Rally in Patna on 27 September
THE ‘Oust BJP-Save Democracy’ rally to be organized at the Gandhi Maidan in Patna on 27 September 2018 is going to be historic in many ways.
The 10th Party Congress at Mansa (Punjab) had called for the eviction of fascism and the building of a people’s India. Carrying this call forward, the Bihar State Committee organized statewide people’s rights campaigns in Bihar under the ‘Oust BJP-Save Bihar’ drive for 3 months from April to June. During these movements we could see that the people have become disillusioned with the Modi government at the centre and the Nitish-Modi government in Bihar, and this became even clearer in the Lok Sabha and Assembly bye-election results in Bihar and other states. Trying to surmount their troubles, the BJP escalated its politics of hate and venom and sharpened its attacks on the Constitution, democracy, and justice. The ugly clouds of Emergency were looming over the country ever since the Modi government came to power in 2014; demonetization was one sure sign of this. But in 2018, with Lok Sabha elections not far away, the country is truly in the grip of fascism. The right-wing attack at Bhima-Koregaon, a fresh spate of mob-lynching, attempts to dilute the SC/ST Act, witch-hunt of human rights activists and intellectuals under draconian laws, branding of dissenters as ‘urban naxals’, ‘Tukde Tukde gang’, and ‘anti-national’ are all manifestations of this fascism.
The Indira Emergency in 1975 was opposed by the JP movement which started from this historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna. Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar were part of that movement. Nitish has since joined the fascists and has helped them to come to power in Bihar as well as at the centre. Lalu did stop Advani’s Rath Yatra but is constrained by other factors, including the fact that the BJP has made inroads into his ‘Mandal’ mass base. During the Indira Emergency the CPI had stood with the Congress. The CPI(M) opposed the Emergency but had no co-ordination with the Janata Dal in the post-Emergency elections. The CPI (ML) faced the greatest brutality during the Emergency, but as an ‘underground’ Party in that phase we were not in a position to play a leading role in the popular surge against Indira’s dictatorship. But today we are in a position of strength in Bihar; we have achieved this position after facing many challenges and going through many difficult situations.
Carrying forward the resolution of the Party Congress, the Party has been at the forefront of opposition to the Modi Emergency, exposing the black deeds of the Modi and Nitish governments. Some of our notable initiatives have been: Bharat Bandh on 2 April against dilution of the SC/ST Act; Bihar Bandh against sexual violence in shelter homes; candle march on 14 August; human chains across Bihar on 28 August. We have brought together minorities, dalits, women, students, and youth in large numbers in the fight against Modi’s fascism, and today we are in a position to play a leading role in this fight. On 27 September 2018 the ‘Oust BJP-Save Democracy’ rally will be held at Gandhi Maidan in Patna and the entire country will reverberate to chants of ‘Sangh-BJP Quit India’ and ‘Let’s Build the India of Bhagat Singh-Ambedkar’s Dreams’.
