News Updated

Thousands participate in DYFI agitation at Kerala - New Kerala
CPI(M) politburo member and LDF Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan inaugurated the agitation before the collectorate here.

US names Al-Mansoorian, ULFA, CPI(Maoist) as terrorist outfits - Rediff

1) Almost all Lashker members are Pakistani from madrasas across Pakistan and Afghan war veterans, the report said.
2) It took note of ULFA's alleged use of extortion to finance military training and weapons purchases. The report said the outfit might have linkages with other ethnic insurgent groups active in neighbouring states, and receives aid from "unknown external sources".
3) With regard to Naxalites, the report said primary Naxalite groups took steps towards consolidation by combining to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

Are Non Governmental Organizations Saints or Wolves in Sheep's Clothing?

Association for India’s Development’s (AID) collaboration with DYFI and SFI, youth and student wings of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in tsunami relief raises questions about how their funds are used. Some AID chapters in the United States are also subsidizing Asha for Education cofounder Sandeep Pandey’s “peace march” to Pakistan. This is stretching the definition of development and education: these are political activities, which tax-exempt charities are expected to avoid. [Source: New California Media]

Also check out Chartity Monitor

It is not rocket science to guess that people like Sandeep Pandey(ay), are obsessed against Hinduism and assert western style education (masquaraded as science) is the only form of salvation for India's illeterate. Such entities provide "external support" to the communists agenda just as communists provide it to the UPA (United Progressive Alliance).

Other people in list Include:
1) Arundhati Roy (India)
2) Biju Mathews (US)
3) Angana Chatterji (US)
4) Ashwini Rao (US)
5) Usha Zacharias (US)
6) Shaik Ubaid (US)
7) Teesta Setalvad (India)
8) Javed Anand (India)
9) Shabnam Hashmi (India)

More subtle support provided by
1) Zaved Akhtar (Lyricist, India)
2) Shabana Azmi (Zaved Akhtar's wife)

The list will be updated with time. These people certainly have right to form their opinion, but it should not be projected as indenpent from thtat of communists in India.

Communists Snatching Democracy From India

The merger of the PW and the MCCI to form the CPI(Maoist) is a significant development and could very well change the course of revolutionary movements, not only in India, but also across the South Asian countries. Besides establishing links with the Nepalese Maoists, the CPI (Maoist) has been able to build a network with similar Communist revolutionary organisations in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka under the banner of the Co-ordination Committee of Maoists Parties and Organisations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA). Purba Bangla Communist Party, operating mostly in the western districts of Bangladesh bordering India, is a member of CCOMPOSA. All these South Asian Maoist parties are members of the largest international organisation called the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM). RIM and CCOMPOSA are advising Nepalese Maoists against negotiations with the government of King Gyanendra as they believe that success of the Nepali Maoists is a prerequisite to the success of the “people’s war’’ in the entire region. The CPI (Maoist) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) have planned to create a liberated Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ) extending from Nepal and stretching across six states from central India to somewhere on the northern fringes of Karnataka.

The Statesman

Buddha earns kudos from Sudarshan

West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday received a pat in the back from unexpected quarters, RSS chief K S Sudarshan. According to him, Bhattacharjee had realised the danger posed by unabated illegal immigration from across the Bangladesh border and was not prepared to permit this...

Sudarshan also agreed with the economic philosophy of the communists. "The time has come to break free from the western economic order and replace it with a new economic order. The communists are thinking on the same lines," he said.

Times Of India

Naxal nexus with Maoist, Communists (Update)

Naxal violence spread acros India. WHERE IS HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH? - NDTV News

Apr 19, 2005: Naxals kill Congress leader in Chattisgarh
Apr 18, 2005: Naxal envoy meets Shinde
Apr 15, 2005: 'Naxals guilty of human rights violations'
Apr 13, 2005: Naxal threat: YSR relies on tape diplomacy
Apr 11, 2005: Naxals kill sarpanch in Warangal
Apr 6, 2005: CPI (Maoists) release abducted labourers
Apr 5, 2005: Peace initiative with naxals suffers blow
Apr 4, 2005: Naxal emissaries pull out of peace talks
Mar 29, 2005: Naxals blow up police station in AP
Mar 27, 2005: Four Naxals killed in Warangal
Mar 25, 2005: Andhra police chief rules out ban on Naxals

Previous post (with 416 articles) here.

Development over Politics

Wen Jiabao Meets with Lal Krishna Advani - Chinese Govt.

Indian Communists need to learn from the Chinese counterpart and break their traditional outlook towards rapidly changing realities in India. The Chinese, even though communist, are more 'nationalist' than the CPI (who conversely on most occasion take anti-national stand).

Wen told Advani that China appreciates the Bharatiya Janata Party for its contribution to promoting China-India friendliness as the ruling party. The Communist Party of China (CPC) is willing to continue to develop the friendly cooperation with BJP and hopes that BJP could continue to play an active role in promoting the growth of bilateral ties.

145,000 ancient books destroyed in Manipur arson attack

A separatist rebel group, Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), Manipur, India were among the destroyers... again of Indian heritage.

Officials say many of Manipur's most ancient texts were among the books destroyed by the fire.

Historian Gangumei Kamei said the loss of so many books was "an incalculable loss" to Manipur's heritage.

But the state government insists that it will only introduce Mayek gradually, because its sudden introduction could cause problems for a generation of Manipuris who are not familiar with the ancient script.

News update

Muslim League backs Chandy-led coalition, oppose Commies - The Peninsula
“The Commies have no idea what the League is and what Malappuram stands for. They are knocking at the doors of self-styled protectors of the community in the hope of making a breach into the Muslim heartland. I can assure you that it’ll all end up as just a pipedream”, he (Former Industry Minister P K Kunhalikutty, the dtate general secretary of the League) said amid thunderous applause from the League cadres.

FUND OF CONFUSION - The Telegraph
The Communist Party of India (Marxist): No member of the party will be allowed to run an NGO on overseas money. Even when drawing funds from government schemes, the socially enthusiastic member would need the party’s permission to run the NGO. Besides, any member connected with an NGO would have to submit detailed accounts to the party.... While working “in the field”, NGOs often need the cooperation of government officials at various levels. The experience is not always pleasant: indifference, actual obstruction and even open hostility are not uncommon. The core of the problem is contained in the label: these are non-governmental organizations... “Foreign” money and NGOs is a most unpalatable combination.

All you wanted to know about CPI-M - Rediff

News update

1) In China and India, Communists are different - Times of India

2) Forced into pragmatism - Indian Express
As the CPM transforms its identity, it’s still struggling to come to terms with Indian realities

3) Marxist ideologue Karat is new CPI-M chief - New Kerala
An organisational man and a Marxist hardliner, it was Karat who played a key role in dissuading - not once but twice - former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu from becoming India's prime minister in 1996 and, a year ago, the CPI-M from joining the present Congress-led government.... Besides being a Marxist ideologue, Karat is also managing director of LeftWord Books, a publishing house, and has authored books such as "Language, Nationality and Politics in India".

4) Andhra Maoists asked to go after select targets - New Kerala
(IANS News) Hyderabad: In a change of strategy, Maoist guerrillas in Andhra Pradesh have decided not to kill ordinary villagers and lower-ranked policemen or attack state-owned buses, and instead focus on big targets.

In praise of Lenin and Stalin

The following photo has been taken at the 18th congress of Community party of India (ML) (April 2005). Hardcore communists still praise and admire (1)Lenin and (2)Stalin - as seen in the photo. BBC describes Stalin as "One of the most powerful and murderous dictators in human history".

It should be noted that Stalin was also in charge of the war machine that played a significant role in the defeat of Hitler's armies during World War II. The communists still lament their enemies as fascists!

As noted before on this blog, communist attrocities have not been very well documented. Moreover, as Balbir Punj notes,

Far worse has been the role of our "intellectuals". They turned Hitler's concentration camps into a cliché, but maintained complete silence on Stalin's Gulag where twice the number of people perished. They played havoc with countries of East Europe because of which many of them are still experiencing political and economic difficulties.

A modern intellectual Jean-Francois Revel, author of famous books like, Without Marx or Jesus and How Democracies Perish has rightly said: "Authoritarian socialism has failed almost everywhere, but you will not find a single Marxist who will say it has failed because it was wrong or impractical. He will say it has failed because nobody went far enough with it. So failure never proves that a myth is wrong."

It is despecable to see how 'traditional' these 'revolutionaries' are. Hence the dwindling numbers?

Indian PM warns growth to fall below target

If the growth really does slow down (most likely), it will be the first ever decline since 1998. The reasons are pointed out in Financial Times.

Mr Singh’s coalition wants to attract more foreign investment to help meet this demand. Yet it has had difficulty persuading its communist party allies, who support the government from the outside, of the need to boost private investment in areas such as telecommunications, insurance, and retailing. “We have the potential to grow at 7-8 per cent but we need strong political decisions to divert spending away from wasteful subsidies to more warranted investments,” said B.B Bhattacharya, professor at Delhi’s Institute of Economic Growth.

This is, apparently, not enough for communists in India. It wants an even harder stand - even with the knowledge of slowdown in economy, the hardline CPI attacked CPI(M) for its "tolerance" of UPA's econmic policies.

CPI goons protesting at Nike Show Room at Kolkata Calling for Boycott of American Brands on April 02, 2003

CPI goons protesting at Nike Show Room at Kolkata Calling for Boycott of American Brands on April 02, 2003

What are communists in India upto

The following "Writing in Red" were put forth by the Communist Party of India. Communists claim to fight fundamentalists forces but ironically they religiously stick to the red book to do it!

Third Alternative
The ‘Third Alternative’ was much in mention at the CPI(M) congress. The phrase featured in party general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet’s speech. For the record, the Third Alternative has nothing to do with the Third Front. The CPI(M) has vowed to go it alone, make the party stronger, avoid opportunistic alliances and build the party from grassroots. And then, it will provide the Third Alternative alone.

Comrades world over
Foreign delegates from 27 countries, all representatives of Communist parties, are attending the congress. The loudest applause, however, was reserved for members from Cuba, Vietnam and the Palestine Liberation Organisation. There are two comrades from North Korea as well.

Bengal’s right for Left
It was more than coincidence that most Kerala Politburo members were sitting to the left on the dais. Surjeet and Basu sat to the right where most other young Bengal comrades were seated. The interpretation doing the rounds — power in the CPI(M) is heavily tilted towards Bengal. Of course, Sitaram Yechury sat on the first row while Prakash Karat occupied a discreet seat on the second row.

No mourning Pope
The CPI congress in Chandigarh had stepped into a row by condoling the death of the Pope, praised in the West for doing great damage to Communism. The CPI(M) was more prudent — there was no mention of the Pope.

Red TV on Marxist menu
The CPI(M)-promoted Malayalam channel Kairali Television had a crew ready for live coverage of the Marxist menu. Channel representatives, however, maintained the reportage had been kept minimal and there would be no special shows.
—ENS

A Series of Unfortunate Events - COMMUNISM

Communist regimes are probably the most unfortunate among all to have been thrusted on humanity. What is more outragious is its crimes have not been well documented.

Unlike Chinese and Russian communists which have a capitalistic flavor to it, Indian communists are more traditional and hardcore (inspiration to armed revolution).

The Indian Express lays out a brief history of communism in India. Full history, i.e. Thirty Years of Naxalbari, should be an interesting read.

Going back in history, into the 1940s, when the country was fighting for its Independence, the Communists actually excused themselves from participating in it. Why? Because the Soviet Union, leaders of Communist movement worldwide, was fighting Nazi Germany in the Second World War as an ally of the British.

Truth be said, whether it is Basu and Surjeet, Stalin or Mao, Karl Marx would have described them as despots, nothing else. Whether it was India, West Bengal, Soviet Union or China, people who were unfortunate enough to fall under their influence passed a gauntlet of pain.

You are not welcome, evil dictator

Picked up from Varnam

All Hindus are fundamentalists: Ghadar

Ghadar, a communist magazine, cries foul as it sees hidden agendas when a Hindu group meets President George Bush in 2004. What is more shocking is its categorization of every Hindu organization as a fundamentalist and extremist outfit!

One of the most vicious of the symbiotic relationships that US Hindutva has forged in the past year has been with influential Zionists. For instance in this very issue, the articles USINPAC: Buying Zionist Influence, Selling Indian Interests and Zionism and Hindutva in the U.S. reveal how the global consensus building machinery on the war on terror' has contributed to cementing these ties. Just recently, this past May 2004, the Hindu American Foundation featured prominently in the Annual Policy Conference of the AIPAC [http://www.aipac.org/], alongside George W Bush and other luminaries. [1]. In their press statement, the HAF 'discussed the scourge of terror faced by the United States, India and Israel and conveyed the security issues facing Hindus globally to AIPAC leaders. HAF emphasized the many values shared by Hindu Americans and Jewish Americans: a determined work ethic, family values, a non proselytizing tolerant religion, and a respect for life and religious freedom.'

Being for something does not mean you are against something else.

Human Rights Activists and Communists in India

The following annoucement appeared on SACW network:

The 18th Congress of the Communist Party of India(Marxist) will be held in Delhi from 6th to 11thApril, 2005. As part of the pre-Congress activities weare organising a seminar that will address the majorissues confronting the people today - imperialism,war, race and divisive politics based on religious andethnic identities. The seminar shall explore thesocialist vision of sustainable development that ispeople-centred and self-reliant in approach. You areall invited for this seminar.

This is a very common strategy used by CPI in India to give itself a "humanist" face.

CPI(M) planning major campaign in Darjeeling

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leadership in West Bengal is planning a major political campaign in the Darjeeling hills even as there is fresh talk of statehood for the region by senior leaders of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF).

The Hindu

India's Relationship With Israel

This Op-Ed appeared in Israel National News which glides over communist movements in present and past Indian politics.

Despite their hatred for Hindus, branding their opponents "Hindu fundamentalists", Communists and others who pander to the demands of Muslims gain respect by associating themselves with Hindus.

In the recent past, with the Nehru family out of power, the relationship between India and Israel has bloomed. In 1992, India established a full diplomatic relationship with Israel, and since then, the two countries have signed several defense deals. Many Israelis who have visited India as tourists during this period have had pleasant experiences. While there seems to be no immediate danger of things taking a turn for the worse, it is a cause for concern that a member of the Nehru family is once again the de facto head of the government in India. Hopefully, the shortsighted foreign policy of ostracizing Israel will not become reality again, leading to the souring of relations between India and Israel.

One should note that pro-palestenian activism has a strong hold in Indian communist circles.