DUJ MEET

Gurgaon Is Not An Isolated Incident  

Yechury addressing the meeting in New Delhi

AS the Haryana government attempts to cover up the mayhem in Gurgaon through PR exercise and distribution of video CDs blaming the workers and attempting to show the police in good light, questions are being asked about the judge mandated to conduct the probe.

The questions were raised at a meeting organised by the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) on the lessons of Gurgaon brutality, which was attended by journalists, writers, jurists and lawyers on August 06, 2005.

The DUJ itself stated at the outset that questions were being asked about the legitimacy of entrusting the probe into the Gurgaon brutality to a retired judge Justice G C Garg, who is known for using coercive methods and goondas in the past. He has a record of using the police to settle personnel scores and coerce lawyers of his own court.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association had adopted a resolution condemning his role in 1998, in attempting to forcibly vacate a flat occupied by advocates of his own court. The judge used his position to threaten the occupiers of the flat, sent in the police etc. It is in protest against this uncalled for behaviour of the judge that the Punjab & High Court Bar Association adopted a resolution on January 8, 1999 to boycott the court of Justice G C Garg till he is transferred. The resolution also decided to socially boycott the judge and not invite him to any party or social function and to sit on dharna outside the court of Justice Garg.

The speakers at the DUJ meet asked whether such a judge is a fit person to hold the enquiry.

The DUJ meet "Lessons from Gurgaon" was attended by a cross-section of individuals expressing their concern on the police atrocity on Honda workers. Apart from the CPI(M), CPI, and HMS trade union leaders who spoke at the meeting, noted journalist Bharat Dogra, called for a  DUJ enquiry with experts. Secretary, CITU, K Hemalata and many writers attended the meeting.

The meeting cautioned against any cover up by a variety of press management exercises and distribution of videos blaming the workers and attempting to put the police in good light. Questioning even the credentials of the probe ordered by the state government, the speakers said that a time has come for the press to introspect and see how dehumanisation of society is taking place for the downtrodden after globalisation. What the TV channels have shown is akin to the darkest chapters in the colonial period, they underlined. The people have a right to know and the press a right to inform without pressure.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury in his brief speech felt that the real problems of the people were being neglected by the press and the Left  was being targeted for raising live issues of the people. What is happening to the Rajasthan farmers he asked? What is the role of the state government? He wondered how Clinton’s pets and trivia often adorned the top news, while Real India was being ignored.

SOME QUESTIONS

The DUJ president S K Pande charged at the outset said that there were issues in which we cannot be silent. He charged that matter requires a proper probe and not a hogwash while introducing the subject. Can a retired judge known to use coercion and goonda power decide on key questions of justice in the Gurgaon atrocity. All this when he himself has a record of using the police against fellow lawyers in the past. Not only this, it is well known fact that the judge had also demanded a cheque in the name of his family on a property matter in which he was interested.

In the context of the police action on workers in Gurgaon, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Haryana state secretary Inderjit Singh commented on how soon the attention of the media would shift over to other aspects. "Nobody today talks about the lynching of five dalits in Dulina. The incident, in Jhajjar district, was not very far from Gurgaon. We as political parties from the Left, still are in touch with the families of those murdered but we do not see any media there," he said. The CPI(M) leader was critical of a section of the media for describing the visits of the Left representatives to Gurgaon as "politically motivated."

He said that unlike other political parties, the Left parties, notably the CPI(M) and the CPI as well as their trade union affiliates had been regularly visiting Gurgaon and taking care of the injured workers both in the civil hospital and in the Bhondsi jail. These kind of statements about political parties, he said, only end up in desensitising the ordinary public. He also dismissed the idea that multinationals would cease to come to Haryana following the July 25 incident. He said: "They will come in droves especially as they know now that animals in Haryana get better treatment by the Haryana police as compared to ordinary workers." 

Inderjit Singh lambasted the state government and especially the minister of state for external affairs, Rao Inderjit Singh, who is also the MP from Gurgaon for subscribing to the view that had the workers been locals, the conflict would not have arisen. He said that he was also writing to the CM casting doubts on how the enquiry was to be conducted and about the state government’s change of stance.

Amarjeet Kaur, CPI leader said that it was a fascist understanding of putting labels on workers as "local" and "outsider". D L Sachdeva, national secretary, AITUC said that the Hooda government had been informed about the developments at the HMSI unit. AITUC representatives including general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta had met him more than once before the flare-up on July 25. Similarly, the Labour Commissioner's office too had been in the thick of negotiations.

Award winning journalist Bharat Dogra volunteered service to any DUJ enquiry and said the people have a right to know.  Academic Badri Raina called  for a detailed investigation into the real meaning of Gurgaon and its linkages all over the country after globalisation. 

Haryana advocate from Gurgaon Rajindra Pathak charged that he was hit by the police and jailed for trying to defend the workers.

All Left trade union representatives were of the view that Gurgaon should not be viewed as an isolated incident as it had taken place in the context of globalisation and liberalisation. It also exposed the reluctance of the government to impose domestic labour laws on multinationals. The workers, they said, were only upholding the law of the land by affirming to their right to associate, which was a Constitutional right. The MNCs, by resisting this right, were going against the law of the land.

(INN)