People's Democracy

Huge Anti-War Rally In Mumbai

P R Krishnan

AZAD MAIDAN in south Mumbai witnessed one of the biggest rallies against American war threat against Iraq. This was in the afternoon on Saturday, March 7. A liberal estimate put the rally at more than one lakh strong.

The call for the rally was given by the Forum Against War that comprises the minority cell of Indian National Congress, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and several other organisations spearheading an anti-war movement in the metropolis. The other organisations which actively participated in organising the peace rally were the EKTA, a body wedded to upholding secularism, democracy and human rights, and the All India Christian Council. The leaders who addressed the gathering condemned the American war threat against Iraq. They included, among others, Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, home minister Chhagan Bhujbal. Mumbai sheriff Kiran Shantaram, RPI leader and former Mumbai mayor Hindore, well known actor and member of parliament Raj Babbar, noted director Mahesh Bhat, former minister Issek Jamkhanwala, Samajwadi Party leader and prominent lawyer Majeed Menon, former navy chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagat, former army major D’Souza and the Lal Nishan Party leader Yeshwant Chawan. The CPI(M) was represented by K L Bajaj and Dr Vivek Monteiro while the CITU was represented by P R Krishnan.

 It should here be noted that the CPI(M), under its banner, had organised the first anti-war and anti-American demonstration near the American Information Centre in Mumbai on October 4, 2002. Another demonstration staged in Mumbai with CPI(M) participation, under the banner of the Forum Against War And Terrorism, was on January 27, 2003. (See People’s Democracy, February 3 issue).

BUDGET ANALYSIS

The Indian School of Social Sciences, the Professor Sudhir Wardi Memorial Trust and the Social Science Centre, St. X’vier College, jointly organised a meeting on the issue of budget 2003. The meeting was held at St. X’vier College auditorium at Fort, in south Mumbai. The speakers for this well attended meeting were Professor Prabhat Patnaik, a noted economist from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the Bombay University vice chancellor Dr Balchandra Mungekar. Both of them gave a lucid analysis of the various features of the budget. They were categorical in their presentations that the budget proposals put forward by finance minister Jaswant Singh are pro-rich, anti-poor and anti-people. They are, moreover, particularly harmful to the agricultural front.

This was a fully packed meeting and the audience comprised professors, teachers, writers, lawyers, authors, journalists, intellectuals, political activists, trade union functionaries and people from different walks of life. Dr Sudhir Paranjape, secretary of the Indian School of Social Sciences, welcomed the gathering and Dr Rudolf Heredia proposed a vote of thanks.