goes on to claim that this will be “destructive of the independence of the EC.” The editorials cited earlier also tend to make the same point. Those who reject the CPI(M)’s demand for accountability are blinkered by their anti-communist prejudices. They should heed the views of Dr B R Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution. In the Constituent Assembly debates on the role of the Election Commission, Dr Ambedkar was greatly exercised about how to ensure the appointment of the right type of person to the Election Commission so that the vital task enjoined upon the Commission by the Constitution can be fulfilled. While summing up the discussion on the amendments to the relevant clauses in the Draft Constitution, Dr Ambedkar said:
“Now with regard to the question of appointment I must confess that there is a great deal of force in what my friend Professor Saksena said that there is no use making the tenure of the Election Commissioner a fixed and secure tenure if there is no provision in the Constitution to prevent either a fool or a knave or a person who is likely to be under the thumb of the Executive. My provision – I must admit – does not contain anything to provide against nomination of an unfit person to the post of the Chief Election Commissioner or the other Election Commissioners. I do want to confess that this is a very important question and it has given me a great deal of headache and I have no doubt about it that it is going to give this House a great deal of headache.” (Constituent Assembly of India, June 16, 1949, Vol 8, Page 928)
After mulling over the problem, Dr Ambedkar then states:
“The Drafting Committee had paid considerable attention to this question because as I said it is going to be one of our greatest headaches and as a via media it was thought that if this Assembly would give or enact what is called an Instrument of Instructions to the President and provide therein some machinery which it would be obligatory on the President to consult before making any appointment……” (Page 929)
Finally, no “instrument of instructions” was enacted by the Constituent Assembly. The problem that exercised Dr Ambedkar is still relevant today. The CPI(M) document on reform of the Election Commission suggests a constitutional mechanism to monitor and check if the Election Commission acts with political bias, usurps the powers of governments or does anything with mala fide intention. It has cited a Supreme Court judgment that advocates a mechanism to resolve differences between the Election Commission and the governments both at the state and central level. Dr Ambedkar’s “instrument of instructions” are being resurrected. Howsoever much Jaitely and the critics of the CPI(M) may dismiss this vital issue, the public debate for reform of the Election Commission cannot be avoided.
The CPI(M) is fully aware of the vital role of the Election Commission in our parliamentary democracy. It will conduct the debate and suggest reforms with the single and only purpose of strengthening the institution and maintaining its integrity.
Pragoti remembers Dr. BR Ambedkar on his 52nd Death Anniversary
Sat, 2008-12-06 17:52 | Pragoti Editorial Team
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was the architect of India's Constitution, an erudite scholar of philosophy, economics and political science and one of India's leading crusaders for social justice. His inspirational life story has motivated millions of Indians, particularly from the dalit community to break the shackles of casteism in Indian society. His vision of a casteless society is shared by Pragoti, which publishes his important work, "Annihilation of Caste" along with this post.
Ambedkar was a prolific writer of political texts, a social democrat and a strict constitutionalist. His legacy is celebrated by millions of the underprivileged in the country today, who see Ambedkar's political contributions as the most important reason for their struggles in acheiving dignity and overcoming casteist prejudice. He is remembered for his various struggles against untouchability (the tank movement in Mahad for example). His role in building India's Constitution, where he envisaged sets of constitutional guarantees, rights and civil liberties, besides clauses aimed at establishing equality through affirmative action, is indeed seminal.
Pragoti remembers Babasaheb on his 52nd death anniversary and posts an article related to social justice, written by Sitaram Yechury in the People's Democracy in 2005.
Integrate Struggles Against Class Exploitation With Struggles Against Social Oppression
Sat, 2008-12-06 17:55 | Sitaram Yechury
Extracts from presentations made at Ambedkar Jayanti observations organised by the Left Front governments of West Bengal and Tripura on April 14, 2005 [Kolkata] and April 20, 2005 [Agartala] respectively
Source:
http://pd.cpim.org/2005/0424/04242005_sitaram.htm
Class Exploitation
Social Justice
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