Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).
STRANGE! SINGUR UNITES THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT
Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
The acquisition of farmland near Kolkata by the Left Front government for an automobile manufacturing plant to be owned and operated by the Tatas (one of India’s largest industrial groups) has caused an unprecedented, if not totally unexpected, stir against the West Bengal government, in particular, its leading entity the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM. Ranged against this decision of the Left Front government is a very wide and diverse array of groups from the extreme left, i.e. those who consider themselves left of CPM, to the extreme right, like the Bharatiya Janata Party, along with regional “sore loser” politicians like Mamata Banerjee, various shades of Gandhians, environmentalists, and those who consider themselves India’s conscience keepers.
INDIAN MAOISTS THROWN INTO DISARRAY BY THEIR NEPALESE COMRADES
Daya Varma
It is possible for a man to be a genuine feminist, for a Hindu to treat a Muslim as their kith and kin and for a caste Hindu to have no innate sense of superiority over Dalits. However, it is a Himalayan task for an Indian to refrain from chauvinism towards the Nepalese. Therefore it is not surprising that the Communist Party of India (Maoist), or CPI (Maoist) acts like a big brother towards their Nepalese counterpart, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).This “revolutionary” chauvinism is worse than even that displayed by the Indian rulers from Nehru to Manmohan Singh.
VERDICT OF COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) ABOUT NEPAL
Press release (November 13, 2006)
A New Nepal can emerge only by smashing the reactionary state!
WHY ARE MAHARASHTRA’S DALITS SO ANGRY?
Kalpana Sharma
(The Hindu, December 02, 2006)
Why did Maharashtra burst into flames on Thursday following Dalit protests, almost without warning? To those who have not been monitoring what is happening among Dalits, and more specifically amongst the followers of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar this year, it would appear that the protests came out of nowhere. Yet the signs of anger have been more than evident, particularly over the last two months since the murder of four Dalits in the village of Khairlanji, 100 km from Nagpur on September 29. Ironically, just three days after this atrocity in which the mother and three grown children of the Bhotmange family were brutally killed, a major event took place in Nagpur bringing together the national leadership of Dalits. On October 2, Dussehra Day, Dalits marked 50 years since Dr. Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism. On October 14, the actual date of the conversion, once again lakhs of people gathered in Nagpur. Not a whiff of the atrocity so close at hand disturbed the occasion.
NEWS BRIEFS
- DR. MANMOHAN SINGH DEFINES THE LEGACY OF INDIA
- STATUES OF BHUPESH GUPTA AND INDRAJIT GUPTA IN INDIAN PARLIAMENT
- INDIAN MUSLIMS IN AMERICA ON HOLOCAUST DENIAL (Kaleem Kawaja)
- FRONTLINE HIGHLIGHTS THE SACHAR REPORT ON THE PLIGHT OF MUSLIMS
- ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER RECEIVES ANOTHER AWARD
- CANADIAN NEPALESE HAIL THE PEACE ACCORD
- NEPAL KING NO MORE HEAD OF THE STATE
- NORTH AMERICAN NETWORK FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF NEPAL (NANDRON)
- MORE THAN 400 ACTIVISTS ARRESTED IN BALOCHISTAN
- PERSECUTION OF AHMADIS IN PAKISTAN
- ‘WAR ON TERROR’ AN EXCUSE FOR DISAPPEARANCES IN PAKISTAN
- BANGLADESH: ELITE FORCE TORTURES AND KILLS DETAINEES
- LEBANESE DEMAND OUSTER OF WEST-BACKED GOVERNMENT
- AUGUSTO PINOCHET DIES BEFORE HE COULD BE HANGED
- US NOT WINNING IN IRAQ
- FORMER US PRESIDENT CARTER DEFENDS PALESTINIAN RIGHTS
- DETAINEES IN CANADA ON HUNGER STRIKE
LETTER TO MOSES, JESUS AND MOHAMMED: A POEM
(A poem by Feroz Mehdi from Jerusalem)
Pages from history: A Cominform document
(The article below was published in For a Lasting Peace, For a People’s Democracy, Bucharest, Organ of the Information Bureau of the Communist and Worker’s Parties in its January 27, 1950 No. 4 issue. It had a profound influence on the Communist Party of India and laid the seeds of its later split. It is noteworthy that all predictions in this article such as the victory of socialism in the erstwhile USSR, and the revolutions in Malaya, Burma and Philippines have proven false. The portion of special relevance to India has been italicized and the most significant part is presented in italics. It neither clearly excludes nor includes the desirability of unity with Congress – hence the turmoil in the party).
OBITUARY Naxalite pioneer Mandakini Narayanan
Deepak Kapur
KOZHIKODE: Mandakini Narayanan, a pioneer of the naxalite movement in Kerala, died at her residence here on Saturday, family sources said. She was 81 and survived by her daughter Ajitha, a comrade-in-arms for her mother and a leading women rights activist.