Opinion LOOK WITHIN

Arguing against their violence,he asks: “when our Constitution provides peaceful methods of struggle to improve the government policies,why it becomes imperative to destroy village schools and hospitals”,and wonders whether “such steps help weaken the so-called ‘atrocious’ rule of the administration”. “Is it possible to finish the government army or reduce considerably the number of rifles if some CRPF jawans are killed or (some) AK-47 are snatched and handed over to their own so-called efficient army? Are we meeting our revolutionary responsibilities by staying away from the common masses and living in the jungles of the bihad among a few thousands of people,” asks the article.

Pointing out that the attacked jawans are often the sons of poor toilers,he urges the Maoists to introspect. “Even if it is accepted that there are lots of expectations from the Maoists,yet the question remains that if the government officials are trying in their own limited,lacklustre way to improve the plight of the deprived,why that process has to be interrupted by kidnapping them? Does it not destroy the very purpose for which the Maoists themselves have opted to face the hardships of a jungle life,” the article questions.

Arguing that the goal of a revolution can be achieved only if a majority of the population supports it,he argues that “the Maoists… would have to realise that to fight the state’s oppressive measures in a democracy,dialogue has always been a logical weapon through which the masses are organised.”

SICK ECONOMY

THE editorial in the CPM’s People’s Democracy criticises the “pundits of neo-liberalism” who push the government towards greater liberalisation of India’s financial sector to reverse the current slowdown in the economy.

It says the government has already showed signs of accepting such suggestions. It cites the revival of a cabinet note to privatise pension funds and the announcement of a supplementary foreign trade policy which has sops estimated at over Rs 1,200 crore to promote India’s tumbling exports. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury recalls the Left had opposed the privatisation of pensions funds during UPA 1. “…Such an opposition turned out prophetic in the wake of the 2008 global financial meltdown. Crores of Indian employees would have been ruined if this bill was passed in Parliament…” The economy,he says can be revived only by enlarging our domestic demand.

“This is currently being severely squeezed due to the relentless price rise and sharply widening economic inequalities. This can be reversed only by banning all speculative trading in essential commodities and,importantly,generating largescale employment through significant public investments in building our infrastructure. There is no dearth of resources for this,if only the massive tax concessions… are stopped,” the editorial argues.

BIHAR’S SENA

IN THE aftermath of the killing of Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh,the lead editorial in the CPM (ML)’s ML Update says the question is whether his murder will revive the Sena — a private upper-caste army which ran a ruthless campaign of terror against alleged Maoist supporters for nearly two decades in Bihar.

The article is heavily critical of the Sena and Singh. It says his supporters and even sections of the media tried to “project him as a hero or saviour of the peasantry”,but the informed democratic opinion in Bihar treated him as one of the most hated symbols of decaying feudal domination. “The exit of Brahmeshwar Singh… by no means should be construed as an automatic weakening of (the) feudal forces in Bihar… Feudal forces still weigh quite heavily on the legislative,judicial and bureaucratic balance in Bihar as can be inferred from signs like the disbanding of the Amir Das Commission,the abandoning of the Report of the Land Reforms Commission and the most recent acquittal of the perpetrators of the Bathani Tola massacre…” it argues.

Compiled by Manoj C.G.