Tags:
Journalism of Courage
In the face of Israeli raids on Lebanon, the CPM believes that India cannot be a bystander. Its suggestion in a front-page editorial in 8216;People8217;s Democracy8217; is that India take sides with the Palestinians and join a 8220;worldwide movement of people8217;s solidarity with the Palestinians8221; while distancing itself from the Israelis. According to the party, pressure must be brought upon the Indian government to suspend its military purchases from Israel. 8220;India is the second largest buyer of Israeli arms in the world. India at this juncture cannot be seen as financing the Israeli offensive,8221; says the editorial.
Referring to the deaths of civilians in the attacks, it says there was no outright condemnation of the Israelis at the G8 summit recently. Backing the Palestinian cause, the CPM weekly says the real purpose of the Israeli attacks is not to secure the release of the abducted Israeli soldiers but to destroy 8220;the very means for continued human survival in Palestinian lands8221;.
Cold water on Cong8217;s Andhra win
The CPM weekly tries to punch some holes in the Congress victory in the recent Andhra Pradesh Panchayat polls, where the latter won a majority of zilla parishad and mandal parishad seats. It does accept that the Congress has the numbers but, while referring to the rise in its vote share in all three areas of Rayalseema, Telangana and Coastal Andhra, says this was possible because, despite its alliance with the CPI and the TRS, it contested in most of the seats. In its opinion, the Congress could get the support of most voters who had earlier backed the TRS. 8220;The ruling party misused its position of power in a systematic manner, besides using the allurements of caste, money and liquor on a large scale,8221; the report says.
As for the TDP, alongside whom the CPM contested the elections after parting ways with the Congress, the report says even though it got fewer seats in the latest panchayat elections compared to its showing in 2001, there was much to look forward to because 8220;it could win more seats than expected8221;.
N-deal and India8217;s net loss
Against the backdrop of the two Bills drafted by separate committees of the US Senate and the House of Representatives on the India-US nuclear agreement, and the fallout from that on the debate in the US and the Indian establishment, India stands to lose far more from the deal than it will gain, writes Prabir Purkayastha. Articulating what is the CPM8217;s position on the agreement, which is now part of its campaign to win wider political support on the issue, he says the technology embargoes will stay, India will become a 8216;junior partner8217; in the US8217;s strategic scheme and will be a party to the 8220;even more discriminatory fuel cycle program of the US8221;. Purkayastha, who has put together the party8217;s views on the nuclear energy issue so far, questions the reasons for going ahead with developing nuclear energy sources as neither the Planning Commission nor anybody else presented a study on the need to ramp up India8217;s civilian nuclear programme.
MP becoming another Gujarat?
Targeting the Sangh Parivar, this time in Madhya Pradesh, the CPM said the 8220;forces of majority communalism8221; were trying to convert the state into 8220;another Gujarat8221;. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, who has often quoted from Indian mythology to establish a point, spoke about the use of religion in politics during a convention on communalism, saying the holy texts present religion as a relationship between the soul and the creator, and had nothing to do with the political system of the country. The CPM leader said, 8220;We are determined to safeguard our secularism even though we are called atheists.8221; During the convention, the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, like the Sangh Parivar, came in for criticism because of the 8220;self-destructive move8221; to meet the challenge of Hindutva with so-called soft Hindutva. If anything, this only gave strength to communal forces, a declaration adopted at the convention said. As for the split in the BJP and the creation of the Bharatiya Janshakti Party by Uma Bharti, this was no signal for the weakening of communal forces because 8220;both are now vying with each other in raising the communal issues, multiplying the threat in the process,8221; said the declaration.
8212; Compiled by Ananda Majumdar
