The coming assembly elections in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Mizoram are taking place more than 12 years since the program of globalisation through privatisation and liberalisation was launched. The implementation of this economic program has been accompanied by the curtailment of political rights, by heightened communal tension, war and war like climate in the region in the name of fighting terrorism.
Facts reveal this program to be aimed at making the rich richer, at the expense of the masses of workers and peasants. Figures show that between 1993 and 1997, the total assets of the 50 largest business houses of India grew from about Rs. 1,50,000 crore to Rs. 3,00,000 crore. They became twice as rich in just four years. They continued to grow richer between 1997 and 2001, but at a slower pace. Their wealth grew from Rs. 3,00,000 crore to about Rs. 4,00,000 crore.
On the other hand, only a small part of the working class managed to get wage increases to compensate for the price increase in the market for food, clothing and shelter. Even this section has suffered as a result of the huge cost increase in education, health services and public But the vast mass of workers, particularly the unorganised workers, grew poorer in absolute terms. According to one Report of a Special Group of the Planning Commission, the number of unemployed increased during the 1990s from 200 lakhs to 267 lakhs.
Liberalised imports and dependence on seeds and pesticides supplied by capitalist monopolies and multinational corporations have led to a steep rise in the indebtedness of the peasantry. Numerous cases of suicides by peasants have been reported from Andhra and other places. The godowns of the Food Corporation of India are overflowing today, even as millions of workers and peasants go hungry. Rice has become one of the fastest growing export items, while the average consumption within India is on the decline.
Speaking at a recent function where the heads of the biggest capitalist corporations of India were being given awards for their 'performance', Deputy Prime Minister Advani declared that growth was picking up and that a 'feel good' factor is evident for the Indian economy. The big capitalists, headed by the Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis are indeed feeling good, as their wealth has expanded enormously over the past 12 years since the 'reform' program was launched. Today, they are hoping to once again accelerate the pace of expansion of their wealth. So they can continue to 'feel good'.
On the other hand, the workers and peasants of India, who constitute the vast majority of the population, do not feel good at all. They are unhappy with what has happened over the past 12 years. They are extremely anxious and insecure about what the future holds for them. And they are being fooled with empty rhetoric.
We, the toiling and oppressed people, were told that liberalisation, involving the removal of all restrictions to imports, and cutting down of food subsidy, would improve the standard of living of all Indians. The result has been the loss of lakhs of jobs every year, accelerated ruination of peasants all over the country and the multiplication of hunger and poverty.
It was claimed that the inefficient Public Sector was the cause of the problems of the Indian economy and that the solution lies in privatisation, or handing over public assets to private companies. The result has been that the big capitalists have grown bigger and extended their domination over the economy, while workers face job cuts and curtailment of hard won rights.
The Congress and BJP, the principal architects of this anti-worker and anti-peasant program, are the two main parties in contention in these state elections. The peasants and workers, who constitute the large majority of voters, are being told to vote for one of these two parties. They are hoping to once again fool us into reposing faith in them, gain our votes and on that basis declare they have the 'mandate' of the people , to continue with the anti-people program.
As they prepare for the polls, the BJP and Congress Party are outdoing each other to convince the big capitalists that they will implement their program as before. At the same time, they are not advertising the merits of privatisation and liberalisation to the voters. On the contrary, they are promising measures in the opposite direction, such as more jobs and assured government procurement of the peasants' produce. They are promising heaven on earth for all the toilers and tillers, just before the elections. It is a sign of the weakness of these two parties and the credibility of their program.
If the track record of the past 12 years is examined, it shows that both the BJP and the Congress Party, at the centre and in the various states, have resorted to violent and criminal means to impose the anti-popular program of privatisation and liberalisation all over the country. The organising of communal violence, genocide and pogroms against religious minorities, inter-caste clashes and persecution of dalits, bomb blasts and other forms of violence and mayhem have become institutionalised. They have become the preferred means to divide, divert and suppress the people in order to preserve the rule of big capital and stay on the path of privatisation and liberalisation. Army rule in many parts of the country, black laws such as POTA and other draconian measures curtailing the rights of individuals, and armed suppression of entire nations, nationalities and tribal peoples in the name of defending the "unity and integrity of India" have become the norm.
Warmongering against Pakistan and stepping up of military and 'intelligence' cooperation with the United States has become the preferred policy of the Indian rulers. The growing militarisation of the economy is driven by the imperialist ambitions of the Indian big capitalist class. The Congress Party and BJP have been the champions of this Indian chauvinist and imperialist course, including the armaments program. Leaders of both these parties have amassed wealth in scandalous deals such as Bofors and the deals exposed in the Tehelka episode. It is a course that has a heavy economic and political cost, which the people are made to bear. Militarisation and the arms race consume precious resources without adding any value. Collaborating with the US imperialists and soliciting their help to pressurise Pakistan increases the danger to peace and sovereignty of all the nations and peoples of South Asia.
To vote for either BJP or the Congress Party means to vote for the continuation of the anti-social offensive. These two parties have done all that is in their might to ensure that the rich grow super rich while the poor are left to the mercy of the 'market forces'. It is as clear as day light that to vote for either BJP or the Congress party is to vote for fattening the Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis and other monopoly houses and multinationals, and for the ruin of the workers and peasants, the vast majority of Indian people. It means to act against one's own interests, the interests of the toilers and tillers of India. It means to mortgage the future of India and her sovereignty.
The time has come for us, the majority of Indian people, to refuse to legitimise a path that spells disaster for us and our children. Time has come for each voter to say a resounding NO to this anti-worker and anti-peasant program. Saying NO to both BJP and the Congress Party is part of the struggle against the anti-social program of the ruling class.
In order to win victory in the battle against the all-round anti-social offensive, we, the workers and peasants, need to put forward our own alternative program. The main aim and thrust of this alternative program must be to provide protection and prosperity to all of us, the workers, peasants, women and youth.
The land, the forests, minerals, rivers and other natural resources of India are the heritage of the peoples who have inhabited this land for thousands of years. This heritage belongs to all of us. The demand of the times is that this must be used to provide prosperity and protection for all. It must not be handed over to the big capitalists and multinationals, to be used to make them richer and expand their private empires.
It is we, the workers and peasants, who interact with nature to produce the annual Gross Domestic Product of India through all our combined hard work. We must stake our legitimate claims on this GDP. We must demand that our claims take priority over the illegitimate claims of the big capitalists and money lending institutions, and fight for the fulfillment of this demand.
Investing in the people and ensuring human conditions of life for every human being must become the central orientation and engine of economic growth. There is enormous work to be done to feed, clothe and shelter all the people and provide them with living conditions that are fit for humans. A life fit for humans, in the conditions of the 21st century, includes not only adequate food but also good quality housing, education and health care, safe drinking water, public transport and electricity for every home, at the minimum. If all available human resources are deployed to fulfill these needs, then there will be no shortage of jobs. There will be plenty of work for all able hands.
In order to establish the fulfillment of the needs of the toilers and tillers of India as the central aim and orientation of the economy, the workers and peasants must become the masters and set the agenda for the society. They must direct the State to take control of foreign and domestic wholesale trade. Trade between the peasants and the users of agricultural produce cannot be left in the hands of private profiteers. Trade must not be opened up for global giant companies to dominate and take over.
The State can and must guarantee affordable input supply and purchase of the peasants' produce at remunerative prices. It can and must restrict the purchase of land and water resources and the rape of forests by private trading or manufacturing corporations, as part of ensuring the security of livelihood to the peasantry, the tribal forest dwellers and other small producers.
The State can and must extend financial support to ensure the supply of all essential mass consumption items at affordable and stable prices through a strengthened Public Distribution System. State control over foreign trade and internal wholesale trade, in the interests of providing economic security for workers and peasants, will ensure that a surplus is generated. This is because the State, in such a scenario, will buy more when there is a bumper crop and prices are low, and sell more when there is a shortage and prices are high. This trade surplus can be ploughed back for raising the living standards in villages and urban slums.
The champions of liberalisation and privatisation claim that the government cannot afford to provide public goods and services to all the people, at prices they can afford. They claim that there is no choice except to make the people pay more for education, health, water, electricity, transport, etc. The alternative program must include concrete measures for raising resources to finance improved and adequate supply of public goods and services, free or at affordable prices, for all the toilers and tillers of the land.
One quick and concrete measure is for the Central Government to issue a moratorium on debt service payments to all big banks and financial institutions, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Another measure is to seize all the hoards of black money by issuing new Rupee notes and declaring the old notes invalid after a cut off date. Yet another way to save money is by cutting down on the most unproductive use of public resources, such as on arms and armaments, on the black cat commandos and the entire apparatus of state terrorism.
These are examples of resource raising measures that will have the support of the vast majority of Indian people, as measures essential for fulfilling the claims of the majority and for wiping out poverty from the face of India, on a war footing. Such measures will be opposed only by the minority of big capitalists and their foreign imperialist allies, and the politicians who are financed by such propertied interests.
The program being implemented today is supported only by a tiny minority of richest exploiters while it is opposed by the vast majority. The replacement of this anti-popular program by the proposed program to reorient the economy will therefore be a most democratic act.
India is at the crossroads. The times are calling for a radical change in orientation. The champions of globalisation through privatisation and liberalisation, accompanied by state terrorism, militarisation and communal violence, are trying their best to hide the real nature of their anti-social program. They are making all kinds of false promises to the people. This is a sign of their weakness.
The resistance of the people to the anti-social offensive has managed to score some important gains, such as the temporary break in the plan for privatisation of petroleum companies. It is a sign that we, the people, have the strength to block and defeat the offensive of big capital, provided we act in unison.
The popular united front of workers, peasants, women and youth constitutes the force that can bring about the reorientation of the Indian economy. Such a popular fighting front can and must be built around the act of rejecting the program of privatisation and liberalisation, and hence rejecting both the BJP and the Congress Party. It can and must be built around the alternative program aimed at providing prosperity and protection for all.
Workers, peasants, women and youth must begin to organise in their respective regions and local areas. They must build and strengthen their fighting organs, their sangharsh samitis, around such a fighting program as outlined above. The immediate agenda for every local samiti and every mass organisation among the people will be to discuss the program, agitate for its implementation, and contribute to its further development. It will be to prepare such candidates from among the people who will fight for the alternative program, in this election or the next. It will be to carry on this work in between elections, on an ongoing basis - to educate, agitate and organise the force that will build the new India.
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