August 15, 1947

Legacy of Indian Independence 75 Years Ago

– Jaspal Singh –

Farmers' morcha in Haryana, Punjab, August 9, 2022, against the Modi government's land acquisition program. The farmers affirm they will not permit the government to snatch the land from those farmers who made it fertile before 1947.

The 75th anniversary of Independence of India finds hundreds of millions of farmers on the barricades of struggle for their very being and Right To Be. They are carrying out protests all across India today against the anti-people policies and laws of the government. Kisan Mahapanchayats (local mass meetings) are taking place. Kisan Mazdoor Ekta (Farmer-Labourer Unity) slogans are in the air -- Faslan Ke Faisale Kisan Karega (Farmers will decide on crops), and Awaz Do Hum Ek Hain (We are one voice) are resounding. In a Mahapanchayat in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, farmers declared that they will continue their struggles in all forms until their demands are met. They said that it is battle for Fasal and Nasal (for their produce and future generations). This is a battle for land and life. Once again tractors and trolleys are out.

At midnight on August 14, 1947, in a tryst with destiny speech, promises made by Nehru and all political parties of the ruling elite since, have proven to be false and fraudulent. Peoples of India had shed torrents of blood to overthrow the colonial rule but the Transfer of Power in 1947 continued all the colonial institutions in service of a tiny minority of collaborators with the British, to maximize the profits and interests of the ruling elites, including the former colonial masters. People everywhere say that this is not the India that we had fought for. Colonial rule is continuing without the colonialists, which was imposed by communal carnage killing millions of people and moving forcibly more than 20 million people.

All the concessions that the ruling elite was forced to give in 1947 due to the struggles of women, men, workers, farmers, Dalits, tribal people, nations and nationalities are under attack. For example all the gains in the field of livelihood, franchise, education, labour laws, health, federal structure, welfare, social justice, land reforms, freedom of speech, as meager as they were have been eroded and torn asunder by the ruling elites. Especially in the last 40 years, the neo-liberal offensive launched by Congress, intensified and accelerated by BJP has wiped out all the gains of the independence movement of the people. The wealth of the industrial houses and families such as the Adanis, Ambanis, Tatas, Birlas, etc. has skyrocketed while 99 per cent of the population has a hard time keeping body and soul together.

Government data presented in Parliament recently shows that more than 80 per cent of Indians are likely to be drinking "poisonous water." The data presented says that most districts of almost all states have groundwater overloaded with toxic metals and metalloids. In some parts of 209 districts of 25 states, there's over 0.01 mg arsenic per litre of groundwater. In some parts of 491 districts of 29 states, iron in groundwater is more than 1 mg per litre. In some parts of 29 districts of 11 states, cadmium in groundwater has been found to be more than 0.003 mg per litre. In some parts of 62 districts of 16 states, there is more than 0.05 mg of chromium per litre of groundwater. More than 0.03 mg per litre of uranium has been found in groundwater in 152 districts in 18 states. This exemplifies the continuous crimes against the peoples of India and nature by the ruling elite in the last 75 years.

Data provided by the government states that every year 2.5 million people die of hunger and in the last 40 years, the ruling elite has killed 100 million people by starving them to death no matter which party has been in power, no matter which slogans they have espoused in the name of eliminating poverty and guaranteeing the prosperity of the people. More than 50 per cent of tribal populations have been displaced and dispossessed of their forest, water, land and habitat. Caste oppression continues unabated.

Punjabis to this day recall partition as ujara or devastation. More than 7 million people were forced to leave their homes and hearths due to the terror unleashed by the ruling elites, the British, their goons and police. Studies by Harvard scholar Jennifer Leaning and others point out that more than 3 million people were slaughtered. Prominent political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmed, in his book Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed has meticulously documented it. Partition projects in many universities and research by an increasing number of professors have brought to light the crimes of the ruling elites and their representatives. For example Jinnah callously called this bloodshed a Qurbani (sacrifice) required to create Pakistan. Similarly, leaders of Congress called partition the price of freedom. It reveals the criminal nature of the leaders of Congress, the Muslim League and the British.

In Lahore and Amritsar the armed gangs affiliated with the Akalis, the Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha terrorized the people. Rajas, Maharajas, Wadheras unleashed their soldiers on the unarmed and innocent people. Now, using social media, Punjabis in East and West Punjab are sharing their stories and trauma. On August 16, special Ardas (prayers) are taking place at the Akal Takht for those who were slaughtered and died during partition. Gurdwaras across the world are also going to hold Ardas. Punjabis across the world are appreciating this initiative and are continuing their struggles for the affirmation of their national, cultural and linguistic rights, their right to be.

Modi is serving "nectar of freedom" from the Red Fort in Delhi, while attacking the rights of all the peoples of India, just like Nehru at midnight on August 14,1947 who talked about "wiping tears from every eye" while the ruling elite was carrying out carnage on the basis of religious and ethnic cleansing. It is reported that "secular" Nehru took a bath in gold dust as advised by his astrologer because he was stepping down from a Brahmin to Kshatriya to be prime minister and he held the ceremony at midnight according to Mahurat by astrologers.

What cannot be forgotten in rendering the history of Partition is that from midnight August 14,1947 to the present, a glorious history of peoples struggles has countered the shameful demagoguery by the representatives of the ruling elites, their parties, legislatures and the crimes against the people, no matter which party has been placed in power at either the central or state level.

Farmers of India along with other toilers and oppressed, have given a clarion call for renewal and renovation of relations among humans and humans and humans and nature, to affirm the rights of all. Peoples' security lies only in their fight against the ruling elite and their state. Farmers have declared that no matter what Modi says from the parapets of the Red Fort, as have many others before him to hoodwink people, they will march on and carry on until rights of all are affirmed. Creating bright future prospects are for the people to make. The women, farmers, workers, youth, Dalits, Adivasis and the oppressed are the makers of the history which is unfolding in India.

On this occasion, I think of Bhagat Singh who had prophesied that this struggle will continue if brown sahibs replace the white sahibs and no transformations take place. I think of Baba Sohan Singh Bhakhna, founder President of the Ghadar Party, who told us in 1967 that he was tortured more by Nehru's government than the British. I think of my grandfather who had predicted this trajectory because the leaders of the Congress Party, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had betrayed the aspirations of the people, and he had contempt for them. I especially think of Hardial Bains, my friend and mentor, who remained true to the aspirations of our people till his last day. His paper, Breaking with the Past -- The Last Reform, was delivered at a meeting in Delhi on his behalf, on August 15, 1997, on the 50th anniversary of India's independence. That paper to this day points the way forward to bring about the transformations needed by the peoples of India and South Asia.

Last but not least, I also think of 82-year-old poet Varvara Rao, who has been incarcerated on trumped up charges for speaking his mind, but keeps his head high and chest out, inspiring the youth. He just received bail on medical grounds. I also think of the Facebook, Twitter and other social media warriors who are amplifying peoples' struggles for dignity.

A great battle of ideas for renewal of thought material of the peoples of the Indian subcontinent as well as the world's people has also broken out to create a new society which harmonizes the ensemble of human relations, between humans and humans and humans and nature. Everything is up for grabs. No more can old thought material and its phrases and platitudes about "Left" or "Right," " Hindu Rashtra" or "Secularism" suffice. Their repetition is a diversion organized by the ruling elite. People are getting together to overcome the crisis of imagination about what the society engenders which can serve the people. The farmer's Morchas showed it to the whole world. They pointed out in their 14-month long deliberations that the liberal democracy is a system of party rule to choose representatives of a fictitious person of state where sovereignty is vested. It is not vested in the people as they are led to believe but in a hidden power above the people. The democracy based on this theory and the arrangements which were brought forth on its basis have become historically obsolete, independent of anyone's will. This is because the productive powers have surpassed the control of both the rulers and the working people. The times are calling for the working people to open society's path to progress by bringing them under control on the basis of modern definitions of democracy, for a mass democracy in which the people are the decision-makers and set the line of march which opens a path for progress.

The cartel parties are no longer political because they do not serve the polity. They have formed a mafia cartel kept in place by narrow private interests to deprive the people and disempower everyone except themselves. This is why during the Morchas, the farmers did not allow the leaders of the cartel parties on their stage. They formulated a vision of Mass Democracy in which citizens directly participate in making decisions that affect their lives. Ideas of community control of natural resources and how to execute democracy in action were discussed in detail. Farmers have declared that they are building their organizations in 600,000 villages of India to raise awareness amongst the people about how a new society can be brought into being.

A part of this great battle of ideas is the work of Dalit scholars, who have educated themselves against all odds, to settle scores with dehumanization and caste oppression. They are working very hard to bring to light the "untold" history and conditions of the toilers, artisans and untouchables. Many young Pali scholars have published a great body of work to bring to light the "forgotten" history and restore dignity to the oppressed and exploited women and men. Their work has broken the monopoly of colonial and Brahmanical writers and is etching the course for the history as created by the people, both past, present and future.

In order to drown the struggles for renewal and renovation, dignity and justice of farmers, toilers, Dalits and others in blood, the ruling elite is using their favorite weapons of communal violence and state terror to divert and distract the people. The representatives of the ruling elite are inciting people against Muslims claiming that they are the cause of the problems of farmers, workers, women, Dalits and others. Armed gangs protected by police are threatening and intimidating people.

This attack on Muslims and others is an attack on the rights of all the peoples of India. Farmers have understood it and have boldly declared that it is a ploy to attack the unity of people. They have formed defence committees, sadbhavna (goodwill) committees and peace committees to oppose these attacks. Workers, youth, students, and women are also in action to counter these attacks. Solidarity committees are being formed in towns and cities.

Speaking philosophically, a great dialectic is unfolding, smashing the blindfold of anti-consciousness.

This article was published in

Volume 52 Number 3 - August 15, 2022

Article Link:
  Legacy of Indian Independence 75 Years Ago

    

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