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1]From: Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com> Date: Tue Feb 15, 2005 9:51am Subject: He showed them what vote means, they are still paying him back He showed them what vote means, they are still paying him back VARGHESE K GEORGE http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=64740 PURNEA, FEBRUARY 14: Jagdish Yadav has been campaigning as hard as he did 15 years ago, to get Laloo Yadav a fourth term in power??he knows well what it costs. He will wake up early and ensure that each voter in his hamlet goes to the booth. For standing up to the landed upper castes during Laloo??s first term, Jagdish had paid a strange price??the local police hung him upside down at Dumdaha market and poured petrol through his anus. ??????You people were acting smart after Laloo came to power. Let me see what Laloo will do,???? he was told. The issue was raised in the state Assembly, and CM Laloo sent a state plane that brought Jagdish to Patna for treatment. Fifteen years later, every policeman knows who rules Bihar. At the Balu Tola hamlet where Jagdish lives, the Yadavs are all enthusiastically working for the RJD??s victory. They recount with horror what they had gone through in the hands of Bhumihars, the dominant upper-caste group in the village. ??????We have small landholdings but our cattle grazed in the land of the upper caste. In return we were forced to give away a lot of milk and ghee to them. We could not ask questions. We were not allowed to have footwear,???? Narender Yadav, Jagdish??s father, says. ??????On the day of the elections, the Bhumihars would tell the village elder which symbol to vote for??and the matter ended there,???? adds Saha Prasad Yadav. Laloo Yadav has changed Bihar and the villagers can??t stop talking about it. ??????Nobody dares insult us, and we can vote as per our wish,???? they say. And they all vote the RJD. But the Yadav power has not been distributed equally in the village. Though most of the Yadavs still continue with their cattle-rearing, Kamleshar Yadav has made it big in the last decade. One of his sons is a police inspector, posted in Gopalganj, Laloo??s home district. Another is a teacher and yet another is a medical student. With his direct access to power, Kamleshwar has been on an accumulation spree??he owns acres of land, mostly bought from fellow Yadavs. ??????He has even duped some of us into selling land at lower prices,???? Narendra Yadav says. ??????The local police side with him.???? The villagers find it good enough that the police only shoo them away and not resort to petrol. ??????We are happy with what we have,???? they say, and are convinced that Laloo is not at fault for such aberrant Yadavs. ??????We will all queue up and vote for the RJD,???? they say in chorus. Because, two decades ago, they ??????did not know what elections were all about.???? ??????Laloo taught us what it means.???? The villagers are happy; and so is Kamleshar Yadav. So must be Laloo Yadav if all Yadavs think the same way this time. Of the 82 seats that votes today, the RJD is defending 52. http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=64740 ----------------------------------------------------- 2] From: dnrad1 <dnrad1@sancharnet.in> Date: Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:08pm Subject: Fw: [aiaifdelhi] US and Indian Governments must stop interference in Nepal ----- Original Message ----- From: rrajesh31 To: aiaifdelhi@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 6:28 PM Subject: [aiaifdelhi] US and Indian Governments must stop interference in Nepal US and Indian Governments must stop interference in Nepal Proletarian Era, 1st October 2004 Nepal, our neighbouring country in the lap of the Himalayas, is seething with rage and indignation-turned into outburst of the people. It is no muffling a discontent but an outburst against an oppressive regime, the people are totally opposed to. Notwithstanding the power that be raising the spectre of violence, the people's has been indefatigable a spirit, a tenacious resistance to the coercive onslaughts. As per reports published in the press, the current anti- establishment movement in demand of abolition of monarchy, establishment of a constituent assembly, demobilisation of the army and adoption of a democratic republic, has struck deep roots in the minds of the people. As the report goes, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is in the forefront of the movement. It may be recalled that Nepal, as one is aware, had been under autocratic monarchial rule since long. Notwithstanding the Palace feigning concern for the subjects and clamouring for their welfare, the experience of the people has been to the contrary. While the masses are bled white, the Palace and its coterie flourished and prospered. The disparity had been too glaring. So there had been sporadic protests and occasional movements against the tyrannical rule. To suppress the people's discontent, the monarchy, apart from applying force, also sought to create a myth that the monarchy is the bulwark against the forces of disunity in a multi-ethnic polity of Nepal. Hence Nepal would not survive if monarchy is dislodged. But it took not much time for this myth to be shattered and the so- called liberal, humane face of the King to get exposed. Hence a massive movement demanding abolition of the monarchy and establishment of full democracy swept the country in 1990. In spite of resorting to all sorts of repressive measures, the King could not contain the movement. Ultimately, the King relented and consented to sit at the negotiation table. During the negotiation, though the King admitted to introduce multi-party democracy, he succeeded in retaining full control over the Army under the garb of constitutional monarchy. Thus the Palace was in effective control over the State. Leaders of the Nepali Congress, which in the main, represented the aspirant rising bourgeoisie of Nepal, and pseudo-left parties like the CPN(UML), who, by virtue of being in the movement, participated in the negotiations thus, in their lust for pelf and power, betrayed the very cause of the people's struggle by accepting the deceptive arrangement which denied the people their lasting goal of abolition of monarchy and establishment of full-fledged parliamentary democracy and virtually kept the King where he was. Following this, a government of the compromising parties was installed and thus the rule of the aspirant Nepalese bourgeoisie, through a process of compromise, was established. But very soon, the ruthless exploitative character of bourgeois rule was manifest with all virulence. The people who expected that multi-party democracy would mitigate, at least, some of their hardships, found instead no amelioration of their plight. Rather, the situation worsened further and behind the facade of this `constitutional monarchy', ugly exploitative face of the Palace was apparent. This kindled in the people a fresh yearning to abolish the Palace regime and set up a democratic republic. Hence, there had been a resurgence of the people's movement in 1996 that went on gaining strength to assume such an overwhelming character today. Viewed in the correct perspective, it is nothing but the continuation of the earlier movement of 1990 for full democracy and abolition of monarchy. Even according to the bourgeois press, the agitators have control over almost all the 75 districts of Nepal. The Nepalese rulers have arrayed their entire arsenal to crack down on the movement with all brutality, but failed to crush the movement. The King with the backing of the Army, sacked the elected Deuba government in October 2002, dismissed parliament and took over the executive powers as guardian of the constitution. Even with this absolute power, the Palace could not make any headway in curbing the movement. So he once again brought back Deuba to head a puppet government in June last. It is in this backdrop, Deuba airdashed to India last month to muster support and secure military aid to combat what he said, ``Maoist terror'' and `insurgency''. Deuba said that Indian government understands their ``predicament'' and hence has been ``so responsive'' to them. The Congress-led UPA government, like its predecessor the BJP-led NDA government, has been extremely generous to its Nepalese counterpart as it too, views the struggle of the Nepalese people for a legitimate demand as a ``common threat''. So the UPA government has promised to make available to the exploiting rulers of Nepal a host of munitions including mine protection vehicles from among the Indian Army's own fleet of troop carriers. Last year, the BJP-led government had sent, apart from mortars, rifles and machine guns, advanced light helicopters to strengthen surveillance and combat capabilities of the Royal Nepal Army (RNA). Indian Army's Director General of military training is involved in preparing the Royal Nepal Army officers and soldiers to take on the people. There are also reports of highest- level Indian ``concern'' and flurry of emergency confabulations on security questions on the part of the Indian government following Deuba's visit. Similar arms and training help are extended by big imperialist countries like the US, UK, Belgium, etc. In fact, since independence, the various moves of the Indian government, serving and protecting the interest of the ruling Indian bourgeoisie, did smack of expansionist and hegemonistic aspirations of the Indian ruling clique. The Indian bourgeoisie, an inalienable part of the world imperialism-capitalism pursuing hegemonistic designs, has substantial business interest in Nepal. It also considers the land of Nepal to be its own backyard occupying a strategic place. It knows that Nepal, as a land-locked country, is dependent on India in the matter of transit. So it successfully exploited this dependence to arrogate to itself the right to dictate terms to Nepal. It is persistently refusing to abrogate the highly unequal, discriminatory 1950 Indo-Nepalese Treaty that the Nepalese people have been demanding for a long time. As stated above, by keeping only two transit points open and wanting a combined trade and transit treaty, the Indian bourgeoisie, through the Indian government, mounted enough pressure on the Nepalese rulers to capitulate to its dictums. Clearly, these are all blatant interferences in the sovereignty of a country and reflect expansionist aspirations through subjugation. This tendency of overlordism of the Indian bourgeoisie is seen in its dealings with all the neighbouring countries. Particularly after Rajiv Gandhi government directly interfering into the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, enforced an Accord between the two countries on the Tamil minority problem and even despatched troops under cover of peace- keeping mission to crush LTTE movement, people of all the neighbouring countries do look at India with suspicion. This unnecessarily creates tension between the peoples of two neighbouring countries and causes fissures in the bond of fraternity. This is equally true in the case of Nepal. By extending support to the compromising Nepali Congress and pseudo-left CPN(UML) as well as strengthening the monarchical despotism, the Indian government has already alienated itself from the justice seeking, peace-loving oppressed populace of Nepal. And the Government of India has been conniving with the US imperialists in such acts of meddling into the internal affairs of Nepal. Only on 29th September last, a cargo aeroplane carrying arms and explosives to the US embassy in Nepal hopped at Ahmedabad enroute Katmundu. A US spokesman in Delhi clarified that the State Department was training Nepal police to develop antiterrorist capability and the plane was carrying ``stimulated ammunitions for the training exercises and arms intended for equipping the Nepalese anti-terrorist police unit''. Indian government also confirmed that it was ``aware of the supply of ammunitions by the US to Nepal.'' and the said aeroplane had been cleared after some compulsory security check. It is also reported that there is a joint decision by the US and the Indian governments to send arms to Nepal. While the US will supply destructive weapons and explosives, India will provide helicopters and other accessories. Right from the late eighties, the US regime had been directly helping the monarchy so that it could, in effect, use it as its puppet. The strategic importance of Nepal as a base to keep a close eye on China and India and carry out various espionages was known to the US rulers. Supply of arms, military training for the Royal Nepalese Army, free flow of dollar to check the so-called counterinsurgency, advisers from the US are now spread all over Nepal. US sent, among others, 3000 M-16 - A2 rifles and a sizeable number of soldiers to help Nepalese Army to suppress the fast growing powerful democratic movement demanding abolition of monarchy and establishment of full- fledged democracy. Washington regime also wanted to show the monarchy as the symbol of stability and identity and the Nepalese Army as the means to contain ``terrorism''. The appointment of James Francis Moriarty, a member of the secret all-powerful National Security Council, as ambassador - viceroy for Nepal was significant. It also went on making an astonishing claim that US military supply to Nepal was meant to persuade ``rebels to negotiate''. But soon the US imperialism realized that the Nepalese Army is unable to crush the movement launched with all-out backing of the people of Nepal for democracy and republic. The US Assistant Secretary of State, Christina Rocca made no secret of this concern. The US policy makers who tended to view military assault on the resistance movement of the Nepalese people through the much trumpeted optic of ``war against terrorism'' and thus backed the King, are found to be ``more worried about the implications of what is happening on the streets of Kathmandu''. Thus the scheming US rulers are frantically trying to forge an alliance between the Palace and the Nepali Congress and other votaries of the so-called `constitutional monarchy' to provide a cover under which a war of terror and extermination could be unleashed in the countryside to thwart people's struggle. It seems, it is now on the look out for a diplomatic offensive to break the struggle and weaken the movement. In short, all kinds of imperial machinations and naked intervention in the internal affairs of other countries on the part of the US rulers - as is observed all over the world today - have seen fully operative in Nepal as well. While hailing the fighting people of Nepal for launching such a powerful legitimate democratic movement for abolition of monarchy and establishment of full democracy, we would like to remind them that in this era of moribund capitalism, era of imperialism and proletarian revolution, all movements are to be so built up as to conduce to the growth and development of anti-capitalist socialist revolutionary movement. Otherwise all movements despite heroic sacrifices and peoples' support are destined to fail. Once again we demand that the Government of India must desist from interfering in the internal affairs of Nepal. Nepalese people must be left free to decide their own future. We strongly believe, the people of India with a glorious tradition of anti-imperialist struggle and an epoch-making independence movement shall never allow this nefarious design of the bourgeois Government of India to meddle in any way into the internal affairs of Nepal and develop mighty movement to foil such a sinister move. We also appeal to the freedom loving people of the whole world to come forward, stand by the brave people of Nepal fighting for democracy and republic and frustrate and foil such shameless naked intervention of the Indian Government and US imperialists in the internal matters of Nepal. |
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| << February08, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Nepalis Demonstrated in Vancouver, BC |
February19, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]1)Book Review -Yogi Sikand 2) Demonstration >> |
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