CPI (Maoist) Statement: The victory of BJP's Narendra Modi

The victory of BJP in Narendra Modi's leadership indicates the intensification of exploitation, oppression and fascism in the country!

Build a widespread struggle to fight back the threat from Brahmanical Hindu-fascists by uniting all the revolutionary and democratic forces!

The so-called largest democratic process in the world, the elections for the sixteenth Loksabha, has been conducted in an unprecedented manner extending over nine phases.

For this, 70 lakh election officials and millions of armed forces were deployed. Public funds amounting to tens of thousands of crores of rupees belonging to the people of the country were spent on this exercise. The Election Commission claimed that it was done in order to ensure a "free, fair and impartial" election.

There was great anger among the masses against these farcical parliamentary elections. Our party CPI(Maoist) and the national liberation movements of Kashmir and a few forces from North East particularly in Manipur called for a boycott of these farcical elections.

It is only to suppress the growing anger of the people against these elections that such a large number of armed forces were deployed during the elections all over the country, and in areas of people's struggles in particular. Elections were conducted like a war exercise under the supervision and control of the Indian armed forces.

The Election Commission in an unprecedented way have been carrying out many new kinds of maneuvers to entice the people of the country to vote and to increase the total poll percentage since the 15th Loksabha elections of 2009, which was continued in this year's elections too.

Behind the scene, all kinds of help were extended by the imperialist agencies to carry out the process and by taking this help the corporate sector of the country directly entered the electoral fray to drum-up the importance of "right to vote". By using the corporate media, parliamentary parties as usual made false promises to the people.

A sort of illusion was created about the significance of parliamentary elections and a tempo was created around it. People were pressurized to cast their vote in areas where the masses are more critical of the parliamentary system. It is claimed that the Election Commission has put enormous efforts to conduct the elections successfully and has significantly curbed money and muscle-power. Disproving such claims, all the parties presented scamsters,gangsters and criminals as candidates before the people.

Not a single party raised and brought forth the basic problems faced by the vast masses of the
people and the country. During election campaigns, competing parties and candidates concentrated more on attacking one another, thereby exposing and unmasking one another's anti-people character, reactionary and self-seeking activities, scams and corrupt practices.

Black money, muscle-power, religion, caste, regionalism, liquor, drugs and other enticements or coercive measures were used extensively by all parties and candidates.

For instance, more than 200 crores of  cash and over 2 crore litres of liquor were seized by the police across the country during the elections which were meant to be distributed among the electorate.

As can be imagined, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Corporate media itself has revealed that more than 30,000 crore rupees were spent to advertise and promote Narendra Modi alone.

Flouting the official limit to election expenditure of 70 lakhs per candidate with impunity, each candidate in the fray spent an average of 8 crore rupees during this election.

The farcical nature of the so-called largest parliamentary elections of the world can be perceived from such revealing facts.

The Congress played a most reactionary and anti-people and treacherous role while being in power for the last ten years and aggressively implementing pro-imperialist and pro-ruling classes' policies in a big way.

The Congress committed all kinds of crimes against the country and its people. As a result, its seats got reduced to less than fifty in an unprecedented manner in this election - the worst ever electoral defeat in its entire history. By using the people's pent-up anger against the Congress, BJP and NDA under the leadership of Modi emerged as the first ever non-Congress party to win a clear majority in the parliament with 282 seats and together with its NDA partners captured 334 seats out of 543.

Even before the announcement of the elections, a large number of additional paramilitary forces were deployed and the armed forces intensified cordon-and-search operations in all the revolutionary areas of 14 states, in areas of national liberation struggles in Kashmir and the North East and other regions where people's resistance movements are going on.

The first countrywide week-long (26 December 2013 to 1 January 2014) suppression campaign was carried out in 9 states with 40 thousand additional paramilitary and state police forces.

In the second suppression campaign that lasted from 19 March to 27 March 2014, more than a hundred thousand paramilitary troops and 6000 commandos, four Israeli spy aircrafts, a large number of mine-proof vehicles fitted with radars, etc., were used led by 70 Inspectors General (IG) in six states where the Maoist movement is active.

These counter-revolutionary campaigns were aimed at suppressing the movement and create a white terror among the people to conduct their 'democratic'elections.

In the areas of revolutionary and national liberation movements,tens of political activists, liberation fighters and common people were murdered by these forces.

A large number of people and political activists were captured and tortured. They did not spare even women, children and the aged. Villages were attacked and their residents were collectively punished through merciless beating. Elections were conducted at gunpoint by unleashing widespread state-terror.

The statewide bandh in Kashmir called in protest against the detention of Hurriyat Conference leaders who had given a poll boycott call, was successfully observed on 21 April.

Kashmir Valley was rife with bandhs and protests against the atrocities and repression by the Indian army and other state forces on the one hand and with state repression accompanied by curfew on the other. Kashmiris fought pitched battles against the gun-wielding army and paramilitary forces with stones by defying curfew and other prohibitory orders.

In spite of using coercion and threat to such a large extent and even after creating an atmosphere of terror, the polling percentage fell far short of the 90 percent target set by the Election Commission. Only 66% percent voters cast their vote as per official reports.

The actual voting percentage, however, would be much less if we take into account the percentage of rigged and false votes among them. Money-power, muscle-power, the state machinery and the armed forces were rampantly used for such electoral fraud involving all the major parliamentary parties.

Even after deploying innumerable helicopters and aircrafts of Indian Air Force and Indian and foreign private companies to transport election officials and material, many election booths were shifted to police stations and paramilitary camps in areas where revolutionary and national liberation movements are strong with the pretext that conducting polling in those areas would be difficult. Large-scale fake votes were cast in these booths.

Nevertheless, even 5-20 percent polling did not take place in Dandakaranya,Bihar-Jharkhand, Odisha and Andhra-Odisha Border and other areas where Revolutionary People's Committees are present and the Maoist movement is strong,.

In Kashmir, even after creating state-terror prior to elections,merely 27% polling took place as per official claims.

In the context of elections, the slogan of Azad Kashmir once again reverberated across the valley.The 'alternative' of NOTA has been brought forward to deny the people the 'right to recall'.

Due to a lack of alternative and threats from the political parties and armed forces, more than one crore voters pressed NOTA button.

This is primarily because those who chose not to vote are often branded as terrorists or Maoists.

In the revolutionary and nationals liberation movement areas, responding to the call of poll boycott, the people of these areas and in places where democratic movements and anti-displacement movements are going on, people in significant numbers have rejected these farcical elections in protest against the anti- people policies of the governments their repression.

The CC, CPI(Maoist) extends revolutionary greetings to all of them for daring to defy the state and boycott the elections even while facing grave threats and intimidation. In defensive campaigns against the reactionary forces, the red fighters of our PLGA conducted many heroic attacks in Dandakaranya (Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra), Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Andhra-Odisha Border Area and other regions and inflicted a number of casualties to the enemy troops and seizing many arms and ammunitions.

It is a matter of great regret, however, that our PLGA forces ambushed vehicles carrying poll officials mistaking them to be police vehicles. Some employees engaged in poll duty died or got injured due to such mistakes.

Concerned units of our party has already apologized for these unfortunates incidents. We once again extend our apology to the people for this and express our heartfelt condolence to the relatives and friends of the deceased.

In the farcical elections, the BJP has claimed that it has won an unprecedented and historic victory. However, the total vote share they received is no more than 35 percent.

There can be no bigger bankruptcy in this so-called largest democracy of the world than to claim a 'historic victory' for a party that wins a mere 35 percent of the votes polled.

One more time the scamsters, gangsters and criminals came to power, revealing the farcical nature of the parliamentary system.

Narendra Modi was put forward as the BJP prime-ministerial candidate by the Sangh-Parivar and with its sponsorship and full involvement in the elections, BJP has gained an unprecedented victory under Modi's leadership, however may be. On the other hand, the UPA-led by Congress had to suffer a humiliating defeat.

During the rule of UPA government, neo-liberal economic, political, social,cultural and ecological policies were implemented in a large scale,corruption and scams manifested itself in an unprecedented manner, price rise skyrocketed, access to healthcare and education became much more meagre for the people, lack of accountability to the people, high rate of unemployment, retrenchment of workers, farmer's suicide, atrocities and violence on women, gaping social inequality, starvation, atrocities on dalits by the Brahminical casteist forces, suppression of the rights of the oppressed nationalities, depriving the adivasis and the oppressed of their jal-jangal-zameen, haq-adhikar aur izzat, state repression on the anti-displacement movements and the separate statehood movements particularly in Telangana and Gorkhaland, rampant ecological destruction,etc., all of which are major reasons resulting in the accumulation of people's anger against the Congress and its allies.

The mass anger against UPA government and the anti-corruption campaign initiated by Anna Hazare-Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been successfully utilized by the BJP for electoral gain.

By remaining behind the scene,BJP-RSS orchestrated anti-Muslim attacks and stirred-up Hindu religious chauvinism against them all over the country, particularly through the attacks in Muzaffarnagar and Samli, UP. RSS played a central role in this.

In the North East, particularly in Assam, BJP could mobilize the Hindus to some extent against the perceived Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants and garner their votes.

The above explains the hollowness of BJP's claim that it has gained the votes from all sections and thereby the divisions of religion,caste,community and gender etc. It is a fact that BJP has not gained the majority of votes from the Muslims and dalits.

That behind BJP's win there is no countrywide 'Modi-wave' is shown by the election results of Kerala, Odisha, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Seemandhra, etc., where BJP did not perform well. In Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim too non-NDA parties have won.

The so-called Modi-wave is the joint creation of the big corporations and its corporate media. Narendra Modi has been put forward by the imperialists, the MNCs, big comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie and big landlords to divert the people's wrath against the neo-liberal policies of the ruling classes and usher in fascism like Hitler to serve their interests more effectively.

In fact, the Congress has been thoroughly exposed and discredited as an out-and-out anti-people, reactionary and corrupt party. Perceiving the people's anger, the Indian ruling classes and imperialists have presented another ruling-class party in the form of BJP and Narendra Modi in place of Manmohan Singh as an alternative before the people, only to hoodwink them with parliamentary illusions for another five years.

In this election, UPA constituents and particularly Congress were wiped out in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Seemandhra, Delhi and in some other places.

In most of the other states Congress was reduced to a very few seats. In spite of creating some reformist rhetoric, AAP could not perform well because it lacked a clear-cut position on the basic problems of the people and the country and even burning issues facing the people. SP, BSP, RJD, JD(U), DMK, the Left Front led by CPI(M) and other regional parties which championed the same policies of Manmohan Singh government and that were mired in corruption, exploitation and suppression and opportunism too had to suffer ignominious defeat. DMK, BSP and National Conference in particular have been washed out and have no presence left in the parliament.

In Odisha, BJD came to power for the fourth time due to the absence of any effective parliamentary opposition.

In Andhra Pradesh, Telugu Desam Party and TRS took advantage of the people's anger against the Congress and registered victories. In Kashmir, National Conference had to pay for its collusion with the Congress party and policies aimed at crushing and liquidating Kashmir's national liberation movement.

After securing a simple majority in the parliament under the leadership of Modi, BJP is acting magnanimous in victory and is promising to carry along its NDA partners.

It has promised to work for even those voters and social sections who have not voted for it. Modi himself in his address to the people after the election victory has said that "It is a victory for Bharat", that "India will be made self-reliant" and that "Acche din anewale hai" ("Good days are ahead").

Hearing this, some people are under the illusion that this is a beginning of 'good governance' and that Modi will bring about 'change'.

Some also naively believe that BJP will not run its government on the basis of its Hindu-fascist agenda as in Gujarat but on the basis of a development agenda.

Some believe that the days of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom have been left behind and that all sections and communities will be treated equally, corruption will be checked, unemployment opportunities will be created, women's safety will be ensured, etc. under Modi's NDA regime. However, Modi and other champions of Brahmanical Hindutva will never fulfill these aspirations.

On the contrary, the neo-liberal policies implemented by the UPA government will now be even more aggressively executed by the NDA government led by Modi. The conditions of the masses will further deteriorate in all fronts.

NDA's clear majority in the parliament under Modi's leadership, absence of a strong parliamentary opposition, and most importantly RSS/BJP's Hindutva agenda are indications of the coming fascist onslaught.

It will not take long for BJP-led central government to reveal its fascist, pro-imperialist,
anti- federal and Indian expansionist face while using the people's mandate to justify its anti-people actions.

Workers, peasants, Muslims, dalits and other exploited masses will soon find themselves amidst growing persecution as BJP's government reveals its fascist face. Modi and co. and the big
compradors and big landlords are promoting his 'Gujarat Model' in a big way in their attempt to create illusions among the masses.

The real meaning of this Gujarat Model, which has been said to be 'the laboratory of Hindutva', is the suppression of all forms of dissent, including that of the workers, peasants, religious minorities particularly Muslims, and other exploited and oppressed sections of the society.

It means suppression and control of dissent coming from its opposition camp and even from within its own camp, opening the doors for the big domestic and international corporations to plunder and loot as much as they wish, and other similar measures.

Combined with these, 'Gujarat Model' signifies the extensive use of mass media in a Goebblesian manner to present the image of an iron-willed leader and a strong party capable of resolving all of people's problems. Modi's Gujarat Model of fascist rule now extends to the entire country and amplifies the expansionist threat in the entire South-Asian sub-continent.

The election manifesto of BJP does not forget to present its anti-Muslim,anti-Kashmir nationality and Hindutva agenda. It promises to scrap Article 370, impose Uniform Civil Code and build Ram temple, among other things.

This poses a threat to the people of India and an existential threat to the armed agrarian revolutionary war, religious minorities and oppressed nationalities and dalits and other oppressed communities. The emergence of fascism to overcome its crises and counter the growth of revolutionary,national liberation and democratic movements in the context of deepening imperialist crises worldwide is a growing phenomenon in the present times.

To effectively implement the neo-liberal policies, imperialists and their allies seek to establish neo-fascist forms of rule. This can be seen in India as well.

This is a challenge before the revolutionary and democratic forces and the masses of our country. That is why the exploited masses of India, oppressed nationalities, patriots and pro-people individuals and organisations, students and youth, intellectuals and other progressive forces should comprehend the serious threat posed by the growth of the Brahmanical Hindu-fascists.

Building broad-based and powerful mass movements by uniting all the revolutionary and democratic organizations, forces and individuals and the vast masses against all ruling classes, particularly against saffron fascism, is an important task before us.

Simultaneously, struggles must be waged to resolve the day-to-day and the basic problems facing the masses.

No right can be won by the people without struggles.

Only by uniting all the struggling forces and defending, intensifying and expanding the protracted people's war and the completion of the new democratic revolution with armed agrarian revolution at its axis can the basic problems of the people and our country be resolved and all reactionary, fascist and counter-revolutionary weeds be uprooted.

(Abhay)

Spokesperson, Central Committee, CPI (Maoist)