Opinion Not class war

Reddy alleges that “hundreds of bogus encounters… torture of innocent poor,arrest of thousands of innocents over false cases and violations of human rights and civil liberties” have dented the credibility of the state. He argues that the Maosits have no more credibility as they are killing innocents and kidnapping civilian officers. “Abduction and kidnapping… (are) an act of desperation. They may succeed in negotiations,get release of a few prisoners [sic but later,the state will hunt with more vengeance. Those released have to live in constant fear,” he says. “The Maoist action plan of individual annihilation as part of class war is inhuman and un-Marxist. Killing innocent unarmed people cannot be called class war,” he adds.

He calls for the government to review its green hunt policies. “State terrorism against the Maoists and other insurgent groups is mostly… unconstitutional,illegal and inhuman… Innocent people… (are) targeted by the state in the name of combatting Maoists,” he argues.

He concludes that while the government should rather tackle Maoism by trying to address the socio-economic problems that gave rise to it,the rebels too should change their methods of struggle.

NEOLIBERAL economics

An editorial in CPM’s weekly,People’s Democracy,focuses on the debate over financial liberalisation after the cut in India’s credit rating outlook by Standard and Poor’s and chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu’s remarks that coalition democracy was slowing down reforms and decision-making.

It says that the “cheerleaders of neoliberal economic reforms” have eagerly pounced upon these statements to urge the government to “bite the bullet”. The editorial argues that though the government refuses to publicly acknowledge and give the Left its due,“by now it is universally recognised that India protected itself,relatively,from the devastating impact of the global financial meltdown of 2008 primarily because our financial sector was relatively insulated from international fluctuations and meltdowns.”

“Unwilling to learn from our own experience,these neoliberal pundits are now pushing the government to rush ahead with… reforms,thus making India more vulnerable to international financial fluctuations. This would be disastrous for the Indian economy… This will ruin the livelihood security of crores of common Indians,” it says.

It argues that,against the backdrop of the global economic crisis and recessionary conditions,“India can accelerate its growth only on the basis of vastly enlarging its domestic demand by increasing the purchasing power amongst our people.”

UNDOING LAND REFORM

An article in People’s Democracy says that the Left in West Bengal is gearing up to launch a major campaign against the Mamata Banerjee government for amending the Land Reforms Act of 1955. The amended act states that entrepreneurs or persons interested in setting up industrial hubs can hold land above the land ceiling limit if they get prior written permission from a ministerial committee headed by the chief minister.

“The legislation is a decisive blow to the land reforms carried out by previous Left Front governments since 1978… The move to give concessions to corporate capital by making fundamental changes in the… Act is one of a series of measures that are aimed at setting up the basis for the penetration of corporate capital in the state.”

“It also unmasks the true face of the TMC government and shows that the ‘maa mati manush’ slogan is merely a legitimating device for pushing the interests of corporate capital,” the article says.