THE imperialist press loves an Indian election. ‹ The 'world's biggest democracy" they proclaim, and fondly show television film of elderly female khaddi-clad Leasant vI carefully casting their votes.
The message isn't difficult to penetrate — the Indian population may be starving to death, illiterate, poverty-stricken, hardly human, but everyone gets a vote. This is a good thing, and it only happened because the good-old Brits used to run tbe place and wouldn't let independence until they learnt to be democratic.
But the truth democracy?
Let's look at a few facts.
The only party government since Indian independence in 1947, apart from the last two years of Janata rule, has been the Congress Party. The prime-ministers have exclusively come from the Nehru family, again apart from the two years of Janata and also the one year premiership of Lal Bahadur Shashi in 1966.
Although the existance of only one ruling party and only ruling necessarily indicate a lack should certainly open room for doubt. renewed emergence of the Congress Party at the last election, Janata as a meaningful electoral alliance, merely underlines the absence of any significant choice for the Indian electorate.
The constitution, agreed in 1950, learnt one important thing from the way the British had ruled India It allowed for powers - all democratic and fundamental rights accorded to the Indian people by the constitution can be suspended whenever the security of the state' is threatened.
Detention The Defence of India Act, introduced by the during the First reintroduced as Defence of India Rules after independence. These rules, 1971 Maintenance of Indian Security Act (again based on the British Defence of India Act), allow for detention without trial for a year or more.
amencments allow renewed, again without access to courts. In cheergency times courts may not issue writs of habeus corpus, and prisoners have no right of appeal to the courts.
In 1974 this darling of the Western press, the proof that underdevelopment in doesn't have lead to dictatorship or socialism, was described like this: 'In its treatment of those who pose a political threat to it, the government oi india nas nothing to car ow uk wa repressive regimes in the world.' At one stage in the 'naxalite' rebellions (rebellions of poor peasants led by the CPI-ML) an estimated 17,500 were held without trial in one state alone. Charu Mazumdar, leader of the CPI-ML, was arrested on 16 July 1972 and died of a 'heart attack' while in custody twelve days SHIGE The response to industrial action is similarly almost always repression. In May 1974 there was a strike of the 1.8 million underpaid workers on India's railways (India's largest single employer apart from the land). The strike was met with 20,000 arrests, 25,000 sackings, railway workers homes were invaded and smashed up, and many workers were evicted from the 'railway colonies' where they lived.
Although the right to labour organisation exists in India it is no more secure than any other democratic rights in the country. Employers take on thugs to beat up union activists and smash strikes, often with the authorities. Reprisals Here is an account of the reprisals taken againsi union militants after a strike at the British Leytead factory in Madras in 1972.
The (hired thugs) came into our section amed with iron bars, cycle lold he would have it 'straightened out"
thrust to the ground and his arm smashed with a hammer. When the bleeding and beaten workers ran from the factory they were arrested by armed outside.
8 BIL WalLlls allowed through the police cordon.
The Indian constitution is nominally federal — a necessity taking into account the diversity of the pan-Indian state.
languages in India, and a staggering 845 different Socialist Challenge 17 January 1980 Page 4 Gandhiesque figures them have Indian form national family doesn't 351.
n' for docta The following the disintigration of the massive reserve secession.
unremittingly war, Wat government with the detention to be languages and dialects actually federal provisions are supposed to divert any threat towards secession posed by the linguistic, religious, cultural and racial differences in the IT IS rare in India that more than half the the turn-out was 55 per cent.
cent swing to the Congress[I], coupled with the split in the Janata party, gave the former an increase in seats from 153 to Less than half those who actually chose Indira Ghandi's party so out of a population of 600 million only 75 million voted for Indira Ghandi.
subcontinent. But there is no acceptance of the right of national self-determination and it is an indictable offence to even verbally Congress Party has not successful in controlling as has in running government. Local electorates have often chosen different parties and coalitions in their regions. In West Bengal in 1967, 1969, 1971 and again at the recent election the CPI-M (split from the CPI) won control of the area.
- the Congress Party the communist government in 1970 and 1971 and ruled directly from the centre.
Attempting to actually achieve something for the people in India, rather palliatives, is simply a signal for the jettisoning of all the rules of parliamentary democracy.
When Indira Gandhi introduced a state of emergency in 1975 she was not doing anything spoken. The An 8 per voted advocate been as the central But the central - overthrew than just offering "Herat Kandahar Taligan.
KABUL •Kunar Islamabad Lahore Delhi
+ RASUL BAKSH PALEJO addr ses a mass rally of 10,000 peasants in the interior of Sind province in slave Pakistan last October. Following the meeting Palejo and dozens of other peasant leaders were arrested.