On the eve of the 17th Lok Sabha Elections:

Let us advance the struggle for the Navnirman of India!

Call of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 27th March, 2019

Comrades and friends, Elections to the Lok Sabha are to take place from 11th April to 19th May. It is predicted to be the most expensive elections in the world. The Tatas, Ambanis, Birlas and other Indian monopoly houses as well as foreign capitalist companies are pouring huge amounts of money to back the campaigns of the main rival parties.

In each state, and on all-India scale, two or three rival coalitions of capitalist parties are seeking the people’s vote. These are parties with a track record of implementing the capitalist enrichment program of globalization, liberalisation and privatisation. Their spokespersons dominate TV channels. All other parties and all non-party candidates are completely marginalized.

Let us advance the struggle for the Navnirman of India!

Call of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 27th March, 2019

Comrades and friends,

Elections to the Lok Sabha are to take place from 11th April to 19th May. It is predicted to be the most expensive elections in the world. The Tatas, Ambanis, Birlas and other Indian monopoly houses as well as foreign capitalist companies are pouring huge amounts of money to back the campaigns of the main rival parties.

 

Eng_Sttatement on Election_2019In each state, and on all-India scale, two or three rival coalitions of capitalist parties are seeking the people’s vote. These are parties with a track record of implementing the capitalist enrichment program of globalization, liberalisation and privatisation. Their spokespersons dominate TV channels. All other parties and all non-party candidates are completely marginalized.

Television, social media, big databases available with Google and Facebook, and international communication agencies are all being deployed to create the impression that the big fight is between two groups of capitalist parties, headed by Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi respectively. This is a false impression. The real big fight is between the vast masses of exploited and oppressed people on one side, and the minority of capitalist exploiters on the other side.

Crores of workers and peasants have been repeatedly organising massive protest actions. Workers have been demanding minimum wages and other basic rights. Peasants have been demanding guaranteed remunerative prices for their produce. They have been repeatedly demanding that the problem of peasant distress be debated in Parliament.

 Masses of people are demanding a halt to the privatisation of railways, education, health and other public services. They are demanding education and jobs for all. They are demanding an end to sexual attacks against women. They are raising their voices against lynching and other forms of violence targeted at oppressed castes and religious minorities.

Many organisers from among the workers, peasants, women and youth are contesting these elections, challenging the domination of capitalist parties. They are contesting with the aim of raising the voice of the oppressed within Parliament.

Communist Ghadar Party is participating in these elections with the aim of advancing the struggle of the people against capitalist rule. We stand shoulder to shoulder with all those candidates and organisations who are fighting to bring people’s concerns to the centre-stage of politics, and end the domination of capitalist parties over politics.

Comrades and friends,

Our rulers boast about the growing number of dollar billionaires in India. They proudly claim that India is becoming a big world power. However, the reality is that the majority of people in our country do not have access to safe drinking water, sanitation, secure housing, healthcare, and good quality schools. Crores of children go hungry to bed, and drop out of school early, because their parents are too poor.

Our country is rich in material and human resources. Workers, peasants and other working people produce enormous wealth through their labour. However, the lion’s share of this wealth is pocketed by a minority of exploiters, headed by capitalist monopoly houses. Successive governments have been opening more and more sectors of the economy for foreign and Indian monopoly capitalists to loot.

The main source of the problem is that a super-rich minority owns and controls the factories, mines, banks, insurance companies, giant trading companies as well as the TV channels and newspapers. They control even what is formally supposed to be under government ownership, because they control and dominate the government machinery and the principal parties in the parliament.

The existing political system and electoral process serves to maintain the rule of the exploiting minority. The exploiters and oppressors of the people use elections to legitimize their rule and to settle contradictions among themselves. They use elections to deepen divisions amongst the people, and stop us from fighting for our rights and common interests.

Parties of the exploiting minority dominate the entire political process. People have no role in deciding the list of candidates. Once they have cast their vote, people have no control over their elected representatives. They have no right to recall those they elected, no matter how anti-people and criminal their conduct may be.

Promises are made by capitalist parties about uplifting the oppressed castes. Such promises remain empty words because the existing system reinforces the caste identity. It perpetuates discrimination and oppression on the basis of caste. Parties of the capitalist class organise on the basis of caste. They incite caste rivalry. They select candidates on the basis of caste calculations in every electoral constituency. They do everything possible to prevent people from uniting against their common oppressors.

Promises of liberating women from their oppression also remain empty words. The existing system perpetuates the super-exploitation of women at home and in the workplace. It keeps alive the most backward customs and outdated ideas on the role of women. Rape and other forms of violence against women are a daily occurrence, with most cases not even being reported. Violence against women is used as a tool to put down women and all people who are fighting for their rights.

Life experience shows that repeated rounds of elections have not led to any qualitative change. One party has replaced another, but the capital-centred orientation of the economy has remained unchanged. All forms of oppression keep growing from bad to worse. Year after year, a rich minority grows richer while the toiling majority remains poor, and many of them become poorer. The legitimate demands of the majority of people are never fulfilled. The demands the Tatas, Ambanis, Birlas and other capitalist monopoly houses keeps getting fulfilled by every elected government.

The fact that numerous people’s candidates have entered the electoral battlefield in 2019 shows the widespread discontent among people with the existing system. It shows that people are no longer willing to put up with the never ending cycle of capitalist parties replacing one another, to continue implementing the anti-people program of the big capitalists. It shows that people want political power in their hands, so that their needs can be met and their oppression can be ended.

Comrades and friends,

From ancient times, people of the Indian sub-continent have been guided by the political theory that the duty of the raja (king) is to ensure sukh (prosperity) and raksha (protection) to the praja (people). Our ancestors upheld the principle that if the State fails in its duty to the people, then people have the right to overthrow such an unjust order, and establish a new State that would ensure prosperity and protection for all.

Bahahdur Shah Zafar, Tantia Tope, Rani Laxmibai, Nanasaheb and others who led lakhs of people to rise up in the Great Ghadar of 1857declared, “Hum hain iske maalik, Hindustan Hamara!” [India belongs to us, We are her master!] They put forth the vision of a new India, free from foreign domination and control. They fought for an India in which the people will rule and ensure prosperity and protection for all.

The revolutionary struggle to bring people to power was carried forward by the Hindustan Ghadar Party, which organised a mass revolutionary uprising in 1915. It was carried further forward by the members of Hindustan Republican Association and numerous other revolutionaries, including members of the undivided Communist Party of India. However, this aspiration and lofty aim of the revolutionaries was betrayed by the big capitalists who were allied with the big landlords. They manipulated the anti-colonial movement to establish their own exploitative rule.

Foreign rule came to an end in 1947 but political power did not reach the hands of the people. As a result, the super-exploitation of Indian labour has continued and grown from bad to worse over the past 71 years. So has the plunder of our land and rich natural resources.

Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his revolutionary comrades declared:

“India’s struggle shall continue as long as a handful of men in power continue to exploit the labour and resources of the common people for their own ends. Whether the exploiters are Indian, or British, or both in alliance, nothing shall halt the struggle…”

It is an undeniable fact that Indian and foreign capitalists are continuing to exploit the labour and resources of our country. Life experience has repeatedly confirmed that the capitalist system cannot provide for all. We have to wage the struggle in the present conditions, to achieve the goal of people’s rule, for which our revolutionary martyrs fought. Only then can we end the exploitation and plunder of our labour and natural resources. Only then can we end all forms of oppression of our people.

Comrades and friends,

We, the people of India, need to become the collective owners of the principal means of production and exchange. We need to establish our control over the big factories, mines, banks and insurance companies, as well as large-scale internal trade and foreign trade. Once we become the master, then in a planned and time bound manner, we can deploy all the available material and human resources to ensure prosperity and protection for every Indian.

To ensure that supreme power remains in our hands, we must establish a new political system in which decision making power is in the hands of the people, and not concentrated in a Cabinet which does the bidding of capitalist exploiters. We must establish mechanisms for people to hold their elected representatives to account. Instead of splitting into ruling and opposition camps, the elected legislative body as a whole must be collectively responsible and accountable to the people.

We must establish a political process in which election campaigns are financed by the State. All other sources of funding must be prohibited. People must enjoy the right to select and approve the list of candidates before electing one of them. They must have the right to initiate legislation, to approve major public decisions through referendum, and the right to recall their elected representative at any time.

This is the program for the Navnirman of India – that is, the program of establishing a new system of people’s rule and reorienting the economy to fulfil human needs. It is the only way to ensure that prosperity and protection are guaranteed for every member of society. It is the only way to end the age-old curse of caste discrimination. It is the only way to end the oppression of women.

Comrades and friends,

The ruling class is waving the banner of “national security” to justify brutal repression of those who are fighting for their rights. Just struggles of the people are being branded as “anti-national”.

The people of Kashmir are being portrayed as enemies of national unity. So are the people of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and others who are opposing central army rule and demanding their democratic rights. Tribal communities and forest dwellers who are resisting corporate plunder of their natural resources are being branded as enemies of India’s development.

Painting people who are demanding their rights as enemies of India’s progress, or a threat to “national unity and territorial integrity”, serves to justify unleashing state terrorism. It serves to justify treating people’s struggles as a law and order problem. It serves to justify using brute force to crush all opposition to the loot and plunder by Indian and foreign monopoly capitalists.

The policy of state terrorism, which has been followed by successive governments headed by the Congress and BJP, is the biggest factor that is weakening the unity of the Indian people and increasing the danger of India getting broken up.

It is precisely by accentuating and exploiting internal strife that the United States of America has carried out regime changes in its favour, broken up states and redrawn the political map of entire regions in Europe, Asia and Africa.

The fact is that when the BJP or Congress Party talks about national interest, they actually mean the narrow interests of the big capitalists. Both these parties are committed to the anti-national program of the Indian big capitalists to enrich themselves by collaborating with foreign capitalist monopolies and intensifying their joint exploitation and plunder of the entire country.

The unity of the Indian people cannot be defended and strengthened on the basis of suppressing the rights and aspirations of the diverse peoples in our country.

India consists of Punjabis, Bengalis, Kashmiris, Marathis, Gujaratis, Tamilians, Odiyas and many other peoples who have inhabited this land from ancient times. The only way to build a stable India is to respect the rights of each of these ancient peoples, and create a cooperative union of sovereign peoples.

India needs to be reconstituted as a voluntary union of all the diverse peoples. It is the only way to consolidate the unity of our people, and safeguard against all internal and external threats to national sovereignty.

Comrades and friends,

The corporate media is propagating war hysteria and calling for revenge against Pakistan for the Pulwama terrorist attack. Ministers and TV news anchors are issuing provocative and inflammatory calls on a daily basis, threatening more aerial bombings and “surgical strikes”. The ruling class wants the people to be preoccupied with debating whether the BJP or the Congress can give a fitting response to Pakistan.

While claiming to be defending the sovereignty of India, both BJP and Congress Party support the policy of building a military-strategic alliance with the United States of America, the superpower which poses the biggest threat to the sovereignty of all the nations and states in Asia. While claiming to be waging a war against terrorism, BJP and Congress Party hide the truth that the US is the biggest organiser of terrorist groups in the world.

The American ruling class uses terrorist groups to destabilize other countries and to break them up. It has used terrorism to instigate wars between neighbouring states. Under the banner of waging war against terrorism, the US has launched armed aggression and occupied many countries with its troops. At the present time, the US is trying to establish its complete domination over Asia by setting India against Pakistan and against China.

Embracing America as a trusted ally and inflaming passions against Pakistan and China is a path that poses a grave danger to the unity of Asian peoples and to peace in this region. It is in the best interests of our people and of all the peoples of Asia that the Government of India must stop supporting the American war machine. It must instead pursue a policy of building close friendly relations with all other states in South Asia and in all of Asia, in opposition to interference and armed intervention by any outside power.

War between India and Pakistan is against the interests of the workers and peasants of both countries. It is the soldiers and ordinary people on both sides who die in such wars. It is in the interests of the people of both countries to force our governments to hold unconditional talks, so as to resolve all outstanding problems, including the problem of Kashmir and of terrorism.

Comrades and friends,

The ruling class and the media it controls wants people to choose between rival parties of the exploiters, based on which party is communal and which party is secular.

All parties that are registered with the Election Commission swear that they are secular. However, if we judge by their actions, it is indisputable that both BJP and Congress Party are communal. They mobilise support and cultivate vote banks on the basis of religion and caste. They both have a history of having organised mass state-organised communal violence.

The entire experience of frequent unleashing of communal violence shows that the problem is clearly not confined to one set of “communal” parties. The truth is that the existing political power is thoroughly communal. The laws and official institutions divide people and discriminate against them on the basis of their religion. The Right to Conscience is not guaranteed, as an inviolable right that belongs to all members of society. Following the British colonial tradition, the Constitution of India divides people based on their religion.

The capitalist class is maintaining its rule over the working class, peasants and other toiling people by using its favourite weapon of divide and rule. The frequency and forms of communal violence have increased in recent times because the capitalist class is in deep crisis and people’s discontent has risen to a high pitch.

The Communist Ghadar Party calls on the people to combat the politics of divide and rule is by uniting in defence of the rights of all. We must unite in defence of the Right to Conscience – that is, the right of every human being to follow his or her beliefs. The struggle must be waged with the aim of carrying out the Navnirman of India, so as to put an end to communalism and communal violence.

Comrades and friends,

Rival parties of the capitalist class are accusing each other of being corrupt. Many of them claim to be waging a war on corruption. However, life experience of the past 71 years shows that the entire political system, and all the parties which take turns to manage this system, are thoroughly corrupt from top to bottom.

Corruption exists and operates on a daily basis in our country. It has grown to an extremely high level due to the concentration of capital in extremely few hands.

There is a close nexus between the biggest Indian and foreign capitalists, their trusted political parties, ministers, government officials and senior managers of the big banks. Capitalist monopolies finance their favorite parties so that when they come to power, they will do their bidding. They bribe ministers and officials to loot the public exchequer and enrich themselves.

This is not the first time that corruption is being made a major issue by rival parties of the capitalist class. In the decade of the seventies, there was an anti-corruption crusade led by Jai Prakash Narain. There was another anti-corruption crusade led by V. P. Singh in the late eighties. Starting in 2012 we have witnessed another movement against corruption, culminating in the victory of BJP in 2014.

Anti-corruption movements have made no dent on the scale of corruption, which has been rising alongside the increasing domination of the capitalist monopoly houses and the foreign imperialists. Anti-corruption movements have been used by the big capitalists to settle their internal dogfights. They have been used by imperialist powers to increase their interference in our country.

Corruption cannot be combated within the existing system of capitalist rule. The struggle against corruption is part and parcel of the struggle against exploitation and plunder. It is a component part of the struggle for the Navnirman of India.

Comrades and friends,

These elections are coming at a crucial time in our history. The ruling class is dragging the country on a dangerous course, in pursuit of its narrow aims. It is hell bent on wrecking the unity of our people, so as to continue super-exploiting our labour and resources. There is a serious danger of India getting embroiled in wars with our neighbours. The future of our country is not safe in the hands of this ruling class.

The Communist Ghadar Party of India calls on all communists, all progressive forces and all patriotic Indians to unite and oppose the dangerous course pursued by the capitalist class in power.

Let us unite in defence of the rights of all. Let us unite around the goal of establishing a new political system in which decision-making power is in people’s hands, and all human and democratic rights are guaranteed for all. Let us unite around the program of reorienting the economy towards fulfilling human needs. Let us unite around the aim of reorienting the external relations and foreign policy of India towards ensuring peace and defeating the war plans of imperialist powers. Let us unite around the program for the Navnirman of India.

Let us vote for candidates who are fighting for the rights of the people and for bringing political power into their hands!

Let us send to the Lok Sabha those who will be our real voices!

Let us use the electoral arena to combat the lying propaganda of capitalist parties, to weaken their stranglehold over politics and advance the struggle for the Navnirman of India!

Watan ke logon ki hai yeh Maang – Hindustan ka Navnirman!

Defeat the politics of divide and rule!

Hum hain iske maalik, hum hain Hindustan — mazdoor, kisaan, aurat aur jawan!

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