You may
be aware that a thousand students, youth, women, children and
cultural activists had been sent to jail for14 days -and that too
only because they were trying to reclaim the secular legacy of
Ayodhya and Awadh, which has been sullied in the hate campaigns
conducted in the name of Mandir. It was only because of the spirited
protests by people from different walks of life including many
friends from the group here who responded with so much warmth and
energy and outraged by this fascistic repression that the release
finally came within a week.

However this email Iam writing with reference to the Appeal that
you may have received from CPIML about joining the National
convention against Communal fascism on June 26, 2002 at Mavalankar
auditorium.

It is also now becoming more than clear that the anger and distrust
generated by the Gujrat carnage is being deflected with war
mongering .It has been Sangh Parivar's ploy to give out jingoistic
cries , trying to equate nationalism with anti -muslim and anti -
pakistan hysteria . A vigorous struggle needs to be launched
against this. Even in the citizens' protest meeting which was
held on 24 May everyone spoke about the need for the broadest
possible resistance to the fascist build up in the country.

The Convention whose appeal you may have received is being
organised with an effort to involve a number of individuals,
groups, organisatons, political parties, social movements so that at
the Convention there is a possibility for launching a nation wide
campaign against communal fascism culminating with a combined
programme on August 9, the anniversary of Quit India day so that one
could say Quit India to the communal fascism imposed by the Sangh
Parivar.

I am also enclosing a copy of the appeal , incase you have not
received it.
Do give your suggestions and on the ideas that you may have about
the Convention and campaign.

One more thing, the Convention is being organised entirely with the
support of individual monetary contributions and donations for the
programme. If possible, please send your contribution by cheque /
cash drawn in favour of CPIML. It could be posted to
U-90 Shakarpur, Delhi -110092.
PHONE 2221067, 2058985

Radhika Menon

Appeal to Join the
National Convention against Communal Fascism

(Mavlankar Auditorium, Rafi marg, New Delhi, June 26, 2002)



Friends,

The country is passing through a very critical juncture. Gujarat has
been reduced to a graveyard. More than 2,000 people are already
feared killed in the state in the continuing genocide. Thousands of
Muslim families have been ravaged. Yet the saffron killers are still
at large and the intensity of the anti-Muslim hate campaign remains
undiminished. And defying cries of condemnation from all corners of
the country and even from the international community, the NDA
government at the Centre is bent upon protecting the monstrous Modi
regime in Gujarat.

While Gujarat burns, Kashmir continues to bleed. On the eve of the
Assembly elections due in October, terror and repression continue to
stalk the valley. A war-like situation is again building up across
the LOC. With India and Pakistan moving increasingly away from the
negotiating table, the situation is tailor-made for growing American
intervention in the region. US troops are already there in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of late, Nepal too has become a key country
on the US map of so-called global war on terror. And now the other
day, we saw the armed forces of India and the US conduct joint
military exercises on the Indian soil for the first time in forty
years since the 1962 India-China war. Meanwhile, the mischief-mongers
of the Sangh Parivar are busy plotting their next move on Ayodhya.

The overwhelming majority of the Indian people have repeatedly
expressed their strong disapproval of this disastrous direction in
which the BJP and its allies are relentlessly pushing the country. In
election after election, the people have voted against the BJP and
its allies. True to its fascist character, the saffron brigade is
however playing with the people's mandate by subverting the
parliamentary system. POTA was passed by convening an extraordinary
joint session of Parliament. And in UP, the BJP has managed to retain
its hold on power by forging yet another opportunist alliance with
the BSP. The BJP's task has of course been made easier by the
ideological and political bankruptcy of many non-BJP parties. While
the likes of George Fernandes amd Mamata Banerjee have shown how low
they can stoop for the sake of a few cabinet berths, regional parties
like the TDP, DMK and AIADMK have once again exposed the true colours
of their so-called `secular politics'.

In spite of their current majority in Parliament, the BJP and its
allies are of course mortally afraid of the secular democratic
politics of the Indian people. In Gujarat we have seen their ugly
attempts to silence the voice of peace, secularism and democracy.
They have targetted the media, they have targetted activists like
Medha Patkar. On 10-11 May, the BSP-BJP government of UP banned a
peaceful commemoration of the 145th anniversary of India's First
War
of Independence at Faizabad. Hundreds of students, youths, cultural
activists, women and children were beaten up and jailed for 14 days
for daring to remember the martyrs of 1857 and invoking Awadh's
glorious legacy of Hindu-Muslim unity and militant anti-imperialism.

Twenty-seven years ago, Indira Gandhi had sought to curb democracy in
India by imposing a state of Emergency. In less than two years, the
Emergency was overthrown by the people of India. Today, democracy
faces a still more serious threat as the BJP tries to divide the
country on communal lines and mortgage its hard-earned independence
and national dignity to the US imperialists. While the economic
policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation make a
mockery of the people's basic right to livelihood, the dangerous
drive to redefine Indian nationalism on the narrow and divisive basis
of so-called Hindutva threatens to disenfranchise all but the members
and lackeys of the Sangh Parivar.

We cannot let this happen. India is not a piece of real estate for
the Sangh Parivar to play with. It is the common land of a billion
people who celebrate their unity in diversity and democracy. It is
the shared legacy of our great martyrs who laid down their precious
lives for the country and the people.

We must save and reclaim India. And to do this we need a massive
democratic resurgence of the people. We need a shared resolve, a new
vision, and a powerful, united resistance.

To this end, we have decided to hold a National Convention against
Communal Fascism in New Delhi (Mavalankar Auditorium) on 26 June. It
is our earnest desire that this convention should provide a common
platform for the broadest spectrum of Left organisations, social
movements and committed citizens who are determined to work for the
triumph of people's democracy over communal fascism. We therefore
solicit your fullest cooperation and participation in making the
convention a success.


Central Committee
CPI (ML) Liberation