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Never before in
post-1947 India have the rulers of this country so shamelessly cringed before
their imperialist bosses. Never before have they so blatantly offered our
country — its land, its air bases, its armed forces and intelligence — for use
by a foreign power. After the Sept. 11 attack, it cringed slavishly before their
US masters, offering Indian facilities even before it was asked for. Before the
reluctant Pakistan was forced into submission, the Indian rulers were
frantically scrambling to join the US war wagon. The US expressed elation over
the Indian response and even unofficially discussed with them the use of naval
facilities. But, for the moment, in a military sense, gaining Pakistan’s support
was more useful to the US in its war against Afghanistan. So, while the Indian
rulers kept groveling in the American muck, hoping thereby to upstage Pakistan,
besides rhetoric it could not offer that type of military assistance to fight
the Taliban that Pakistan was capable of.
No self-respecting
rulers of a supposedly sovereign country could possibly have been more servile
than our present rulers in offering our country to the US for its unhindered
use. India was among the first states to offer its military cooperation and the
use of its strategic bases — even before the NATO did. Just two days after the
bombing, the Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs met on Sept. 13 and decided "to
offer all cooperation and facilities for any US military operation". Jaswant
Singh said that this meant India would provide logistical help and/or a staging
ground for US military operations. He went so far as to state that the offer to
the US was "unconditional". The VHP, and important leaders of the BJP,
such as Narendra Modi (now CM of Gujarat), spoke of the "historic opportunity"
to act as America’s main "anti-terrorism" ally. The Indian rulers
desperately sought to become a forward-line state in America’s new war.
This was not all.
India’s Home Minister, L.K.Advani, repeatedly emphasized India’s close links
with Israel in the fight against terrorism. He reiterated the government’s offer
of bases and logistical support to the US. In fact, at the very time of the
Sept. 11 attack, the Israeli National Security Advisor, Major General Dayan, was
visiting India to participate in the Indo-Israel Security dialogue, with a view
to deepen the involvement of Israel’s secret service, Mossad, in India’s
internal security, and to develop the military cooperation between the two
countries.
Unfortunate for the
Indian rulers, its game plan did not work as it hoped. It expected that with its
blind servility to US war plans it would outdo Pakistan in the new ‘coalition’.
But, Pakistan support was an absolute necessity to the US if any war was to be
waged against Afghanistan. Its long and deep relations with the Taliban gave it
enormous access to detailed military intelligence. Given Afghanistan’s hostile
terrain (particularly with the onset of winter) it was inconceivable for the US
to conquer Afghanistan without this inside information. Besides, getting
Pakistan on its side was an important political necessity in US diplomacy to win
over, or at least neutralize, the Islamic countries in its "war against
terrorism".
Both countries were
suitably rewarded by America for their support, by the lifting of sanctions. For
Pakistan, even those were lifted that were imposed at the time of the Musharraf
coup. In addition, Pakistan was granted millions of dollars in the form of loan
waivers, grants for Afghan refugees, and bailouts for its ailing economy.
Politically, it also got the US, at least for the time being, to refrain from
categorizing the Kashmiri militants as ‘terrorists’.
The Indian rulers,
desperate to be the US’s sole gendarme in the region were unhappy with the
attention that Pakistan was getting from the ‘international community’, and its
involvement in the so-called war against international terrorism. The
bootlicking Jaswant Singh went scurrying from capital to capital, to try and
convince his bosses that Pakistan was the main sponsor of terrorism in the
region and should not be a part of the front against terrorism, and that all the
pro-Pakistani Islamic groups operating in Kashmir should be a part of the US
list of terrorist organizations. He was able to add weight to his argument due
to a bomb explosion at the J & K assembly, killing 42 persons, which
coincidentally occurred on the very day of his arrival to the US. Besides, the
Indian rulers went on a major propaganda drive to prove Pakistani/ISI links with
the Sept. 11 attack, manufacturing one ‘proof’ after another. The Americans
though, were reluctant to open a number of fronts against Islamic militants at
one time, and preferred to concentrate their focus on the Taliban and Osama Bin
Laden’s network for the time being. They have made it clear that, at a later
date, they intend to go after terrorists everywhere.
Yet, Indian servility
and readiness to be at the beck-and-call of the US, helped the latter pressurize
Pakistan into total capitulation. In fact, keeping up the pressure on Pakistan’s
eastern front, with India’s hot pursuit syndrome, and continuous propaganda from
India about manufactured proof of Pak./ISI involvement in the Sept. 11 attack,
helped the US bring pressure on the Pakistan rulers to continuously toe its
line, in the face of mounting opposition from Islamic forces within their
country.
In the long run, the
US is well aware that Pakistan will be an unreliable ally, due to the powerful
influence of Islamic fundamentalists, not only in civil society, but also within
the government and army. On the other hand the Indian ruling classes with its
Hindutva, anti-Islamic bias, can be a more reliable ally. For the imperialists,
the BJP and its coalition partners have proved to be their most faithful
puppies, but even if displaced, the opposition has shown itself to be nearly as
servile. Besides, the US has more to gain by keeping India firmly within its
sphere of influence, due to its large size — which gives it a vast market and
also military muscle power to dominate the region. Anyhow, Bush’s "crusade", the
Zionist’s anti-Arab mania, and the BJP’s anti-Muslim fanaticism have a common
thread.
The US will no doubt
be pleased by the Indian ruler’s performance in the wake of the Sept. 11
bombing. There was probably no other country in the world (besides Britain) that
offered its services to the US so unconditionally, without asking for any
reciprocal favour. Even the tiny Arab countries took their pound-of-flesh in
return for even limited support to America’s war. What is even more disgusting
is how the US ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, has been moving around
India after Sept. 11, as though he runs the country. He has not only held
meetings with the Prime Minister, Home Minister, and a host of other Central
ministers; but has also been meeting Chief Ministers, opposition leaders, and
even the three chiefs of the Indian armed forces. It is unimaginable that a mere
ambassador of a country can openly be allowed free access to not only the
government, but also to the country’s military and security apparatus. And, a
section of the Indian media, in their servility to the US, show all the
political bigwigs fawning over this imperialist bandit in our country.
The Indian rulers
have three goals in whipping up a mass hysteria against so-called terrorism.
First, it seeks to
utilize this campaign to unleash even more brutal terror against the nationality
movements of Kashmir and the North East and against the communist
revolutionaries {particularly the CPI (ML)(PW) & MCC} in the name of fighting
terrorism. For this purpose they are also seeking international assistance,
particularly from the US and Israel. Blatant foreign intervention in the
security matters of the country is being excused in the name of fighting
terrorism.
Second, in the name
of a global campaign against terrorism, it is paving the way for greater and
greater US intervention in the affairs of our country — not only in the sphere
of finance, industry and commerce, but also militarily and in security matters.
Where it would have found it difficult to justify such blatant foreign
intervention under normal circumstances, it hopes to get away with this
treachery taking the fig leaf of a global war against terrorism.
Third, the hysteria
against terrorism is a good distraction to deflect people’s growing anger
against the government, resulting from their mass impoverisation. Imperialist
dictated policies of globalisation has wrecked the economy and reduced lakhs and
lakhs of people to acute poverty. Yet, it continues with its policies of
‘economic reforms’, pushing thousands more into poverty each day. Such excessive
exploitation is the breeding ground for revolt. Not only does the hysteria
against ‘terrorism’ act as a diversion, it also lays the basis for increased all
round repression on the struggling masses. Aware that peoples’ discontent will
grow, the government, through this fear psychosis, is systematically introducing
fascist measures, denying even the limited rights of the people — enormous
powers are being given to the police, military and intelligence services; all in
the name of countering terrorism.
This campaign against
terrorism, whether at the global or the all-India level, is, in essence,
targeted at the oppressed masses; specifically those who are fighting
imperialism and/or local reaction.
Today, when the
promoters of this monstrous system have declared all-out war, the lines of
demarcation are getting more clearly drawn — the fascist, communalist, racist,
war-mongerers and their apologists on the one side, and the mass of suffering
humanity on the other. All must choose where they stand. All revolutionaries
must stand on the side of the people and slowly win them to revolutionary
communism, by standing in the forefront of all the battles. Armed with Maoist
ideology and guns in their hands, they must lead the struggles for justice, not
only in the factories and fields, but against all forms of oppression, whether
it takes the form of national, religious, caste, communal, racial or
patriarchal. It is only then that the masses can be drawn away from all forms of
alien ideologies (like religious fundamentalist) and brought into the democratic
and socialist stream for change.
Today the Indian
rulers are utilizing the atmosphere created by the US war against terrorism and
Afghanistan, to enhance their anti-Islamic hysteria and increase repressive
measures. They have banned the student organization SIMI and arrested hundreds
of their activists. On the other hands, they are aggressively propagating hindu
chauvinism, promoting fascists organisations like the Bajrang Dal and preparing
for pogroms against Muslims. They have been arresting democrats propagating
against the US attack on Afghanistan and the Indian ruler’s complicity with the
US. They have charged with treason students of Delhi who were merely propagating
against the US attack on Afghanistan. They are planning the re-introduction of
the draconian TADA. And they have been issuing war-like threats to Pakistan,
talking of "hot pursuit".
All these policies
must be vehemently opposed by all democrats and progressive people in the
country. The ban on SIMI must be immediately revoked; all the arrested must be
released unconditionally; the re-introduction of TADA must be strongly opposed;
and all those arrested in anti-US demonstrations must be immediately released
and there must be full guarantee for the right to protest.
The people of our
country must come out on to the streets and vehemently oppose the war of US
imperialism, and oppose its aggression of Afghanistan or any other country in
the world. We must also oppose the Indian ruler’s attempts to draw the country
into the US’s war on Afghanistan by the use of Indian territory an/or Indian
people by the American military establishment. We must oppose any attempts at
provoking a war with Pakistan in the name of "hot pursuit" or on any other
pretext. The chief foreign enemy of the Indian people is not Pakistan or the
Islamic fundamentalists. It is the US imperialists and their collaborators who
are robbing the entire wealth and natural resources of our country.
Today, thousands have
been coming out on to the streets in protest against US aggression and the
Indian ruler’s capitulation to them. In all parts of the country anti-war,
anti-US fronts are coming up. The time has come for all democratic and
progressive people in our country to unite, and launch countywide protests
against US imperialism and their Indian lackeys.
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