Opinion View from the LEFT

The lead editorial in the latest edition of CPI mouthpiece New Age says that ever since the 9/11 attacks happened,the US has been trying to convince everyone that the WTC attackers have spread all over the world and they are the only threat to the world peace.

“We are not contending that there is no Islamic fundamentalist organisation that carried out the heinous crimes of killing innocent people through bomb blasts and other such actions. Our assertion is that these fundamentalist organisations and leaders like Taliban and Osama bin Laden are the creation of US agencies,” it says.

“Even,today they are controlled and guided by the CIA and other imperialist agencies and its agents like David Headley,” it says. The CPI’s arguments are in the context of revelations that Hindutva outfits have a role in the Ajmer as well as the Mecca Masjid blasts.

So,the CPI wants the government to take a fresh look at all incidents of terrorist attacks and apart from Islamic fundamentalist outfits,it should also probe the role of Hindu groups. In CPI’s view,“Hindutvawadi forces,particularly the RSS outfits had been hand in glove with imperialist forces since their inception.”

History refresher

On the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II,the CPM makes a forceful attempt to reiterate the role played by the erstwhile Soviet Union in defeating Hitler’s Nazi Germany. The attempt,according to the CPM,was necessitated because of “falsification of history” by the West.

It feels a strong ideological campaign is underway to decry the role of communism and the USSR in defeating fascism. An important corollary of such an attempt,it points out,is equating communism with fascism as was recently done by the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe.

“The effort is to distort history with an intent to intensify the anti-communist propaganda by seeking to portray the victory of the Western allies in the Second World War as the triumph of the struggle against fascism and communism. They deliberately conceal the fact that for every Allied soldier who laid down his life,courageously fighting fascism,there were forty Soviet soldiers who laid down their lives,” it says.

The special edition titled “65th anniversary of victory against Fascism” argues that it was the Communist Red Flag and the Red Army that played the decisive role in defeating fascism and liberating humanity and claims that the reason for launching an aggressive anti-communist propaganda drive is US imperialism’s urgent need to establish its credentials.

Biotech terms

The comrades view the proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill as a piece of legislation directed against farmers and in favour of multi-national companies like Monsanto. It feels that states would be left without any say in matters related to biotechnology since the bill envisages only an advisory role for them.

Against this backdrop,the Left wants the “pro-multinational sections” in the bill rectified. It feels risk assessment cannot be left to the three regulatory divisions proposed by the bill,but should instead consist of an evaluation of the biosafety dossier submitted by the crop/product developer including mandatory independent,public scrutiny and independent testing for further verification of results.

An article in New Age says the nuclear liability legislation should have express clauses on “redressal or compensation and remediation or cleaning up” and a clause that “makes the crop developer solely liable for any leakage,contamination and so on throughout every stage of the product development cycle.” It feels that a penalty of a year’s imprisonment and Rs 2 lakh fine is no deterrent,and should be enhanced. Interestingly,it argues that the clause spelling out punishment for those who mislead the public about the safety of genetically modified organisms without any evidence or scientific record is targeted at civil society groups,and wants it removed.