Highlights of CPI(ML) UP Poll Campaign
The Mirzapur Administration, in a written agreement signed by the SDM, Chunar, had acknowledged that following a protest by the CPI(ML) State Secretary Comrade Akhilendra Pratap Singh, orders were being passed that the barricades around a pond in Bhadkuda village be removed to allow Dalits access to it; and FIR be lodged under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act against those who beat up the agrarian labourer Manju Devi and payment of her pending wages of 6 months. Protesting on this issue Comrade Ramkrit Biyar went on hunger fast, was jailed and eventually force fed after a month of hunger fast. He continues to contest elections from jail. On April 5, the Chief Secretary of UP once again ordered that the barricades around the pond be moved. Not only was this order not implemented, but subsequently the DM visited the area and declared that CPI(ML)’s demand is not valid, since despite the barricades, a path to the pond has been left open. The issue has emerged as a major one in the elections in Chunar. Meanwhile in Jamania too CPI(ML) is at the forefront of a struggle against the feudal forces led by the UP Cabinet Minister Omprakash Singh who represents the Rajput power lobby in Mulayam Cabinet. On March 15, CPI(ML) held a March in protest against the repeated attacks on the backward community by these feudal forces.
In Padrauna (Kushinagar), CPI(ML)’s candidate in the ongoing Assembly polls, Comrade Qamrul Huda Qais, was released on bail, after having been booked and jailed under the national Security Act. Shockingly, the NSA has been evoked against him in the context of the communal violence unleashed in the district as a spill-over of the violence in Gorakhpur in January. Comrade Qais being a popular champion of secularism and democratic struggles, this has evoked widespread protests.
In Duddhi constituency in Sonbhadra district, one more sitting MLA of the ruling Samajwadi Party, is trying to intimidate our activists in the wake of ensuing elections. His henchmen gave death threats to the Party incharge of Duddhi, Comrade Shambhunath Kaushik. The police refused to lodge an FIR against the MLA and openly defended the attackers.
Bihar Chakka Jam
A militant chakka-jam was observed in all the districts of Bihar on April 12 to protest the manipulation of BPL lists, non-implementation of NREGA, forcible implementation of PESA Act and the new draconian Police Act. The traffic remained blocked for two hours in the forenoon in all parts of the state. Thousands of people under the banner of CPI(ML) and its mass organisations took part in the programme. The NH 28 was blocked in Samastipur and Gopalganj, NH 31 was blocked in Purnea, Naugachhia and Begusarai, while NH 98 was jammed in Arwal and Obra, NH 80 in Sultanpur, NH 2 in Sonvarsha and Kudra, and also at many other places. In Barachatti and Tilauthi, many activists were arrested by the police from the GT Road but they were released immediately owing to the mass pressure. Activists were also arrested in Masaurhi, Aurangabad and Biharsharif. In all more than 500 people were arrested on the day. Patna-Gaya Railway line and one at Meghauli in West Champaran were also blocked by the agitators. Many of the activists were injured at Runi-Saidpur in a brutal lathicharge by the police. This was severely condemned by the people and out Party has demanded immediate suspension of the concerned police incharge. Almost all the towns in Patna, Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas, Kaimur, Bhabhua, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Gaya, etc. witnessed a complete bandh on the day while the roads were jammed in more than twenty places in North Bihar towns