Against Hunger, For Food during Lockdown: Plate-Banging and Fasting on 12 April to demand Food for all with Dignity

AS the Lockdown stretches on, what little money the common people had in their pockets is dwindling. Reports are consistently coming in that calls for help by the needy are not being heeded. At many places, in fear of the police and administration, people are asking for help from friends, relatives and organizations but even they are unable to help due to the lockdown. The worst affected are the Tolas and Mohallas of the poor in cities and villages where empty pockets are common. The distress of deprived sections and migrant workers is being highlighted in the media but the truth is that the only concrete work being done in this matter so far has been due to efforts by social organizations, general public, and political activists on the ground. Government announcements have remained more or less in the realm of propaganda. Things are going from bad to worse as money is running short and grocery stores at many places are selling their goods at raised prices.

The irony is that the government is asking for ration cards to be produced even for getting a single meal. No other country has reported deaths (according to social media it could be about a hundred deaths) due to Lockdown (apart from deaths due to the Coronavirus itself).

There are reports from several States that Government Helpline numbers are not working. Many times help comes so late that people remain hungry for one or two days. At places where public distribution of food is being done, the lines are very long. Many people have to come from afar to stand in these lines as there is no such arrangement closer to their homes. Such dependency is making people lose their self-confidence. If the government and administration had planned properly citizens would not have been put to this distress. Class prejudice is clearly visible in the current situation, while hatemongering propaganda and bigotry is already rampant. Such hatemongers should understand that pandemics do not distinguish observe class or religious discrimination, and such actions are only going to strengthen the force with which the pandemic hits us.

With the sealing of many areas during the latter part of the lockdown has only increased the distress of the poor because NGOs are no longer able to reach those areas.

We are getting reports of the distress of migrant workers in Surat and police repression against them. Full reports of similar distress at other places are not even coming out. AICCTU and CPIML have made a channel to contact and help migrant workers through Twitter and WhatsApp. Help has reached thousands through this, but there still remains much more to be done.

Lakhs of workers have had their livelihoods suddenly snatched away. Many of them are stranded far from their homes without any income, and are desperate to somehow reach home. Hunger is fast spreading its purview and there is a shortage of essential daily needs.

This pandemic must be fought with unity, harmony, logic, awareness and correct information, but instead hate, superstition, rumors and wrong treatment are being spread. This is an obstacle in coping with this crisis, and should be curbed immediately.

Through the program ‘Bhukh ke Viruddh, Bhaat ke Liye’ (Against Hunger, for Food), the people told the government that it should guarantee food for all, rations for all, no wage cuts, no job cuts, no loss of shelter, social security for all, and stop the use of the Corona pandemic to further a communal agenda. COVID-19 can be fought unitedly by all only if these things are guaranteed. And this is very essential aspect of our fight against this pandemic.

The government made us bang plates and light candles and diyas. That’s all very well. But now the primary responsibility of the Modi government is to provide food and other essentials during the Lockdown to migrant workers stranded in various States, their families in the villages, and all the poor and needy people.

The CPIML has submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister demanding that concrete steps be taken in this direction and the particular needs of all sections be kept in mind. The demands also include: strict action against all those spreading communal hatred, rumors and superstition (such action is lamentably missing so far); unless this is done, India will lag behind in the fight against Corona and the consequences for our country will be dire.

‘Nobody’s plate should remain empty’. With this demand programs were organized in various States on 12 April 2020, taking all required precautions of physical distancing and other measures. People came to their doorsteps and thresholds to participate in the program. The call was also given for a one-day solidarity fast. The Modi government was told that it should fill the empty plates, make arrangements for home delivery of food, rations and fuel so that not a single person feels himself neglected or insecure. All Party activists remained on fast on 12 April.

Many governments did not like the common people raising their voice thus. These common people had participated whole-heartedly in Modi Ji’s Plates-Candles-Speeches program, but today they were saying that mere speeches do not fill a hungry stomach.

Severe police repression in Tamil Nadu: At Vasantha Kadirpalayam village in Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu when people came outside their homes with plates the Tahsildar and police also reached the village. But the entire village had come out, so the officials had no option but to hear the villagers’ needs which they explained to the accompaniment of plate-banging.

TN police in Madurai arrested RYA activist Tamil and AISA member Kaleeswaran on the eve of 12th and detained them till 12th evening. Police has snatched away mobile phone of Tamil. Comrade Vel Murugan, CPIML State committee member and Slum Dwellers Movement leader in Coimbatore was arrested, detained for few hours at police station, filed a case against him before releasing him in the late night. Another senior CPIML leader and trade union activit Govindaraj was taken into custody and admitted to Corona test at Dharmapuri hospital as a part of harassment. In Tambaram, Chennai Avraham, party activist was also enquired by a large group of police force and later let off. One is not sure if a FIR can follow against him later. Another comrade from Pudukkottai who was taken into custody was released after few hours after when local leaders went to lodge protest before the DSP. Police force had an all imposing presence in all the places. Still, our comrades went ahead with the program with courage and determination observing possible precautions against Corona and also within the framework of Lockdown.

Another bad news, but not unexpected, came from Yogi Ajay Singh Bisht’s Uttar Pradesh where CPIML leader Arjun Lal was arrested in Sitapur from his home in the night before to deter people from joining the call. However, the poor banged plates and raised their demands in several UP districts including Sonbhadra, Varanasi, Pilibhit, Mirzapur, Rae Bareli, Kheeri, Chandauli, Azamgarh, Devariya, Gorakhpur, Ballia and Lucknow.

In many areas in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka also people banged plates and spelt out their demands.

Reports have come in of people successfully carrying out this program at Hooghly, North and South 24 Paraganas, Nadia, Bankura, Siliguri (Darjeeling), Kolkata and other Districts in West Bengal as well as some Districts in Assam. Thousands of poor and adivasis took part in the program at Udaipur, Jodhpur, Bhilwara, Chittaurgarh and other Districts in Rajasthan. Workers at several places in Delhi raised their demands during which they also put up posters.

In Batala (Gurdaspur), Punjab the police pounced on the Party office and detained Party leaders at the Thana for the whole day. The police also smashed office property, seized DVR of CCTV camera installed in Batala party office and detained CPIML Punjab state secretary Gurmeet Singh Bakhatpura and Advocate Abhishek Honey for hours inside the thana. The police told them not to ‘provoke people against the government’ by sending the lists of lockdown affected workers to the administration, and by telling the facts to the media! Comrade Gurmeet made it clear what he and his comrades are doing is a rightful duty of every citizen and they will continue with this even if they are arrested and cases are lodged. The frustrated SSP ultimately had to release them but only after cancelling their curfew passes and instructing the local police to not permit them from stepping out of their houses. CPIML Punjab and many other left organizations have condemned this highhandedness of police and Punjab administration.

The Punjab CPIML went ahead and the call to bang thalis was observed in many districts including Sangrur, Bhatinda, Barnala, Mansa, Amritsar and at many places in Gurdarspur. Workers and peasants in Batala, Kalnaur, Dhariwal and other places observed 14 April as day of protest against police repression and lockdown hardships.

The program Against Hunger, for Food was carried out and a day’s fast was observed in Uttarakhand by all the party activists and supporters in different districts. Peasants in nearly a dozen forest villages as well as industrial workers, students and youth also participated.

Jharkhand adivasis in distant districts as well as industrial urban areas both witnessed banging of thalis and other forms of the agitation on this day.

Reports of the program have come in from rural adivasi areas in Koraput and Raigarha Districts in Odisha. Party activists sat on a fast at Bhubhaneshwar and other places.

Through this protest program it was also demanded from respective Chief Ministers of various States that help should must reach to the migrant workers.

Plates were banged in thousands of villages in Bihar. The poor came out of their homes in cities and villages of all Districts and expressed themselves through plate-banging and posters. Daily workers, poor, and working sections participated in large numbers. The capital Patna saw very impressive programs asking the Central and Bihar governments to give rations instead of speeches. All Party leaders sat on a one-day fast. The Demand Program ‘Against Hunger, for Food’ was also effectively organized in Bhojpur, Arwal, Siwan, Jehanabad, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Nawada, Nalanda, Darbhanga, Gopalganj, Rohtas, Madhubani, Saharsa, Purnea, Bhagalpur, Samastipur, Khagariya and other Districts. CPIML MLAs in Bhojpur and Siwan, as well as other Party leaders observed a one-day fast to demand rations with dignity for all. In Patna the program was carried out at various places including Digha, Kankarbagh, Ramakrishna Nagar, Lohanipur, Rukanpura, and Chitkohra. In Bhojpur, hundreds participated in the program at Tarari, (Musahar Toli, Kusumi, Jethwar, Sandeha Masodhi, Panwari, Barahi), Ara, Agiaon, Piro Bazaar, Koilvar, Balbandh, Bachri and other places. Similarly Patna Rural saw good participation at Dhanrua, Masaurhi, Phulwari, Fatuha, and other places.

The CPIML has submitted a memorandum regarding the Lockdown to the Prime Minister with copies to the Chief Ministers of all States.

If the Lockdown is extended further for another phase, it should be done with proper planning and preparation. The government has an important role to play and it must not fail this time. So far the role of the government has been very weak, prejudiced and repressive rather than empathetic to the people.