Civil Liberties under Attack: The “Maoist” Scare and Mithu Ghosh
Press Conference: 25 March, 2008. Between 3-4 p.m. Venue: Press Club, Kolkata. The case will be discussed and publicised.
Today we are witnessing the sharpest assault on democratic rights since Emergency. And as before, the reason is an upsurge from below, in the current case in resistance to the imposition of neoliberal policies. During the past few years, an increasing spontaneous movement is being seen all over India — against dispossessing impoverished rural residents in the interests of private profit such as in Kalinganagar and Nandigram or against imposition of new anti-worker policies as in Honda Motors and Toyota Motors, and in Jute-mills of West Bengal. In most cases initiative is being taken from below, and the affected people have tried to keep control by rejecting leadership from the established political parties, although not always with success. Yet stories of successful resistance spread quickly and, as the strength of mass struggle is recalled after a long break, local resistance rapidly develops brave and intelligent, though inexperienced, new leadership. Though this mass upsurge is in but a nascent state, the ruling classes and their representatives are very much aware of its strength and are hell-bent to crush these struggles in any way possible.
A primary method now adopted by the rulers of India is to brand as “Maoist” anybody who is involved with these new types of movements — whether as journalist or sympathiser or civil/democratic rights activist or political activist of a non-parliamentary group.
A most ominous event is the recent arrest, by the police of CPI(M)-led left front government, of Mithu Ghosh, an activist of Sharamik Sangram Committee (SSC) and Krishak Committee (KC), along with a senior leader of Nandigram movement and his son on 12th February, 2008 from Sonachuda, Nandigram West Bengal. An allegation of Maoist link under section 120B, 121, 121A and 153 of IPC was charged.
An excerpt from the leaflet published by SSC and KC after the arrest of Mithu Ghosh sets out the facts:
“SSC and KC, for the last thirty years, have been working among the workers and peasants and all the toiling masses to make them conscious and organised for the complete abolition of all types of exploitation, with the aim of revolutionary change of the present social system. It is true that the declared aim of the CPI(Maoist) is also the radical change of this exploitative society.
But we have continuously opposed the politics of CPI(Maoist) and its predecessors among left extremist organisations, insisting that social change is not possible through the activities of armed activists detached from the masses. Only the working class can abolish exploitation from this society forever. Only the working class can ensure the spontaneous and active participation of millions of peasants and agricultural labourers, all the toiling masses, by arousing them for the radical, revolutionary change of the society. And to achieve this, the most important thing is that the working class has to be organised independently, has to build their own party whose control will be in the hands of advanced workers. . . . By detaching advanced workers, on the one hand, from the revisionist-reformist politics of solving problems through change of government and, on the other hand, from ultra-left politics of changing society through the activities of a few armed cadres, we are working to organise the toiling masses on the basis of class consciousness.”
SSC is a small organisation, yet it leads the union of a big MNC, Hindustan Lever, and (along with some smaller factories) Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers Ltd.’s union is also led by SSC. So, SSC and KC (and their political history) are not unknown organisations to police, administration or ruling parties. Still, their activist is arrested with the allegation of being “Maoist” and his bail petition rejected in the lower courts. As Ashok Mitra warned the leadership of the CPI(M) in Anandabazar Patrika on November 14, 2007, “you shiver at the terror of Maoism, will that shivering compel you to throw West Bengal into the gutter of fascism?” The attack on Mithu Ghosh is a step into that gutter.
This article is part of an Analytical Monthly Review article
Click here to read a leaflet from SSC and KC [PDF, English] »
Click here to read press release from March 25, 2008 with signatures [PDF, English] »