Travesty of Justice in the Godhra Judgment: The Communal-Fascist Character of the Indian Judiciary Exposed once Again!

Upholding police versions with all its glaring loopholes is how the Indian judiciary functions. The recent judgment on Godhra incident is a continuation of the same travesty of justice. In Godhra railway station, in 2002, the S-6 coach of Sabarmati express caught fire leading to the death of 59 people, many of whom were karsevaks belonging to Hindu militant organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad. This incident was used as pretext by the communal fascist Sangh giroh to execute one of the worst ever communal pogroms which resulted in the death of more than 2000 muslims. The police came up with chargesheet against more than 90 muslims on the Godhra incident, which had many loopholes. Many of the “witnesses” complained of forced extraction of statements and retracted their statement in Supreme Court through affidavits, while statements of many other “witnesses” were found to be blatantly false. But recently, the Ahmadabad high Court, upheld the same police version, which deemed the Godhra incident as a “conspiracy” hatched by some muslims. The high court convicted 31 people while acquitting 63. This judgment has come well nine years after the case was filed. The 63 people who have been acquitted now, have already spent nine years in jail. It is almost equal to spending life term in prison. The state will not compensate them. Moreover this atrocious judgment by the high court, only justifies the pogrom that followed. The ghastly genocide, which the communal fascist CM of Gujarat Narendra Modi had upheld and actively sponsored and assisted with his state machinery.

The chargesheet of the police on Godhra incident was highly prejudiced and had many loopholes. The chargesheet was mainly based on the statements made by nine BJP party members, who claimed to be ‘eye witnesses’ though one of them, Dileep Dasadiya, later fully retracted his statement. The cases also rested on the witness account of the Karsevaks travelling on the train. Two of them had said earlier that they had fainted due to smoke. A month later they changed their statement to give ‘vivid description’ of the incident which became the main thrust of the police case. One of the police ‘witness’ Sikander Siddique identified Maulavi Yakoob Punjabi for ‘inciting the mob’. Punjabi was arrested but had to be released as he was in Saudi Arab when Godhra incident took place. Ajay Baria, a hawker in the railway station was one of the prime ‘witnesses’ and was kept under constant police surveillance. His family complained to the media about intense intimidation of him by the police to corroborate their version.  Nine more prime ‘witnesses’ of the police retracted their statements in Supreme Court and many complained of use of force and torture by the police. Yet the Ahmadabad High Court stuck to the police version and endorsed its ‘conspiracy theory’. The earlier commission headed by Justice U.C Banerjee, which held that the fire broke out accidentally, was rejected by the court. The court rather upheld the Nanavati-Shah commission report that has been widely criticized for its entrenched lies and clear political bias. After Justice Shah’s death he was replaced by Justice Akshay Mehta, the same judge who had granted bail to Babu Bajarangi, after previous three judges had categorically denied bail to this notorious killer and prime accused in Naroda Patiya massacre, who was charged of several cases of rape and murder.

It is a necessity for the Indian ruling class to establish the ‘conspiracy of Godhra’ in order to justify the genocide that followed. The Indian Judiciary afterall is yet to give any decisive punishment to any of the accused who were instrumental behind the massive Gujarat genocide. Many independent investigations had revealed how the Gujarat genocide was meticulously pre-planned. The particular targeting of muslim households, the speed in which arms were amassed and execution squads were set up to do the massacres point to its preparedness. The complicity and active involvement of the police force in the genocide has also been time and again exposed. The cold-blooded horrific mass killings in Naroda Patiya, Gulbarg society, Best Bakery still await justice as perpetrators have not yet been punished. More than 4000 cases were filed with the Gujarat police after the riots, half of them have been declared ‘closed’ as the accused are ‘untraceable’. Notorious killers like Babu Bajrangi or well known leaders of the pogrom like BJP MLA Mayaben Kondnani or VHP general secretary Jaideep Patel have all got quick bail and were never persecuted. The other accused also have got bail and are roaming scot-free. In the riot related cases, the prosecutors were often swapped for and against the accused, which clearly shows the mockery of trial that took place. Arvind Pandya, the special public prosecutor appointed by the Modi government to defend itself before Nanavati Commission, had made open statements about how the Modi government had given active support in the genocide and also later on kept on providing legal-aid and impunity to the accused of the pogrom. He also had expressed his ‘confidence’ in the Nanavati-Shah commission and predictably the commission gave a shameless clean-chit to Modi and his associates. The Godhra verdict only reinforced the nature of this brahminical communal fascist state and showed decisively how its various institutions can only bring injustice to the people. The state machinery in all its forms had so far provided active support and impunity to the perpetrators of the most heinous crimes in Gujarat. The police, the court, the Nanavati commission…now the Godhra verdict seeks to vindicate the pogrom by persecuting innocent people for the Godhra incident and justifying the genocide as ‘a reaction’ to a ‘conspiracy’, as Modi chose to describe it.
 
Can we expect to have justice from a state which is rabidly communal and fascist? The judiciary off late has given a series of atrocious judgments: letting go off the perpetrators of Bhopal Massacre, handing over majority of the land of Babri Masjid to the sangh Giroh, incarcerating political activists like Binayak sen, Piyush Guha, Narayan Sanyal and so on. The judiciary afterall is an entrenched tool in the hands of this fascist state. It will only legitimize the exploitations, the repression of the state and justify state-terror. We can not expect that this entrenched judiciary will deliver justice on its own. An overhauling of this repressive state machinery and a revolutionary change in this oppressive system can only ensure that justice prevails for all the oppressed and persecuted sections of people.

Condemn and Protest the Chhattisgarh High Court's Rejection of the Bail Plea of Binayak Sen and Piyush Guha!

12 February 2011

 

Red Salute to the Victorious People of Egypt!

12 February 2011

 

Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan… Emerging Storm-Centre of Anti-Imperialist Mass Upsurge! Let’s Build Real Solidarity with the Fighting Masses of West Asia by Intensifying our Struggle against US Imperialism!

The simultaneous militant mass-upsurge in many of the Arab countries has shaken the ruling classes of the region, the repercussions of which has even forced US imperialism to run for cover. The people of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan etc. are currently engaged in a valiant struggle against the oppressive and highly exploitative ruling classes of their respective countries, which have imposed their tyranny on the people for decades. Far from subsiding, the upsurge is growing, spreading and acquiring new strength with every passing day. In the process, the movement has not remained limited to mere economic issues such as unemployment and price rise, but has taken their movement to a higher level by making the political demand of a complete change to the present oppressive system. This precludes any possibility for the US to get away by making a few cosmetic changes such as replacement of one president with another. The people of the region have spoken in one voice: ‘Game Over’ for US imperialism and its clowns! Authoritarian rule and tyranny of the ruling classes must end! Imperialist control must be put an end to so that real democracy can be enjoyed by the vast majority of the people! The US is therefore watching with nervousness whether this wave of mass movement will kick them out of Syria, Bahrain, Algeria, Saudi Arabia as well, and sweep away in its wake the horde of tin-pot rulers it has so carefully implanted. Rulers of US and Israel are a scared lot today, because in these mass upsurges they see the signs of their imminent doom.

Much like India, most of the Arab countries are nothing but semi-colonies of US and other imperialist countries: What unites the ruling classes of these countries is the complete subservience to US imperialism. It is a known fact that Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Ben Ali of Tunisia, King Abdullah of Jordan or Ali Abdulla Saleh of Yemen has worked as agents of imperialism, and in return got the licence from the US to be in power indefinitely. The rulers of the Arab countries have acted as the guardians of the economic and geo-strategic interests of US imperialism, and thereby implemented all the anti-people policies dictated by the US and its agencies such as UN, IMF and the World Bank. As a result, the vast masses of West Asia and North Africa – the workers, peasants, and the middle classes – have been pushed into a life of utter destitution and economic insecurity, while the ruling classes amassed petro-dollars by selling out the petroleum resources of the region to US and Europe. In Egypt, the most populous Arab country, around half its 80 million people are impoverished, living on $2 a day or less. Unemployment is high, especially for youths while the affluent classes like the oil traders live in uncouth luxury. The repressive rule of the comprador capitalists and feudal classes led by the president Mubarak imposed martial law, shut down critical voices, and tried people suspected of resistance randomly in military tribunals. As a result, many thousands of political opponents were put in prisons, many were tortured, and even killed. Of course, much like in India the grand drama of ‘democracy’ was staged in Egypt too by conducting regular parliamentary elections,  whereby the people were given an option to ‘choose’ their oppressor, and renew the ruling classes’ ‘right to oppress’. The Egyptian elections in 2010 were widely rigged and manipulated to keep Mubarak in power. Since 2005, demands have grown for ending repressive emergency-powers of the president, raising wages, allowing independent unions, redistributing land to poor peasants, and other democratic demands. Instead of addressing these democratic aspirations, the Mubarak government tightened its fascist grip with increased surveillance and repression. The hated Interior Ministry maintains an army of informers, targeting all voices of dissent, apart from using the loyal military as the ultimate weapon against the people. The US supplied nearly $2 billion in aid annually, mostly to repress dissent and assure Mubarak remains a faithful imperial ally. Now finding Mubarak to be sinking boat in the wake of unprecedented mass revolt, the US is trying its best to prop up a replacement agent through a ‘regime change’!

The people of Egypt are on the streets for nearly a week protesting and resisting the dictatorship of the ruling classes, after being inspired by the people of Tunisia who toppled Ben Ali’s despotic rule. Across Egypt, millions of people are braving tear gas, water cannons, stun grenades and bullets to remove not only Hosni Mubarak, but the whole political system which gives birth to the Hosni Mubaraks and Ben Alis. More than 125 protestors have been killed by the armed forces, including 22 in Cairo, 23 in Alexandria and 27 in Suez. Undaunted by the deaths and curfew, more than 1 lakh people gathered in the Tahrir Square (Freedom Square) in Cairo on Tuesday. Warplanes and helicopters flew over the main square and more army trucks appeared in a show of force. Egyptian air force fighter planes buzzed low over Cairo, helicopters hovered above and extra troop trucks appeared in a central square but even that could not deter the masses. There were also reports of several hundred prisoners across the country being freed and of fresh protests being staged in cities like Alexandria and Suez. The protesters in Cairo are being joined by hundreds of judges, government servants and at places even policemen and military. The government has declared curfew and deployed army in all major cities but the protests and uprising has continued. The army is also supporting the masses. The police on the other hand had been notorious, not only injuring and killing people but also doing loot and arson in hospitals, shops and museums. But all that the people want is complete political change and not just shuffling of presidents and their cabinets.

The immediate trigger for this peoples’ upsurge now sweeping across the Arab world was the self-immolation of a young vegetable vendor Mohammed Bouazizi in the central Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid on December 17, 2010. His suicide was in protest against the humiliation and assault caused by a government official. Such harrowed experiences have become a part of life for the Tunisians, particularly its working people. So the bottled-up anger against the rulers of the country soon swelled up as mass protests, and the Tunisian dictator Ben Ali had to flee the country and sought refuge in Saudi Arabia, another puppet government run by US imperialism. Like Mubarak, the scared and desperate rulers of Yemen and Jordan too are resorting to cabinet reshuffle and such flimsy ‘reforms’ in consultation with the US government fearing Egypt-like mass protests. By coming out en-masse against their rulers, the people of the entire region has strengthened the continuing anti-imperialist struggles in Asia, which have been so far resolutely taken forward by the fighting people of Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan. This recent wave of mass upsurge is a part of the struggle for decolonization in Asia, against neo-colonial domination by imperialism, and for establishment of peoples’ democratic rule. However, in the semi-colonies such as Egypt or India where the democratic revolution has not yet been completed due to continued imperialist domination, any democratic movement led by classes other the proletariat with the alliance of the peasants has very little chance to succeed. Thus, although the ongoing mass movement in West Asia has been triggered by the suicide of a worker, and its largest participants have been the workers and peasants, there is a possibility of their aspirations being betrayed once again by the clever manipulation of the parasitic classes with the help of US imperialism. So the outcome of the ongoing movement largely depends on the possibility of the working classes to get organised and to lead the masses from the front.

Building a real solidarity with the fighting masses of West Asia can only be by intensifying our struggle against US Imperialism: The oppressed people of Asia, be it in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Philippines, India, Kashmir, the North East, – and now of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Algeria etc. in their struggle against imperialism or its agents have once again shown that “the east wind prevails over the west wind” (Mao). We, the people of the subcontinent can be in real solidarity with the people of West Asia only by intensifying our own struggles against imperialism and its agent – the fascist Indian ruling classes. Not by mere rhetoric and fake protests of the likes of social-fascist CPI(M), but by strengthening the movements for revolution and national-liberation can we inflict sever blows on imperialism, and thereby unite with the struggles of the oppressed people of the world.

Strengthen the fight for Social Justice and Democratic ethos of JNU! Expose SFI-AISA’s politics of opportunism and Compromise!

With the new VC, Prof. Sopory taking charge on 28^th of January, the long battle for implementation of 27% OBC reservation and other democratic demands of the students, which were constantly undermined by the B.B. Bhattyacharya regime in the past, have entered into a crucial phase. It is also time to strengthen our struggle given the long pending Academic Council (AC) Meeting that is going to take place soon. In the last AC meeting a huge mobilization of the students had ensured the fact that the AC rejected the casteist Aditya Mukherjee Committee recommendations and adopted a more socially just admission policy in order to implement 27% OBC reservation in JNU. However Bhattyacharya-led JNU administration at the last moment shamefully bypassed all the norms of democratic functioning and brought back Mukherjee Recommendations in order to safeguard upper caste Brahminical interests. It is also well known how in the past semester in spite of clear direction by the Delhi High Court, the administration managed NOT to take out the OBC lists with all sorts of excuses. With filing of the review petition in Delhi High Court for a review of its verdict, the casteist-JNU administration made its intention clear. Moreover in terms of delay in building up of new hostels; not developing infrastructure while siphoning of public money in the name of beautification and with the pretext of  ‘efficient and speedy functioning’ bypassing democratic bodies like IHA, CDC or Dean’s bodies; the administration time and again made amply clear their anti-democratic, anti-student and pro-corporate, pro-privatization attitude. JNU students have struggled against the administration resolutely and the fight is still going on even in this semester. The just democratic demands, that JNU student community has, include implementation of 27% OBC reservation, reduction of interview marks in M.Phil from 30 to 10, Democratic Functioning of JNU’s several Decision making Bodies, Increase amount of UGC scholarships as stipulated, Infrastructural development including building new hostels.

The JNU administration remains as casteist, status-quoist as ever like in all other premier institutions. In the context of 27% OBC reservation, it is of utmost importance that we strengthen our fight more resolutely now. The AC meeting is going to happen in a week’s time as Prof. Sopory has taken charge. AC as one of the highest decision making bodies takes conclusive decisions pertaining to academic and administration policies. In the absence of JNUSU, this an important occasion to steer up the debate not only among students but also the faculty and mobilize them to uphold social justice, which has been criminally violated by the administration in this campus. We believe that the fight for social justice and democratic demands historically been a long fight. Our experience in this campus regarding OBC reservation and other demands including hostel, health centre and so on attests to that fact. We cannot wilfully forget (what AISA/SFI seems to be quite ready for) that it is not only B.B. Bhattacharya who was the sole cause of JNU communities’ pain. The filing of the review petition in High Court by the Director of Admissions, the Coordinator (Evaluations) and the Registrar, in the absence of a VC, without taking any democratic opinion whatsoever, proves the point. We cannot also forget how allotment of single-seater was centralised by the DSW with single-handed manipulation by Sacchidanand Sinha in the name of ‘autonomous functioning’ in the past. All these actually signify that that our fight has never been against one VC; rather against power-that-be. With entry of Sopory nothing changes. JNU administration is still as faithful as ever to UPA-led policies of privatization of higher education, making it a commodity only accessible to ‘meritorious’ Brahmin and rich ruling classes of India. If at this crucial juncture we suddenly pretend to be oblivious of all these reality just because our new VC has issued some ‘positive statement’ in the press, it amounts to opportunist compromise of the fight for social justice in the name of ‘hoping’, ‘good will’ and ‘faith’.

For social justice and true democracy people are fighting everywhere and we also must fight. No politics of negotiation in the name of ‘tactics’ can ensure this for us. SFI has characteristically come forth with their politics of compromise and bargaining at this juncture. In the name of tactics, all they do is ‘hoping’ in their last pamphlet. We would like to remind SFI that with their bankrupt, social fascist politics with one eye on electoral gain and another on deceiving people, CPI(M) is already in the margins of history even in parliamentary politics. If SFI continues to betray students in this campus with mere ‘hope’ on new VC instead of a firm struggle for social justice, their future is no different.  Not so surprising perhaps AISA’s complete turn around on this issue. In the past semester, in different all organization meetings they were vociferous along with other organizations in terms of realising the importance of mobilizing teachers and students for AC meeting, then scheduled in the last week of November. Even in this semester, both the organizations agreed on a Protest Demonstration while submitting our charter of demands. But with SFI disagreeing to go for a protest demonstration but merely submitting the charter of demands through all-party delegation, AISA completely washed their hands off from their so called ‘commitment’ to social justice. In their pamphlet they do maintain their rhetorical position by appealing to student community to ‘strengthen the struggle’ for these demands. However in reality, week before AC meeting, all they are doing in AO is to surrender to SFI’s ‘tactical’ politics of negotiation.

DSU reaffirms its position that our fight is against the administration. Mere changes in VC’s office do not suffice to take a step back in the struggle for social justice and our democratic demands. Like UPA was a mere change of regime from NDA and  the country continues to pave the way for plundering of its resources by corporate sharks;  be it B.B. Bhattyacharya or Sopory, we have no reasons to believe that agents of neo-liberalism in higher education will have a change of heart as new VC showed good intention in press statements. Keeping this in mind DSU put forward the proposal for a protest demonstration in the last day’s AO meeting and still maintains it position urging other organizations to reconsider their position. A protest demonstration where large number of students participate will effectively highlight the urgency and seriousness of the demands of the student community. It is much appropriate than an all party delegation silently handing over the charter of demands with no student participation at all.

Unite to Struggle for Full Implementation of OBC Reservation & other Democratic Demands! Expose & Defeat the Opportunism of SFI-AISA in the Name of ‘Tactics’!

An All Organisation Meeting was held on 29 January for finalizing the Charter of Demands on behalf of the students to be placed before the new VC S K Sopory. The charter includes some of the long-standing demands of the student community:

The most immediate and crucial demand remains the full implementation of 27% OBC reservations in this year, along with the reduction in the weightage of the viva marks in the M Phil entrance examination, as it leads to discrimination and victimisation of students from deprived backgrounds. Other demands include improvement and expansion of hostel and school infrastructure; increase in the scholarship given to M Phil & Ph D students; reviving and upholding the democratic decision-making platforms of JNU such as IHA, Academic Council, CDC, etc, which have been repeatedly undermined and bypassed by the outgoing VC.

In the last AO meeting held in December to discuss the administration’s casteist designs to stall the implementation of reservation, a consensus was reached on the necessity of holding a protest demonstration along with submission of a memorandum on behalf of all organisations to the new VC. However, in keeping with their legacy of hobnobbing with the administration, SFI rejected the earlier consensus position and stressed on NOT having a protest demonstration as a ‘tactic’ since the new VC ‘might get antagonized’ with this ‘unexpected’ protest from the students! The reason advanced by SFI was that the new VC has given a ‘positive’ interview to the media. We would like to remind SFI that any VC, irrespective of his/her heart-warming interviews to the bourgeois media or not, remains an agent of the ruling classes and represents and safeguards their interests. It is the structure of oppression and control that our administration stands for and the office of the VC merely presides over it. Students have never solely protested against the personality that mans that office but that structure. In any case, SFI should explain in what way does it consider as ‘positive’ the new VC’s plans to develop JNU as a ‘knowledge-park’ and linking up the university’s research to the industry. Therefore, SFI should come out of all its illusions about the ‘positive’ sounding VC, and rethink of its position of ‘No protest’.

Protest is the right of the student community, and it has not won a single struggle without protests or mass-mobilisation. Keeping in mind the repeated and condemnable betrayals by this administration particularly in implementing OBC reservations in the past three years even after the reprimands of the high court, it is perfectly logical and a must for the students to protest for their rights. It is not a struggle which will start with the new VC taking over, this struggle has been continuing for the past many years. Keeping this in mind DSU put forward the proposal for a protest demonstration in the AO meeting. A protest demonstration where large numbers of students participate will effectively highlight the urgency and seriousness of the demands of the student community. It is a much better option than the all party delegation silently handing over the memorandum of our demands to the VC, with no participation of the students. Considering the absence of a JNUSU, the presence of a large number of students in a demo is the only way that can forcefully articulate our demands and strengthen our memorandum. This will provide an effective build-up for the upcoming AC Meeting and will pressurize the administration to hold it immediately. SFI which understands compromise and betrayal when it comes to students’ politics, understandably prefers a non-confrontationist ‘building of rapport’ with the administration. AISA too, along with other ruling class organisations (ABVP, NSUI) spoke of not ‘scaring’ the VC just in the beginning of his term and thereby toed the line of SFI.  

DSU strongly stresses the need for a protest demonstration to address the question of implementing reservation and the charter of demands. We urge all other student organizations to reconsider their position on the issue of holding a protest while meeting the new VC. We appeal to the student community to unitedly struggle for our rights and ensure social justice