Programme and Constitution of Jan Sangharsh Morcha

Jan Sangharsh Morcha
Programme and Constitution (For a political alternative based on the independent mobilization of the people, progressive, democratic and left forces formed Jan Sangharsh Morcha on July 20, 2008 in Lucknow.
It’s proposed Programme and Constitution is given here for deliberation.

Jan Sangharsh Morcha Programme and Constitution
Political platform of peoples politics, Jan Sangharsh Morcha, the need of political life of Indian people is dedicated to revolutionary democracy in India and committed for building secular, democratic, pluralist and modern India. It’s flag bearer of national sovereignty, unity, cultural and ethnic diversity, social justice and fundamental human rights. Its immediate task is to bring together on one platform all political tendencies, movements, organizations, groups and individuals who are opposed to corporate politics for a broader democratic movement to give impetus to the politics of change.

Need of Political Alternative
All sections of the people are unhappy with the present circumstances and want a radical change. From time to time, this urge for change is witnessed in mass movements Most of the mainstream parties are engaged in competition amongst themselves to form governments through manipulations and to implement the policies formulated by WB-IMF-WTO. Unbridled corruption, unprecedented price-rise and recession are product of the same neo-liberal policies. The neo-liberal agenda to combat the cycle of congenital crises of world capitalism in 80's was peddled as the only alternative by the Reagan-Thatcher regime for the rest of the world, reversing all welfarism, social security and hard earned sovereignty and independence of the erstwhile colonized world through a process of sustained decolonization. The rapacity and brutality of this ''New world Order" is unparalleled in history. It has militarized the world as never before. The military-industrial complex of the developed nations led by U.S. has demonstrated insatiable appetite for wars. The speculative-finance capital in search of natural and human resources has devastated most ancient of civilizations viz. Iraq. The fragility of the global system of finance capital has ominous repercussions on the national economies of poorer countries as never before. The continuing economic crisis and recession in US has wider adverse impact on the economies of these countries. Ignoring the basic needs of the people, land, water, seed, forest and minerals, are being commoditized rapidly and a barbaric path of capital accumulation is being pursued, with enormous adverse implications both for the people and the ecology. The neo-liberal policy-regime has posed a threat of even survival for the toiling masses whereas it has resulted in the relentless generation of huge profits for the corporate houses. The peasantry as a whole is suffering from rapidly rising cost of inputs ( thanks to the entry of the corporate sector in agricultural research and extension, greater role being played by privately owned sources of irrigation and withdrawal of subsidies on inputs); volatility of prices for the produce (on account of the withdrawal/ scaling down of public procurement and also because of growing integration of the domestic market with the international market) ; and the resultant increase in indebtedness( made worse by the lower priority assigned by profit- seeking banking industry to agricultural credit and consequent resort to usurious moneylenders). The small and marginal farmers and landless labour are the worst victims, having to cope with reduced food availability and chronic undernourishment. They are being forced to join the under- class in the slums around big and small cities in search of some means of survival. The land is passing out of the hands of rural households to others on a large scale. While the SEZ Act is an unvarnished onslaught under government auspices, the market forces have unleashed more devastating, if less transparent, assault, leading to speculative market in land in and around growing cities and around the sites of big infrastructure projects. The policies on land acquisition and liberal conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural uses have further strengthened the trend. The legions of petty producers and the so-called self –employed and the large mass of those engaged in the service sector have no employment, wage or social security. They are over-exploiting themselves in order to simply survive in the face of galloping inflation of the prices of basic necessities, vanishing public health and education infrastructure and growing pressure of competition from large, organized capital which is being encouraged to enter sectors such as retail trade, cottage, village and small industries and processing of agro-products and fishing. The liberal import regime in the name of promoting “free trade” has only worsened the unfair competition. The government machinery in collusion with the big corporate capital, foreign as well as indigenous, have systematically acquired, appropriated and grabbed land and forests for mining and other commercial uses. In the name of attracting investment and accelerating “growth”, the government policies have encouraged indiscriminate exploitation of mineral resources for exports. The laws intended to remedy the situation to some extent such as Panchayat Extension to Schedule Areas (PESA) and Forest Rights Act remains largely unimplemented. The neo-liberal reforms are resulting in all round attack on the democratic rights and freedoms of the common people. We have witnessed in the last few years increasing resort to legislation circumscribing the basic democratic freedoms. Cases of abuse of such laws are increasing in every state. On top of that, we are witnessing larger numbers of “encounter killings” in the name of countering “terrorist threats” or “threats to internal security. Even the ‘dissent’ by intellectuals on state policies is being dubbed as sedition, let alone the common people. The process of liberalisation has lead to encouragement of fascist tendencies in our body politic. Campaign against the minorities, relentless communalization of all aspects of life and all organs of state, national- chauvinism, aggressive regionalism, and tendencies like promoting retrogressive caste sentiments and even endorsing the fascist politics in the name of sharing in state power in place of annihilation of caste and establishing the democratic identity of individual, Khaap and Gotra autocracy and arrogance of the caste superiority furnish congenial environment for such fascistic tendency to take root and flourish. All this is further strengthened when, highlighting the corporate development of India, US is patting India as an economic power and a Great Power. The last two decades of the neoliberal reforms in economic sphere have also witnessed a concomitant rise of communalism. The ruling classes have abandoned the legacy of the four decades of an independent, non-aligned, South- friendly foreign policy and have openly come out in favour of a strategic alliance with the US-Israel combine. They have internalized the self- serving US-Israeli neoconservative logic and propaganda about the “clash of civilizations” and the “global war against terrorism”.. this also makes the Indian State witting or unwitting endorser of the ‘Islamophobia’ rooted in the neo-conservative vision of the US ruling classes and/or the ‘ political Islam’ of the US sponsored protégé regimes in West Asia. As we have noted earlier, this has dangerous implications for the secular politics of our polity. Apart from the avoidable grist it provides to the mill of militant fundamentalist and communal elements, it exacerbates the sense of alienation and insecurity in the minority community, on the one hand, and gives a fillip to the majoritarian communal fascist politics, on the other. A manifestation of this approach is to be seen in the suspicious and ham-handed way in which the youths of the minority community are treated in the wake of any terrorist attack. Even worse is its manifestation in the continued miss-handling of the legitimate political aspirations of the people of J&K, particularly the youth in the Kashmir valley, the repeated and large scale resort to the armed force and consequently, a severe erosion of democratic rights and fast diminution of political space in J&K. By far the worst manifestation is the tendency among some sections of the ruling classes to treat Kashmir as a mere strategic requirement of geo-politics or worse still, as a piece of real estate. The ruling classes have appropriated the ruling as well as opposition space in politics and they have launched offensive against the vision of modern democratic India nurtured during national liberation movement. In combating this, the efforts by the left movement are inadequate and the initiatives by ‘Civil Society’ lack clarity in political orientation and are victim of many inherent weaknesses. So, regenerating transformative politics and recreating, nourishing and expanding the political space is need of the hour. Jan Sangharsh Morcha is product of this political necessity. Jan Sangharsh Morcha uniting with other left-democratic movement is committed to carry forward the battle for democratization of Indian state and society. Defeating the corporate takeover of agriculture, resisting corporatization of land, water, seed, forest and minerals and moving towards socialization of these basic resources will constitute one of the two core elements of its radical agenda. The other core element will consist of uncompromising resistance to neo-imperialism in all its manifestations: strategic, economic, political and cultural.

Ideology, Objectives and Programme of Jan Sangharsh Morcha –
The Programme itself is the guiding ideology of Jan Sangharsh Morcha. Jan Sangharsh Morcha raises its voice against the neo-liberal offensive, for self-reliant, national economy, stands against anti- people laws for pro- people legislation ,fights for an accountable, transparent and clean polity and administration; fights against communal fascism in favour of democracy and secularism, for environmentally compatible pro-people development against development on colonial lines and environmental degradation, for liberation of women against male domination and patriarchy, for the protection of civil liberties against violation of human rights. Jan Sangharsh Morcha commits itself to the democratic sister/brotherhood and peaceful existence of the people against war-mongering and national chauvinism. Jan Sangharsh Morcha commits itself to inspiring patriotic and national feeling against colonial values and imperialist infiltration. Jan Sangharsh Morcha raises its voice against political, social, cultural oppression and commits itself to struggle for fulfillment of the aspirations of ethnic groups and linguistic, national, religious, cultural, sexual minorities and dalit rights.. The priority list of the Programme:
*Defeating the attack on democratic rights and freedoms and working for repeal of all special laws including the Armed Forces( Special Powers) Act which restrict the democratic space guaranteed under the Constitution and enable the State to abuse its monopoly of use of force.
*Defeating corporate takeover of agriculture; resisting corporatization of land, water and seed, forest and minerals; moving towards socialization of these basic resources.
*Defeating the corporate encroachment and appropriation of commons, particularly the forest and adivasi habitations and lands; protecting adivasi community rights and livelihoods; promoting community ownership and management of forest resources. * Defeating the policy regime that facilitates the Corporate loot of mineral resources and spells devastation of Adivasi’ life, livelihood and habitat. *Defeating the WTO/AoA paradigm on agriculture; striving for a peasant- centric alternative for South-South cooperation in agricultural production and trade. *Alternative development, policies which will not only repudiate the mainstream strategy of “globalizing growth” but also promote self-reliance; inter-personal, inter-class( in the sense of educationally and socially backward and advanced classes), and inter-regional equity; and conservation of environment. It will imply reorientation of direction and pattern of industrialization. It will mean a break from the present obsession with “globally competitive” industries and a shift in favour of employment –intensive and mass consumption oriented industries.
* Ending the process of rapid commodification of health, education and access to food and other articles of necessity; replacing the prevailing mercenary, discriminatory , unaffordable and limited- reach regimes and establishing comprehensive , egalitarian , affordable public system for provision of health ,education and food and other necessities.
* Providing legally guaranteed preferential opportunity in education and employment, in private as well as state sectors, for the socially disadvantaged classes and communities
*A national wages and incomes policy severely limiting the disparity across the sectors and classes.
*Strengthening the autonomy of the Indian financial system and protecting it from the fragility and rapacity of the global finance capital. Working for regional financial cooperation e.g. Regional Monetary Union/s.
* Decisive breaking away from the US strategic design and opposing US militarism, in particular, US-Israeli militarism in West Asia, and exposing and defeating US sponsored Islamophobia.
*A new energy policy consistent with the reorientation of the strategic, agrarian and industrial policies; selective strategic cooperation with the West Asian and Central Asian oil and gas rich countries ; closer cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
*Stuggle for thoroughgoing electoral reforms. For peoples control and supervision over the administrative machinery. Demand for a provision of representation on the basis of the proportion of votes polled by each party in the parliamentary system, apart from constituency-wise direct election of representatives to the legislature, in order to broaden the scope of democracy.
*Jan Sangharsh Morcha considers religion as a matter of private domain of an individual. It stands for complete separation of politics from religion. No to discrimination among citizens on grounds of religion.
*Jan Sangharsh Morcha firmly supports oppressed nationalities in their struggle for safeguarding their identity and for fullest autonomy within Indian Union.