9

December 15, 2020

Thousands of Peasants on their

‘MARCH TO DELHI’

Police Blocking peasants’ entry to Delhi

AIKKMS leaders at Sikka campin Tukri border Delhi

All out successof Bharat Bandh

call by thefighting peasants

Comrade Provash Ghosh, GeneralSecretary, SUCI (Communist),issued the following statement on8 December 2020:

All out success of the BharatBandh today proves that peoplewholeheartedly support the ongoingpeasants' struggle and reject theanti-farmer acts of the BJP-ledcentral government.

We firmly believe that thepeasants will continue their struggletill the demands are achieved.

We call upon all sections of thetoiling people to take lessons fromthis historic peasant movement andlaunch their struggles by organizingstruggle committees and enrollingvolunteers.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO DELHI

Epoch-making Peasants’ Movementagainst black farm laws and

electricity (amendment) bill 2020A torrent, a tidal bore of united protest of the

peasants, unprecedented in dimension, undauntedspirit and valour, has been sweeping across entireperiphery of the capital city of Delhi. 'We inevitablyhave to commit suicide! then why to be afraid ofcorona! We will continue the movement' - firmly saidGurbax Singh, Suresh Yadav and others in adetermined voice. They, too, have come and joinedhands with lakhs of farmers carrying on the throbbingpeasant movement in Delhi with a strong morale witha view to achieving their demands. The sufferingpeasants already shattered by non-receipt ofremunerative price for their produce and spirallingcost of agricultural inputs and now boiling with angeragainst the recently enacted three draconian farmlaws and proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill havenow taken a firm resolve to show the governmentwhat concerted mass action means. Taking advantageof the pandemic situation, the autocratic BJP-led

central government promulgated the three farm lawsthrough ordinance route bypassing parliament. It didnot bother to have any discussion with the peasants orseek opinion of the common people. Arbitrarily andunilaterally, the BJP government brought such drasticchanges in the farm policy in order to open up theagricultural sector to the giant multinationals and agri-corporates for reckless loot and plunder as a result ofwhich the misery and destitution of the peasants andagricultural workers are bound to become even morehellish . With the grip of the profit-hungry corporatesharks clamped on Indian agriculture, the haplesspeasants would be out of all means of earning a livingin the already dismal state of capitalist-ravaged ruraleconomy. Yet the government has turned up itspropaganda machine to hype the so called "benefitsand happiness" its new farm laws would ensure for thefarmers, and is adamant in enforcing these on the

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PAGE TWO DECEMBER 15, 2020 PROLETARIAN ERA

nwilling farmers. So, the peasants are on thestreets demanding unconditional cancellation ofthe three farm laws and withdrawal of Electricity(Amendment) Bill which aims to reduce subsidiesin power sector and push for its furtherprivatisation.

Crystallization of the movement

The initial spark has been from Punjab wherethe peasants first organized themselves to plungeinto rigorous protest. They started with sit-in-demonstrations. But the central governmentturned deaf ears to them. Outraged at such adisdainful attitude of the government, the peasantsof entire northern India joined the movement.Slowly the spark has created a prairie firespreading fast throughout the country. A unitedcommittee of two hundred and fifty peasantorganizations came into being to steer themovement. Seeing the adamance of thegovernment, it called a rural all India generalstrike on 25 September with unstinted supportfrom the working class and other sections of thetoiling masses achieved a resounding success. Stillwhen the Centre remained mum, the unitedcommittee of the peasants gave the call for'March to Parliament' on 26-27 November.Accordingly, leaving their homes and farms, lakhsof peasants and their family members includingabout fifty thousand of peasant women includingelderly ladies had proceeded towards Delhicarrying necessary provisions to continue theirdemonstration for months together. There was abeeline of hundreds of trucks and tractorscarrying the agitating peasants, mostly the aged,women and children, flanked by thousands ofmembers of the peasant community trudging alongthe roads to Delhi who made a bet that if theyhad to blockade for months, no matter but thegovernment must repeal the three murderousagricultural laws for farmers. The peasants haveassembled here not only from Punjab andHaryana but also from Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar andMaharashtra.

Undeterred, the marchers, the determinedcountless warriors who have come prepared withnecessary provisions to continue their agitation formonths together sat down on streets andblockaded all entry points to Delhi. More andmore peasants, in thousands upon thousands, havebeen coming from different states to join themovement. The ranks of landless peasants andagricultural labours swelled ever faster. Manyorganizations of the students, youths, women,workers and countless common people steppedforward in support of the movement whichstepped into 18th day of continuance on 15December. Exposing the heinous motive behindthe farm laws to serve the industrial tycoons andfacilitate hoarding and black-marketing, thestruggling peasants have raised a new slogan:"Sarkar ki Asli Majboori, Adani, Ambani,Jamakhori" (real compulsion of the governmentis to serve Adani, Ambani and hoarders).

Struggle intensified with every passing day

The BJP government took every possibleadministrative measures at the borders of statesadjacent to Delhi to stop the marching peasantsfrom coming. Water cannons were turned on the

agitators in wintry cold, tear gas shells fired, andlathi charge resorted to brutally injuring countlesspeasants. Multiple layers of barricades were putup with fences, coiled wires, containers filled withsand, big trucks and , trenches dug on the streets,boulders dropped on the roads with the help ofcranes, inter-state borders sealed and curfew aswell as Sec 144 imposed in many places to stopthe peaceful marchers. Calling the sending offood supplies to the demonstrating farmers an'unlawful activity', police of BJP government ofUP stopped two tractor-trolleys full of foodsupplies and other relief materials in Philbit fromleaving for Delhi-UP border. Even thegovernment sought to prevent the farmers fromentering Delhi on the pretext of rise in coronainfection. To malign such a glorious movement fora legitimate demand, the BJP and its mentor RSS,apart from resorting to coercive actions, arearraying their entire arsenal of spreadingmischievous propaganda, activating fake newsnetwork, roping in the economists-columnists andpublic servants on their pay-roll to concoct storiesof how the farm laws are slated to improve thelot of the peasants and double their income etc.Even their pliant media is also going full throttlein creating confusion by indulging in sickeningsycophancy of the ruling dispensation. Yet, thegovernment failed to break the morale of thestruggling farmers.

Cornered by the tremendous pressure of themassive peasant movement, the cunning BJPleaders and ministers tried to misguide themovement with the verbal assurance of bringingin some shallow changes in the Acts. Thegovernment even fielded its ministers includingthe home minister, considered second-in-command in the cabinet, to open dialogue with thestruggling peasants and diffuse the movement bypromising some cosmetic changes to the laws.But the peasants stood firm and said nothing otherthan annulment of the laws would be acceptableto them. The peasants scathingly refused toaccept the fraudulent offers and scaled up themovement by giving call for an All India GeneralStrike on 8 December. The strike called at barely48 hours' notice, was an all-out success, indicatingthe mass support behind the movement.

With every passing day, the intensity of andparticipation in the movement has beenincreasing. Even on 14 December, overcoming allhurdles, 10,000 more peasants joined thedemonstrators at the Delhi borders. Already, thepeasants had been squatting at various entrypoints to Delhi from Punjab and UP on nationalhighways-Singhu, Tikri, Gazipur, Palwal,everywhere. Now, they have blocked Delhi-Jaipur highway and the Yamuna Expressway aswell. Peasants from Rajasthan have been on theirway to Delhi with a caravan of over 1000 cows.The protesting farmers have laid siege to thenational Capital. On 14 December, they staged asit-in protest in front of District Collectorates,houses of the BJP leaders and blocked toll plazasowned by Ambani-led Reliance and Adani. On thesame day, the leaders of the movement observedhunger strike at their respective places between8 AM to 5 PM. Many well-known intellectualsand human right activists as well as variousworker, student, youth and women organizationshave extended their whole-hearted support to the

movement. A good number of eminentpersonalities including literary persons includingpoets, sportspersons, scientists and even policeofficers have given back their governmenthonours in protest against the black laws andrepression on the agitating peasants. Moreover,army veterans (with farming as a source ofsustenance now) camping at the Singhu borderhave collected 5000 gallantry medals that theyseek to return "in lieu" of the Centre's decision torepeal the new farm laws, and plan to collectmany more. Many distinguished personalities ofthe country even from other countries have sentsolidarity messages. Common people at theirinitiative are bringing cooked food and other itemsof need in matadors and distributing among thedemonstrating peasants. Some voluntaryorganizations have constructed temporarybathrooms for their use. Doctors, nurses andhealth activists connected with Medical ServiceCentre, a voluntary association committed touphold the cause of medical professionals anduniversal healthcare, have rushed to thedemonstration sites and opened free medicalcamps. This historic movement not only hasaroused our country it has created waves ofprotests around the world. News of people takingpart in street protests in support of the movementhave poured in from US, UK, Canada and othercountries. The movement is boiling and ongoingwith unflagging determination as the peasants arefully prepared for a prolonged struggle till thecentral government withdraws the pro-capitalistanti-peasant anti-people farm laws andElectricity (amendment) Bill. In fact, thismovement has virtually given voice to thesimmering discontent among the oppressedcountrymen against persistent anti-peoplestrangulating policies of the autocratic BJPgovernment.

BJP's shallow arguments and motivatedjabs to denigrate the movement

Earlier, the BJP leaders and ministers said thatthe opposition parties were misguiding the peasantsby providing wrong interpretation of the bills. Thenthey said that affluent peasants of Punjab whoseinterest is under threat have been instigatingothers. It is true that the movement got propelledfrom Punjab to begin with. It is also true that alarge section of the peasants of Punjab, Haryanaand Western UP is relatively a bit better off thantheir counterparts in other states. There is adefinite reason behind that. When the greenrevolution project was undertaken by the Indiangovernment in 1970s, the largest beneficiaries ofthat, as well as the policy of direct governmentpurchase of the crops were the peasants of theseregions. Even today, almost 90% of procurementof agricultural produce in these territories is throughmandis (wholesale markets for agriculturalproduce under government control) under theAgricultural Produce Marketing Committee(APMC) Act which, following the new laws,would virtually be defunct. The BJP governmentsays the farm laws will provide barrier-free tradefor peasants produce outside notified grainmarkets and empower peasants to enter intofarming agreements with private players prior toproduction for sale of agri-produce. Moreover, it

Overcoming all hurdles and hassles, movement is continuing for 18 long daysContd. from page 1

Contd. on page 4

Peasants’ movement

PROLETARIAN ERA DECEMBER 15, 2020 PAGE THREE

Public pressure forces KeralaGovernment to repeal the black

amendment to the state police ActThe CPI (M)-led Kerala government had

brought an ordinance on 21 November 2020 toamend the Kerala Police Act by adding a newclause 118(A). The amended clause read"Whoever makes, expresses, publishes ordisseminates through any kind of mode ofcommunication, any matter or subject forthreatening, abusing, humiliating or defaming aperson or class of persons, knowing it to be falseand that causes injury to the mind, reputation orproperty of such person or class of persons orany other person in whom they have interest shallon conviction, be punished with imprisonment fora term which may extend up to five years or withfine which may extend to ten thousand rupees orwith both." Though, under pressure of severecriticism from different sections of the people, theKerala government had to beat retreat andwithdraw the ordinance on 25 November 2020,the very issue with reference to the context andcertain relevant facts needs to be under scanneras promulgation of such draconian legislations,that too bypassing legislature, have become apractice in fascist autocracy now ruling the roostin the country. The enactment of three anti-peasant laws by the central BJP government hadbeen through ordinance mode only.Many statesruled by the BJP have been bringing in ordinancesto amend laws in sectors like labour andagriculture.

Clause 118(d) and 120 (O) of Kerala Policeact vis a vis the proposed clause 118(A)

In Shreya Singhal judgment in 2015, theSupreme Court while striking down Section 66Aof the Information Technology Act, 2000 andsection 118(D) of Kerala Police Act, had held thatsuch laws violated Article 19(1)(a) of theConstitution of India which guarantees to freedomof speech and expression. The Shreya Singhalprecedent, in fact, serves as useful guidance onthe legislative ambit for regulating online speech.Yet, through this new ordinance inserting a newclause 118(A), the CPI (M) government ofKerala was trying to reintroduce in a morevirulent form the content of the black act 118(D)which would be evident from some of thesubstantial changes brought in 118(A). Thosewere:

(1) This is not confined to social media alone,it is applicable to opinions expressed through anymode of any sort of communication

(2) As per the new law, a complainant is notnecessary; if a police officer feels that the opinionexpressed is defaming, a case can be filed suomoto. This is a non-bailable offence.

So, in short, if a person expressed an opinionthrough social media, newspaper, article or anyother form and any police officer found itoffensive or defamatory, the new clause 118(A)would have given the concerned officer police thepower to arrest the person and confine him or herwithout bail.

In fact, at present also, cases are being filedin Kerala against people for making politicalcriticisms by misusing the provisions in the Kerala

Police act 120(O) which provides that, if anyperson, causing, through any means ofcommunication, a nuisance of himself to anyperson by repeated or undesirable or anonymouscall, letter, writing, message, e-mail or through amessenger, shall be punished on conviction. Inaddition to that, the proposed 118(A) would havedressed up with even more draconian provisionssuch as making it unbailable, allowing the policeto file suo moto case etc. in a very undemocraticmanner.

The CPI (M) government tried to justify byholding that the new ordinance was brought toprevent attacks against women through the socialmedia: "Since the Supreme Court had struckdown the sections that were there earlier, thepolice is not in a position to intervene effectivelyin such cases. In this situation, when the Centralgovernment was not ready to enact a law for thispurpose, the state government was forced tomake such a law". However, it is pertinent torecall that in 2012, P Rajeev, the CPI(M) leaderand former MP while moving a resolution on thefreedom of speech in the Rajya Sabha said: "Allof us are aware that there is no specific law forprotecting freedom of the press in our country. Itis the interpretation of article 19 (1) of ourConstitution which ensures Right to Free Speechand Expression. The media is enjoying thisfreedom. The country is benefiting from that. Weare ensuring the democratic nature of our system.But then why is this not allowed to the newmedia?". The CPI(M) in its 2019 electionmanifesto also had stated that it would evenabrogate the provisions like sedition, defamationetc. in the Indian Penal Code that are usedagainst press freedom. So, the decision of the CPI(M) government to bring such a draconianlegislation through administrative fiat has been aclear departure from what the ruling partypreached earlier.

The doublespeak of the CPI (M)

The government said that this law was for theprotection of women from attacks through thesocial media. But it did not provide specificdefinition for 'protection of women'? Had it beenthe sincere to its declared purpose, it would havenot kept it so vague. It has been the experienceof Indian people that whenever any law is keptso ambiguous, it was fraught with an ulteriormotive of abusing that law as per interpretation ofthe government. If one simply goes through thewording of the proposed section 118(A) asreproduced above, one would find that it was ageneric law without any reference to, let alonespecification of, crimes against women. Was itthen meant to be used for muzzling the voice ofprotest, dissent or criticism against thegovernment? In fact, there are existing laws totake action against attacks on women throughsocial media as well as other means. As is seenthroughout the country, it is not the lack of lawsbut the inaction and indifference on the part of thepolice-administration to apply those laws in rightearnest to take prompt action against the culprits.

Sometimes, it is found that the custodians of lawand order deliberately indulge in lapses in thisregard. This has been pointed out by several legalexperts. For example, when Bhagyalakshmi, aleading dubbing artiste in the Malayalam filmindustry, noticed a cyberattack two months back,she had lodged a complaint with the police. Butthe police did not do anything despite knowing thename of the alleged person. Similarly, when somesenior women journalists were subjected tocyberattack by the CPI(M) supporters, the policeoften remained indifferent to the complain of thevictims. Not only that. When the proceedingsproved too tortuous for them, the victim womenhad to voluntarily withdraw their complaints toavoid further hassles and harassments. Had theCPI (M) government been really concerned aboutprotection of women, would it have refrainedfrom pulling up the concerned police officials andensured that due action was taken against theculprits?

In fact, after coming to power, the CPI (M)government in the name of hunting down the"Maoists' was found to stage encounter deathsjust like the way any other bourgeois governmentdoes. Such encounter deaths are galore in Jammuand Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradeshand other states. Likewise, when there wascriticism against the chief minister in social media,the police immediately registered cases againstthe alleged offenders. When Taha Fazal and AlanSuhaib, two youths, were booked under UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), an out andout black act, by the CPI (M)-led Keralagovernment for their alleged Maoist link, the CPI(M) General Secretary slammed such an action.But the CPI (M) chief minister of Kerala who isalso in charge of home department was seenjustifying the police action. There are severalother instances of police high-handedness in thestate in recent times. Like any other bourgeoisautocratic government, the CPI (M)-led Keralagovernment is also found to use the police forinstilling fear in the minds of the critics anddissenters as well as suppressing the protestmovements of the people. This was nakedly seenwhen the CPI (M) was in power in West Bengal,particularly during the historic Singur-Nandigrammovements. Now the same approach and policyare witnessed in Kerala. On 20 October, theChief of the UN Human rights panel had pointedout that in India there is widespread human rightsviolation using undefined laws. Be it BJP,Congress, Trinamool Congress or the CPI(M)government in Kerala, all are competing witheach other in suppressing democratic rights. Thenew ordinance also reflected the very sameundemocratic approach.

Why this anti-democratic behaviourof the CPI (M) government

Why is the CPI (M) government in Keralapursuing such policies which are diametricallyopposed to its declared allegiance to leftism?Because, the CPI (M) now wants to have itsexistence in utterly degenerated and thoroughlycorrupt bourgeois parliamentarism only. That iswhy, it has been trying to remain afloat in thecorridor of power by hook or by crook byabandoning the leftist line of building up class andmass struggles and taking no cognizance of theneed of the hour which warrants a unitedstruggling left alternative as against opportunisticbourgeois vote politics. And we know, everything

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PAGE FOUR DECEMBER 15, 2020 PROLETARIAN ERA

would cut short the middlemen who had hithertobeen instrumental in fleecing the peasants. Is it so?In Bihar, APMC Act was repealed in 2006,meaning the shutting down of the mandi andfacilitating private companies to directly purchasecrops from the peasants. But what happened?Though, as per government data, growth inagricultural production in Bihar, where more than90 per cent of farmers are either small or marginal,has been appreciably high, the majority of thepeasants claimed that after abolition of the APMCAct, middlemen and local traders have beenmaking huge profits by buying the farmers'produce even below the Minimum Support Price(MSP). How could the middlemen continue toreign after annulment of APMC Act? EconomistDM Diwakar, associated with AN Sinha Instituteof Social Studies, claims that what the NarendraModi government has done now, was alreadyimplemented by Nitish Kumar in 2006, then whyhas the condition of farmers in Bihar not improvedin the last 14 years? (India Today 10-12-20) So thepeasants of Punjab, Haryana and West UPapprehend, and correctly so, that the first target ofgiant monopolists and MNCs seeking to makeforays into Indian agricultural market would be thisregion. In fact, the Adani group is reported to havestarted building cold storages in Haryana andsome other cities, obviously in anticipation of suchlegislations in their favour. Secondly, in Punjab andHaryana, 'khap panchayats' wield considerablepower. Any directive from these panchayatswhich comprise people of all beliefs becomeliterally binding on everybody. Since these 'khappanchayats' have given call for this movement, thepeasants there responded wholeheartedly. Fact isthat over 70% of the farmers who have jumpedinto the movement belong to the poor, marginalizedand middle categories. The ranks of landlesspeasants and agricultural labours have beenswelling fast. Next, the allegation of the BJPgovernment and leaders was that foreign powerswere funding the movement. Then they brandedthe Sikh participants of the movement as terrorists.Now, they are saying that ultra-leftists and Maoistsare behind the movement. One would recall theylevelled same the kind of baseless allegationsagainst the most legitimate anti-NRC anti-CAAShaheen Bagh movement. But the peasants havedismissed all such allegations as bogus. Now theexperts aligned with the ruling dispensation areadmitting that the idea behind the three farm lawsis to encourage private investment and trade, andgovernment agencies cannot procure all crops-another ludicrous argument. What prevents thegovernment from doing so other than the vestedinterest of handing over the crucial agriculturalsector to corporate sharks and the large agri-MNCs? Already the agricultural input (seeds,fertilizers, pesticides, diesel) segment has beencompletely placed at the disposal of such privateoperators even by closing down governmentorganizations like Fertilizer Corporation of India,for example. What has been the result? The priceof agricultural inputs have skyrocketed pushing upthe cost of cultivation beyond the roof. Who havebeen the worst sufferers other than the small and

marginal peasantsand sharecropperswho constituteover 86% of thec o u n t r y m e nengaged incultivation. In fact,all sectors-e d u c a t i o n ,h e a l t h c a r e ,t r a n s p o r t ,telecommunication-electricity-which

Our Party and its mass and class fronts arein the forefront of the movement

All India Kisan Khetmajdoor Sangathan(AIKKMS), the peasant front of our Party, theSUCI(C), has been in the vortex of thisspontaneous movement right from day one toensure that such a historical upsurge doesachieve victory by being directed along righttrack. The movement is being conducted underthe leadership of Sanjukta Kisan Morcha ( SKM:United Peasants' Platform), a combination of thethree largest peasant alliances, of which All IndiaKisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee(AIKSCC), the all India organization of peasantorganizations of different states, is one of itsconstituents. AIKKMS is a major force within theAIKSCC. AIKKMS representatives are in theworking committee of AIKSCC. AIKSCC,including AIKKMS, have dashed forwardreleasing all its strength against the anti-peasantfarm laws to organize the movement across thecountry. Comrades Satyawan and ShankarGhosh, President and General Secretaryrespectively of AIKKMS, are now in themovement sites in Delhi, fighting shoulder toshoulder with the peasants and leading them fromthe front.

Right from the moment the centralgovernment promulgated these three laws andmooted the anti-people Electricity (Amendment)bill 2020, AIKKMS has plunged into protest andhas been trying to build up a united sustainedpowerful movement against this devastatingmove. It exposed the real face of the three blackagricultural laws as well as the Electricity(Amendment) Bill and brought common peasantsinto the fold of the movement.

On 25 September, when the AIKSCC gavea call for a Bandh in rural India against theseblack laws, AIKKMS came out with all its might.Their activists took up campaigns in more 3,000villages of 14 states, staged road blockades atmore than 2000 places, held innumerablemeetings. Thousands of copies of the black lawswere burnt in protest. The AIKKMS issued acall for observing All India Kisan Protest Day on14 October. On that date AIKKMS activistsorganized road and railway blockades, gherao ofblock offices and other forms of democraticprotests. It set up Kisan Committees in villagesone after another holding street corner meetings,group discussions etc. It highlighted the disastrousaspects of the agricultural laws in campaignliterature, including booklets, pamphlet, etc anddistributed those among numberless peasants. Italso conducted online discussions or webinars toapprise lakhs of people about the impendingdanger. When the peasant organizations called forand launched the 'On to Delhi' March on 26-27November, AIKKMS took initiative to the best ofits strength and will. It tried its best to mobilizepeasants from around Delhi. Comrade Satyawan,All India President of AIKKMS and member,Working Committee of AIKSCC declared fromthe movement- platform that this was not amovement of only peasants, it was a movementof all toiling people of the entire country. More the

Unity, firm resolve and steadfast treading along right trackwould make the movement victorious

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Continue on page 5

such services have virtually become prohibitive.How could then agricultural production as well asprocurement sector be an exception? Further, whoare the middlemen thumping around in theprocurement scenario? Are they some individualsor part of an unholy nexus of police-administration-ruling party leaders-village touts who rule theroost? Can this nexus operate with impunity unlessthe government administration is either anaccomplice or an indulgent onlooker to themalpractice? In fact, to tell the truth, themiddlemen system is an inalienable component ofutterly corrupt and ruthlessly exploitative capitalistrule which the BJP and other bourgeois parties aresubservient to.

The current movement has been posing aserious challenge to the BJP government and itsmentors, the ruling monopolists, in operationalizingthe sinister design of total privatization ofagriculture. No false promise, sweet-coatedassurances, alternative blowing of hot and coldare able to bend the peasants. The situation hastaken such a turn that even persons belonging tothe ruling quarters are asking the government tosettle the issue amicably.

Pledge of thefighting peasants

An unparalleled, historic peasant

movement with undaunted spirit is going

on in our country to resist the pro-

corporate, anti-peasant three farm acts

and electricity bill enacted by the central

BJP Government and in protest against

oppressive and repressive measures of the

BJP government. Lakhs of peasants–

women, children, old–are sitting on the

streets of Delhi under the sky ,defying the

severe cold. We salute these heroes from

the core of our heart. In this noble

struggle many fighters sacrificed their

lives. We pay our homage to these

departed souls and pledge to carry on this

movement to its desired goal. We appeal

to the peasants and the toiling people to

come forward to fulfil their behest.

have been gifted to the profit-hungry corporateson a silver platter, have all turned so highlyexpensive that access of the common people to

An aged peasant participantreading book on Bhagat Singh

Peasants’ movement

PROLETARIAN ERA DECEMBER 15, 2020 PAGE FIVE

in this capitalist set up is designed to servebourgeois class interest and the government isnothing but a caretaker of the oppressive capitaliststate. Then being in such a government whatwould be the role and approach of a leftist party.Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, founder GeneralSecretary of the SUCI (C) and an outstandingMarxist thinker of the era had said way back in1967 that "A progressive government, let us notspeak about the Leftists, I mean a governmentthat is just a little progressive, one that is endowedwith a little humane attitude and is not altogetherblind and at least does not act as an agent of thecapitalist class - the first and the foremost dutyof such a government should be to protectdemocratic movements of the people, if they arelegitimate and democratic from directinterference by police on the plea of 'law andorder'." (CW Vol III p 23)

We appeal to CPI (M) workersto persuade their leadership shun non-left line

Contd. from page 3

PROTEST AGAINST ADANI'S COAL MINE IN AUSTRALIA

In fact, it was he who provided the guidelinesto how a pro-people government should be run ina capitalist set up by ensuring widest scope forthe growth and development of legitimate people'smovements free from interference of the police.Since the CPI (M) leadership is guided by petti-bourgeois parliamentary outlook, it is found to runthe government not only with a non-left approachbut in the mould of a typical oppressive bourgeoisgovernment whose one of the prime jobs is tomuffle the voice of legitimate protest and criticismwith the help of coercive police-administration.

This episode of inserting clause 118(A) in theKerala Police Act is a testimony of that only. Wecall upon the honest left-minded workers,supporters and sympathizers of the CPI (M) andits associates to prevail upon their leadership toshun the bourgeois politics of economism,legalism, reformism and power-centrism andcome back to the stream of struggling leftism.

Thousands of people have marched through the streets across Australia as part of protests againstQueensland Coal mine of Gautam Adani, the Indian monopolist, raising the issue of air pollution.

Central Committeeon 8 DecemberBharat Bandh

Comrade Provash Ghosh, GeneralSecretary, SUCI (Communist), issued thefollowing statement on 5 December 2020

We wholeheartedly support the All IndiaBandh on 8 December, 2020 called by thefighting peasants under the banner of SanjuktaKishan Alliance (SKM) comprising three broadbased Kishan alliances including AIKSCC inwhich our peasant organization AIKKMS isone of the constituents, against the anti-peasantpro-corporate black farmers' laws andelectricity (amendment) bill enacted the BJP ledcentral Government.

This movement should not be viewed asonly of the peasants. Interest of the peasantsand agriculture production are directly linked upwith the life of the common people. It isevidently clear that the BJP-led centralgovernment is committed to nakedly serve themonopolists, big business and corporate housesand for that to mount attacks on all sections ofpeople. So the crying necessity of the hour isto build up united movement against anti-peoplepolicies of the central government.

We urge upon the people to developstruggle committee at the grassroot levels andenrol volunteers involving self-dedicated youthsand students to conduct and continue thestruggle and make the All India Bandh on 8December 2020 a total success.

Further, we call upon all other left partiesto build up united militant struggle at this criticalhour of the country.

days would roll by, more number of peasantswould join the movement from different parts ofthe country. the peasants want to see how longthe government can afford to ignore their justdemands. He added that to people there is noother way but wresting demands throughmovements. The way Bhagat Singh and otherswaged life-long struggle for freedom, thismovement is to be continued till the demands areachieved. Comrade Shankar Ghosh in his speechdelivered before the assembled peasants said:The government is under a flawed notion thatunable to bear with the chilling cold, the peasantswould not be able to continue their agitation forlong. So, it is buying time and trying to placatethe peasants with assurance of bringing someamendments to the laws. But its dream wouldnot be fulfilled. So the government would haveto bend before the undaunted spirit and valour ofthe struggling peasants. Medha Patkar, eminenthuman right activist and social worker, said thegovernment has brought these farm laws toserve the interest of the top monopoly houses.

AIKKMS is continuing the movement indifferent states against these anti-peasant, anti-people agricultural laws. In 14 states of the

Contd. from page 5country namely in Assam, Tripura, West Bengal,Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, UP, MP, Chhattisgarh,Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Andhra Pradeshand Tamilnadu, different programmes includingdemonstrations, processions and others havebeen organized. AIKKMS in Kerala andTelangana also took initiative to organize suchmovements. Even before the General Strike of 26November police of the BJP government ofHaryana took peasant leaders, includingAIKKMS Haryana State Secretary ComradeJaikaran Mandowthi into custody for a few days.The entire country observed Kisan SolidarityDay on 3 December. On that day, a hugeprocession was led by Comrade Shankar Ghosh,General Secretary, AIKKMS. On the same day,Comrade B S Amarnath, Andhra Pradesh StateSecretary, AIKKMS, was arrested for organisingpeasants of the state in support of the movement.Even many AIKKMS and SUCI(C) activistswere also arrested in Tamilnadu. Party andAIKKMS workers and leaders are in housearrest in UP. AIKKMS has organized 300 dharnamanchs (sit-in demonstrations) in 13 states sofar. More are in the offing. Participation of thepeasants and common people in the states ofWest Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand, Bihar,Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra

Pradesh, Telangana, Tamilnadu and Kerala isvery impressive.

Frontal organizations like AIDSO, the studentorganization, AIDYO, the youth organization, andAIMSS, women's organization, played animportant role in spreading out the movement byobserving the solidarity week. AIUTUC, the tradeunion wing, has stood up mustering all strength.They all are taking out processions, bike rallies,torchlight processions and Jathas (moving squads)as well as holding innumerable street cornermeetings in support of the peasants' movement.Also our Party, SUCI(C) extended full support tothis heroic struggle of the peasants and exhortedupon all sections of oppressed countrymen todraw necessary lessons and inspiration from it todevelop similar movements on various burningproblems of their life accentuating every hourbecause of gruelling capitalist exploitationperpetrated through surfeit of anti-people policiesand measures by the bourgeois governments.Firm as ever of resisting despotic injustice andoppression, the country ought to be in ferment inright earnest. Howsoever desperately thedefenders and servitors of this savage exploitativesystem may try to dampen the spirit of themovement by savageries of coercive organ andbloodbath, they cannot reverse the course ofhistory. The last word will be pronounced by thepeople, united, firm and steadfast.

Peasants’ movement

Kerala Police Act

Epoch-making Peasants’ Movement

PAGE SIX DECEMBER 15, 2020 PROLETARIAN ERA

BHARAT BANDH DAY ON 8 DECEMBER ROUND THE COUNTRY

Guna, MP Delhi

Srinagar-Garwal,Uttarakhand

Bangalore, Karnataka Thiruvanantapuram, Kerala

Jaunpur, UP Cuttak, Odisha

Indore, MPAgartala, Tripura

Bhiwani, Haryana

Industrialaccidents arerising inGujarat

Common citizens of Gujarat are worriedat the growing industrial accidents in the state.From January 2020 up till now more than 89Accident have occurred and more than 130workers have lost their lives and many moreinjured. Latest one was the Fire incident at thechemical industries in Vatva, Ahmedabad when3 factories were completely gutted. It took100 fire brigade personals 24 water tanker andmore than 10 hours to dose off the fire orcontrol the fire. The callousness of the BJP-run state government is evident from the factthat though Vatva Industrial Area has around2500 industries, there is no adequate fire-fighting system nor is there any safetyarrangement or Primary Health centreequipped with trauma care facilities.

Gujarat state SUCI(C) and AIUTUCcommittees have sent a letter to the chiefminister seeking immediate remedial action byspecifying the details in an 11 point charter ofdemands.

Jammu and Kashmirsold for the second time

Through a recent gazette notification from

the Ministry Of Home Affairs (MHA), the

Union government has, at one stroke, removed

all preconditions for the purchase and sale of

land in the Union territory of Jammu and

Kashmir. Anyone from anywhere across India

can now buy land in J&K. Naturally, it has

stirred up strong resentment among people of

both Kashmir and Jammu.

The notification repeals the different land

Acts since 1938 to post-independence days by

removing the "Permanent Resident"

requirement which meant that only permanent

residents of J&K could buy or sell land there.

It may be added that the landmark Big Estates

Abolition Act 1950 which conferred land rights

to the tillers in Jammu and Kashmir was

believed to be one of the most progressive

pieces of land reform initiated in India. It was

achieved as a result of a long and arduous

struggle of the people of Jammu and Kashmir

who had been suffering from acute socio-

economic backwardness. Conceding to this

demand the then maharaja made the sale and

purchase of land in J&K the "state subject".

The present notification is an onslaught on the

people in the state, adding insult to the injury,

already inflicted through abrogation of the

Article 370. The issue has to be approached

from two angularities. One why and how this

provision was created. And two, if the

provision is unique for J&K.

Demand for state subjectsemerged from people's aspirations

In the princely state of J&K before

independence, Kashmiri Pandits, were far

more educated and politically conscious in

comparison with the majority Muslim

community. They were opposed to the hiring of

Punjabis in the state administration, a trend

which had been initiated by the first maharaja

of the state, Gulab Singh. He had appointed a

Punjabi khatri named Dewan Jawala Sahai,

who later went on to become prime minister

under the Dogra rule. During this rule, the

Punjabis, were granted extensive land grants

and assumed dominance in commerce.

It provoked a revolt from Kashmiri

Pandits actively supported by the Hindu Dogras

of Jammu and subtle assistance from the

British officers in Kashmir. After a long and

arduous agitation, Maharaja Hari Singh

introduced the state subject law on 20 April

1927. It conferred equal representation to all

the sections of the population be it the

Kashmiris, Dogras or Punjabis.

It was this state subject law which

manifested in the form of 'permanent residents'

after Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India

and continued to protect the land and labour

rights of the local population. In the post-

independence turbulence this law stood by the

people of J&K providing uninterrupted

protection of jobs and land rights particularly

with their rising miseries and sufferings. The

removal of this protection for land rights might

spell doom and the local poor toiling people

will not be able to fend off the big land sharks

from outside Jammu and Kashmir.Jammu and Kashmir not the only state

enjoying this protection

Jammu and Kashmir is not the only state

which confers protection to the land and jobs

of the local populace. Several other states also

enjoy similar protections in different forms of

constitutional or statutory safeguards under the

Fifth or Sixth Schedule of the constitution, or

under the Article 371-F, 371-A or 371-G of the

constitution. People of Himachal Pradesh,

Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal

Pradesh, Jharkhand and 10 other states, thus

enjoy such protections. Even the newly

created Union territory of Ladakh is being

considered for special status under the Sixth

Schedule, thereby extending constitutional

safeguards to its culture, jobs and land

ownership rights.

The second sale deedfor people of Jammu and Kashmir

People of Jammu and Kashmir thus face a

total discrimination as the BJP-led Union

government removes these protections

selectively for them. It is quite natural for the

people of Jammu and Kashmir to be aggrieved

particularly in the background of the same

Union government and the party in power

assuring them on several occasions that their

jobs and land rights would be protected at any

cost. It comes down to sheer betrayal of the

promise which the prime minister made

immediately after Article 370 was revoked.

In fact, the people of J&K now face a

repetition of history. More than two centuries

ago, in 1846, Maharaja Gulab Singh executed

the 'Treaty of Amritsar' with the British East

India Company, whereby Kashmir was sold to

him in lieu of seventy five lakh nanakshahi

rupees which eventually turned into the

princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. This

treaty is infamously remembered as the "Sale

Deed" of Kashmir.

The people of J & K now tend to see the

present notification as the second sale deed of

J&K, where the inhabitants of the land have

no say in shaping their destinies. Once the

British occupiers sold Kashmir to the feudal

king; now the Union government subservient to

the ruling capitalist class hatches the evil design

of selling out Kashmir and the poor hapless

Kashmiri people to the corporate houses of the

Indian and foreign monopolists, the profit-

hungry sharks.

(Source: The Wire 3 November 2020)

AIUTUC writes letter toprime minister

condemning brutalityunleashed on peasants

and workersIn a letter sent to the prime minister on 1

December 2020, Comrade Shankar Dasgupta,General Secretary, AIUTUC, stronglycondemned the most brutal manner in whichthe peasants protesting the three anti-farmers'laws were sought to be prevented fromentering Delhi.

AIUTUC also severely condemned thefascistic manner in which the striking workerswere prevented at several places in thecountry from assembling and expressing theirconcern against the draconian anti-workingclass policies of the Central government on 26November, the All India Strike Day .

These anti-working class and anti-peasantlaws have, at the same time cemented theunity between the Indian working class andthe peasantry. The workers and peasants arenow unitedly on a war-path against the anti-working class, anti-peasant Acts passed mostundemocratically by the BJP government.

AIUTUC requested the prime minister topay heed to the wishes and aspirations of thepeople of the country and abrogate all theabove mentioned anti-working class, anti-peasant laws in the interest of bare survivalof the toiling millions and refrain from brutalattacks unleashed on the agitating workersand peasants.

PROLETARIAN ERA DECEMBER 15, 2020 PAGE SEVEN

Rising attacks on Democracy AIUTUC congratulatedworkers and peasants forsuccessful Bharat Bandh

Comrade Shankar Dasgupta, General Secretary,AIUTUC in a statement dated 8 December 2020,congratulated the workers and peasants as well ascommon people at large across the country forsuccessfully organizing 'All India Bandh' on 8 Decemberat the call of 'Sanjukta Kishan Morcha' in demand forrepeal of recently enacted three anti-peasant, pro-corporate black farm laws and proposed Electricity Bill2020. AIUTUC demanded immediate scrapping of theseanti-people acts and bill.

Earlier, AIUTUC in a statement issued on 5December 2020, wholeheartedly supported the All IndiaBandh call by Sanjukta Kishan Morcha (SKM),

BARBARIC LATHICHARGEON COVID WARRIORS INBHOPAL DURING THEIR

MARCH FOR EMPLOYMENT

To the democratic-minded people thesevere attacks on democratic values,freedom of expression and civil liberties,among others, under BJP rule at theCentre has been a matter of deepconcern and strong misgivings. How well-founded their concern and misgivings are,has been corroborated by the DemocracyReport 2020 prepared by the V-DemInstitute for the year 2019. The V-DemInstitute (Variety Democracy) based atthe department of political science,University of Gothenburg, Sweden, is anindependent research institute that hasbeen publishing reports on the status ofdemocracies in countries around theworld each year since 2017. The Institutecalls itself the world's largest datacollection project on democracy.

The 2020 report, titled'Autocratisation Surges - ResistanceGrows', begins with figures that point tothe fact that globally, the spirit ofdemocracy is on the decline. The Reportnoted that the fall in democratic valuesand quality of democracy in India overthe past decade was the sixth highest inthe world. Such has been the marked fallin democracy that the preface to thereport states: "India has continued on apath of steep decline, to the extent it hasalmost lost its status as a democracy."While the BJP has been chest-thumpingitself over its many 'great achievements'and keeps decrying the horror of the'Emergency' clamped on the country byIndira Gandhi regime in 1975, what thereport shows is that actually in so far asindices of 'freedom of expression, civilliberties and academic freedom areconcerned, the situation in the year 2019is not merely identical but in somerespects even worse than that of thehated Emergency! In the 2019Democracy Index released this January,India slipped by 10 ranks to the 51stposition - a big downgrade. The reportwas prepared by the intelligence unit ofThe Economist Group.

The 2020 V-Dem report highlights thefact that the slide into autocratisation is aworldwide phenomenon. Thus, attacks onfreedom of expression and mediafreedom are now affecting 31 countries,as against 19 two years ago. According tothe report, major G20 nations and regionsof the world are now part of the "thirdwave of autocratisation" which isaffecting major economies with sizeablepopulations, like India, Brazil, the US andTurkey.

Liberal Democracy Index

The Liberal Democracy Index (LDI)combines and quantifies many differentindicators, including measures of thequality of elections, suffrage, freedom ofexpression and the media, freedom ofassociation and civil society, checks onthe executive, and the rule of law. Notonly the Liberal Democratic Index but all

other indices too, are represented byusing a low to high scale of 0 to 1. While0 indicates 100 % autocratic, 1 indicates100% democratic - thus, the lower thenumber, the poorer the quality ofdemocracy. In India, the LiberalDemocracy Index has slid down from0.55 to 0.36 -- a fall of 0.19 points fromthe year 2009 to 2019. Among the 179countries considered in the Report, India'sfall is the six highest, with Hungary in thelead, followed by Poland, Turkey, Serbiaand Brazil. However, Hungary, Polandand Brazil, though registering a sharperdownward trend, still have a higher scoreof LDI than India at 0.36. (And in thiscontext it may be mentioned, that forexample, while in recent years USA toohas registered a downward slide, still itsLDI is recorded at 0.7, while freedom ofexpression or rule of law score higherstill). Significantly, in our country, thereport clearly reveals that after BJP-ledNDA came to wield governmental powerat the Centre in 2014, indices such asfreedom of expression, civil liberty, andacademic freedom, went plungingdownwards, and in 2019 ended up belowthe level even noted during theEmergency. The Index categorized Indiaunder "flawed democracies" which isdefined as countries that hold free and fairelections and where basic civil libertiesare respected, but have significantly weakgovernance, an underdeveloped politicalculture and low levels of politicalparticipation. The report cites "…the divein press freedom along with increasingrepression of civil society in Indiaassociated with the current Hindu-nationalist regime of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi" to illustrate this.Declining press freedom in India is oftenin the news with the increased slapping ofcharges (ranging from sedition todefamation) against journalists, along withincreased litigation against news reportsand those who write them. Severalinternational bodies have urged for theModi's government's lenience in thisregard.

Moreover, major pillars of Indiandemocracy, including parliamentaryprocedures, the removal of question hourin houses of parliament, and theindependence of the judiciary have comeinto question in the time that has passedsince the publishing of the report. Thedevelopments in 2020 too, have broughtonly renewed and even more sweepingattacks on freedom of expression, civilliberty and other aspects of public andsocial life. But the autocratic downwardslide is not the last word. Protests arerising, not only in our country, but acrossthe globe, which finds reflection in the titleof the Democracy 2020 Report:'Autocratisation Surges - ResistanceGrows'.

(Source: The Wire 27-10-20, TheHindu-02-12-20)

On 3 December, when the Covid warriors were peacefullysitting in a dharna at Neelam Park, in Bhopal to get back theirjobs most undemocratically taken away by the BJP-run stategovernment, the police pounced upon them and resorted to brutalbrutally lathi charge without sparing the women even. Thereafter,they were taken into custody. Leaders and activists of"Movement against unemployment" who joined the dharna werealso arrested.

AIDYO condemned this brutal attack, undemocratic attitudeof the government and demanded immediate release of thearrested protesters

INAUGURATION OFBHAGAT SINGH BHAWAN

IN CHANDIGARHF o l l o w i ng

untiring effortsby the SUCI(C)activists andsupporters inPunjab andChandigarh, aBhagat SinghBhawan wasinaugurated inMohali on 6December, by

Comrade Satyawan, Polit Bureau Member of the Party. ComradeSatyawan exhorted to follow the life and teachings of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh in true letter and spirit.

PAGE EIGHT DECEMBER 15, 2020 PROLETARIAN ERA

Some disastrous consequences of the blackFarm Laws at a glance

1. Before formulation and implementation ofthe bills, no discussions were held with thefarmers' organizations and people'srepresentatives of the country. It wasadopted in a utterly undemocratic way.

2. There is no mention of minimum supportprice (MSP) for the farmers, though theBJP ministers and leaders are deceitfullyassuring the farmers that they won't haveto worry about MSP .

3. Food articles like cereals, pulses, oilseeds,edible oils, onion and potatoes have beenremoved from the list of essentialcommodities thereby paving way forhoarding to any extent and blackmarketeering) of these items as well asjacking up their prices by way of creatingartificial shortage in the market.

4. Even if there is skyrocketing of prices ofthese items, the government will notintervene to contain that.

5. The government has said that it willintervene in hoarding-stockpiling andcontainment of price rise only in unusualcircumstances like war, famine, abnormalprice rise and disastrous natural calamities.Why would the government remain a silentspectator when prices of essentialcommodities would shot up abnormally?

6. Law and order machinery of the stategovernments will have no control over theagricultural market and recklesscommercialization of agriculture whichwould run at the dictates of the centralgovernment.

7. The judiciary will have no role in casethere is a dispute over contract farmingbetween the peasants or the buyeragencies and the seller peasants. The sub-divisional magistrate will be subordinate tothe appellate authority while the districtmagistrate will be at the top. It means thepeasants won't have chance for anyredress from the judiciary in case of anydispute with the buyers , that is thecorporates.

8. The district magistrate and the sub-divisional magistrate will directly maintainthe administrative liaison with the centralgovernment while the state administrationwill have to remain a silent spectator.

9. It is impossible not only for an illiterate orsemi-literate farmer, but even for a highlyeducated non-legal person, to draft a

contract, to correctly understand the termsand conditions mentioned in an agriculturalcontract. A buying organization includingagri-behemoths can afford appointing alawyer but a poor farmer cannot think ofthat even in case of need. As a result, thefarmers will not get justice in resolving thedisputes related to contract farming.

10. In India agriculture is still largely dependenton the whims of nature. If the crop isdestroyed in the field itself due to flood,drought, pesticide infestation or insectattack, the farmer is likely to be held liablefor breaching the contract and penalized.

11. How will a poor farmer who would lose thecrop in the field, pay compensation if he isheld guilty of breaching the contract?

12. Insurance cover will be required for both thefarmer and the buyer organization. Relatedcosts will have to be borne by thecommercial buyer as well as the farmer.Surely, the premium amount componentwould be loaded on the price of theagricultural produce which will certainly beadded to the price of the crop much to thedetriment of common buyers in retail market.

13. In case of an allegation of breach ofcontract raised, lawyer will have to beappointed to face the trial. Financially soundcommercial companies like the agri-giantsand MNCs would be able to elicit judicialverdict in their favour if the peasants fail toafford a legal battle.

14. Small and marginal farmers constitute 86percent of the peasantry. They possess 47percent of the arable land while only 14percent farmers possess the remaining 53percent of the land. These 86 percent smalland marginal farmers are the majority in thecountry. What will be their fate once largescale corporatization of agri-markets takesplace?

15. The Union Finance Minister himself hastermed the Corona pandemic as 'disastrousmisfortune made by god'. Is it not to betermed as a natural disaster? If that be so,is it not a fact that the government hasseized the pandemic situation as a cover toenact such crucial and controversiallegislations, arbitrarily and unilaterally?

16. Using any of the loopholes of the law, thecorporate sharks would merrily confiscatethe land of the indebted helpless farmers.

17. As a result of this law, the number of

landless peasants will increase. Land willbe concentrated more and more in thehands of a few affluent. As it is less costlyand less hazardous to enter into a farmingcontact with a few large farmerscompared to having similar contractssigned with numerous small and marginalpeasants, contract with large farm holdersproves more profitable. With increasedconcentration of land in the hands of afew, the new laws would be of immensebenefit to the corporates while the poorpeasants would suffer. BJP-ledKaranataka government has alreadylegalized a fabulous limit of land holdingone can enjoy.

18. India's agricultural production is surplus.Despite that, there are still 27 crore hungrypeople in the country. According to thelatest World Hunger Index 2020, Indiaranks 94 out of 107 countries meaning itis abode of innumerable starvation-stricken people. 1 crore people die everyyear of chronic hunger and hunger-relateddiseases.About 5 peasants and manualworkers, in average, commit suicide inIndia every hour. The new farm lawsprovide no direction as to how to use thesurplus grain to solve the hunger problem.Rather, it would aggravate hunger andstarvation further.

19. There has been no progress in terms ofper capita foodgrains consumption in thecountry today as compared to 1948, ratherit has decreased as compared to 1991. Apaper published by the International FoodPolicy Research Institute has noted thatthree out of four Indians living in villagescannot afford diet which can beconsidered nutritious. The new lawswhich are slated to pauperize the peasantsfurther would worsen the situation further.

20. Three-fourths of the nutrition to thecommon man comes from food grains andvarious pulses like rice, wheat, buckwheatetc. They are no longer essentialcommodities according to new farm lawsand hence would become more and morecostly eluding procurement by growinglypauperized peasants and other sections ofthe toiling masses.

Having failed in all other sectors to findreprieve from the acute recession, themonopolists and their corporate house are nowafter the land and agriculture. The governmentis acting for them. Already, a leading monopolistgroup has floated a score of companies to dealwith agro-products.

Comrade Satyawan with the peasantsComrade Shankar Ghosh addressing the peasants

AIKKMSleaders

addressingthe peasants

in Delhi

PROLETARIAN ERA DECEMBER 15, 2020 PAGE NINE

RNI No. 13932/67P. R. No. KOL / RMS / /145 / 2016-2018PAGE TEN DECEMBER 15, 2020

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF : PROVASH GHOSH

Edited & Published by Asit Bhattacharyya from 48 Lenin Sarani, Kolkata 700 013 and printed by him at Ganadabi Printers and Publishers Private Limited,52B, Indian Mirror Street, Kolkata 700013. Phone : 2249-1828, 2265-3234 E-mail : cc.sucicommunist@gmail.com, proletarianera@gmail.com, Website : www.sucicommunist.org

SUCI (C) vehemently opposes steep hikein LPG price and continuous rise in

Petrol-Diesel retail tariffComrade Provash Ghosh, General Secretary, SUCI (Communist),issued the following statement on 3 December 2020:

When the common people ofthe country are reeling underunbridled harrowing rise in pricesof essential commodities-anendowment of the brazen anti-people pro-capitalist monetaryand fiscal policies of the centralBJP government-and trying tograpple with the Covid-19pandemic as well as lockdown-induced economic woes, the priceof LPG has been hiked by Rs 50at one stroke triggering a furtherdent into the progressivelydepleting household expenses. Intandem are rising the retail pricesof petrol-diesel disease withoutrelent cascading effect of whichis further pushing up the spirallingprice line. Almost 70%component of the retail fuel tariffrepresents various taxes and cessimposed by the governments. Itbears recall that though thegovernment while de-regulatingfuel prices promised that gainsarising out of a dip ininternational crude markettranslating into fall in procurementcost would be passed on to the

people by lowering retail tariff,fact is that the entire benefit ofplummeting crude price (nowhovering around $45 to 48 perbarrel) has been usurped by thegovernment by regularlyincreasing excise duty and cesssince it is an easier option tofinance deficit in exchequercaused by fall in revenuecollection and liberal taxconcessions and waivers grantedto the corporate sector. In fact,by such periodic hikes in exciseduty on fuel including LPG, thegovernment had mopped up overRs 1.7 lakh crore of additionalrevenue in 2019-20 and slated togarner as much as Rs 2 lakhcrore in 2020-21 in the pandemicsituation. Clearly, for this reason,petrol-diesel-LPG have been leftout of the purview of GST andcontinued to be under excise dutymode.

We vehemently oppose suchatrocious slaying of the alreadyslayed countrymen and call uponall to rise in united protest againstsuch fiscal gangsterism.

DHARNA MANCH IN SOLIDARITY

WITH THE PEASANTS’ MOVEMENT

Kolkata , West Bengal

North Lakhimpur, Assam

Muzaffarpur, Bihar

Chennai, Tamilnadu

Raipur, Chhattisgrah

Demonstration in Siliguri, West Bengal, on 4 Decemberagainst harrowing rise in prices of LPG, petrol and diesel

Peasents spending night under trucks at demonstration site