On October 1st in Chandauli in Sadpur in Uttar Pradesh, Mehntakash Mukti Morcha staged a conference .with the theme “Intensifying the struggles for liberating the toiling people”. The conference dealt with how the nation was en gripped by the tentacles of the neo-fascist BJP government, giving articulate accent to the poor peasantry, landless dalit labour and Adivasis.It projected how morally landlordism was an integral part of the social system, as well as monopoly of the corporates. In great detail it dwelled on how pauperisation of the poor was intensifying day by day, with the powerful granted any license to plunder. It was a most commendable effort of the groundwork of youth and students of the Bhagat Singh Chatra Morcha and the Inquilabi Chatra Morcha to integrate with the farmers and labourers, to mobilize them for the event. People were mobilised from a network of 25 villages, who converged. It is a starting point in knitting the scattered forces into a united front. At the very base it exposed the marginalizing or alienation of the opressed.Even if quantitatively not so large, it lit a qualitative spark in breeding people’s resistance, I salute such an effort ,for illustrating how the social base of semi-feudalism has not been eradicated how in living reality no genuine rights have been won by the peasantry and agricultural labour and how casteism and Hindu communalism is simmering at a boiling point.
An important aspect covered was how many labourers were rendered jobless with the absentee landlords completely dictating terms. It was recounted how many a poor peasant or landless labourer was forced to seek work in towns or big cities having no personal land or possessing a very minute amount. Half their produce was grabbed by the exploiter classes. Labourers became victims of the modern day machinery .Incurrence of debt was a routine feature. Imperialist penetration made seeds very hard to afford for farmers. In the name of ‘mafia’ laws, dalit houses have become targets with bulldozers undertaking demolition operations.Landless dalit labourers have even been driven away from their villages.
Bacha Ram of the Krantikari Kisan sangram samiti narrated how the Zamindars acted in a more brutal manner than even the British rulers and more exploitative than even colonial days, literally bonding dalit labour into semi -slavery. They are literally given a sanction by politicians to grasp and of dalit labourers,holding lakhs of acres land illegally. Baccha Ram touched upon how Brahamanical fascsim was rooted in the property relations .Ram adressed how temples and mosques posessed lakhs of acres of land ,with Hindutva fascism playing the divide and rule game, breaking the united struggles of he people. to pieces. In Ram’s view Communal divisism was worse than even that in the British days.
Rajlal Kharwar of Kamur Mukti Morcha summed up how laws existed only o paper, with no implementation of the 70 year old land ceilings act. In his view experiences of the Telengana and Tebhaga struggles were repeated .He gave the figures of 24% of total of 32 crore acres of land in the hand of big landlords and how the Adivasis were expropriated of rights of Jal,Jangal and Zameen.It was absolutely imperative to rekindle the path of Shaheed Bhgat Singh in his view and he spoke about Himanashu Kumar and Arundhati Roy’s projection of Indian fascism..He condemned the crushing of dissent of journalists be it Rupesh Kumar ,Siddique Kappan or Muhammad Zubair.
Rajesh Azad of Jan Mukti Morcha in Azamgarh spoke about how feudalism had its legacy over a thousand years and the independence of 1947 did not establish any genuine change in the social order. In detail he dealt with he social relations of dalit labour with upper castes. He narrated how many farmers or labourers had their name registered on land which is still not in their posession .An example was given of how in 77 acre plot only 5 acres was occupied by dalit labourers working.Inspite of several struggles mushrooming all over the country of workers, students, youth, Adivasis and labourers ,there lacked a cohesive political organization or front.Azad affirmed how the working class achieved genuine democracy in erstwhile USSR from 1917 and in China in 1949.,giving examples of how it governed the production. He elaborated how it was imperative for genuine peoples organizations be formed to expose and confront ruling class parties be it amongst students, women, youth, workers, peasants or agricultural labourers, portraying how they hoodwinked the masses. In Azad’s view the Communist movement was at a low ebb in India and worldwide. He suggested that committees of women, youth farmers and labourers sprouted in every village, to coordinate collective resistance, Systematic class struggle at grassroot level was the only road to challenge social opression.
Vishwavijay from Allahabad dwelled on the Bankruptcy of the parliamentary system and how al production was garnered to serve the coffers of the exploiter classes. He traced how the very root how wall political parties acted as instruments of imperialism and capitalism, patronising the looting of wealth. Highlighting many examples, he illustrated the fake nature of Independence of 1947.Vishwavijay explained how the social order paved the way for Hindutva fascism ,with parliamentary democracy often being a breeding ground for ascendancy of neo-fascism.
At the conclusion MMM convenor Kanhaiya pledged that the Chandauli conference would be platform to crystallise the joint struggles of the peasants, agricultural laborers, women youth, students and agricultural labourers and would be an integral part of resistance staged worldwide against imperialism. The Bhagat Singh Chatra Morcha and Inquilab Chatra Morcha staged cultural programmes.A fitting speech was also made by Benares Hindu University student leader Ipshita .The concluding message was delivered by Ritesh Vidhyarti.
Harsh Thakor is freelance journalist who has covered mass movements all around India attended programmes in Uttar Pradesh
