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Editorial |
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The Collapse of the ‘Left Front’ in West Bengal and the Way Ahead for the Indian Left
The inevitable has finally happened. The Left Front government of West Bengal, the longest-serving government in India’s parliamentary history, has been trounced quite miserably in the recent Assembly elections. The defeat certainly has not come all of a sudden – all recent elections including the 2008 panchayat elections, 2009 Lok Sabha elections, 2010 municipal elections and several by-elections had clearly revealed that the CPI(M)-led dispensation had been losing ground quite alarmingly....Full text
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Commentary |
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Osama Is Dead – But US Imperialism’s World Wide War Lives On
Kavita Krishnan
The US has proclaimed its success in its decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, culminating in the killing of Laden by US military operatives in a house in Abbotabad in Pakistan. As the televised triumphalism and images of hyper-nationalist celebrations in the US fade, however, the US’ heroic narrative is being subjected to uncomfortable questions....Full text
Fresh Evidence of Modi’s Role in Gujarat Genocide
The massacre of Muslims in Gujarat that began on February 28 2002 and went on for the next few days could not possibly have taken place without being condoned and encouraged by police and government officials. And could these officials have acted as they did - on the side of the Hindutva mobs – without an explicit directive from the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi?....Full text
Patriarchal Ideology and Political Culture
Kavita Krishnan
As soon as women step beyond the bounds of traditional roles and especially if they enter public life and politics, patriarchal interests feel threatened and deploy their usual repertoire of demeaning tactics and abuses.....Full text
Endosulfan, Asbestos : Ban the Poisons Now!
Gopal Krishna and
Radhika Krishnan
On May 13th 2011, the Supreme Court (SC) banned the use, sale, production and export of the pesticide endosulfan throughout the country, citing its harmful effects. For more than two decades now, several organizations and concerned individuals have been waging a protracted battle demanding this ban, and the SC verdict is an important step forward in their struggle.....Full text
UP Government Steeped in Crime and Repression
Mayawati Must Resign
Arun Kumar
The past four years of Mayawati’s rule in UP has witnessed spiralling criminalisation, corruption, violence on women, land grab, killing of farmers and repression on people’s movements. Mayawati rode to power on a slogan of ‘law and order’, and dalits and women in particular had high aspirations from her government.....Full text
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Cover Feature |
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The May 13 Mandate: Lessons for the Left
Election outcomes in India continue to surprise poll analysts. Even though most exit polls and post-poll surveys had quite accurately predicted the landslide against the CPI(M) in West Bengal, nobody had predicted that Tamil Nadu would witness an even bigger landslide against the DMK-Congress alliance or that the UDF would come to power in Kerala with the slenderest of margins, or for that matter the Congress would have such a smooth sailing in a most fragmented and diverse polity like the one in Assam....Full text
Tamilnadu Assembly Election Results:
A Punishment As Well As A Warning
S. Kumarasami
elying all predictions of a close contest, the AIADMK front won 203 out of 234 seats. The ruling DMK – Congress combine was virtually routed. While Mamata and her allies secured 34 lakh votes more than the left front in 294 seats, UDF secured a mere 1.7 lakh votes more than the LDF in Kerala, Jayalalitha and her allies trounced their rivals by a thumping margin of 45.55 lakh votes....Full text
Kerala Assembly Elections 2011:
Kerala Nearly Broke the Tradition of Revolving Coalitions
The incumbent government and the ruling coalition throwing up an effective challenge to the opposition of the day, by securing 68 against 72, is something unheard of in the electoral history of past four decades in Kerala. Kerala seemed almost ready to break the established tradition of alternating rule....Full text
Assam 2011:
Congress Gets Unexpectedly Decisive Majority
Rubul Sarma
Defying all assessments of media circles and almost all political camps, the Congress registered an unexpectedly huge victory by winning 78 of 126 seats of Assam Assembly. Tarun Gogoi has returned to power for his third consecutive term....Full text
The Great Bengal Verdict and After
Arindam Sen
The loud and clear mandate for change in a state that came to symbolise political stagnation and the status quo has been rightly seen as a repetition of 1977 in reverse. That year, the CPI(M) and its allies won an equally impressive victory against the Congress, which along with its offspring TMC has now turned the tables on the entrenched rulers....Full text
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Working Class |
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Draft Manufacturing Policy : Fresh Assault on Workers’ Rights
Workers’ hard-won rights and labour laws to rein in exploitative employers are today facing attack after attack by neoliberal governments in India. One such attack on the anvil is the UPA Government’s Draft National Manufacturing Policy, which plans to introduce the latest and more expanded avatar of SEZs – NMIZs (National Manufacturing Investment Zones).....Full text
For a Powerful Proletarian Intervention
in the Campaign against Corruption
(Highlights of the speech delivered by Arindam Sen at a seminar organized by the Assam Provincial Bank Employees’ Association (APBEA) in Guwahati on May 6, 2011)
The struggle for a strong, effective Lok Pal legislation has achieved a quick initial victory at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, thanks to a vigorous nationwide popular support. It has now entered a new, more difficult phase in which the state and all vested interests are -- and will continue to be -- putting up all sorts of obstacles.....Full text
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Updates |
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Yatra From Tarapur to Jaitapur
[An AISA team led by AISA national president Com. Sandeep Singh along with a group of students from TISS, Mumbai, participated in the “Tarapur to Jaitapur Yatra; 23—25 April 2011” organized by several organizations and concerned individuals against the proposed nuclear power project at Jaitapur. They joined a 7-member team led by Com. Uday Bhatt of the Lal Nishan Party (Leninist) of Maharashtra. Saptorshi, a research student of JNU, reports.]
When we reached Tarapur we saw a heavy presence of Maharashtra police and plain clothed police. The first move of the police as soon as activists from different parts of the country reached the venue was to take their vehicle along with the drivers under informal custody....Full text
Sand Workers’ Struggle
Kunal
The NDA Government introduced earthmover machines for sand extraction from the Sone river. Before the last assembly elections, some contractors who enjoyed the patronage/protection of JD(U), BJP and RJD leaders, had begun using these machines on some of the banks of the Sone. Sharp protest by sand workers caused a slight decrease in the use of these machines....Full text
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International |
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Sri Lanka’s War Criminals Must Be Punished
Kavita Krishnan
The Sri Lankan Tamils, subjected to a genocide in the name of eliminating LTTE, and intimidated by the arrogant triumphalism of the Sri Lankan state following the military ‘victory,’ had till now looked in vain for UN intervention....Full text
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Obituary |
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Comrade J Shankaran, former Party secretary of Karnataka, breathed his last on 5 May. He was suffering from lung cancer. Comrade J Shankaran leaves behind four decades of dedicated association with the Party.....Full text
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Tribute |
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Badal Sircar
A Legacy of Bringing Theatre to the People
[Badal Sarkar, a revolutionary, pro-people theatre personality and a unique and towering figure in the cultural movement, passed away on 13th May.....Full text
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Cover |
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Repeal AFSPA NOW!
Get Rid of Colonial-Era Draconian Laws like AFSPA and Sedition
Indian Parliament promulgated the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act on May 22 1958 and passed it on August 18 the same year.
In the half century that has passed, the AFSPA has served as a tool of brutal repression and suppression, especially against the people of the North Eastern states and Kashmir.....Full text
POSCO Project:
No to Corporate Corruption and Loot!
(The Ministry of Environment and Forest has given its ‘green’ signal for forest and environmental clearance to the Korean company POSCO, paving the way for rampantly illegal land acquisition in Jagatsinghpur, Odisha. This has been done ignoring the resolutions by the Palli Sabhas of Dhinkia and Govindpur in which 65 % of the villagers participated and rejected the proposal to divert land.....Full text
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