Proletarian Era, 15 Nov 2007
Gujarat on the eve of assembly election
Gujarat is going to face the Assembly election in December next. BJP, a bourgeois party playing on Hindu cards and led by the present Chief Minister Narendra Modi with all blessings from the Hindu-communal outfit RSS, forms a major contestant in spite of severe internal squabbles among its state leaders. Congress, another major bourgeois party in power of the union government, out of wit and hence out of action since the Modi-engineered anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002, tries to pose as BJPs major contestant, through making some adjustments with the dissidents of the ruling party and some other forces. The so-called left, CPI(M), true to its alliance with the Congress in the UPA at the Centre, raises, as usual, the plea of communalism and SUCI fights alone.
It may be recalled that Narendra Modi sailed through the last election in 2002 on the main plank of Hindutva, holding the election on the backdrop of a state-engineered anti-Muslim pogrom. This time, it is a clever fusion of Hindutva and ‘development’ with chauvinist frenzy injected into it, that is being used as the plank. For that, Modi has coined a three ‘S’ slogan in Gujarati, namely Salamati (security) - Samrudhdhhi (development)-Swabhiman (pride). We will be looking through this slogan soon. To begin with, let us submit that Modi has let loose a liberally fuelled campaign, rather advertisement machinery for the purpose of winning this election cutting across all norms of decency and even election code of conduct. Series of advertisements in leading newspapers, magazines, televisions, hoardings all over the State , a 24- hour channel ‘Vande Gujarat’ launched to highlight the so-called achievements of Modi-led government, are some of the means. Rallies, ‘sammelans’ and festivals are being held with lavish spending, along with gearing up of the entire administration particularly for those to be addressed by Modi. For the last six months Modi and his ministers and even central BJP leaders had been laying foundations for crematoriums or for public toilets already in use, inaugurating sewage systems and dhobi ghats, that too in tens of numbers of occasions in a day, draining out hundreds of crore of rupees of public money in the process. The state government has made a documentary entitled “India Tommorrow – The Gujarat Miracle” to project Modi as the sole person who fought the menace of terrorism in Gujarat and brought about development of the state.
The craze for publicity and extravaganza, of course associated with corruption and use of administration have earned Modi the title of a modern Nero. Believed to be the topmost fund-raiser for BJP, ready to oblige and favour the business houses, industrialists, NRIs for a descent commission, Modi and his government have already been implicated a few times by the CAG. The funds allotted for the 2001 Earthquake or 2002 riot victims were unutilized or mis-utilized. As reported in media, including Gujarat Samachar, allegations of scams involving crores of rupees are there, be it with allotting of contracts of construction of class rooms for schools by the Larsen & Toubro , or removal of debris in earthquake areas or for collecting garbage in cities, or even with allotment for thousands of new toilets without any tender.
On the other hand, expenses on foreign tours of Modi rose to a staggering 16 crore rupees (see, Gujarat Today, 28 September 2007).
It is on this background of corruption and extravaganza, that the three-S campaign has to be judged. To examine how sound and honest the campaign is, let us first take up the point of Samrudhdhhi (development). The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation declared Narendra Modi as the number one CM in India, which compliment Modi never failed to make use of to his own benefit. And in this state of the ‘number one CM’ 33 Lakh families, holding about one third of the state population, are compelled to live below poverty line (Divyabhaskar, September 11, 2007). The state bears a debt totaling to about Rs. 79,000 crore, whereas per capita debt has reached Rs. 14,683. A mark of prosperity indeed!
Education and health are the two basic needs of the common people. Both are in shambles for them in the state of the ‘number one CM’ with commercialization, and privatization going in rapid strides, additionally with saffronization of education at all levels forcefully pressed upon by the saffron brigade of the Sangh Parivar. Incidents with the Fine Arts faculty of the M.S. University drew wide attention of the country, exposing the level of saffronization in the M.S. University. The Vice-Chancellors of universities are selected on the basis of their belonging to the Sangh Parivar. Even for the Syndicate members as also professors of all ranks, the same criterion has become a prerequisite for recruitment or promotion.
Not only institutions for professional education especially Medical and Engineering, even those for general education are in the grip of shameless privatization. The government has stopped setting up of new educational institutions at school levels. Only those promoting self-finance courses are allowed to open (1247 such schools in 5 years). Universities are also pressurized to promote such courses at the cost of their regular ones. In consequence of this drive for Samrudhdhhi , the state of Gujarat now stands 13th in case of Primary Education in the country, 17th in girl education. Thousands of schools run without a toilet (5911), drinking water (855), any compound wall (2427) or electricity (921).
In the field of health, Samrudhdhhi has left the government hospitals in shambles without medicines or doctors and medical staff, while different kinds of fees are levied. Leptospirosis has assumed a menacing form ; there were 325 cases with 74 deaths, highest being in rural Surat with 156 cases and 26 deaths (Gujarat Samachar, 18 September 2007). According to the department of Health and Family Welfare, 86% of the 352 PHCs and CHCs in the state are categorized in Grade D, while remaining 14% are in Grade C. About 80% children below 3 years are anemic in the state and 55% children in the state are not fully immunized. More than 40% children in urban areas are undernourished, of which at least 5% suffer from severe malnutrition. 55% women belonging to the age group of 15 to 49 years are anemic (Indian Express, 2 September 2007). 76.45 lakh people in villages have no latrines and 86.35 lakh people have no gutter facilities.
Industrial development, which Modi often boasts of, is another mark of Samrudhdhhi .This, in turn, is also characterized by unbridled privatization in the state. Public Sector Units are being sold or leased out to the favoured industrial houses like Advani, Reliance, Essar etc. at minimal prices. Lands (over 5000 hectares in the last 5 years) are being leased out or allotted at very nominal rates to the corporate sectors, industrial houses and MNCs. In the same period, the Modi government has given the latter a relief of about 15,000 crore of rupees exempting them from the Sales tax and offering them relief in electricity, while power to the cultivation fields of common peasants still remains an illusion. It has decided to set up 38 SEZs in the state. However, the figures of MOUs are lopsided and the investment seem to be mostly concentrated in the already developed golden corridor from Surat to Ahmedabad.
On the other hand, unemployment is increasing in leaps and bounds. There is virtually no recruitment in government offices, with posts lying vacant and the existing employees compelled to make up for the work. Existing industries are closing down; in 2005 there were 30110 registered industries of which only 22155 are functioning. About 50 lakhs of workers work in most of the unorganized sectors, without any trade union or human rights, even to the extent of safety of their job and life. In the last few years at least 200 workers of quartz crushing factories have died of silicosis. The huge contingent of migrant workers possibly face the worst plight and insecurity. Industrialists, on the other hand, are allowed to violate all kinds of labour acts and laws.
So much for Samrudhdhhi , in brief. On the question of Salamati or security, the buoyant Modi government should first have to answer the accusation of Suresh Mehta, an erstwhile Chief Minister who, reportedly said: ‘’Narendra Modi says that Gujarat is a very safe place for women, for children and for society. I want to contest this. I want to say that the place has become unsafe under his rule.’’ Another former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has categorically said that there is a mini emergency in Gujarat under Narendra Modi. Facts corroborate their accusations, for instance by the menacingly rising rate (increased by 6% over the state from 2001 to 2006; in Surat by 27.8%, in Ahmedabad by 15.2) of crime of all sorts, including riots, murders, rapes and atrocities against women and children including kidnapping and trafficking. Even a BJP MP, was arrested on the charge of human trafficking. Female foeticide has become rampant ; suicide, even group suicide is on the rise, with 403 farmers committing suicide in the last 4 years. Modi’s Gujarat has become notorious for fake encounters including the Soharabuddin case, which figure at 21 in the last 5 years and reveal the collusion between the Police and the government, particularly acting against the minority community. On the contrary to this picture of crime, the Modi government steps ahead to issue 9273 permits for alcohol outlets while the state was under the prohibition. Perhaps to end with the fallacy the government has relaxed the prohibition law on the plea of encouraging tourism and business tours and SEZ in spite of stiff oppositions in the state. Security also entails standing by the distressed people. Flood and water logging are perpetual problems that devastate the state. There is one high profile Disaster Management Authority too. While the latter has turned out to be a white elephant, the victims are left without compensation, whatever be the calamity, yearly flood or water logging or the devastating earthquake that took place 7 years back.
The remaining third aspect of the 3-s campaign is Swabhiman or pride. The shameful incident of the 2002 carnage of Gujarat was condemned by every right thinking man, barring the BJP and Sangh Parivar, who always stood behind Modi and his ‘action and reaction’ theory of post Godhra riots and never regretted about that 2002 carnage. Modi used it for whipping up a parochial frenzy in the people of that state. Even after these 5 years, the culprits of the carnage are moving around freely and the justice has not been meted out to the Muslim minority. They have not been rehabilitated, the victims still staying in 81 temporary-camps in 11 districts without any government aid. Rather, on the contrary, Modi and the BJP under his leadership are still distributing Trishuls (tridents) at regular intervals and small scale riots are taking place throughout the state. Even caste based clashes are assuming dangerous scale. All this, despite the fact, that in September 2003 the Supreme Court said that they had lost faith in the Gujarat government and in August 2004, it reopened 2100 cases out of a total of 4600.
In such a situation, the TV channel Aaj Tak has recently aired a revelation by a Tehelka investigation team which has thoroughly exposed the ‘action reaction theory’ of Modi to justify the pogrom and has strikingly held the charges of ethnic cleansing by the Modi government. It has been revealed that Narendra Modi gave three days free hand to VHP, Bajarang Dal to kill Muslims. Police men worked as the hit men for VHP and killed Muslims and supported all kinds of loot ,murder, rape and congratulated the leaders of the carnage and assured all kinds of security to the rioters. Mehsana’s government lawyer Dilip Trivedi, who is also a VHP general secretary, says that all have to be ‘managed’. ‘Judges have to be bought and managed all over Gujarat, witnesses bought and everything needed is done to get the riot accused, acquitted’ The Gujarat Samachar daily that once eulogized Modi, could not but conclude that “Godhra riot is the brain child of Modi.” The BJP and RSS leadership have, however, not hesitated to stand by Modi terming the entire exercise as a ploy to malign Gujarat, Modi and BJP. The journalist of Aaj Tak is charged of forgery and cheating by the government advocate and an FIR has been filed against him.
The Modi government boastfully talked of their prestigious Narmada River project to create a parochial euphoria of helping people have water in the parched drought affected areas of the state. Ironically 70% of canal works the canal network required for its distribution is yet to be completed. Besides, the drought affected people now find that they have to pay to drink the Narmada water.
It is thus clear that Samrudhdhhi or development which Modi holds up as his mark in his election campaign, has nothing to with the common people. Modi’s Gujarat has made the corporates, MNCs and monopolists prosper, while people are robbed of even the minimum basic requirements of life, education health, employment or even security. And Modi conceals this subservience to the ruling class with the help of the rabid communal policy intermingled with an attempt to whip up parochial frenzy of his so-called Swabhiman or pride. What is the condition of Salamati or security in his rule, is evident from the words of his own party men. Keshubhai Patel, one such BJP leader, even went to the extent of branding Modi as Hitler. Elected to parliamentary forum, Modi, however, has taken every pain to avoid the assembly debates. There were minimum number of Assembly sessions. Even in them Modi’s aggressive speeches were oriented rather towards disrupting the debate than promoting it. Obviously in such a condition, MLAs, too, had their free time bothering the least to attend even the skeletal assembly sessions. His highhanded, ruthless leadership which does not spare any opposition even within his party, has invited strong criticisms from even many senior leaders of BJP. But the difference is not based on principle. It is rather centred on the question of leadership, that is power, as they term it as Moditwa, and not Hindutwa. And here Modi still enjoys the advantage of having almost a total support from the ruling class, reflected in the attitude of national leadership of BJP or RSS, among the outfits of the ruling capitalists- monopolists in the state. This politics of Narendra Modi, which is a fusion of rabid communalism and Gujarati parochialism leading to blind, fanatic regimentation dished under the coating of so-called development and yet subserving the ruling class in the best possible way, is the typical fascist politics, which the ruling class requires to overcome the present juncture of their crisis-ridden rule. The capitalist system of India, a part and parcel of the world capitalist-imperialist system is tottering with acute economic recession and market crisis. It breeds continuously industrial recession, and consequent impoverishment of the masses, unemployment, which, in turn, generate ever increasing resentment among the common toiling people. It thus becomes incumbent upon the rulers to take to such politics that diverts people from identifying the root cause of their plight , namely the crisis-ridden capitalist system. Blindness, fanaticism are the effective means towards that end. Side by side, communalism and parochialism are those poisons that provide the seeds of disunity among people, preventing them from standing united against the common enemy capitalism. And Modi seems to have excelled in dishing out this brand of politics. Thus the business houses, the Chambers of Commerce, CII and industrialists are very comfortable with Narendra Modi here in Gujarat as they are with the UPA Govt. at Centre or the CPI(M)-front Govt. in West Bengal. As a contestant in the parliamentary forum, Congress, another trusted party of the monopolists like the BJP, is trying to put up a fight with Modi’s BJP. The fractionalized Congress party is in hope to come to power in the state banking on the incumbency factors among the voters. They assume that the internal contradiction within BJP and the people disenchanted with Modi will vote them to power . But in spite of all criticisms and opposition, Congress did not show up in any perceptible form against the Modi government during its present five year rule. They did not bother seriously to stand by the hapless victims of the Modi-engineered carnage and never fought sincerely for their rehabilitation and employment. Even during her visit to the state after the pogrom, Congress president Sonia Gandhi did not call upon the widow of veteran Congress leader Ehsaan Jafri who had been murdered by rampaging mobs. Now, on the eve of the election, it is playing both the Hindu and the Muslim cards. On one side, it is trying to woe the Sadhus and Sants and trying to play all kinds of soft Hindutva card, while on the other, is trying to pose as the sole saviour of the Muslims and other minorities like Christians. The party is now negotiating deals with BJP rebels, including many who had participated or encouraged the mobs in the carnage. Both Congress and BJP are in race to create the caste oriented vote bank. The BSP too is trying to bring the Dalits and upper caste Brahmins and score in this election after it’s success in UP. In fact, the politics Modi follows in Gujarat has no difference with the politics of serving the capitalists-monopolists, the Congress follows at the Centre. And that takes the steam out of the barrel of Congress and other bourgeois parties.
Obviously, such politics of the major bourgeois parties have nothing to do with the interest of common people. It was then necessary for the left, democratic and secular parties, forces and citizens of the state to forge unity of whatever strength they have in the state, on a common programme of launching democratic movement on people’s burning problems of life and fight the election as a part of that movement. Only such an united platform could have provided an alternative to the people’s voice and an instrument of struggle to press upon peoples’ demands and concern to be considered as issues of the election. But CPI(M)-CPI’s alliance with Congress led UPA and their indifference towards this endeavor acted as an obstacle to form such people’s platform. Rather, in the name of fighting communalism, they promoted and defended Congress in this state to combat BJP rule and to resist the come back of BJP. In fact, their shameless, ruthless and fascistic suppression of democratic movements, as is reflected in barbarous incidents like those of Nandigram, Singur or attacks on intellectuals in Calcutta protesting their acts, only to give effect to their politics of total subservience to the ruling capitalists-monopolists, indicate clearly that they are no longer a force to act for people’s interest. Their actions only create confusion in the mind of democratic and secular minded forces and the people and stand as an obstacle to crystallizing the people’s platform which our party has been trying tirelessly.
Under these circumstances the election is going to be held in the state. Pre- poll violence is increasing day by day Even the minimum democratic atmosphere in the state for electioneering is proving absent for the parties like SUCI. Whereas the major parties are flaying all the code of conducts of EC and indulging in free-flowing of funds and associated means, public collection at Baroda for raising fighting funds, on which only SUCI thrives, was banned by Police terming it as the violation of the code of conduct. In any case and under the circumstances SUCI has decided to contest the election and support left, democratic, secular, progressive candidates tested on the edifice of people’s movement and reflecting high moral and cultural standard.
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