Stop Robbing India’s Poor to Conduct CWG 2010 Reclaim the anti-imperialist legacy of the HSRA!

The manifesto of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, issued on 9^th September 1928, describes how, “Today crores of people are victims of ignorance and poverty. The mass of India’s population which comprises workers and farmers are being subjected to foreign pressure and economic exploitation. The condition of India’s working classes is very grave today. It faces two threats — on the one hand, that of foreign capitalism, and on the other, the treacherous assault of the Indian capitalists.” How true these words still ring today, when we consider the condition of the people of our country!

On 9^th September 2010, commemorating the foundation day of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, AISA will be launching protests across the country against the massive exploitation and corruption  being forced upon India’s poor in order to conduct the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi.

Massive Corruption and Misutilisation of Funds:

The Delhi government has spent an estimated Rs 28,000 crores of tax-payer’s money on the Commonwealth games – several times more than its original estimated budget of Rs 655 crore. It has been estimated that the entire expenditure for the 12-day event could have controlled infant mortality of poor children and housing for the poor for an entire year!  The extravaganza includes heads like a helium balloon worth Rs 40 crore and Rs 45 crore spent on ‘study tours’ by 200 politicians and officials to Melbourne, Beijing and London.

In the recent weeks, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has released a report which documents evidence of widespread corruption in several CWG-related projects. Shockingly, it has come to light that the Delhi government diverted Rs 744 crore from the Special Component Plan for SC/STs to CWG-related projects! What is crystal clear is that the Commonwealth Games have been shamefully used as a means for corporations and government officials to line their pockets and amass massive profits.

Exploitation of workers:

More than 1,50,000 migrant workers are working at the CWG construction sites – they work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, to meet the deadlines. And these workers are living in appalling and sub-human conditions, not even receiving legally mandated minimum wages! From each worker, Rs 30 to Rs 150 is stolen daily through systematic underpayments. Labour laws and safety regulations are being rampantly violated at Games worksites, which have already resulted in the deaths of more than hundred workers from accidents or diseases such as cerebral meningitis. These gross violations of the law have been noted even by the Delhi High Court, but nevertheless continue.

Eviction of Slum dwellers, Beggars, Street Vendors and Students:

The Commonwealth Games have been used as the ideal excuse by the eager Delhi government to evict street vendors, slum dwellers and the homeless from the streets of Delhi – thus robbing of them of their source of livelihood.  Between 2003-2008, up to 4 lakh people are said to have been evicted from the capital. Arbitrarily, last winter, shelters for the homeless were demolished, leaving their residents to freeze to death. Several slums have been demolished and set on fire.  To add insult to injury, the Delhi government proposes to construct hedges of fast-growing bamboo, so that foreign visitors will not even have to witness Indian poverty! Clearly, for the powers-that-be, ‘national pride’ exists in kicking the working class out of the city and robbing them of their livelihoods; even if they allowed  to stay in the ‘world class city’, they are to be kept suitably ‘invisible’!

Reclaim the anti-imperialist legacy of the HSRA!

As the ‘Queens Baton’ makes its way across the country, and as governments enthusiastically prepare a red carpet welcome for the Commonwealth Games, the progressive sections of society need to resist this bizarre display of a colonial hangover. We need to ask: Why do we need to welcome the ‘Queen’s’ Baton? The Queen of England is certainly no Queen of ours – why then do we shamefully ‘celebrate’ our colonial legacy?! Why does India need to host the CWG at such an incredible cost to India’s poor? Have they really helped Indian sports? Or have they merely aided exploitation and corruption?

In their short heroic lives, Bhagat Singh and his comrades gave a new meaning to patriotism. Love for the country was redefined as love for the people. They emphasized the role of the students and youth, and insisted that they go deep among the masses, to the colonies of workers and hamlets of the rural poor. In his letter ‘To Young Political Workers’, Bhagat Singh described the Congress’ nationalism as “a struggle dependant upon the middle class shopkeepers and a few capitalists. Both these, and particularly the latter, can never dare risk its property or possessions in any struggle. The real revolutionary armies are in the villages and in factories, the peasantry and the labourers.”

Two decades after the Congress Government introduced the policies of Liberalization-Privatization-Globalization, the number of Indian millionaires has doubled, but we also know that over 70% of the country’s people live on less than 20 rupees a day. Today, we see how readily the ruling elite of our country allies among itself when it comes to defending imperialist agendas. We saw this in the widespread alliance created when it came to passing the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, in the all-out moves being taken to suppress the demands of the Kashmiri people for self-determination, or in the clean-chit given to the American company responsible for perpetuating the horrific Bhopal Gas tragedy.

At this juncture, AISA believes that we need to reclaim Bhagat Singh’s anti-colonial legacy and redefine ‘nationalism’ and ‘patriotism’ to mean the empowerment of India’s poor. As part of its ongoing anti-imperialist protests and against the Commonwealth Games, AISA is organizing a protest Public Meeting and Effigy Burning of the Queen’s Baton at Jantar Mantar on 15^th September from 11.30 a.m. onwards. We invite you to be a part of this protest and the struggle to reclaim the anti-imperialist legacy.