ELECTIONS

CPI(ML)’s Assembly Election Campaign : Some Highlights

Dharchula, Uttarakhand
Women’s Political Assertion 

A notable feature of the CPI(ML)’s election campaign in Dharchula assembly constituency (in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand) was the role of women who led the election campaign from the front. The party’s candidate here was Comrade Jagat Singh Martoliya. The women who were at the forefront of the election campaign are workers in the ASHA (rural health), anganwadi (child development) and bhojanmata (mid-day meal) schemes. The party’s efforts to organize these women began in late 2010, and Pithoragarh saw rapid development on this front. In this short period, the women workers have mobilized at local, district, state and national levels, and have won some small victories, including 50% increase in the central budgetary allocation for anganwadi workers, increase in ASHAs’ honorarium amount to Rs 5000 a year, and a Rs 500 increase in mid-day meal honorarium. The confidence gained by the women, through collective struggles and small victories could be clearly seen in the election campaign.      
Dharchula borders Tibet on one side and Nepal on the other, and there are many matrilineal tribes in this constituency. The self-confidence and initiative shown by the women ASHA-anganwadi-mid-day meal workers in the CPI(ML)’s election campaign was a slap in the face for brahminical and feudal attitudes. When leaders and brokers for Congress or BJP tried to demoralize them, women gave a fitting rebuff.
Take the experience of Parvati Kunwar of Garguta village, recounted by her in one of the campaign preparation meetings. She said, “A man representing the NCP candidate came to my house and asked me who was the President of the ASHA, mid-day meal workers. I replied, ‘I am.’ The man then said to me, ‘Work for us and persuade women to vote for us, and I can pay you Rs 50,000.’ I replied, ‘I have Rs 1 lakh, saved from the earnings of my husband’s sweat and toil. I will give it to you. You go and tell your candidate to withdraw from the contest. You tell your leader that he can’t buy us with money given by Pilot Baba (a godman of whom the NCP candidate is known to be a devotee).”
A BJP supporter came up to ASHA workers campaigning for CPI(ML), accompanied with someone who video-taped them. Reminding them that they were government employees, he threatened them to stop campaigning for CPI(ML), else they would lose their jobs. They refused to be intimidated, retorting, “How come when it comes to salary and job security, we’re dubbed incentive-based voluntary workers, and when it comes to elections, we’re told that we’re government employees?”  
During the campaign, we met a mid-day meal worker in a village, who told us, bubbling with enthusiasm, “I had climbed on to a tree to tie up a CPI(ML) flag with the election symbol. My brother-in-law called from below – ‘Tying flags to trees won’t get you votes.’ I replied - ‘Yes, but my party’s flag will fly highest in the village.’ When he said – ‘Your candidate has no supporters,’ I retorted – ‘Why? Can’t you see me, then?’”
The Congress candidate, addressing a public meeting in Pangla, said, “I’m not a goonda and a criminal, my opponents are falsely vilifying me.’ A mid-day meal worker, Hema, who was present at the meeting, stood up and asked him – ‘If you’re not a goonda and a criminal, then why are you having to say all these things?’
Because of the tough terrain, and severe cold wave and snowfall, women walked 6-7 kilometres through the snow, in order to attend election meetings. The cold made meetings in the open impossible, so meetings would happen in some woman’s home, with logs lit for warmth. In the middle of one such meeting in Pangu, a woman entered all of a sudden, saying ‘Halo Sato’ (the greeting common in the Rang community, that means ‘hello friends’). She said, “Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to know how many to cook food for?” And after this, she cheerfully made food for 15 comrades. What’s remarkable is that this woman had no previous contact with our organization.
In most meetings, the majority of participants in our election meetings, in small hamlets and villages, were women. These women would listen to us with full involvement, would ask questions and discuss freely, and would then shoulder the responsibilities for campaign in their areas.
Several women would join our campaign in the morning and return home only late at night. This made me wonder: in this region, women are the backbone of the economy – where women have a punishing daily schedule, getting up at 4 am, milking cows, collecting dung, bathing, cooking breakfast and lunch for husbands and kids, collecting firewood and forest produce, working in the fields, feeding and grazing cattle, and going out for professional work as ASHA, anganwadi or mid-day meal workers. On the days when they joined us in day-long campaigns, what became of these tasks? One woman comrade with a suckling baby, would campaign in nearby villages, returning every two hours to feed her baby. Undeterred by all these difficulties, women stood firm throughout the election campaign.
Three large election meetings of the CPI(ML) were held in the assembly constituency; with 200-600 women participating in each. All these women were spending between Rs 50-Rs300 on travel fare, or walking long distances in difficult terrain and bad weather, to attend the meetings. And they were returning home at 9 or 10 in the night. In these meetings, women would walk up to the fund collection box on their own, to put in their contribution. And many would wait patiently till the very end of the meeting, for the collection box to be circulated among them. In the last phase of the campaign, women would make campaign teams, and one of the teams would deliver the voters’ list, dummy ballot paper, agents forms etc to their respective areas.
What is notable is that these women have been in contact with the party only for about a year, in the course of their struggles as women workers in the underpaid ASHA/anganwadi/mid-day meal services. In this short time, they have understood full well that the only road to dignity and a better life is that of struggle. As one woman, addressing an election meeting in Nachni, said, “Before we joined this organisation, we never knew that there was a world beyond our village and market. But in the course of organizing and struggling, we now go to the state and national capitals to raise our demands. This is something this party has taught us.”
When we enthusiastically recounted experiences of the Dharchula campaign to our friends and supporters, they would express the hope that this ought to mean a substantial rise in votes here. It is important to remember, though, that defeating the stranglehold of the Congress and BJP, backed by huge money-power, calls for a strong network of organization and leadership in villages, hamlets and towns. Also, deprived sections, including women, can hardly call their votes their own; with dominant sections of society, husbands, brothers, community leaders, etc calling the shots. But what the party’s election campaign in Dharchula showed us was how, when women recognize the strength emanating from our organisation and struggles, they themselves become the bearers of a new hope.

Karnaprayag, Uttarakhand
Goodwill For A Struggling Alternative
(Indresh Maikhuri, former President of Garhwal University Students’ Union, was the candidate from this constituency. He recounts some memorable moments.) 

During the campaign, when our comrades reached a remote village in this constituency, a group of boys surrounded us, saying, “If you’ve come to campaign for Congress or BJP, then you’d better get lost.” When we explained that we were campaigning for CPI(ML), they not only withdrew their resistance, but also joined us in the campaign.
Media coverage in papers and TV channels remained confined to those parties who had paid for slots, despite all the Election Commission’s warnings against paid news. We were, therefore, not sure if we would have any success with organizing a press conference for the AISA National President Ravi Rai, who had come to campaign in Karnaprayag. Still, we decided to give it a try, inviting journalists to attend a press conference at Gopeshwar, the headquarters of Chamoli district. The next day, when Ravi Rai and AISA’s Uttarakhand President Malti Haldar reached Gopeshwar, they found some journalists waiting for them. Journalists, working in the same papers and channels that completely ignored parties like ours, arranged a space for the press conference. After the press conference, these journalists themselves arranged for tea and a meal, and even offered to arrange accommodation in the government guest house if needed. They even arranged the travel expenses, to and fro, of the two comrades. In an age of paid news, such goodwill and respect on the part of journalists, for the politics of people’s struggles, was heartwarming.        
Congress, BJP and other ruling class parties conducted a campaign based purely on money power, and their campaign had little need for public meetings. CPI(ML) campaign, with its emphasis on public meetings, attracted people. We noticed the Karnaprayag BDO, in his role as election commission representative, observing each of our meetings, and asked him if he had been assigned to cover CPI(ML)’s meetings alone. He replied that it was his duty to observe all public meetings, but none of the other parties were holding any!
In one remote village, Majyadi, villagers came up and said communists are known for their good speeches, and asked us to speak. Several senior citizens who heard us, told us that they had been in the communist party in Chandra Singh Garhwali’s time. (Freedom fighter Garhwali was renowned for refusing to fire on salt satyagrahis when he served in the army, and suffering imprisonment and torture by the British). They also told us that BJP, Congress, etc had been distributing liquor liberally in the area.
When Comrade Kapil Sharma’s cultural team came to perform a street play on the theme of the elections, an independent candidate’s programme was just ending. The comrades were in a dilemma, wondering if a crowd mobilized by another candidate, would stay to watch our play. But when our comrades began singing a revolutionary song, a couple of hundred people gathered immediately. In the midst of the play, police threatened to arrest the performers, and also tried to disperse the people by threats. But the performers and people alike refused to budge. And at the end, several joined us in the slogans of ‘CPI(ML) Long Live.’    

Deoria Sadar, Uttar Pradesh

(Based on inputs provided by Com. Ram Kishore, Party District Secretary, Deoria)           
In Deoria, large numbers of workers of ASHA, anganwadi, mid-day meal cooks and chaukidars have been coming close to the party and AIPWA. These groups of workers formed the backbone of the vigorous and energetic election campaign that was launched by the party in the Deoria Sadar constituency. Comrade Premlata Pandey, UP AIPWA State Secretary, who has played a leading role in organising these women workers, was the Party’s candidate here. These workers played a vital role in taking our election campaign to the villages where we had no organizational presence. The election rally of 8th February which was addressed by the party General Secretary was well attended in spite of bad weather.
Since our candidate is a lawyer by profession, there was a general support for her from this fraternity. Even the organization of doctors came out in vocal support of our candidate. The media, which usually projects either the ruling class parties or candidates with criminal background, gave prominence to our candidate’s campaign in their coverage.
Overall, the election campaign has helped in taking the message of the party even to the remote corners of the district. A large section of an emerging workforce of honorarium-based workers has come closer to the party, thereby opening new avenues for expansion.

Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh

Prashant Shukla

Among the four constituencies in Mirzapur district where the party is contesting elections, the urban constituency named Mirzapur (the head quarter of the district) has been witness to some noticeable and positive features in the run up to the recently concluded elections there. Carpet weaving and utensil making have traditionally been one of the major sources of employment generation in the city and adjoining villages. Militant mass demonstrations have been held in Mirzapur to protest against police atrocities towards dalits and adivasis in the name of tackling Maoists. These initiatives generated goodwill for the party in the district though the party structure in the city remains to be strengthened. The party fielded Comrade Salim, the National President of RYA as its candidate from Mirzapur.
The election campaign saw a large participation of the youth, workers and intelligentsia in the election meetings of our candidate. Our candidate’s campaign generated enthusiasm, especially in contrast with the candidates of other parties, who were known for corruption and enjoyed little credibility or popularity. Cutting across religious beliefs, Salim’s campaign was well received. A stamp vendor in the court, a Hindu, was heard saying “Only Salim is capable of representing our constituency. He is honest and has always fought for the downtrodden”. In Mirzapur, in addition to ‘bijli-sadak-pani’, the basic question of employment was forcefully raised. The plight of the workers of closed weaving and utensil making units was a major election issue raised by our candidate and this struck a chord with the working masses of the city. The burning issue of corruption was raised in reference to the pro-corporate, anti-poor policies of the ruling class and their representative political parties.
The election campaign was conspicuous by the presence of a large number Muslim youth and poor Muslim citizenry strongly rallying behind the Communist candidate. The affluent sections of Muslims were more inclined towards the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. In the election rally of 12th February, 2012 in which the General Secretary of the party also participated, several locally respected Muslim leaders, came to the dais and said - “We appeal for Mohd. Salim’s victory because he stands for truth and the poor”. They ended their speech with the slogan – “Long Live the Communist party”.

These encouraging features point to the evolving contours of an alliance of the working class with other oppressed sections of the society evolving under the leadership of the Communist party.