Condemn the barbaric attack on the Kashmiri people and their rights!

Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 18 August, 2019

The Indian state has carried out a brutal assault on the rights of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Through a Presidential Order and a Resolution passed by Parliament on 5th August, 2019, the formal special status of Jammu & Kashmir has been eliminated, to make all provisions of the Constitution of India applicable to the people of this region. Furthermore, Jammu & Kashmir has been reduced from being a state into two union territories.

Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 18 August, 2019

The Indian state has carried out a brutal assault on the rights of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Through a Presidential Order and a Resolution passed by Parliament on 5th August, 2019, the formal special status of Jammu & Kashmir has been eliminated, to make all provisions of the Constitution of India applicable to the people of this region. Furthermore, Jammu & Kashmir has been reduced from being a state into two union territories.

To prevent masses of people from coming out in protest against these attacks, tens of thousands of additional troops have been deployed in Jammu & Kashmir. A complete 24/7 curfew has been imposed since the night of 4th August. All means of communications remain snapped since then. Hundreds of political activists have been arrested, many shifted to prisons outside the state. All voices of opposition in Kashmir have been silenced. Despite this brutal reign of terror, reports of some mass protests by people have come out.

With deep anger, the Communist Ghadar Party of India condemns the Indian state for the unparalleled state repression unleashed on the Kashmiri people and the brutal attack on their national and human rights.

Seventy two year ago, the British colonialists organized the brutal partition of India to safeguard their imperialist interests in Asia. A dagger was thrust into the heart of India and the nations of Punjab and Bengal were divided on communal lines. The colonialists also engineered the partition of Kashmir through a bloody war between India and Pakistan. Since then, the Anglo-American imperialists have used the Kashmir issue to keep India and Pakistan at perpetual loggerheads.

By scrapping the “special status” of Jammu & Kashmir, dividing it, and bringing it directly and completely under central control, the Indian bourgeoisie has asserted its position as the dominant power in South Asia. It has sent out a loud and clear message that it will brook no opposition or interference from any external force to its complete domination over the land and resources of the territories under its control. And those within the Indian Union who demand their national rights will be brutally suppressed.

Kashmir is not merely a piece of “disputed territory”. It is a nation of people who have been constantly crying out for their right to self-determination. They have for long been demanding an end to state terrorism and army rule. The 5th August decision of the Indian state is an act of humiliation of the Kashmiri people and complete negation of their national rights.

The manner in which the Indian state has changed the status of Kashmir exposes the farce of Indian democracy. It shows that what exists behind the façade of democracy is the brutal dictatorship of the capitalist class, headed by the monopoly houses.

The Indian state made no pretense of even consulting the political parties and organizations of the Kashmiri people, before deciding to deprive them of whatever rights they are formally supposed to have under the Constitution. In typical imperialist style, the Indian ruling class took these decisions unilaterally and then simply asserted that it is in the best interests of the Kashmiris and all other Indian people.

In this so called largest democracy in the world, people have no power. Sovereignty, the power to take decisions affecting our lives, is in the hands of the President acting on the advice of the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister. All the so called “rights” allegedly guaranteed by the Constitution are merely there at the mercy of the executive. This executive works strictly in the interests of the big bourgeoisie. Whenever the ruling class so desires, it can use the very same Constitution to deprive people of what they hitherto believed to be “rights”. The role of parliament is to be a talk shop, and rubber stamp the actions of the executive.

Whenever and wherever its rule has been challenged, the capitalist class in power has unveiled its mailed fist to crush all opposition to its rule. In June 1975, National Emergency was declared and all civil liberties suspended throughout India. In June 1984, the Indian state unleashed the army to attack the Golden Temple and began a decade long onslaught on the people of the Sikh faith, painting every Sikh as a terrorist and separatist. For over three decades, the rights of the people of Kashmir, Assam, Manipur and other states have been brutally trampled under army rule, all this justified by labeling them terrorists, separatists, and enemies of “national unity and territorial integrity”.

The Indian ruling class has inherited and further perfected the method of divide and rule practiced by the colonialists. Whenever it faces resistance to its rule, it portrays the fighting people as “anti-national” and as “agents of foreign powers”, so as to discredit them in the eyes of the rest of the people. It pretends that the repression it unleashes is in the best interests of India. Through such propaganda, it tries to isolate the fighting people.

The “one nation” project of the Indian ruling class reveals its colonial and imperialist outlook. It is in complete disregard of the existence of the different nations and peoples in our country. It is a demand that all the peoples constituting India must accept being subjugated, deprived of all rights, with their land and labour exploited and plundered by the big bourgeoisie. Any nation, nationality or people within India who demand their rights are branded as “anti-national” and part of the “tukde tukde gang”.

In reality, it is the Indian big bourgeoisie which is truly anti-national. It is anti-national because it puts its narrow imperialist interests above those of all the peoples who inhabit this ancient land. It is anti-national because it is building a dangerous military strategic alliance with the US imperialists, which can lead to India being involved in disastrous wars with neighbouring countries.

The source of the problems facing the Kashmiri people is the rule of the big bourgeoisie, which cares only for its money bags and not for the wellbeing of the people. The India of today is a prison house of nations. As long as the big bourgeoisie continues to hold state power, none of the problems facing the Kashmiri people or any other people of our country will be solved.

The workers, peasants, and all the oppressed people of our country need to unite and fight to establish our own rule in place of the rule of the bourgeoisie. With political power in our hands, we will be able to reorient the economy to ensure secure livelihood and prosperity for all, instead of being geared to maximize capitalist profits.

In place of the present state which is a legacy of colonialism, we must establish a new state, based on a new constitution, which will ensure that sovereignty is vested in the people. The Indian Union must be reconstituted as a voluntary union of consenting nations and peoples, with the right to self-determination guaranteed to all constituents. Such a democratic renewal is necessary for finding a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem.

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  1. Barbaric attack on the…

    Barbaric attack on the Kashmiri people

    I am writing in response to the Statement of the CC of the CGPI dated 18-8-2019, entitled `Condemn the barbaric attak on the Kashmiri people and their rights!’ issued in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India as well as the reorganization of the State of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and of Ladakh respectively by a Presidential Order dated 5-8-2019.

    Four weeks after this event, the people of those regions remain in darkness, with a complete media blackout and virtually no communications possible. There are hundreds of thousands of security personnel and there is virtual Martial Law in the regions. The Governor of the State on the previous day had stated that no one should believe rumours and that there was nothing to fear. The actions of the Union Government have been based on lies piled on lies and these actions have been an exercise of the supreme power of the Cabinet and is essentially a de facto act of dictatorship.

    I would like to praise the CC on its clear stand and hail the leadership that is being provided to the rank and file of the party as well as to the working class as well to the people of India on this utterly divisive issue. The statement points out in no uncertain terms the utterly anti-people nature of the bourgeoisie in India which today rules through its chosen parties and in particularly through the so-called nationalist BJP and runs its writ through the parliamentary system wherein it has engineered an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha. The act shows the utter contempt the bourgeoisie has for the national rights of the nations that constitute the Indian union, and has thrown to the winds all principles.

    The main statement of the bourgeoisie is that ‘might is right’ and it will do whatever it pleases. It has in the past used the instrument of state power to keep the people from uniting around any just demand for the resolution of their problems. It has used ‘divide and rule’ as the key implement in keeping its unsurpassed supremacy. While the bourgeoisie is the one that screams the loudest of others being anti-national, every action of the bourgeoisie is, in reality, the most anti-national. It tramples on the rights of all in its untrammelled pursuit of profits and its dreams of becoming an imperial power. The latest action shows that it no longer even wants to wear the fig-leaf of a responsible power.

    Let us all unite and show what is what. It is only in solving the problems of India that the problems of Kashmir too can be resolved. No nobler call can be present at this moment. Let us all join in this noble endeavour.

    Sincerely,

    A. Narayan

  2. As regards your article …

    As regards your article “Condemn the barbaric attack on the Kashmiri people and their rights!”, I want to point out the depth of analysis exhibited in it.

    Through a Presidential Order and a Resolution passed by Parliament on 5th August, 2019, the formal special status of Jammu & Kashmir has been eliminated, to make all provisions of the Constitution of India applicable to the people of this region. This was preceded by preventive arrests and a communication clamp down in J&K which has continued 40 days later too.

    This sudden move by the Indian government has been welcomed by a section of polity and media with great triumphalism. Another section has questioned the “process” and the way it has been done even though they basically agree with the move. On the other hand there has been outpouring of condemnation by progressive and democratic opinion about the curfew, communication restrictions and preventive arrests.

    But hardly anyone has pointed out, as you have done, what motivated the Indian bourgeoisie to do this despite several other internal and external preoccupations in foreign relations and a major slowdown in the economy. Here in lies geopolitics and Indian bourgeoisie’s struggle to become a great power. One of the successful shackles put initially by British imperialism and perpetuated by Americans and even China since the ‘60s is the division and the dispute regarding the status of J&K. The British very much wanted a weak state to be left behind which could be easily manipulated by them and which could be used as a base to fight the then Soviet Union as well as protect their oil interests in West Asia. So they encouraged the communal division of India and gave the “choice” to princely states to join India or Pakistan. A weak post-colonial India with a loose confederacy of Hindu India, Muslim India and a Princely India would have suited their purpose every well. The Indian bourgeoisie was forced to accept the partition but they did their utmost to build a highly centralised state within the confines of its territory and quickly integrated over 500 princely states in their territory. However Kashmir remained a thorn in their flesh which could be used to tie them down to South Asia and more over have continued now war no peace situation with Pakistan. Emboldened by the growing economic empires of Indian monopoly capitalists they have now moved to formally change the status of Kashmir. They do no care that in the process they have hurt the local Kashmiri parties or clamped down on the rights of Kashmiri people. They think they have temporarily checkmated possible interference by US, UK and China in Kashmir. As for national rights of Kashmiri people they have been trampled upon just as the national rights of all the nationalities of India have been suppressed.

    Yours,

    SK, Dharwad

  3. From A. Narayan…

    From A. Narayan

    I am writing in response to the Statement of the CC of the CGPI dated 18-8-2019, entitled `Condemn the barbaric attak on the Kashmiri people and their rights!’ issued in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India as well as the reorganization of the State of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and of Ladakh respectively by a Presidential Order dated 5-8-2019.

    Four weeks after this event, the people of those regions remain in darkness, with a complete media blackout and virtually no communications possible. There are hundreds of thousands of security personnel and there is virtual Martial Law in the regions. The Governor of the State on the previous day had stated that no one should believe rumours and that there was nothing to fear. The actions of the Union Government have been based on lies piled on lies and these actions have been an exercise of the supreme power of the Cabinet and is essentially a de facto act of dictatorship.

    I would like to praise the CC on its clear stand and hail the leadership that is being provided to the rank and file of the party as well as to the working class as well to the people of India on this utterly divisive issue. The statement points out in no uncertain terms the utterly anti-people nature of the bourgeoisie in India which today rules through its chosen parties and in particularly through the so-called nationalist BJP and runs its writ through the parliamentary system wherein it has engineered an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha. The act shows the utter contempt the bourgeoisie has for the national rights of the nations that constitute the Indian union, and has thrown to the winds all principles.

    The main statement of the bourgeoisie is that ‘might is right’ and it will do whatever it pleases. It has in the past used the instrument of state power to keep the people from uniting around any just demand for the resolution of their problems. It has used ‘divide and rule’ as the key implement in keeping its unsurpassed supremacy. While the bourgeoisie is the one that screams the loudest of others being anti-national, every action of the bourgeoisie is, in reality, the most anti-national. It tramples on the rights of all in its untrammelled pursuit of profits and its dreams of becoming an imperial power. The latest action shows that it no longer even wants to wear the fig-leaf of a responsible power.

    Let us all unite and show what is what. It is only in solving the problems of India that the problems of Kashmir too can be resolved. No nobler call can be present at this moment. Let us all join in this noble endeavour.

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