[Marxism] Land Struggle in South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh turns violent

[Marla Vijaya kumar <marlavk@xxxxxxxxx>]

    The two Communist parties in the South   Indian State  of Andhra Pradesh 
have been waging struggles for the last few decades demanding  land reforms and 
distribution of excess Government land to the landless poor  and allotment of 
house sites for hutments to the urban poor. The struggle has  been intensified 
in the last three months. Thousands of Left activists were  jailed and 
non-bailable cases have been clamped on them by the ruling Congress Party  
Government in the state. So much so that the general Secretary of the state  
unit of CPI, Dr K Narayana has been booked under charges of sedition and  
another peasant leader was hand cuffed and paraded like a criminal in the  
streets of Hyderabad. The state Government  has been unresponsive and was not 
willing to implement the recommendations of a  ministerial committee on land 
reforms constituted by the government itself. The  report was kept secret as 
the recommendations are inconvenient to many  political leaders who
 had occupied hundreds of thousands of acres of government  land illegally.
      The leaders of the state units of  CPI and CPI(M) are on hunger strike 
since 22nd July in Hyderabad,  the state capital. The government response was 
arrogant attack on the Left  parties. On the sixth day of the hunger strike, 
the Left parties, with support  of 195 public organizations had called for a 
statewide agitation (Bandh in Hindi)  to paralyze the state apparatus on 28th 
July, Saturday. In the last  7 days, thousands of agitators have been 
indiscriminately caned and beaten by  the police. The agitation of the Left 
parties had become the prime political  issue in the state of Andhra Pradesh. 
      The general strike on 28th  went on peacefully in many places, though the 
police had resorted to water  cannons, tear gas shells and caning of the 
agitators in several towns in the  state. By normal political standards in 
India  even with such violence by the police, the agitation is counted as a 
peaceful  affair.
      But suddenly, in the provincial  town of Mudikonda in Khammam  District, 
the police had resorted to firing on the peaceful agitators sitting  in a tent 
on hunger strike with AK-47 rifles. Out of 300 or so agitators, 8  have been 
killed and 16 are in critical condition. The Chief Minister had come  out with 
a totally unsatisfactory explanation for the police atrocity and the  
atmosphere in the state of Andhra Pradesh (pop. 72 million) is charged and  
tense. Today, for the last 6 hours, the news channels are continuously beaming  
images of people killed and wounded in the police firing. The Congress  
Government in the state finds itself totally isolated while all political  
parties (even the BJP!) supporting the cause of land struggle by the  
communists.
      The Central leaderships of the  CPI and CPI(M) had come out very strongly 
against the police killings and the failure  of the state Government to resolve 
the issue of struggle by the landless poor. This  is likely to strain the 
relations between the Congress Government at Delhi  and the Left parties, on 
whose support, the Congress Government survives.
      After nearly 60 years of the armed  peasant struggle in this region in 
which 4000 communists had lost their lives,  the state is again waking up to 
land struggles.
      Vijaya Kumar Marla  
    
       
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